Seeing other people as "weird" and only yourself a

Post Reply New Topic

Have you ever done that? I see many people with AS after receiving the diagnosis saying something like "I've always known I was the weird one...", but I can't actually relate to that. I've always thought I was the normal one, and that all the others were weird. Even after my mother told me I had been diagnosed with AS, I've continued thinking like that. I even used to say to my classmates during middle school that they were all weird because they were so confusing and I was the only normal one, though they laughed and they said it was actually the opposite. Am I the only one doing that, or there are other people who do that? Or maybe, it's just that my self-awareness sucks? And, for those who were able to realize they were "weird" and/or "different", how could you be able to realize that?

I find any of the typical people to be way out there while I seem to be one of the sane ones.

Opposite.

I always thought of myself as 'broken' or 'defective' in some way until my mid-thirties, and this image has not entirely gone away.

Since 'normal' typically refers to the majority and their basic behavior I can't see it as me having been the normal one and everyone else being weird. How could one person be the only normal one and everyone else be weird...it would make sense the one that does not fit in is the weird one in the group. So yeah I more just always thought I was the weird one.

You're not the only one. I think NTs are weird too, and although I've always felt different, been treated as different and told I'm the "difficult" one, I think I am honest and straight and therefore I am the way people should be. To me the unfathomable games NTs play are weird, mean and nasty people are weird too, and a lot of the rules adhered to by NTs are weird and are for weird people.

Pretty much this, yeah. But, by my mid thirties I began to realize that almost everyone is at least a little screwed up, and a lot more so than I used to believe so I no longer view anybody with the envy I once did.

I have had come to this realization myself; after working with other geeks for about a year I realize there are other people who are somewhat weird socially. Most of the people are bad at explaining things, and some just speak a bit weirdly. I still see myself as the oddest one, but I start to see that other people also have their odd sides. But seeing as most of them are programmers and quite geeky, it's no wonder so many of them are at least a little bit weird.

I've always viewed myself as the ''odd one out'', because I went to mainstream school, and I was the only one out of my class (and year group) who was on the spectrum, and I never got to have any descent friendships and I often felt left out. I used to look around at the other kids and think ''they're all normal and I'm the one lumbered with this AS s**t that is making me feel so left out. It isn't fair! Why me?''

But I do know of an Autistic woman who has quite high self-esteem. Well, she has a bit of both really; she lacks self-esteem in some situations but is confident about herself in other situations. She is quite hard to figure out but I find her very unique and fascinating. She does have a ''Me Vs Other People'' attitude. She doesn't think she's better than everyone else. She just thinks that everyone else (except her husband, who loves her and understands her more than her own mother did) are weird. That is quite a good way to look at life when you're Autistic really.

Yeah, I've always though of myself as "normal and superior" to everyone else as I had better academic learning capabilities on par with teachers, it was not until a teacher figured out that wasn't a "usual" perception on things, thus an eventual diagnosis.

This. Totally.

The more I realized I was different, the more I thought I was broken, stupid, weird, etc. It's still a daily battle for me.

I envy the OP. I wish I could think like that. I've always felt weird and others always confirmed that by their actions. Even before I heard about AS for the first time in my life, which was very recently, I had always known that I was weird/different, which resulted in my very low self-esteem. Knowing about AS has given me some relief in that it explains why I am so different from the others. So, I think the OP doesn't need to try to think she's the weird one. Just let the others be weird. I think you are a lot happier that way.

I liked animals a lot, as a kid. Still do. My worldview sort of developed around my understanding of different breeds of animals. Sort of in the same way a siamese cat is different than a domestic shorthair. Not better or worse or normal or weird. Just different. I still feel this way even after all the testing and diagnoses.

edit--- I will say, though, that there have been many periods in my life where I felt like other people were alien to me. There is a disconnect there. NT people seem to be able to relate to each other in a way that I cannot. And yes, knowing and observing that in others has sometimes made me feel ostracized.

I didn't think they were weird, just different, and I didn't understand why they always thought there was something wrong with me.

I used to tell my mother that I was one of the few sane persons on Earth, and that I was surrounded by psychos eberrywhere, but she didn't believe me.

Yes. As a kid I generally thought I was normal and others were strange and 'not doing things right' or 'acting strange'. I didn't think of myself as the odd one til I was in my twenties which lead to a diagnosis eventually.