It's Time For an Alternative to "Fitting In"

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If you are someone that wants to fit into this world then I am not like you and I am not writing to you, and I respectfully request that you not respond to my post as it dilutes the subject matter for those of us who cannot "fit in" and see something beyond the dichotomy of "fitting in" or "not fitting in." I am not looking for anyone to share their personal stories of how they have successfully negotiated their environment. There is a forum index for personal stories called "Getting to know each other." I am looking for people who want to explore something out in front of us that isn't about us as individuals. I am looking for people who see that it's obvious that the neurotypical world is not working. I am looking for fellow autistics who recognize that we have a much higher purpose than fitting into said world. That we have to sacrifice our actual abilities in order to learn NT social cues and other such "skills." I am looking for people who recognize that this world is made for and by neurotypical humans, and that autistics have to dumb down and forsake who they are in order to find their place here. I am looking for people that realize that we on the spectrum have more to offer this world than our ability to fit into to it, as it is currently configured. I need help in creating a place where people like me can use our autistic intelligence so that at some point we can give that intelligence to the NT world because it needs us more than we need it. I am looking for people who can tell I am not talking about a world without NTs, nor am I talking about autistic separatism.

I'm not a big fan of Aspie separatism myself. I know a number of very kind neurotypicals, and a world of all autistics would have some serious problems.

svcruce...Welcome to WP.

You had me from the get-go...the topic heading...
Then I read your post...Whoa...I could have written that myself.. Well I could have if I weren't so verbose.

You nailed it.

Three years ago, I made the first friends I've ever made. I met them through the local AS support group. Then, I left NC and moved to OR. I'm going to go to a LOT more support groups here now (because they exist!) but also I am trying to experiment with interacting with NT's.

I'm not compromising who I am. I'm also not revealing my autism. I joined a writer's group and I am starting a drawing group. That's how I'm hoping to reach out and see if I can get along with NT's now.

About aspie separatism, I think that it will be impossible and unwise for us to try to create a aspie nation with no NTs. Part of the problem will be the question of "how aspie does someone need to be to become a member of the aspie nation". I think that some NTs like Tony Attwood and SBC might be welcome in an aspie nation (as long as they agree to be good lads).

I may have occasionaly indulged in a little aspie separatism by going for a walk for a few hours on my own but that is as far as separatism should go. I also once went on holiday for three weeks on my own and I spent most of the time doing solo sightseeing and walking, but I still had interactions with NTs each day when I bought my food from shops so I was not totally cut off from the NT world.

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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Hey whitetiger, Welcome to WP also.

svcruce, I cluttered up whitetiger's thread [putting the cart before the horse] with some ramblings about non-linear thinking which is something I suspect a lot of spectrumites [those on the autism spectrum] do naturally. Once the NT world gets wind of that, your theory that they need us more than we need them will be born out.

whitetiger, I don't have a problem with sequential stuff but I recognize that not thinking sequentially is probably more of a gift than a dysfunction..Will try to make this brief [brevity not being my strong suit]...I believe sequential thinking is akin to gravity...They both keep us grounded and at a slow vibrational frequency. Non-sequential or non-linear thinking has us defying gravity and accelerating our consciousness to light-speed [probably much faster]...In that state it is difficult for us to stay grounded in the ordinary social world of NTs. When autistic savants perform their amazing feats of multiplying, in their heads, one 10 digit number by another 10 digit number and they do so accurately in seconds...no one can explain how they do it.

It may be possible that such savants are accelerating their consciousness beyond the speed of light....tachyons here we come. Tachyons are sci-fi particles exceeding the speed of light [which we are taught to believe is totally impossible, and for very good reasons]...

My NT psychologist gave me the biggest piece of wisdom. It was this sentence that made me more comfortable with myself than anything anyone's said before.

"It's not that you don't fit into the world. This world doesn't fit you."

I've learned to (as the Bible would say) live in the world but not be of the world. I go to school. I have both NT and Aspie friends and both keep me grounded. I think I can offer the NT world a TON of myself.

We need water to survive...but too much water would kill us. Aspies need NTs and NTs need autistics. We just have to learn to respect each other and to work together. We don't do that nearly enough.

They may control the world, but I control my mind. My mouth, on the other hand...

Welcome

Forgive me for writing again, but I need help from someone or something. I am desperate. No one seems to hear me and i fear i have come to a forum made for people that are much higher functioning than I am. I don't know where there is or if there is a forum for people as low functioning as I. I am an odd case. I can do some things and some simple things i just can't do and I don't know why. When i say that an NT world needs autistic intelligence no one seems to hear me. All i get is advice about how nice NTs can be or stories about how some aspie managed to fit in. Or someone ASSUMING that I am an "aspie separatist." I'm not even an Aspie. I am not that high functioning!! !! !! !! ! I feel panicked. I cannot fit in. I am so desperate for someone to hear me and stop making up their own ideas as to what I have said. I can't work. i can't go to school. i can't participate in this world, but I CAN offer this world my form of intelligence. that's all i have. surely there is at least ONE more person out there like me! I'm so scared that there isn't. Unfortunately this world thinks it doesn't need my intelligence. No one gets what I mean when I say that Nts need autistics. Where do people get that I am an NT hater or that I am suggesting a world without NTs????? I see NTs as more important than any of these people posting that NTs can be "nice." These aspies are no different than my NT mother. It feels just as awful to hear them pretend to talk to me or think they are responding to what I said. Where do I find people like ME?! Someone please help!!

I for one support your idea svcruce. Those of us who are aspie, higher functioning, have a much easier time denying our nature and fitting into NT worlds. People like svcruce are much quicker to see the futility of such adaptations. Whether or not one can fit into the NT world is not the question. Even doing so successfully, we destroy a valuable and useful part of ourselves. We should not have to do that in order to fit in to the world around us.

Start a commune for like minded folks. I would join.

I dont want to fit in at all.