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"What Makes us Human" - what do *you* think?

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Zeraeph
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19 Jun 2011, 9:18 am

This statement was made to, and about, Aspies in public recently, what do you make of it?

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What makes you human is the capacity to speak to other humans. To read their eyes, to read their faces, to read their minds, to communicate your feelings.

They can cut across people in conversation because they are not paying attention often to what other people are saying they are only interested in speaking about their own interests which they can go on at ad nauseam and they will talk forever about their special interest they are not aware that the other person is really existing so in treatment they have to be able to look at people's faces, look at their eyes, look at the reaction of otherpeople and they have to say to the...normally in conversation you say something, and then you stop and you allow the other person to say...and they have to practice this turn taking in conversation and particularly picking up the cues from the body language, the eyes and the face etc



aspie48
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19 Jun 2011, 9:25 am

please link this i want to go tell this person what i think of them. why should interacting with others determine whether u are human or not? having emotions and doing stuff makes you human. talking about things that are important to you is essential. small talk is a waste of time.



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19 Jun 2011, 9:43 am

This person is pretty silly...

If your a human... well your a human... :)

Ive never been a fan of these kind of philosophies... But i guess i do interpret them in black and white...


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LostAlien
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19 Jun 2011, 9:51 am

Zeraeph wrote:
This statement was made to, and about, Aspies in public recently, what do you make of it?

Quote:
What makes you human is the capacity to speak to other humans. To read their eyes, to read their faces, to read their minds, to communicate your feelings.

They can cut across people in conversation because they are not paying attention often to what other people are saying they are only interested in speaking about their own interests which they can go on at ad nauseam and they will talk forever about their special interest they are not aware that the other person is really existing so in treatment they have to be able to look at people's faces, look at their eyes, look at the reaction of otherpeople and they have to say to the...normally in conversation you say something, and then you stop and you allow the other person to say...and they have to practice this turn taking in conversation and particularly picking up the cues from the body language, the eyes and the face etc

This is strange to me. If I'm understanding this properly, the person is saying that lack of automatic social skills stops a person from being human.

NT babies start to learn social skills when their eyes properly focus as far as I know, so if I understand things correctly the person quoted just said no body is human (J/K in italics).

Seriously, is this person trying to say we're not human because we don't automatically know the social skills and have to learn them. That kind of viewpoint has been used to justify genocide and cruelty (not the lack of social skills but the "They can't do _________ so they're not human" or "They don't look like us, so they're not human" or "They do _____ and we don't, so they're not human" etc).


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sixis
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19 Jun 2011, 9:58 am

Our difficulties in communicating may be annoying to some, but to equate this to being inhuman is nonsense.

Unfortunately, following this statement were likely several others who jumped onto the bandwagon without giving it any real thought.



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19 Jun 2011, 9:58 am

The ability to think for ourselves makes us human.


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19 Jun 2011, 10:17 am

Zeraeph wrote:
This statement was made to, and about, Aspies in public recently, what do you make of it?

Quote:
What makes you human is the capacity to speak to other humans. To read their eyes, to read their faces, to read their minds, to communicate your feelings.

They can cut across people in conversation because they are not paying attention often to what other people are saying they are only interested in speaking about their own interests which they can go on at ad nauseam and they will talk forever about their special interest they are not aware that the other person is really existing so in treatment they have to be able to look at people's faces, look at their eyes, look at the reaction of otherpeople and they have to say to the...normally in conversation you say something, and then you stop and you allow the other person to say...and they have to practice this turn taking in conversation and particularly picking up the cues from the body language, the eyes and the face etc


Blind people are not human..?

I do not think people with Asperger behave the way it is portrayed here as well. I met various other aspies and I am certain they realized I existed, they were not going on about their special interests all the time...its a biased and negative view.



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19 Jun 2011, 10:27 am

Knowledge beyond simple mating and feeding.



LostAlien
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19 Jun 2011, 10:38 am

Jonsi wrote:
Knowledge beyond simple mating and feeding.

That definition would make my cat and dog human, They both respond to me with care regarding my emotional state, especially the dog (when I feel bad it's almost like he's superglued to me).

Truthfully, I don't know anything much apart from physical appearance that makes humans very different from other animals (that and the idea of sex for pleasure which humans share with dolphins).


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Jonsi
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19 Jun 2011, 10:40 am

LostAlien wrote:
Jonsi wrote:
Knowledge beyond simple mating and feeding.

That definition would make my cat and dog human, They both respond to me with care regarding my emotional state, especially the dog (when I feel bad it's almost like he's superglued to me).

Truthfully, I don't know anything much apart from physical appearance that makes humans very different from other animals (that and the idea of sex for pleasure which humans share with dolphins).

Irdk. I was just trying to think of something. :P

Really, I don't know. No one really knows to be quite honest. It's one of those questions that can never have a true answer.



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19 Jun 2011, 11:09 am

Zeraeph wrote:
This statement was made to, and about, Aspies in public recently, what do you make of it?

Quote:
What makes you human is the capacity to speak to other humans. To read their eyes, to read their faces, to read their minds, to communicate your feelings.

They can cut across people in conversation because they are not paying attention often to what other people are saying they are only interested in speaking about their own interests which they can go on at ad nauseam and they will talk forever about their special interest they are not aware that the other person is really existing so in treatment they have to be able to look at people's faces, look at their eyes, look at the reaction of otherpeople and they have to say to the...normally in conversation you say something, and then you stop and you allow the other person to say...and they have to practice this turn taking in conversation and particularly picking up the cues from the body language, the eyes and the face etc


This writer doesn#t think autistics are human?

wut


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19 Jun 2011, 11:10 am

What makes us human? Well that's simple: the right DNA.


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Zeraeph
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19 Jun 2011, 11:17 am

Let me give you a link to that statement (on a streamed recording of a radio broadcast). It is about two minutes into part two:
http://www.wix.com/giantleapproductions/step-4-giantleap-productions/the-misunderstood

What makes this quote particularly shocking is that the person speaking is, most definately ( I know him slightly) Professor Michael Fitzgerald, who, whatever impression he has left on the rest of the world, has been respected, trusted and revered as something akin to a saint in Ireland for many years by parents and adult Aspies alike.

We believed in him.

The radio program was made by a social group of Aspies who seem to have no self belief, whatsoever, between them, as is painfully obvious from the rest of the programme...

When they asked the one man that we all looked up to and trusted for an opinion to use, that is what he gave them.

It is one of the most chilling things I have ever heard in my life.

I have already written to Prof Fitzgerald challenging this and received no reply.



Zeraeph
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19 Jun 2011, 11:21 am

MONKEY wrote:
What makes us human? Well that's simple: the right DNA.


When I first heard this I decided that what makes us human is not how we appear, or even connect, on the outside, it most definitely resides in how we feel about other people inside, not just as they relate to us (in terms of our want, need, or use, for them) but also as they stand alone independent of us (in terms of their wellbeing and comfort).

But since discussing this with a few people I am more inclined to agree with you.



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19 Jun 2011, 11:29 am

MONKEY wrote:
What makes us human? Well that's simple: the right DNA.


Yes. Human is a species (Homo sapiens) that you are born into. If you are a member of this species, you are human. Behaviour has nothing to do with it.



Zeraeph
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19 Jun 2011, 11:33 am

LostAlien wrote:

Seriously, is this person trying to say we're not human because we don't automatically know the social skills and have to learn them. That kind of viewpoint has been used to justify genocide and cruelty (not the lack of social skills but the "They can't do _________ so they're not human" or "They don't look like us, so they're not human" or "They do _____ and we don't, so they're not human" etc).


This is exactly how it first struck me, but because of who it was, saying it, the cognitive dissonance nearly took my mind out.

My first instinct, because I know Prof, and because he was literally the only person I could go to for any kind of support whatever happened, was to feel ashamed and try and hide it and make excuses for it. I have found myself questioning everything I ever believed in (including, in dark moments, whether I qualify as human or not) since I heard it.