Susan Boyle's diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome, a curse?
While I haven't been following the media with this topic, I have to say, it's a bit rotten condemning a woman with Asperger's; especially when we ourselves should understand the pain of being singled out, and bullied.
I don't know if she's done anything controversial to have earned such an attack, but from what I understand, all she has done is told the world what she's going through. Isn't that what all of us are doing here?
And while I haven't been a part of this community for very long, so far everyone here has been encouraging, and lovely, and non-judgemental. I believe Susan deserves the same from us. Rather than shunning her, and trying to disassociate her from us, we should be behind her, having her back. Congratulating her on being so successful in life, despite the hardships she has had to endure. That's what I believe. Otherwise, what exactly are we all trying to achieve by being here?
I am glad to hear about Susan Boyle having Asperger's because I can relate to her. I can't relate at all to the other celebs who I have heard have Asperger's.
So for me her diagnosis and her going public about it is a very good and positive thing. She inspires me and gives me hope!
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I can't speak for him but for me was knowing-to go into a job that required little amount "people skills" , having a couple of interests I could bond with NT's over. Maybe most importantly back then employers who valued hard skills more then soft or people skills or at least a hell of a lot more then they do today.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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So for me her diagnosis and her going public about it is a very good and positive thing. She inspires me and gives me hope!
I agree with this. The only part I don't agree with is the "gives me hope" part. I say that because I don't have a talent that I can make money off of unfortunately. She was one of the lucky ones that had a talent she could make a living off of. Otherwise, I can relate to her on many levels.
I completely disagree.
Why do you completely disagree?
Last edited by Dan0192837465 on 23 Dec 2013, 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 85756.html
I don't feel so comfortable with saying we "suffer" from AS. After 25 years of figuring out why I'm different, I see it mostly as a strength.
Fundamentally, "the media" entertainment - a neurotypical form of entertainment. It's full of lies and codes and omissions and opinions and shades of grey that do not satisfy the relatively logical and less emotionally clued in Aspie. I completely ignore the news, I still get a little dose from the radio, and I don't read any magazines or watch any shows to do with celebrities etc. I actually think "the media" makes people really unhappy, NT or otherwise. I decided to keep the focus on the people and community that are important to me and not apportion energy to all that hot air. If I'm really interested in a certain issue I can look it up.
I don't think this answers your question, but maybe it is an attempt to remove the need to ask it.
It certainly contributes to the discussion, so thank you. "Removing the need to ask about it" still does not address the crux of the argument, because it rarely gets even the adequate and satisfactory answers as it is.
Don't listen to anything the mainstream media says. When you listen to the mainstream media, you let the a**holes win. The media demonizes violent video games, so I play Grand Theft Auto with pride, knowing that when they demonized it, they ironically turned it into a symbol of the basic human decency that they lack. I am proud to represent the values that the media is dead set against, and any relatively decent human being who they demonize is a person to be reckoned with, in my opinion.
Most people with Aspergers don't walk around with a placard announcing the fact, so the only people who know are people they have chosen to confide in (or had that choice made for them by parents or school officials.) The thing that makes NT people react oddly or negatively to AS people is the behavior of each AS person. When you don't give the expected signals in response to a communication or signal, you are weird and often creepily different. If you are lucky your strangeness will just be seen as intriguing or quirky. But there is a deep instinct in people to use these signaling systems to evaluate the safety of social contact with others--and we don't give the reassuring countersigns, or do it in a way that is "just a bit off." No amount of media image associated with labels is going to change that basic moment of alienating discomfort.
For the most part, people are responding to each eccentric person's actions. I know the other thing--when someone who does know looks at you differently or discounts your opinion just because of the label, but they don't do it because of Susan Boyle--they do it because they are ignorant and the only idea that they have is that your mind is defective in some way. The point that can be made is that the defect is in the area of social communication, not whatever areas of skill or expertise we may have developed. Susan Boyle is quite good there. Hire her as singer, not an MC or social secretary.
The actual reality of living with AS is different for each person with the neurology. Quite apart from it's inclusion on the autistic spectrum, AS is a spectrum disorder because of the great diversity of ways in which it presents. Susan is one, you are another and I am a third. One thing I have come to realize is that I am a bad judge of how weird I may be in any given situation. I know people think of me as eccentric but I don't know how much. I have come to recognize that this lack of awareness is a function of my neurology. This kind of thing is the problem for me, not what people think about Susan Boyle.
Might it be possible that you are the central component in the story of your interactions with others? And that these interactions are not significantly mediated by people's knowledge of Susan Boyle?
Because it seems your issue with her diagnosis is that she is in your view just too embarrassing. I'm assuming you want a milder and more socially acceptable face of HFA?
I'd be lying if I said no, but you're incredibly perceptive. That's precisely what I believe. I do think having SB as the poster woman for AS, does more harm than good to be honest for the AS cause. It might be a forlorn hope and wishful thinking on my part. I'm adamant that a more socially acceptable face and suitably milder approach to the AS image, would be a positive step in the right direction.
Look: the reason the media is lapping it all up is because this is what they think:
Asperger's = weirdo = savant/genius I find this equation utterly repulsive.
Has any of you seen any of that film "Mozart and the Whale?" I walked out. It was every frucking stereotype you could imagine. The writers of that movie should be charged for a hate crime as far as I'm concerned.
What if there was a movie about gay people with those kinds of stereotypes? Can you imagine the outrage?
I am not a weirdo. I am not a savant/genius.
Sorry, but I'm very angry at the way the media depicts us.
Here is the real equation: Asperger's = a rich, but difficult, life
Asperger's = weirdo = savant/genius I find this equation utterly repulsive.
Has any of you seen any of that film "Mozart and the Whale?" I walked out. It was every frucking stereotype you could imagine. The writers of that movie should be charged for a hate crime as far as I'm concerned.
What if there was a movie about gay people with those kinds of stereotypes? Can you imagine the outrage?
I am not a weirdo. I am not a savant/genius.
Sorry, but I'm very angry at the way the media depicts us.
Here is the real equation: Asperger's = a rich, but difficult, life
Eventually, someone that gets it. A perfect point well described, thanks.
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