do you feel like a second class citizen (USA Thread)
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 36,329
Location: Long Island, New York
Yes, we are second-class citizens in that autism disqualifies you from the military, my "personality" has disqualified me from most jobs. Not being recognized for who I am until was in my 50s because people just did not know, and since I now know continually reading about who I am is a "fake disease" or a fad to seem cool.
That all said I try and strike a balance between not being a naive optimist, and having a victim mentality. This is often hard.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
That all said I try and strike a balance between not being a naive optimist, and having a victim mentality. This is often hard.
is it truly a victim mentality though , that's like saying Blacks who live in the inner city ghetto have a "victim mentality"
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 36,329
Location: Long Island, New York
That all said I try and strike a balance between not being a naive optimist, and having a victim mentality. This is often hard.
is it truly a victim mentality though , that's like saying Blacks who live in the inner city ghetto have a "victim mentality"
Yes it is when you assume everything that went wrong in your life is the result of discrimination of some sort. A lot of it often is, all of it never is. Victim mentality leads to hopelessnesses. Being a minority means your odds of success are lower, and you have to work much harder to obtain it. Giving up means zero chance of success. I am not at all advocating “if you just try hard enough, you can do anything”, that is denial that will eventually sabotage you.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
I'm probably squarely in the camp of the "second-class" citizen. I am sometimes treated in a condescending way. Sometimes, it gets me upset; other times, I just slough it off.
I only have maybe 30 more years to live. I'd rather think of attaining pleasure for myself than to harp all the time about how people treat me.
I have mixed feelings, as a noticeably ND person (I prefer that, I would get offended if someone called my autistic man or just man in general as I just don't identify with either as much as my body doesn't care to an extent). Yes I can in fact go anywhere in public, I have rights but discrimination effects every area of my life and it's not always to do with the law or rights though I have had a handful of law enforcement discrimination too for just not being how they expect me to be. But when you can't completely control your body or presentation and it's different than what people expect many people automatically dehumanize you in their eyes. Many people talk about me behind my back, call me weird, but no one ever actually asks me anything about myself. Everything is just assume, exclude, and deny. It's bad enough I'm limited by the way the world around me is arranged but I also have less chances due to peoples split second judgements. It's like a hidden system of unspoken rights being taken away. The world is very cold to me.
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