whats up with all this NT/aspie stuff

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it seems to me that a lot of ppl here put folks inn to groups as they either NTs or aspies

like aspies are some kinda alien. and is incapabel of liveing with NTs.

it seems to me like some folks here like to think they are better then the rest of humanity cause they are aspies or that there is some insormountebal diffrense between folks that are aspies and folks that are not.

i mean i realize that my diagnosis makes me wierd inn some ways and causes me to have problems with things that most folks dont have to struggel with. but i dont know it seems abit extrem to separate aspies from the rest of humanity, i mean i dont think we are that diffrent.

Well, this site IS called "Wrong planet", no?

I see what you're saying, but I wouldn't go as far as to claim aspies here believe they're "better" than NT's. On the contrary, I'm sure a fair share has had struggles with feelings of inferiority due to not fitting in well enough.

The way I see it, "us vs. them" is a perfectly normal train of thought in a community...it's the essence of a community and you'll see it in communities across the web and across real life. Every community with a central theme has this "us and the rest of the world"-spirit, be it a forum for aspies, a forum for White Sox fans or a forum for Half Life 2-fanboyz.

It's true that as human beings we're technically all-for-one and one-for-all, but in the profile information thing it's just another way for people to say where they fall in the spectrum, if at all. In a site about Asperger's syndrome, people are going to want to know whether or not other users have Asperger's or not. That's common sense.

Man, this makes me want to create a "misdiagnosed" option for that mandatory bit of profile info.

EDIT: Yeah, what s/he said up there. ^

i think you misunderstand me a littel.

i am not saying all aspies think they are better then oter folks, but inn my experiense some do, and i feel that separating it inn to aspies and non aspies is giveing ouer diagnosis to much power.

i mean i dont think of my self pirmeraly as an aspie, like ouer diagnosis is not ouer identity.

and i fully understand that it is usefull to have ppl tell were the are on the spectrum inn there profile. i`m talking more like how ppl chat inn the forums.

like aspies are like that/nts are like that.

I completely agree with you. There's a lot of people here who take it way too far.

I find that the term NT is a useful terminology when trying to explain things.
I try not to intentionally badmouth people who are not on the autistic spectrum, but being able to use the term NT (to describe a person who does not have AS issues) is helpful when explaining stuff.....

There IS a difference...otherwise there would be no um....howyousay......diagnoses/lables/forums for people with neurological issues etc...

I spent most of my life feeling like something was wrong with me, but not knowing what it was....being frequently misunderstood....overwhealmed by society....feeling like everyone around me was in on something that I was not aware of..with no way of figuring out what it was.....feeling abnormally oversensitive to things that did not seem to affect the others around me in the same way...etc..etc..

I use the term NT I guess basicly to describe people who seem to have had no problems adapting to um....those conventions of humanity that I seem to have difficulties with.

so..I think that since this a forum for people with similar issues with socializing and whatnot....the differentiation is kinda....natural..

I don't think of myself as better than NT's in any way (I don't have any special powers or natural advantages that they lack); in my view, the only thing that can really be stated with any amount of certainty is: I'm something very different from them, and that's a reality that I cannot wish away.

NT/AS categorization is simply an inescapable fact of life for me.

there are always going to be some people who are radicals. Tis a fact of life. Most of the time their (the radicals) arguments are so hopelessly flawed that most will remain unlikely to gain any real influence (and if they do, I'm prepared to smash them to bits ) ...


Otherwise, I think the reason they put a distinction (however laughable it is) is probably so that they could identify with each other, since most don't really feel they belong anywhere else...

Last edited by RadiantAspie on 15 Oct 2007, 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It could be that some folks are just happy to find a group that are like themselves, they are spreading their wings for once. Some of us which are more moderate functioning (odd behaviors which are more apparent) have been alienated from 'normal' people all our lives. The alienators train you to feel separated in a sense. Learned behavior (as the therapists like to say).

Agreed. Some people on here definitely think Aspies are better than NTs. Smarter, more logical, less arrogant (ha! see previous), and capable of creating a better world than NTs.

Some people use the superiority claim to help their self-esteem, I guess. There's a dead forum on delphiforums dedicated to Aspie superiority. It's a silly idea. People in pain need a better way to deal with it than that.

The AS/NT difference isn't that big but the effects are. Communication issues are the main problem, and that takes time to work out. Hopefully schools will begin to address this by helping AS/HFA students work on communication skills. They aren't there, yet. In fact, I see posts on other forums from parents who have to fight the schools to get their kids what they need.

BTW there's a group between AS and NT called NQ. They have some autistic traits, but not enough for a diagnosis. Well it IS a spectrum.

What does NQ stand for? Neurotypical, with qualifications? Not quite? Neuro-qurious? (okay, the last was a stretch)

It's an informal term, neuro-questionable. You weren't far off.

As a child I was brought up to believe that I was superior to others because I had a very high IQ & I did not "waste my time" being social.

I had no idea about aspies or NT's, I was just taught that "other people" in general were my inferiors and that therefore I should not care when they excluded me from their activities - I was above all that anyway.

Now I understand things better I know that I am not superior, just different. But having this belief in my childhood protected me from the worst effects of low self-esteem. (Although when I did find out the truth it was extremely traumatic & I had to have therapy!)

I don't know if I am one of the people whose posts you are objecting to - but when I talk about "NT's" you need to remember that I am not usually referring to them as individual human beings, but as a group, from which I am excluded.

The "group" issue is the whole crux of the division between aspies & NT's - we perceive ourselves as individuals first & foremost, while an NT seems to put their priority on finding a group to be a part of.

>>>>>>Some people use the superiority claim to help their self-esteem, I guess. There's a dead forum on delphiforums dedicated to Aspie superiority. It's a silly idea. People in pain need a better way to deal with it than that.

So what is wrong with using superiority to help ones self esteem? There are always people in the world who will try to put you down and crush you to achieve their own ends. As long as you are also aware of your weaknesses, I don't see why one should not revel in the selfish egotism, as it most certainly provides excellent emotional protection against those sort of people.

Well, we are better in some ways, and it is more a matter of fact than it is something you boast about. Of course, being an Aspiie is a double-edged sword; it only matters whether or not you can deal with that. We might be more talented at particular things (and that probably makes us all eccentric geeks; so deal with it), but we don't interact as well with people who aren't Aspies--which is probably what causes us to group ourselves as such--since we can't communicate with NTs, and find it easier to communicate with Aspies, we would obviously choose the easier path--sticking with Aspies. In a nutshell, you may be proud of being an Aspie because of your talents, but don't let it go to your head too much if other people don't get your talents. It may be that you don't mean to share your talents because you have the talents because you enjoy them, and don't need to share them with others--which means you have no reason to boast about it.