Aspies For Freedom

Polite Conversation

Polite conversation has no place in autism.  It is necessity that causes an Autist to speak.  I “need” is the operating word. Thoughts are precious private things; saying them used to scare me.  When you have no control over the outside world, thoughts evolve to a higher significance.  They are all you have to define your personhood.  I used to think if I shared my thoughts I would lose myself.  Not until Bill did I realize two people could independently share a like opinion.  

Students have asked me about the frustration of not speaking.  It never occurs to them that I may not need to express myself as they do.  Even as to this writing, I write because Mom tells me it is time to tell my story.  I write because mine is a lone voice. Others like me rarely find a place outside themselves. We are found in residential placements, mental hospitals, not family homes.  How many like me can be saved a life of isolation.  How many who share a single sensory dysfunction alone can be helped without losing their personhood to the puppet masters. Justice requires I write about treatment as a person.  Please understand you can do behavior therapy without robbing the child of their soul.  It is the difference between “fixing” and “communicating”.

A communication is with purpose.  “Touch X” is not about communication. It is about control. “Do as I say” over and over and over again teaches loss of self even faster than the sensory limitations we are faced with.  Forgetting our personhood is the greatest danger faced by the Autist.  It is a natural right, but frequent casualty of joining the world.  A treatment need be aimed at communication because autism is at heart a communicative sense disorder.  My senses constantly miscommunicate: to fail to process, to process too much, to process wrong,  it is all communication error.  

God communicates and we ignore him. Man communicates and we treat him as God.  Do you know what happens when you don’t communicate?  People treat you as an object.  How many times have people spoken in front of me as if I were not even there?


* Hrick is LFA

This is difficult to say and I hope it won't sound bad. I've seen some people with disabilities where they can't speak and don't know how to react and probably look as if I'm avoiding them. It makes me feel very guilty and I think the issue is establishing contact in the first place.

Should their carer introduce us and then we can communicate? Or what?
Sometimes I think there is almost as much of a gulf between HFA and LFA as there is between NT and Aspie. I don't say this is a good thing because it certainly is not but bridging the gap is a real issue.

I know what you mean that thoughts are private precious things.  I've often felt like opening up my inner most feelings and thoughts to have them disected and debated is so assaulting to my soul that at times I have just quit talking. Although it is more of a "don't cast pearls before swine" thing than and voluntary.  Its because some people don't value me as a person and devalue me by my appearence and speech as nothing, so that makes it okay slammed my thoughts, feelings or poetry of the soul.
BUT what and who  and how you write hrick is so insightful, intuiative and intellegent that i'm reallly glad you're  sharing it with us.  To me, it's an honor that you willing to go to that place inside and chose to let yourself out, and let the world see who and what your are.  Even more scary and intimate  is sharing what your think on that soul level.