Aspies For Freedom - Question from my husband Re: Physical/Mental Issues

And SUPER annoying, the way that people who smoke and are thin are judged to be healthier than a slightly overweight person who exercises 6 times a week as long as the smoker doesn't have the cigarette in his hand.... our prejudice seems to be that we really fear the things we can't see. And, of course talking about emotions is taboo....so yeah. it totally sucks.

jiggeryqua Wrote:

Yes, I've done some work in the past with mental health service users, delivering training to local authority staff in mental health awareness - one of the biggest issues we addressed, though with no real conclusions, was stigma. People can have all manner of unpleasant physical conditions, and while people might not choose to get particularly intimate with them, they aren't treated in quite the same way as someone whose problem is in the mind...

I don't mean 'made up', though I think that's part of the problem - that physical symptoms can be seen and measured, mental ill health (or spectrum conditions or similar) meanwhile is more subjective. Most people have a very limited understanding of such issues too, tending to lump everything under one heading ('mad') - a heading which, to them, means you can't be relied on to be rational, to follow social cues - that you might embarras them (there isn't a pill for that, either...) or create a situation that makes them feel less than confident, or that threatens their safety in an unpredictable way.

They know how to stave off viruses, how to avoid physical injury in most common circumstances, how to not catch whatever you have, what foods to eat or avoid to maintain their physical health - but mental health issues (and broader mind-based conditions) are different...and make people very uncomfortable.

The so called "Stigma" of mental health, I heard, was going away (because of all the commercials and so many people on medication - even for minor or made-up syndromes/maladies). Korrigan, are you saying that aspergers/autism should or is in the same category as mental health? That is my question - if it is, then everyone should be okay with it - because so many people have mental health issues and they get treated, seek treatment, are in treatment for or medicate for, or are recovering from... (me personally - *not to be answered on this thread *-I don't think of it as mental health)
Regardless, I think thatnothing but good can come of it for your husband - especially becasue THey did not label him, pigeonhole him - they already have their specific impressions of him as a PERSON, not as a diagnosis. Him - outing his Diagnosis- can only help the cause - the next time one of his coworkers hears of someone who is an aspie - they might just say (or think) oh, no big deal I know someone who is not disabled by it. I couldn't even tell... he's so smart, whatever... If people can get used to poeple with mental health issues like it is nothing , the same should be said for any other diagnosis...

honestjohn Wrote:

Korrigan, are you saying that aspergers/autism should or is in the same category as mental health?

Not sure if I should be, but answering anyway, I do not categorize it exactly as mental health.  Actually I am not sure where I would put it, other than a difference in the brain.  But I think that it is something you cannot "see" like a physical difference or disability would be.

Someone who is an Aspie, like my husband, has been walking around for 36 years as a person who is "quirky" and "different".  I think it shakes people to the core to think that he could suddenly be diagnosed with something like Autism, as they see it as such a "debilitating condition".  (Again, these are not my thoughts - disability, debilitating condition, etc. are not what I would call Asperger's or Autism, I am just using common wording that is held in the stereotype.)

I think him discussing it has good and bad sides.  We will have to see where it goes.  He works for a government agency and is a union employee; he has a lot of protection.  But the frustration he has gotten from the reactions is upsetting to him.

GuessWho Wrote:

I'm not an NT, I play one 9 to 5?

Well not exactly. He has always been "off" from the mainstream, but has managed to work himself into a job with a lot of freedom for differences. And he hides a LOT of his issues. Probably since childhood when he was beaten to a pulp for them.

In any case, I think that the topic will become boring at work and soon enough they will move on to whomever has the next colonoscopy... ;O)

honestjohn Wrote:

In any case, I think that the topic will become boring at work and soon enough they will move on to whomever has the next colonoscopy... ;O)

That was what he said, "why is it bad for me to discuss why I need the lights off above my desk but it is ok for you to tell me you had a camera shoved up your a#$"

Thank you all for your responses. I read them to him last night. It was a wonderful thing to hear it from people who know more how it feels to be on his end of the conversation.

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