Aspies For Freedom

*BZZT* Wrong!
I love what I'm good at.and getting a job doing it would make me happy. very happy.

ecstactic, infact (why oh WHY isnt my Firefox spellchecker working?).

i really couldnt give two smegs who i worked with,to be bluntly honest.

OH NOES,TEH BOOKZORS MADE ME AUTISM!!!1!

actually,i was quite late to read.but once i did take an interest...wee! LOTR at the grand ol' age o' nine.

I must agree with Batman.

i will simply not conform to what society expects of me,socially.

sure,I'll be polite,and i'll be offer my seat on the bus to the elderly etc, but i will not repress my stimming, manner of speech,or anything about myself to fit other peoples "comfort".

aye,but to throw your own sig at you (), it doesnt make you a good person either

It's worth noting that the author isn't trying to describe an ideal world, but the actual world. It's a wakeup call to parents and children, which in essence says: in this (actual) world, whether you like it or not, whether or not it's ideal or suboptimal, intelligence isn't gonna get you where you wanna go without some social skills in addition.

How can anyone disagree with the harsh reality of that?

Yeah, I've been thinking about doing that. It would so help me express my individuality and unique personality. Oh yes!

It should be completely voluntery (Damn this confounded lack of Spellchecking!).

if you force someone into a group activity, when they feel they could do it better or quicker, or even just prefer to do it on their own,then you are going to breed resentment at best.

Isn't teaching social skills to people like trying to "teach" people a higher IQ, actually?
I mean, even people with less than average IQ could try and pass as someone highly intelligent if they cram up things on their memory and learn to use them at the right times, even without processing the information. Also, when people get older, even if your IQ is not very high, you do get intelligent at what you do naturally usually, because you've done it so many times you don't even think anymore. So, aren't them both kind of similar?

If they are... I'm not sure I would want a lot of information I can't understand crammed up in my head to be called at times I can't understand, just memorize. It sounds like trying to turn my brain from a logical machine into a brute force one... Not nice.

Unless I'm wrong and someone can enlighten me?

Exactly. I know IQ alone isn't going to do it. Gee whiz, my IQ is far above average, don't they think I can figure that one out on my own?!? Of course, EQ alone isn't going to cut it either... how many *** CEOs are there out there? I really hate it when people are mean about EQ and the like... sure, they might do better on average in interacting with other people, but it's really not very nice and social to pick on others, whether those others have a high EQ or not. Just because their EQ is higher than mine doesn't mean they can bully me about my EQ.

Ok, first of all, I would just like to make it plain that even though its only in the past month/6 weeks I've realised and accepted that I am not a freak with strange thoughts, but an Aspie, I am a very proud Aspie. Yes, there are some times when I wish I could just be like everyone else, but I've been so used to feeling ostracised that now I'm happy to know I'm not the only one. The symptoms of my depression have alleviated because I know why I think and behave the way I do - so what if people have a problem with it? As I say to EVERYONE, this is MY life, I live it, no-one else. Or as Madonna says in "Human Nature" - "I'm not your ***/don't put your *** on me"

However...social skills are handy things for those of us who aren't in a situation that means our Aspieness is useful. There are plenty of NT people out there that have no social skills. And there are plenty of careers out there that give satisfaction without being in management. Personally, I think aspects of this article smack of jealousy - I am highly intelligent, I've always worked at a far more advanced pace than my peers. I was getting 4th year work to 'occupy' myself in 1st year, I was getting told I wrote at university level when I was in my last years of school-level education, I get told at undergrad level I write at postgrad level.

What did I sacrifice? Hmm, I sacrificed being a kid - I never went out with other children. Big deal - I wasn't interested and I found the playground the most horrific experience in primary (junior) school. I went to secondary (high) school and what did I sacrifice? Going out with friends who - lets face it - are fickle at that age, where popularity dictates everything, where I'd possibly have been more likely to get caught up in underage sex/drinking/drug experimentation? Oh I'm sorry, I've TOTALLY missed out! My parents were never up til 4am phoning around hospitals and police stations... I apologise for what this kind of mentality is effectively calling bad behaviour. What am I sacrificing at uni? Hangovers, waking up in a stranger's bed? Being gossiped about because I got drunk and made an idiot of myself?

Why should I have been forced to drop my own personality for others? Why don't they change for me then? Is either choice fair? Of course its not.

So I tried to fit in. I had sex even though I really wasn't interested or ready for it, I started drinking, I messed up my education, I had fairweather friends, even tried some drugs. What have I got to show for it? I developed depression because I was so desperately unhappy; spending yet another weekend in yet another sleazy club, pissing my money behind a bar, talking to women that had the kind of dull conversation and interests that made me want to remove my frontal lobes (no matter how much I drank - Aspies cannot grow vodka goggles), having meaningless sex (I remember being intimate with one woman and looking at her, thinking "I don't even like you"), pretending I liked it when sleazy 'friends' were trying to grope me - I even tried to become one of those same sleazy people. It took a lot of resolve to face up to the fact I wasn't living my life the way I wanted to be. I wasn't the person I knew I was inside - and that person inside was a bookworm and a computer geek who liked her own company, and was passionate about education. The only good thing about my past is that I can still knock drinks back like a sailor I'm learning more about myself everyday by letting the closeted AS kid out again in my own life. I think I owe her that, because she never done me any harm; it was the pressures around me that pushed me into a poor path. I'm accepting that I can't be anyone else bar me. And f*ck anyone who expects me to be.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones - I know I'll get a good job and I work in a field that supports 'eccentrics'. In my developing career I have the chance to change things in reality and influence others. I can express myself well through writing; my command of the English language has been developed and honed since I was 2. So I have got by, am getting by and will continually get by on my high IQ However I feel obliged to write for those who don't have that position. I don't agree with trying to make AS kids integrate - I believe it is far better to work with the individual child (or adult) and offer them constructive advice that doesn't mean they have to sacrifice their own personality. However I have to point out that NT people need to be educated that the autistic spectrum is nothing to fear; an autistic child given all the encouragement and confidence they can be can go on to achieve great things. The majority should be educated to accept that the minority exist, and won't go away; and ultimately are we not all minorities in one way or another? Exclusion affects everyone - its just that some people think they're more equal in others...lets see them being dropped into another society and experience what its like for The Other.

"think they're more equal than others"

Its been a long New Years Eve