What makes it harder for us?

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Here is some info I found from an article

"The neurodivetsity perspective contends that living in a society designed for non autistic people contributes to and excacerbates many of the daily living challenges that autistic people experience. This parrallels the adversity that the left handed population encountered decades ago when few tools were designed for left-handed persons and most attitudes favored right-handedness as inherently superior."


So what things in society do you think makes life harder for us?

The shift from a manufacturing to a customer-service based job market for one. Also, florescent lights, booming sound systems and other sensory overload inducing structures in public buildings.
The overall cultural attitude is quite exclusionary. For example, I only lasted one semester at a public university because the neurotypicals had loud, drunken revelries every weekend and I was considered boring because I find those to be pure torture. I was further ridiculed for needing at least ten hours of sleep every night

Yeah its bad luck that most jobs these days require having to deal with the public

When you have aspergers you don't have a pack mentality the way neurotypicals do.

This will get you in trouble socially because you are not as willing to put up with being "bullied into obedience" by those above you in the social hierarchy the way neurotypical people are. At least you are less likely to accept and being content with that happening to you. So you will get excluded from those social groups because you threaten the (for neurotypicals) social structure as a result of not comforming to the socially expected behaviour. You will be perceived as too unpredictable.

This may be problematic for you when it comes to finding a job, a boy-/girlfriend, friends, etc. Basically all things that are important for your well being (because asperger people are actually social people, they need company, but not in the way neurotypical people do, which is based on pack mentality. Besides, everybody needs to earn an income in some way).

It's difficult to overestimate the importance of social competence. People would often rather have a coworker lacking working skills but whom they like, than a coworker who is great at what they do at work, but who they don't get along with.

Since the vast majority of the population is neurotypical Asperger Syndrome does not just become a minor social issue, but actually becomes a severe handicap. Think of a cat trying to fit into a kennel of dogs. Nothing wrong with being a dog, nor a cat, but the different mentality will lead to substantial problems for the cat because it is hugely outnumbered.

Last edited by qawer on 10 May 2013, 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So like left handed people what tools could help us get through life?

God help us from "good meaning friends" who think that they can help us by some kind of behavior modification (if they treat us how they believe we are intentionally treating others--their thought that we are doing it intentionally--as if it will HELP us to change.) Change WHAT?

I put the following in my "Pesky NT's...." thread but I like it so much, I'm going to repeat it here:

Do you have a friend with the flu? Did they puke? Are you now going to puke to show them how unpleasant for everyone else that is? I don't think so!

This is one of the things that frustrates me the most and is probably the thing that will hold me back the most in life. I am terrible at "networking" and it's hard for me to imagine myself ever being any good at it. That means I will always be overlooked over for jobs, good schools (because they want "well rounded" students who are natural leaders and participate in various community activities), promotions, awards, etc, for the rest of my life just because I don't know how to navigate and exploit social networks. It means I will have to work twice as hard for half the reward because my work and my merits will have to stand on their own. Meanwhile other people will get ahead by leveraging their relationships with people.

That in combination with what krazykat said are the two biggest obstacles that I see.

This is exactly what's happening to me at work. People try to see only my negatives because they don't like me. Others who are social defend/protect each other. If I do 10 good things and 1 bad thing, they will only pay attention to this 1 bad thing and disregard the 10 good things. Sounds like an exaggeration, but it's really not far-fetched. This "networking" thing seems like everything at work.

The OP did not provide a link to the orginial article, but it sounds like an ASAN quote.

The comparision is made to left handed individuals because it's the easiest and most useful comparision. They wer'nt saying that phyiscal tools themselves would be of assistance, they were talking about the absurd attacks on left handed people for years in the educational system (and many other places).

Right, but having those tools become more available certainly didn't hurt the situation for left handed people. It is still a worthwhile question to consider. In addition to changes in the cultural attitude, what other accommodations might help autistic people gain acceptance and succeed in life?

yes, in work those with social skills advance and those without are exploited

Ignorance
Stupidity
Heresay
The Media (as of late)
People in general
The Mob Mentality

I could probably name a few more but I think people get the idea.

Unless you fail so bad the employers don't even want to bother trying to exploit you...I've been in that position before.

Most everything we encounter in a social milieu.