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Why I am on this board...
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Re: Amy, and the tree...

Vendaia Wrote:
My problem as an artist is in imagining the inner state of an autistic person. I sat in that waiting room watching that autistic girl, certain that there was a lot going on in her head. She was extremely "low-functioning". What does that feel like, I wondered?

So I am on this board because I want to get that character as right as I can. I could just "lurk" on this board. But I feel that's somehow dishonest. There's plenty to read, and I could just do that, and go about my business. But that just doesn't feel right to me.

I won't lie. I do feel a need to signify my respect for folks that say "I'm just fine, thank you very much." I have a deep suspicion of normative thinking. I have issues in my life that are rooted in that kind of thing.

It boils down to this: My value system says "All of us matter equally." And "It is my joyful duty as a human being to discern the value and goodness in everyone."

I don't think nature makes mistakes. People make mistakes.


First off, I don't claim to speak for other Aspies. I can relate to your problem of how to depict an Autistic person's inner state.

I am an aspiring writer and I am diagnosed as high functioning autistic. I have struggled with the same problem of how to represent my inner state. A lot of people have said that my writing is publishable but then they often make the comment that I don't provide enough information about what is going on in the mind of the narrator as he or she interacts with other characters.  

I don't mean to sound egotistical by going on about my inner state in a long post, but I have had to think about what is the difference between my inner state and those of NTs and how to depict it in writing. I have come to think that I have been trying to tell stories from the perspective of an NT because that is the narrative model I have been taught.

It is difficult for me to narrate like an NT because as an Aspie I do not seem to centralize the mode of perception that would cause me to make my thoughts, judgements, impressions based on direct social interaction the central fous of my inner narrative.  I am drawn to what is happening in the moment, and must force myself to focus on the social interaction as it relates to dialogue or goal oriented activities because the verbal interactions and larger goal does not seem as compelling or important as my moment by moment sensory impressions. I tend to go through life like that. If I meet someone on the street I am entranced by my sensory impressions of the person I am speaking to and find it difficult to pay attention to the verbal flow of their conversation. I was at a social function once during the past ten years and had a hard time fitting in, although I was supported by close friends who were there - I caught myself at one point staring at the light patterns on the wall and realized with some embarrassment that I had been doing that too long than would be considered normal. But then my Aspergian pride kicked in, and I refused to feel embarrassed about it though I was surrounded by NTs. While I was staring at the light patterns I was processing information about the technical requirements to set up the lighting in the room and thinking about what it meant in terms of cost and production to the organization that was giving the event and what that meant to the social values of the organization  and how all of that impacted those people in the room. In short, I was focused on the meaning of the lighting system but processing all the information through an other than verbal way to myself. It would take some time for me to translate my compelling impressions into verbal language.

In that moment, although my mental process was not anything I could have communicated in words to anyone who might have asked me why I was staring at the wall my behavior was not that of a blank state. It had meaning, but I was processing information about the meaning imposed or produced through environmental stimuli through other than verbal means.  Meanwhile, all around me the NTs chatted and laughed easily with each other.  I then turned to my freind who kissed me on the cheek, and I felt warmth toward him and loved. So I was not detached from social life, just focused differently.

I think that if any NTs were watching they would have thought my focus on the lights was odd and unfriendly. No NT would sit there staring at the wall, rather they would be more focused mostly on what people were saying, the different social cues going on, and I believe their social interaction would be way more centralized to them than the way the lights danced on the wall were for myself.

I don't think that my way of processing information is superior to that of NTs. However, I don't think it is inferior either.  The advantages and disadvantages of my Aspie process is a whole other topic. However, I find that NTs are often disadvantaged  because they get things wrong based on the culturally imposed sameness of their perceptions and their inability to consider that other ways of looking or deciphering exist. Afterwards I found out that one of the NTs had privately asked another NT about what was "wrong" with me and that NT had wrongly been informed and had passed on information to others that I am a deaf person.

09-08-2005 07:48 PM
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Messages In This Thread
Why I am on this board... - Vendaia - 09-07-2005, 06:53 PM
RE: Why I am on this board... - Noetic - 05-23-2007, 03:23 PM
[] - Amy - 09-07-2005, 07:32 PM
Thank you... - Vendaia - 09-07-2005, 08:00 PM
Re: Thank you... - darkcode - 09-07-2005, 10:14 PM
[] - chamoisee - 09-07-2005, 10:46 PM
[] - Bonnie Ventura - 09-07-2005, 11:06 PM
[] - Brightman - 09-08-2005, 05:28 AM
[] - Bonnie Ventura - 09-08-2005, 03:26 PM
What Stephen King says... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 03:46 PM
[] - M - 09-08-2005, 03:59 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 04:26 PM
Horror writer? - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 04:35 PM
Thanks, Amy... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 04:39 PM
As for the "both ways"... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 04:46 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 04:51 PM
To Chamoisee - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 04:57 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 04:59 PM
Amy, and 20 kHz - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 05:13 PM
Re: Amy, and 20 kHz - darkcode - 09-08-2005, 05:33 PM
Amy, and the tree... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 05:47 PM
Re: Amy, and the tree... - darkcode - 09-08-2005, 06:20 PM
Dear Darkcode... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 07:05 PM
Re: Amy, and the tree... - Guest - 09-08-2005 07:48 PM
Re: As for the "both ways"... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 07:50 PM
[] - Guest - 09-08-2005, 08:18 PM
What I have learned.... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 08:22 PM
[] - Brightman - 09-08-2005, 08:36 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 08:51 PM
Re: What I have learned.... - darkcode - 09-08-2005, 09:01 PM
[] - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 09:08 PM
[] - betwixt - 09-08-2005, 09:38 PM
Brightman's comments - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 09:41 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 09:45 PM
Dear Betwixt... - Vendaia - 09-08-2005, 09:48 PM
[] - Amy - 09-08-2005, 09:54 PM
[] - Brightman - 09-09-2005, 01:43 AM
[] - anandamide - 09-09-2005, 04:35 AM
Re: Brightman's comments - anandamide - 09-09-2005, 04:54 AM
[] - chamoisee - 09-09-2005, 07:27 AM
Re: What I have learned.... - Guest - 09-09-2005, 02:39 PM
[] - betwixt - 09-09-2005, 02:55 PM
What I meant by the flower... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 03:38 PM
[] - Bonnie Ventura - 09-09-2005, 04:29 PM
Re: What I meant by the flower... - Guest - 09-09-2005, 04:34 PM
Re: What I meant by the flower... - Guest - 09-09-2005, 04:44 PM
[] - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 06:06 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 06:35 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 06:42 PM
Dear Amy... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 07:20 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 07:39 PM
[] - Guest - 09-09-2005, 07:40 PM
[] - a-lite - 09-09-2005, 07:42 PM
Gender issues among Aspies... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 07:42 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 07:43 PM
Who is GD? - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 07:44 PM
[] - Gareth - 09-09-2005, 07:49 PM
Re: Who is GD? - anandamide - 09-09-2005, 08:06 PM
Dear Gareth... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 08:08 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 08:15 PM
Dear Bamanda... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 08:33 PM
[] - Gareth - 09-09-2005, 08:42 PM
[] - Gareth - 09-09-2005, 08:44 PM
Yo, hey, Amy... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 08:46 PM
[] - betwixt - 09-09-2005, 08:56 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 08:59 PM
Gareth, Gareth, Gareth.... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 09:01 PM
[] - Bonnie Ventura - 09-09-2005, 09:13 PM
Dear Amy, re: the tree. - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 09:17 PM
[] - betwixt - 09-09-2005, 09:25 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 09:28 PM
[] - betwixt - 09-09-2005, 09:38 PM
Dear Bonnie... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 09:41 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 09:45 PM
Betwixt, thank you, thank you... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 09:48 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 09:52 PM
[] - MishLuvsHer2Boys - 09-09-2005, 10:01 PM
Dear Amy... - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 10:22 PM
To MishLuvsHer2Boys - Vendaia - 09-09-2005, 10:39 PM
[] - Amy - 09-09-2005, 11:08 PM
Re: Dear Amy... - anandamide - 09-09-2005, 11:09 PM
[] - a-lite - 09-09-2005, 11:36 PM
[] - becca - 09-10-2005, 12:37 AM
[] - Brightman - 09-10-2005, 02:11 AM
[] - tenaciouscj - 09-10-2005, 04:31 AM
To Vendaia - Drifter - 09-10-2005, 06:04 AM
Moving right along then.... - Vendaia - 09-10-2005, 04:55 PM
[] - Brightman - 09-10-2005, 06:45 PM
Dear Bamanda... - Vendaia - 09-10-2005, 07:27 PM
[] - anandamide - 09-11-2005, 12:46 AM
[] - chamoisee - 09-11-2005, 01:58 PM
[] - anandamide - 09-11-2005, 05:43 PM
[] - Brightman - 09-21-2005, 10:42 PM

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