Joe90 wrote:
I know this thread was posted in 2008, but I've been looking through WP to see which topic will suit with what I want to write, and this is relatively the closest I could find (and is rather interesting too).
People on the spectrum think that all NTs have exactly the right thing to say in any situation, and never feel awkward or confused, no matter who the individual is. This is quite wrong. Even the typical NT often reaches a point in their lives where they feel socially phobic in situations, and experiences problems in their social lives - and this doesn't just happen once either.
Last week at work I heard a group of NT telling eachother about how they don't always know what to say to someone who is feeling rather overwhelmed in a bad situation. My own mum is NT, and her best friend (who she's known since she was 4) has had her husband walk out on her and found out he had been having another affair with someone else behind her back, but my mum seems to be avoiding her lately because she says she doesn't quite know what to say to her. And I was like, ''but I thought that was just people like me who find it hard to know what to say to people in awkward situations?'' and my mum said, ''it happens to people without Autism, too.''
So I just think neurotypicals are a little like Aspies underneath, but just can know how to look beyond themselves and fit in with the social world more without struggling like Autistics do - although they can come to a situation they don't quite know what to do. Only with Autistics, coming to a situation where they don't know what to do is more frequent, and is ''normal'' for a person on the spectrum.
Besides, if you meet one NT, you haven't met them all. If NTs were all the same, this world would be very dull and boring.
I understand the angle that this type of reasoning comes from, but I think it is flawed.The situation with your mother and her friend is difficult for everyone involved because it is highly personal, severity emotional, and a total life-changing event.
When it comes to issues of Autism, Anxiety, Phobias, etc. we are talking about totally different type of problems. We're talking about common everyday things that affect the person afflicted in one way, but affect most other people a different way.
Do blind people need sunscreen? why?