The Autisnob

Post Reply New Topic

Actually, Adrian monk is played as a character that is NOT capable of real self help or even able to "sustain a job as a consultant"! !! !! !! THAT is why he has an assistant that does EVERYTHING else like:

1. drive him around.
2. buy food.
3. give him wipes.
4. make his appointments
5. keep track of everything.
6. etc.....

If believing that our society would be a better one if we had a higher percentage people with Aspergers Syndrome makes me, as you call it, an Autisnob, then I guess I'll just have to live with that. I prefer the term Counter-Neurelitist, to borrow a term coined by Dr. Mark A. Foster (Professor of Sociology and Aspergian, as he says).




If we are to speak in terms of I.Q., Aspies tend to have "normal to high intelligence". However, this is a calculated average of points scored in various areas. The deal for an Aspie is usually to be "black or white"; to either score very high or very low in the various areas. I believe this setup, coupled with the Aspie tendency for having "special interests", makes for a potentially valuable specialist in his or her chosen field. And I believe the future belongs to specialists.




I'm currently unemployed and on a sort of welfare (it's actually insurance money, but I digress) and I hate every minute of it. I believe in earning my pay. However, problems with my back makes me unfit for any heavy manual labour for extended time, and my disability-type contact person at the employment office can't seem to understand the difference between tasks that might appear menial (translating, proof-reading texts and similar) that can actually be quite stimulating for me, as opposed to tasks that are just genuinely menial (cutting veggies, washing cars) that bores me to physical illness. This coupled with that my town isnt huge, and I have limited ability for transportation, makes finding a job hard for me. With all of these things standing in my way, and me actually trying to find a job that might suit me, I feel that I can get away with welfare for at least some time.

As a sideote, it's perfectly possible that I'm superior in many ways, and still labeled as "disabled". For an example, I can read, write and speak better english now, at 20 years of age, than most swedish people learn to do in a lifetime!




I'm fairly certain this is actually fact, to a degree.




Naturally not an absolute, but I do think Aspies have a greater tendency towards creativity than NTs normally do. We tend to think in different ways, and are in general thought of as "originals" in ourselves. Alsom creativity has many faces. (I'm into a bit of creative writing, but suffer from writers block for having too many ideas, as opposed to none. I'd also love to play an instrument, if I wasnt tone deaf and lacked rhytm more or less completely )




I believe Aspies can better separate logical thought from emotion, to some extent. If my friend is jumped by a gang of guys, my first impulse is to jump in and fight them. But if I don't actually believe I can fight them off, cold reasoning says getting help would be more fruitful. I'm getting tired here, but I think you know what I'm getting at.




Now this is unfair. I've found myself doing this more than once, but then realized that NTs can't help who or how they are any more than I can. The true problem comes from society expecting uniformity, and labeling anything outside it as disabled. If the disability in question relates to the completion of any given task, I could understand it. But oftentimes the "problem" lies with interaction in the lunchroom and whatnot. And I can't bring myself to see that as a problem unless I am in fact harassing or disturbing anyone.

For the sake of what I'm talking about, that doesn't matter. What matters is that he does in fact hold a job -- he's not on public assistance. Lots of people hire assistants to help them do their job, or else companies hire assistants for other employees. He's only different in some of the sort of help he needs, not in the fact that he needs help to do his job.

You are making it sound very much as if, say, Harriet McBryde Johnson is not really able to successfully sustain a job as a lawyer, because she needs help with getting out of bed, dressing, bathing, using the restroom, etc. Which is just not true. She does her job, and she presumably gets assistance both from paralegals (standard kind of assistance) and from personal care assistants (non-standard kind of assistance, at least at the moment). She brings home a paycheck, she's still gainfully employed.

YES. I tend to only come to these forums occasionally now because I have to rein in my desire to post "YOU HAVE A NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER. YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THE [ahem] X-MEN!! !! !! !! !! !" obsessively. My wife stopped coming here because it was ticking her off so much.

This is a good topic.

I sometimes feel snobbish in real life yet I'm too shy/polite to express my complete thoughts. I think this is the case for most people here. We tend to b*tch about NT’s more here because we can’t in ordinary company. It's catharsis for us.

I don’t know if being a snob stems from a superiority complex as much as it stems from general feelings of alienation. We are often branded as inferior and disabled by the majority who often trivialize our special interests, talents, and abilities. It’s only natural to want to return the favor by looking down our noses at the people who would look down their noses at us.

I agree that being a complete a**hole misanthrope isn’t good. I don’t think most of us are like that in person though. At least I try hard not to be.

Yeah I sometimes actually wonder why some people who don't say a word against the usual order of things (autistic people as inferior to non-autistic people) flip out so badly when the same essential order of things is kept, but just flipped on its head (autistic people as superior to non-autistic people).

I mean, to me they look the same, it's the same structure, just a different set of people in each spot. I'd rather dispense with the structure altogether and say that there's no such thing as a group of people that's just inherently superior or inferior to others.

But for people who haven't thought that far yet, I really don't understand what's so earth-shattering about taking the exact same shape of things and plugging in different people. It starts seeming like the only thing many people are complaining about when it comes to autie-supremacists is that it's not non-autistic people on top anymore. Which is at least as bad as the autie-supremacy crap to begin with.

(I'm obviously not talking about people who really believe in equality and oppose both things on principle, but there's a lot of people I've seen who don't say a word when "autistic people as inferior to non-autistic people" ideas come up, but suddenly act like something horrid is happening when the reverse happens.)

anbuend,

It is like the computer wars. EVERY Computer company says they are better based on some criteria, and leaves out other criteria. The fact is that most are better in SOME way but worse in others.

SO, if it comes to social, sports, and certain other things, I am clearly not as good as the average male. In SOME areas, I am clearly BETTER!

I think people act arrogant here to emphasize the positives. My job was selected based on an interest, but my abilities were ALSO figured into it. My customers think I am fantastic and the best simply because, if they give me a chance, they see me at my best, and most others are far worse.

I'm not saying it is right, but only that it is no worse than the NTs that tend to say they are better on similarly filtered subjective criteria.

HECK, I was at one place where people acted like they thought I was practically deaf because I didn't seem to hear certain sounds. The TRUTH is that I heard many OTHER sounds, and couldn't ascertain which one they wanted me to hear. As an example, one sound was cicadas(KNOWN for causing a racket). The wind and airconditioners were loud, and I just didn't know what they sounded like. Once I heard a broadcast where one was in an infested area, and one wasn't, I determined the sound, and picked IT out of the area. The OTHER was FAR less obvious, but similar. I DID hear that, but didn't know they heard it as well as they did.

I don't even know how I did on what was possibly my first hearing test. I remember hearing sounds they didn't even think were on the tape.

HECK, YOU are obviously FAR more intelligent than someone might think when they first see you.

The vast majority of asperger's issues comes with a lack of social skills, and therefore I find it almost impossible to build friendships with NT people.

It's not that I, or perhaps other people on this forum, blame all our problems on them. It's just incredibly difficult to get along with them.

Felt like adding my 2 cents.

Maybe not you-- but I've seen some real jack-ass level statements made by others.

To be fair, a lot of this is NOT Aspie-specific. I know black people who think that a black person is automatically superior. I know gay people who think anything heterosexual is disgusting and shouldn't be allowed. I know Pagans who think that "Freedom of Religion" applies only to Non-Christians. Not only are they all full of crap, but their peers do themselves a disservice by putting up with it.

I'm just thrilled I'm not the only one who's had enough of it.

I am not sure its down to snobbery but more about logic and truth. It might not be true of all aspies but there is a tendency for us to point out things we think are incorrect as in we think they are a lie or are incorrect and it may be that we have a certain logic that comes across as snobbery. An observation is made (which may or may not be accurate) and being prone to saying exactly what is on our mind at any given moment, we say it.

Its intention that we might question here not so much as what is apparently observed and said.

I am definitely NOT an autisnob! I have some strengths, but also some embarrassing weaknesses. I live in fear of doing some clumsy or stupid nearly all the time.

You got me on that one. When I look back at some of the posts I made, I have made some prejudice remarks on NT's but it is the inner feeling I get after being treated as a disabled person saying "I am always taking this, I should give some back"

I know that eye for a eye dosn't always work, but sometimes I just can't help it.

I never believed all AS people were smarter than people with general Austim. My younger cusion has it and he is 10x smarter than I am. He's learning the same stuff I am learning from my freshman year to now and he understands it even better than I do. I know from personal experince all that stuff is just sterotyping.

Amen. You cannot blame NTs for everything wrong with your life!! The majority of people ARE NT and the vast majority are lovely people. And to be honest, if you were to blame all your problems on me because of who I am (NT in this example), then I'd be a lot less likely to help or try to understand you and more inclined to continue that 'bullying' anyway. It's like them blaming all their problems on you for being autistic - illogical.

I agree with the OP and with anbuend in the breakdown of it; there's too much snobbery on here towards NTs and towards people with different opinions than the norm (on so-called 'conspiracy theories' and on treatments for those who want them). It's tiresome and annoying.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I could not have said this better and I agree with the OP and dig the way Anbuend spells it out.

Overall, there are some really cool parents and Aspies here. But, I was taken aback when I first joined by the minority's snobbery, superiority, attack and hate threads against other people and groups, some of which are in the Autism community. That made no sense to me. But, that's their cross to carry. That's how I see it. It's their life to live, their issue to deal with.

I am raising a kid who lives in an NT world as an Autistic. He will have enough challenges as it is. The last thing he'll need is a chip on his shoulder and an ax to grind. I want him to be able to make it in this life without feeling the need to be superior or discrminatory. If he hates NTs, then he'll be hating his entire family and most of those who love and care for him. Plus, I don't see people who feel they're superior as "healthy" people. I don't think they're psychologically, socially or emotionally healthy. Whether it's about disability, race, or religious, I've always felt that people who need to feel like they're superior to others carry some kind of complex. I'm raising my kids to be proud and always have their heads up. But, that doesn't mean they have to be snobbish about it.

A disability or lack thereof does not make one human "superior" to another and I feel that attitude gives the Wrong impression to young/teenage Aspies looking to older, adult Aspies on WP for answers.

I have to say that you write VERY well for someone with a 9-18 IQ! 9*11(10 times smarter)=99(low average), 18*11=198(VERY HIGH GENIUS)

BTW I hope you see what I mean, and take it as the intended joke.