Inequality

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Why do so many peopel think that Aspies>NT? I know plenty of smart "NT" people, and plenty of them that are kind and generous to me and others. NTs have done good, so have Aspies, so have other autistics.

It sickens me that autistics think "We're better". We should be equal in rights, that's all there is to it.

Discuss. :p

I think the only thing people here have REALLY spoken against were:

1. Teaching methods.
2. Lack of reasonable accomodation.
3. Social assumptions.

ALL are valid complaints.

HECK, I thought I was basically a smart NT. OK, I ALWAYS knew I thought differently, etc....(So I guess I never thought I was typical at all) but I didn't know why. Still, I thought I was safe from being considered autistic because I didn't have a low IQ. NOW, I find that I fit the profile better than I thought, and the IQ is no longer a requirement.

Steve

Well, yes they are. BUt I hear more and more people saying "NTs ause me" and all. That's what I didn't like.

I have given this a lot of thought.I just recently learned about AS,so I have had a lot of misconceptions and am still processing a "belief system" around the NT AS relations.

I think the "better then" thought process is in part a compensatory one.When a person hears so many negative messages about themselves(through bullying,by teachers and parents),it can negatively effect the self-esteem.To balance out these negative messages and hold on to a positive image of self,a person may need to over compensate with positive messages.I can see this functioning in other minority and opppressed groups.Take for example the African American or gay communities.In an attempt to balance the scales of the negative messages of the previous decades...they developed
"pride parades" and "getting in touch with your ethnic pride".That seems fine until you notice that it hasnt really "caught on" with the dominate group.They are not buying it....so the next step is....we are not only as good as the dominate group,we are better.I think it is a process born out of continued exclusion from the dominate group....ie....if they cant except us then there is something wrong with them.

I have tended to over "idealize" a lot of ASpie traits....because ,I happen to share them.As far as I know,that is a pretty common problem among humans in general.I think most NT's would think their traits are better then ours.I dont think any one here actually believes that all AS people are better then all NT people.

My own personal opinion? I generally hold people with AS in a better esteem than NTs, generally.

It is not because I think there's really a genetic superiority (maybe we're better at some specialized tasks, but that's quite different)


The reason? Because of what we have to go through, we have a better appreciation for the battles other groups have to fight.

Are we all that respectful towards others? Oh god no. But, I think we are more genuinely accepting of the odd in general. Certainly to a much greater degree than NTs often are. No, we're just more genuine by in large.


But, I don't think we are Ubermenschen.

I agree that that the "Aspie > NT" mentality is overdoing it, but I suppose I can understand.

The fact of the matter is that we see things completely different from NTs, and there's a natural tendency to assume that the NTs are seeing it wrong. Some of the habits/foibles of NTs just seem positively stupid to us, and the stuff they say is wrong with us is-- in our opinion-- pretty silly in the big picture.

That being said, I don't think we're superior-- just different. Someone suggested in another thread that we would be better in charge than the NTs, and I think that's just silly.... I don't know about you, but I would end up being a very cruel authority.

The notion that we are superior is dangerous.

You've said all that I would have, but better. Thanks for saving me the trouble!

Hmm. Well, try being an NT married to an Aspie for a few days -- just a few days -- then we can talk about being "accepting of the odd." *grin*



Well, I don't know about the cruel part, but nothing would ever, EVER get done! Thought about, planned beautifully, designed in intricate schematic details, yes... but nothing would ever get moved off the drawing boards and into the real world. A society where the leaders, planners, thinkers, and People In Charge have AS would likely be a world where the NT's are drones... or worse.

So yeah. I'll go along with the "cruel authority" assessment, after all.

To be fair, honey, that one works both ways.

Because Aspies don't feel obligated to perform such socially constructed wastes of time as 'showering', or 'wearing deodorant', or 'brushing our teeth'.

that might be what you don't do Seignuer, but some of us, who run semi professional businesses, like to look good for the peps.

We'd never have to deal with complex methods of expression like 'jokes' either.

I agree Pyth, infact I already made a thread on this, and it was a lot less well received. A lot of the people in this community are very hateful towards NTs (and therefore humans in general). You can't entirely blame them. There are strong emotional reasons why some of them need to trash NTs. It's just a pity they haven't found how wonderful the right people can be, and how civil the right groups of people (eg, comp sci students in my experience) are.

That's not true. I have showers, but for some reason I keep getting arrested for them

Of course it does -- everybody is "odd" to someone, some of the time. My point was that if NT's were not good at accepting oddness, there would probably not be any NT/AS marriages. A relationship at that level requires give and take on both sides, of course, but there really is a lot of stuff that an NT wife, at least (since that's the only perspective I can comment on with any authority) has to deal with *specifically* as a result of AS tendencies in her husband. For instance, you and I have our own idiosyncrasies that the other has to accept and live with, but the AS stuff is a layer on top of your already rather unique individuality.

Of course, it's way more than worth it. Most days.

Actually, I love showers. But I can never remember to shave or brush my teeth.

And I make jokes all the time! Nobody else gets them.....



Yes, that's exactly where I was going with that.