Why dont people understand autism?

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hi all,

i just want to now why people just dont understand autism,

People dont understand that i do things the same way all the times or i do things in little steps,

my boyfriend dont understand at all, i love playing some of the cds and he dont understand if it charged it can upset me

take care

cazzie

It's only recently been in the spotlight. Give it time, I say.

Maybe because their normal.

Not sure exactly. Sorry.

people mostly nt people don't understand autism, the same way people don't understand mental retardation that the kids with it can learn but some things it takes them longer, same way they don't understand neurofibromatoisis they believe if you don't look like ( forgive me i don't know his real name) elephant man then you don't have it. the same way the don't understand a child could be non verbal in still smart. the same way they don't understand almost anything about emotional disturbance, they are losers.

Good one!

Maybe they don't want to.

I get the impression that normal people do not even understand what it's like to be themselves, so it's not so surprising that they do not understand people who think differently as in the case of Autism.

I understand that in autism people are typical more introspective and therefore think a great deal harder about themselves than is usual. If NT people know about autism at all they see it as a disability and the reason for mental impairment rather than (perhaps) simply a different way of thinking. The only time Autism is seen to give an advantage is in respect of NFA/Aspergers as there their is assumption of superior intellect.

All that said there have been many medical advancement into the study of autism and I am certain that prejudices are much less than when I was a child. I know that as a child being told that you were autistic was about the worse playground insult. I do think people are a little kinder today.

Well, most of the time, I don't understand NTs at all, so I quite understand if it's mutual.

because you can't see it? Many NTs appear to think that illnesses you can't see or can't see the effects of it in litterlas sense, it doesn't excist.

Stupid, yes
annoying, yes
...

Most people do not understand conditions from which they do not suffer.

ruveyn

They have no experience of it, so they can never understand it. Education about autism is the way forward, because it can help people become more accepting, but I don't think NTs will ever truly understand us.

Maybe they have a lack of empathy and imagination.

.

Yes, I wonder? perfectly possible, yet ironic too seeing as how these are said to be the very qualities exhibited in autism!

Maybe we express ourselves in a different manner, and therefore they misiterprete us. If we express our empathy in a different way that they don't recognize, they think it's not there and that our lack of understanding is even worse than theirs.

And maybe they misunderstand themselves and think that they DO have an imagination, which is, considering my overall experience with NT's, wrong.

The human mind is a strange thing.

I am NT and think this statement is the best explanation. I have spent many years trying to understand my autistic daughter. I understand her far better now than I did when she was a toddler. Or at least I often think I do. But my understanding is limited mostly to being able to predict with about 80% accuracy how she will react to a certain situation and being able to guess with similar accuracy how best to accomodate for her and communicate with her. Education about autism for me has led to acceptance and to a more accurate educated guessing about what I should do and say, but it can't ever lead to true understanding. Because her wiring is so entirely different from mine.


So education is extremely important and is the key to acceptance but actual understanding is downright impossible. I can no more fully understand autism than I can fully understand schizophrenia or any other wiring significantly different from my own.

It's human nature to relate best to those like yourself. Sadly, this is what leads to teasing, bullying, racism, race/religion/sexism, and things like that. Good people will empathize and will accept/welcome others who may be different. Not-so-good people will just be bullheaded and not accept. In the business world, you have to deal with all kinds of people with all kinds of attitudes, which is very hard for us with Asperger's or Autism.

People don't necessarily need to fully understand us... They just need to accept us, and allow us to explain to them what we're about. If they're open to accepting, that's as good as understanding, for the purposes of trust and friendship, I think.

Charles

The way I see it is that autism/aspergers is a different way of thinking, seeing and experiencing everything. Even people with better empathy than us (NTs) can't imagine what that would be like. I never realized that I had a different way of thinking/a different experience of emotions until my psychologist explained it one day.

Plus, there isn't much education about it. The small amount there is seems to either be about low to moderate function autism or just isn't accurate.