Aspied are normal people

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Are you asking if we're afraid of being different?
Personally I'm not, and even if I was, it wouldn't make any difference to reality: I am different; it's bloody obvious, and people keep pointing it out to me.
I haven't seen too many people on this website express hatred of retardation; a few say things like "thank God I'm not ret*d" or talk disparagingly of "ret*ds", but they usually get jumped on by other members for it.
I think you'll find that many people here have been treated differently, and, yes, as inferior; just look at threads with titles like "Why are NTs so mean?"; "Why don't NTs like us?", and "Why do you guys all hate NTs?".

I admit it - I'm afraid of being different.

Well,i don't think i am ret*d,but if i was in their place i would be disgusted being considered inferior,having less rights,i would feel it is unfair.
Unfair all making fun of you,never had real friends(ok i hanged out with some people but many treated me like a child),never had a relationship while i am extremely handsome(everybody is having-even though i really know many girls liked me and treated me positively).Why so people say suicide is the solution?Isn't this unfair?Isn't a massacre more fair?

unfair not afraid

I've been treated as inferior far more frequently in my life than I would prefer to admit. I don't hate people with developmental delays, though. Why should I? It's not as if they've ever set out to make me feel horrible just for existing.

I am kind of stuck with being different, often in ways that people ignore or blame on personality traits. I do not actually like pretending that I am not different or that I function like other people. I am fine with calling myself different and disabled because that is who and what I am.

A massacre would be pretty unfair.

There's nothing minor about what I'm like.

Well that's how i see it.Nobody wanting you,getting bullied,treated as inferior.Instead of just suicide(i would never though)i would prefer to do a massacre to put justice.I mean just suicide and be the only lost?Why not the others too,at least leave them paralyzed.I consider someone suiciding because of bullying let's say unfair if he doesn't take the other people's lives too.Isn't that pure logic?

No, it sounds extremely emotional to me.

I don't think anyone should be pushed to suicide. It's a horrible thing that it happens, and there are so many failures with the way bullying is handled.

But a massacre is just a revenge power fantasy that makes you the bully, or worse than a bully.

Do you know what happened in the aftermath of Columbine? Schools cracked down on kids for all kinds of reasons, including wearing black. I have a black leather trenchcoat for winter, and I had a woman harass me on the way to work because wearing it was apparently insensitve to their victims. I mention this because, imagine what would happen if an autistic teen decided to massacre others in their school because they're tired of being bullied? Imagine the backlash against other autistic people, all because this one person thought it was logical to commit as many murders as possible to stop the pain.

Really?......for one I am not shy, shyness indicates that I like socializing but it makes me nervous, which is not true. I don't really get ashamed of things if they come up in a conversation. I cannot walk up to people I don't know and start a conversation with them....its not because I am afraid it is because I don't how to go about it, and a lot of times I would not want to anyways. And I do not make eye contact with people I don't know, because I can't not because I am too shy.

and a bit eccentric? I have never been described as anything close to normal.

That depends on your definition of "normal" I suppose. This is an issue of subject specificity, and of comparison relevance. Implied in your statement is something to the effect of "things are hard for everyone in many ways" or "everyone is unique in some way" or perhaps "the rain that falls on you, falls on everyone" .. and that those with Asperger's or HF Autism therefore have nothing quantifiably different or significantly more difficult for them. If this is the case, then I think you are putting forth a form of fallacy whereby you are "un-disabling" a person, using an inapt comparison. The thing with Aspies is that we are usually quite cogent and proficient in logic, intelligence, wording etc, and that common strength gives the impression in others that we are at least literate, if not proficient as whole human beings. This incorrect appearance is emphasized especially in places like the internet, where a small, limited part of the human is reproduced in writing. People will tend to view a whole individual through that one proficient area. It is the same out in the 'real' world, albeit more 3-dimensional. However, that disproportionate functionality is the classic trademark of the 'Aspie.' One of the distinguishing factors of Asperger's and of Autism in general is the almost total illiteracy in reading emotions, intentions, facial expressions, tones of voice. This is the case for myself, and it is not some trivial difficulty that can be remedied by some learning or vocational therapy. There is something systemic, something significant that is missing. --

Now, I am the last person to admit I am disabled or "not normal" in any way. I never tell employers. Most of my friends don't know. I spent a long decade denying I even had any problem, wanting, trying, and failing to fit or be regarded as anything other than thoroughly "weird." The aforementioned social illiteracy built up over time, and eventually it whapped me right to the ground, in several circumstances. So, now I see that it is something systemic, even though I do not really want to. I do not like it, but it is a fact, and I am limited by it whether I like it or not. I do use this diagnosis as an excuse to shirk responsibility, or to behave rudely, nor do I use it as a 'victim' shield in any way - this surprisingly common assumption offends me, and many like me. I don't know if this notion factors into your opinion. You will have a lot of difficulty convincing me that I am not substantially different, that I am not "wired differently," as I have walked a path personally that led me to it against my will.

It's not really fair to take extreme examples, like a fully ret*d person, and compare an Aspie to them. That idea forces a false perception ... and an offensive one of us as "whiners" who shouldn't feel disabled compared next to what you select. Everything needs to be assessed in it's proper context, and not compared to something more extreme and irrelevant, especially if it's only to discard people's feelings and experiences. If Autism/Asperger's wasn't clearly indicated by several patterns - kinds of statistical, quantifiable difference, it wouldn't have stood out, it would not have been observed, mapped, studied, and named. The fact is that it does stand out, and has diagnostic, physiological, statistical regularities, as well as many aspects that inhibit both mental and social activities to varying degrees. It exists, and as someone who has lived a decade pretending it doesn't I say this very reluctantly on a personal level. Ideally, I would like to say it doesn't matter, I would love for the world to be friendly, enlightened and tolerant to the point where such differences really didn't matter (and in a different culture, they might not even be a problem...), but the world we live in, it is.

^^ Don't confuse my long post there for emotional reaction, I'm really just being long-winded and pedantic. As usual.

Nobody's normal. That's the trouble with humans. This world would be more of a ''normal'' planet if just animals roamed about.

In behavioural terms, normal behaviour can mean the behaviour exhibited by the majority. If this explanation is taken as true then people with AS are abnormal to varying degrees due to the behaviours they exhibit.

I think I'm abnormal because I don't watch TV (most people do), I don't like shopping (most people do), I don't know how to look for bargains and offers in shops (most people do), I'm not interested and don't know anything about celebrities (most people do), and the list goes on. So I must be abnormal in that aspect. But the things I DO do aren't abnormal, but the things I don't like are the normal things most people DO like, if that makes sense.

Asperger Syndrome, like any other diagnosable disorder in the DSM, is normal human behavior taken to an extreme.

There are so many behavioral and functional reasons that I am outside the expected range of normalcy, and a few ways that I do fit normalcy.

Being normal isn't just one thing, which is why there are standard deviations and ranges rather than a single point. Or why ADHD is not a sharply defined condition but rather based on people fitting into the upper 94th percentile of symptoms, as people who have subclinical symptoms are less likely to be impaired by them (and everyone experiences the traits in ADHD to some degree, although the majority don't experience them very often or to the same intensity).

And of course many people may be normal in some ways and not in others. And some standards of normalcy are also oppressive as people outside those standards tend to be treated harshly through no fault of their own.

Normalcy is a complicated beast, and the idea of "normal", while based on statistical spread, is itself a social construct that often includes value judgments for fitting or failing to fit the category. As such, I primarily find it useful as a diagnostic aid (to know where people are symptomatic enough to have trouble and what kind of trouble, with any particular condition), and would prefer to deconstruct the idea of normalcy as a social force, although how likely is that?

I wilol not speak for others but for myself here. i have high functioning autism (Pdd-NOs variant the nueropsyc said though I fit classic perfectly my verbal skills are more like those of As so i am in between) I am not sure my differences are so minor so to speak. one example I can give you is my boyfriend and I went out for ice cream last Thursday and everything was going well I had my service dog and service dog in training with me and we were at the outside window and started to place our order i had asked if I could try a taste of the german chocoltge cake ice cream . so the lady went to go get a sample spoonful of the stuff. it took maybe 2 minutes for everything to change from 'normal,' to abnormal. 3 maybe 4 really loud motorcycles came into the parking lot suddenly i was overwhelmed with the sensory input and the next thing I know I was crying and pat was holding me while Nim leaned against me nudging me that is one of her task to apply deep presure if she can) and i couldn't calm myself down or stop crying enough for maybe 3 minutes to even try the ice cream and evan then I was still crying it took maybe 8 minutes to get me back to "normal," not long but it was cut down because of nim's help and patrick holding me with one arm right to apply deep preasure. this was a record i usually takes 15 to an hour to get me calm from a meltdown like that. on really bad days i can shut down for hourse.

im not cognitivly impaird but in many ways my brain still functions like a child. i know I dont come off as normal a lot of the time to anyone who spends an hour with me. i found that out because of my best friend kraig 9 i suspect he has aS too or a socail disorder) but last night we were talking and he was talking about how he saw an old friend and how the friend was doing well and he told him about pippin (my SDIT) and he also said he mentioned i had autism to his friend. I now his friend too, he said he didn't remeber his reply but assumed it was like many others who say ' oh okay that makes a lot of sence,) I asked who else said that it makes sence as he said a lot of people did he said anyone who has met me really when i leave they ussually ask him whats wrong with me lol

I have selfcare deficets also don't make eye contact obsess stim and if overwhelmed i will have meltdowns when I can't handle a situation I will often cover my ears and make noises and maybe rock. also it isn't fair to anyone on either on of the spectrum to compare them. no 2 indaviduals are exactly the same