The name WRONG planet

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I know this has most likely been around before, however.

I am curious on finding out how people feel about the WRONG of wrong planet. I say this because I am in the process of writing a 2nd draft for a book that is set for publication in 6 months and in it I offer a critique on the positive and not so positive associations with re the use of the word, wrong planet in association with Having AS.

Personally I can see positive and negative dimensions.

On the positive I would say many of us feel like we are on the wrong planet and at times treated as such. But I find it interesting for AS people to liberate the feeling here over the rational for a change.

On the negative, I would say that it is important to define the difference between a culture (AS culture in this case) and another planet. For example, for me personally, I would say that as a result of being autistic I come from a different culture, NOT another planet, but a different way of perceiving this world.

I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has a serious interest in this subject.

Chris.

Last edited by criss on 05 Jun 2008, 2:12 am, edited 3 times in total.

I love the name because it I used to think I was literaly from a different planet when I was a kid and I knew this earth was the wrong planet for me. It also reflects the experience of "Stranger in a Strangeland" . <---highly reccomended read for anyone with AS. I see it as an accurate reflection that "I" am not bad person and this is not a bad world but my neurology does not fit this planet very well.

Agreed. The feeling of having been born onto a planet (or into a culture if you prefer, the meaning and the experience are virtually interchangeable) not meant for us, is so common among Aspies, that many of us have literally been using that very phrase to describe ourselves all our lives. I believe trying to dissect that philosophically is just overthinking a non-issue. 'Wrong' in this context doesn't mean bad, necessarily, it just means "not a natural fit for my brain." And in fact, it's pretty much literally true as well. We do live in a world/culture not designed with us in mind and thus it and we will always seem a bit 'alien' to each other.

I love the name because it doesn't have the word autism or aspergers or any variant thereof in, because I think the labels are a kind of social control, created by the medical world in collaboration with schools.

And it sounds radical.

And yes, I think it conveys brilliantly how the way the world is run, ( schools, workplaces, "leisure-activities" , landscapes, transport, clothes, manufacturing, almost everything ) , feels alien to me; incomprehensible, illogical, totally irrational, counterproductive, unbelievably stupid, etc, as it might well seem to an advanced space-travelling lifeform.

Yeah! Having AS is like being left handed. It has its benefits! It isn't REALLY a disability! But the rest of the world is geared the other way, so it is problematic.

I don't see anything about the name wrong planet in itself that implies negativity with AS.

After all superman was on the wrong planet (earth) and I doubt many would say that kept him from being succesful

I love the name of WP because I always felt like I was on "the wrong planet" my entire life. I don't think it implies negativity, but makes me feel like...wow...people here "get" me.

AS or autistic culture can only exist if you understand that there are other autistics out there and you can related to them in some meaningful way. "Wrong Planet" implies the often prolonged period that those of us don't know there are others like us. Even knowing and communicating online with other autistics doesn't negate the fact that out here in Offlineland, I'm still on the "wrong planet".

In otherwords, when I refer to the AS/autistic people I read and communicate with, I say "autistic community". When I refer to my own experience in the largely NT world, I"m on the Wrong Planet.

I think it should be called either RightPlanet or AspiePlanet.

I like the name Wrong planet. I always felt like I came from a different planet/spoke a different language/was a different kind of creature entirely from 99% of people I met. I see that my sons feel that same sense of difference and separateness too. So for me the name is apt.

I don't like the name Wrong Planet. But I tolerate it because I like the community here.

It's too negative. I'm not wrong. I'm not a space alien, or ever thought I was. I don't think the world is wrong either.

When I first read "WrongPlanet.net" I felt at home since forever I thought to myself that the only way to explain my life was some strange error with the cosmic bureaucracy which made me get to this planet instead of the real destination.