NTs think we're generically stupid

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I'm fed up of being online and someone using 'on the spectrum' to mean someone's stupid. I'll even say some specific thing is ableist against autistic people and they'll reply 'well I bet they're on the spectrum that they don't know how to use google'.

In my experience we're (HFA/aspies) smarter than most NTs. But that's purely anecdotal. As is their assumption we're stupid - assuming they've even knowingly come into contact w autistic people.

Also in my opinion, stupid is a bad insult. Some of the nicest people I've met in life have found information hard to retain compared to average people. I'd rather be around someone like that than a bigot with a high IQ and a PHD who found it easy to retain knowledge but hard to be a nice person.

Just sums up the arrogance some have

Seriously someone this morning tagged me and this autistic guy in an 'on the spectrum' joke tweet and it really annoyed me.

Same here.  I'm also fed up with people using "on the spectrum" to imply that someone is "mentally ill".

The few NT's I deal with on a weekly basis (two psychologists) think I'm highly intelligent -- one of them thinks I might be the most intelligent person she knows. Nobody has ever assumed I wasn't intelligent based on me being on the spectrum.

But then again, I don't get out much

It's mostly online in mixed NT and aspie spaces where we're the minority that I've encountered it.

I agree - autism isn't a mental illness. I only seem to see it being called one online. Is this a UK/US difference?

I'd also say that calling someone 'crazy' as an insult is bad though, just like 'stupid'. Some of the nicest people I've known have depression or some form of anxiety problems.

I've known people whose illnesses seemed linked to them being aggressive but I'd argue that ultimately they made the choice as to whether to be aggressive or not.

Same here.

An example is that whenever my uncles visit, they take pride in throwing insults at me because they both believe the spectrum isn't real and that the only way for a man to "man up" is to enlist in the US Armed Forces, which is something I have no interest in.

However, my father (who did serve in the US Armed Forces) did believe the spectrum WAS real despite male relatives saying otherwise.

They really have nothing better to do? Geez.

I don't talk about ASD with relatives and they seem content to ignore my diagnosis and its existence. (my mother being the exception)



Not everyone with a PhD is arrogant, but enough of them are that I'm tired of university

I also get annoyed when some Aspies boast about being cleverer than NTs.

Why does it matter who's clever or not? Being stupid doesn't make someone morally bad. I'm fed up of immoral and stupid being treated as adjectives, esp when it comes to bigotry.

My dad's full of it. Whenever anyone acts in a way to hurt someone else he says 'they don't know any better' or 'they're idiots'.

My experience is that autistic people are more likely to be studious than NTs & retain information better but that doesn't mean better morally. And also it's more narrow in scope.

(We can use bloody google without having a specialist interest in IT though )

I've known some lovely people with low IQs due to Downs syndrome, or in one case a brain injury. You wouldn't call them bright, but not a drop of malice in them. I reckon it takes a little misplaced intelligence to reach the state of willfully pig-ignorant self-defeating malice and hate of your average bigot.

Yeah, I worked with a young woman with Downs Syndrome and she was hard to manage cos she didn't know much but she was a nice person. Overly nice, if anything - I kept thinking 'I hope these hugs are just cos she knows me and likes me and nobody takes advantage of her' cos she would try to hug in the workplace to show she liked me (platonically).

One thing that bigots lack is empathy, which is one reason why I hate it when people pretend empathy and theory of mind is the same thing. Just becuase I don't automatically assume that NTs like bright sunlight doesn't mean I don't want them to be happy and safe.

Both male relatives (whenever they are not at work) sit all day inside their homes and eat donuts while watching Netflix. They both smoke which is something I will always doing.

I remember when I told a person, people think I have Aspergers, as part of an email and on the phone he said, I think you're intelligent like it was a counter. It may just have been me being oversensitive and linking the two together.

People like that (the ones in your post) are usually obnoxious online more than in person.

Something about being online tempts many people to be mean/jerk/etc

whatever pent up frustrations in their lives
that they have ,

can be released as meanness towards other groups .(neurotypes... Nationalities..'fandoms' etc)

.safely.

I think I have an inferiority complex.

Wit and irony has never been a stranger to me, but I threw that all out at school. I love to laugh, and to make others laugh, so I quickly became the class clown after realizing at 9 years old that something was off about me. I was not diagnosed until 11 or 12. I used myself as the object of comedy, and it's been a terrible decision that still affects my social life. Usually everybody knew about me in my grade, and they either liked me or loathed me. It made it hard to make friends, and to talk about my interests. I was seen as the stupid clown. Last year, I've tried my hardest to change people's opinions by just acting like how I want to be. I want to be aloof again, and stay close to my friends and to be more serious about things in school. It's impossible, and I can't help but get frustrated about being seen as a simple idiot. Only a handful of people at school know about my diagnosis, and they say I mask it really well. I'll just have to deal with it until I graduate.

I hate it when people I tell treat me differently. I hate it when teachers or other adults treat me like I'm a wounded puppy. I'm not stupid, and I feel like I always have to prove it. It's a knee jerk reaction and I don't want to be bothered by it. I'm rarely an angry person, and I'm always easy going, but I just cannot stand being treated like I'm weak or stupid or simple minded. I have value beyond comic relief.

This is why I keep my Asperger's off the radar with the general public. My family knows, but that's all. I am a little above average intelligence, in areas of interest to me, at least. I do have a processing problem tho. I am slower than others at processing a lot of different things, even more so if I have no interest in the topic. There is no way to speed up my brain clock, so I am stuck being slower than others in taking stuff in, but I am as smart as, and sometimes smarter than those around me. I don't rub people's noses in that, and I do mask my slowness to absorb stuff, as much as possible, so I've been able to get by for decades like this. Life isn't great, but I've had worse times. I'm better off now than I used to be. I think I was slowed down even more by my chronic lifelong depression, moodiness, and being too emotional. Turns out I had a B vitamin deficiency, so now I take B-complex supplements, which finally stabilized my moods and depression. Now that part of my life is in the normal range. I think having those problems probably added to my slowness, too.

Good health, all!

Wow really?
I had a B vitamin deficiency too. (And noth sons as their diwtician told me after blood tests to give them b and iron supplement)

As did my mom who is truly an older undiagnosed Aspie but now people make friends with her wherever she goes.

Even bad people.

The liquid sublingual ones are very helpful and potent!

But anyway.

Literally everything u have written is what my mom has told me and us all again and again!
Processing etc.


I think that means too, that the person is a deeper thinker.

They might be considering more aspects and layers than the fast responding types whether they realize it or not.

For example there are a type of people who may come across as simple to superficial ppl - but seem to have more understanding that they take it in stride like the understanding of a bigger picture-- is elevated. Even if they have issues with other things due to their brain..

Just to have a name I say they are 'spiritually elevated autistics.' My son's therapist Bridgette (not his other one who is younger and not as experienced in the field)
believes Muhammad Jalalluddin Rumi had autism. Shesaid thisto me specifically.

She was the one who first voiced to me that thing that she thinks a lot of people with autism (esp seemingly more debilitating) are spiritually gifted though outsiders may not know.

Since then I've accepted that idea too.

Honestly, It's hard for people to insult me anymore. I'm not sure that's true either. Honestly alot of people with high iqs can be full of themselves. If people think i'm an idiot and refuse to listen to me that's their fault they won't have the benefit of learning from interacting with me. Snice i'm sucha blessing for people to interact with.