Want to meet my Tourette's neighbour. How do I do this?

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Alphabetania
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22 May 2009, 3:17 pm

I recently noticed that one of the guys whose window faces mine has what looks like Tourette's Syndrome. His curtains were open and I could see that his flapping and scratching were quite involuntary and that he contained himself to some extent when his faltmates came in. I also noticed this on another occasion.

The flat is shared by a group of male students, two or three of them.

I'd like to meet him because I think we may have something in common. I am an Aspie and I'd be keen to socialise with neighbours who have a similar neurotype to my own.

Niow, if this were some hobby we had in common, I would simply go over to their flat and say, "Hello, I noticed that you have a chess set on your desk. Would you like to play sometime?"
But I don't know how to start a conversation with a stranger around Tourette's without even knowing his name.

I imagine this:
Knock-knock.
Me: "Hello, is the Tourette's guy here?"
Dude: "The what?"
Me: "The guy who flaps."
Dude: "Oh. Yes. Jake! Someone is looking for you."
Tourette's guy: "Uh, hello?"
Me: "Ummmm..."
OK, what do I say then, especially if his flatmate is still there?


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normally_impaired
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22 May 2009, 3:49 pm

Better idea, go over there and don't reference the fact that he has tourette's, just go over and say "hi, I'm your next door neighbor".

I personally have Tourette's, and if someone came to my front door and said "hey, is the tourette's guy here" I'd probably either slam the door in their face or punch them in the face.

How would you like it if someone came to your front door and said "hey, is the Autism guy here?"



Alphabetania
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22 May 2009, 5:00 pm

Teehee! I would say, "I live alone and I haven't harboured any male fugitives lately."

But the hello-I-am-your-neighbour thing wouldn't work. These guys don't live next door. Their windows face mine, and to get to their part of the building, I have to cross the foot-bridge... hey, wait. You gave me an idea. I once went over there to ask them what music they were playing, because I liked it and I wanted the name of the song. And I would actually like to share more music with them, because I think we have an overlap in taste. I think I can take that angle...


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jemir1234
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22 May 2009, 5:07 pm

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt99518.html

hey man how does it feel to have tourette's. and go look at my post i've posted the URL is right there. tell us more.



normally_impaired
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22 May 2009, 7:04 pm

It's annoying as hell, but you get used to it after a while. 20/20 did an episode on Tourette's a few years ago, I wasn't that impressed, the episode barely mentioned the lives of kids with Tourette's, it primarily focused on how annoying it is to those who live with kids who have Tourette's. Do you know if that's a new episode, or if it's a rerun of the original one?



jemir1234
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22 May 2009, 9:44 pm

Probably a rerun.....I mean, yeah, they didnt go too deeply into the individual. I hate TV, they did autism on 20/20 like 4 years ago, and they try to make us seem like so weird creatures 'What do you see when you see an autistic face?" and then there was this guy on there who had it, and he coundt tale between abstract things like hot ovens and stuff like that. They were talking about people with low functioning autism, and people act like thats the only kind of autism. They never talk about Asperger's syndrome. I have to say that low functioning autism is not easy, but what about having a form where you seem so normal but then again you are the weirdest thing on the face of the earth.

Autism is not always mental retardation, hand flapping, speech impairment, and obsession with trains. IDk where people get trains from anyways. Its stupid. if people knew more about aspergers then maybe we wouldnt seem so weird. BTW are there anyone on here who has Kanner's autism?



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23 May 2009, 5:54 pm

At least the guy was an adult, usually you only see them refer to children with Autism, in fact, I've seen plenty of TV shows on Autism (Oprah for example) that refer to Autism as a "Children's Disease". I don't watch Oprah, I didn't find out about that until one day when I had someone tell me that I can't have Autism and be an adult at the same time.



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25 May 2009, 5:39 pm

I got to meet my neighbour in the end. His window has a better view of the flat below mine, which is occupied by drug merchants and burglars. I went over to ask him whether he had seen or heard what they were doing at a certain time when there was a commotion in the building (after they'd broken in somewhere for the umpteenth time, and were chased by other residents), but I think he had his mind of his cute girlfriend, his computer and his music at that time! At least I learned his name.


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Hashberry
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05 Jun 2009, 5:18 pm

Id advise you to put a disclaimer in there such as "hi im your neighbour and couldnt help but notice - not that im a peeping tom etc".