Having Non-Aspergers Friends

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It was good that my friend read about Aspergers online & in a book, but the people who wrote books & articles online don’t know what goes inside people’s brains & how they feel. Aspergers people are mentally challenged, they struggle with life everyday. My friend told me I should be thankful for not being worse, it’s true, sorta I guess, there are alot of people that are more worse like people in wheelchairs that can’t use their arms or talk very good & can’t feed themselves, but they can handle things better than me, they are in good spirits about things. I don’t feel thankful, I don’t feel the same about life like other people that don’t have Aspergers, I don’t love myself, I can’t wait until my life is over. Maybe I should be thankful, I don’t know. Why is it HARD to talk to people that don’t have Aspergers?

It's not because there is a problem, but that we need to pace, balance, structure, and organize ourselves for the world.

I've recently gotten acquainted with someone who's familiar with AS - mostly through her own acquaintances - and seems to have a good understanding of it. She's pretty much the only person (next to my BFF anyway) to whom I've actually opened up about my AS, let alone within two months of knowing her.

From an AS perspective, talking to NTs in general is a challenge of its own, not to mention opening up about your issues. But there are people worse off than us.

I do not recommend this.

What your friend told you was *probably* well intentioned, but it was also dismissive. NT people bring up physically disabled people, or autistics who are non verbal or need daily support as people that "have it worse" to make it seem like Aspies and highly verbal autistics have nothing to complain about/just want attention/etc. Social challenges are REAL challenges, because the job market is increasingly leaning towards socially adept candidates instead of technically qualified ones. Its also hard to get through life with no friends or social support from others. Most of what humans do requires the help of other people. Because NTs have these skills innately, they are not able to comprehend not having social skills, or what is so hard about "just talking to people".

I would say be very careful around NTs and what you say to them.