Then or Now

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Would it have been easier to be an Aspie fifty years ago or today? I need reasons people!

No.

I was 3 years old 50 years ago. Today, there would be a very good chance that screening would have found this and adaptions could have been learned. Back then, no such luck. I was on my own, hyperlexic, "genius' intelligence, and a life of continuous, maddening frustration.

No, there was no Wrong Planet 50 years ago

Things are easier now. We have WP and children are also seen in a more positive light now than they were 50 years ago.

Harder. Fifty years ago you would have been considered either ret*d or nutsy fagin. Now our condition has official medical sanction and a special name.

ruveyn

50 years ago the world was a very different place (speaking only for the US). All people of all types were made to conform to one thought process by violence if necessary. EVERYTHING was prescribed, strict, and regulated. Differences and non-conformity were met with harsh discipline. Even your clothing was prescribed. It has only been 40 years that girls were allowed to even wear pants to school (yes we wore dresses with bare legs walking to school in the snow, or we were allowed to wear pants under them and take them off when we got to school.). It has only been 35 years since the women's movement. 50 years ago, Martin Luther King had just begun his fight on racism. Between women and minorities, more than half of the population was oppressed. Prejudice of every kind was accepted then. Being different in any way was seen as a character flaw. Special Education did not exist. Definitely easier IMHO to be an Aspie for today's kids and although you may not feel accepted yet, at least you aren't being beaten for being "a bad apple". Only one aspect was easier 50 years ago. It was clearer what was expected of you. Today, I think it is harder to determine what is "acceptable" behavior in any given situation and it's more confusing.

Why?