Are some cultures more tolerant of people with AS?
Spargelzeit wrote:
In my country, the Netherlands, people are quite individualistic and theybelieve more in what's inside of you, rather than what you wear, how much money you make or if you can speak like certain groups do.
I have just returned from a one month's stay in South Africa. I always notice there that people are very sociable, 99% of their conversations revolve around chit-chat (women, sports, labels, sports, cars, sports, drinking, sports, money and houses, etc.), they lack information and are continuously enforced by strong voices, hyperboles and by swearing. And men hit each other on the backs. And what's most important: you're not supposed to show that you can be vulnerable, too.
Women, conversely, talk about labels (Billabong, Gucci, Oakley, etc), boyfriends, the gym, necklaces, houses, watches, b*tching, etc. And they should talk about this with a falsetto voice. Accents of men and women are rather different, and their vocabularies are so, too.
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.), the socially acquired differences between men and women are not as big, pitch in their voices is more similar, they usually find clothing labels important when they are adolescents, and later on it doesn't really interest them so much. On the other hand, people don't care so much for each other as people do in South Africa, which is bad for a society where there are people who are not self-supporting.
I think, on the whole, South Africa is more traditional. There a person with AS will immediately be spotted, due to his/her speach (no specifically male or female accent; let alone a local accent; no hyperboles or excessive swearing) and (the intensity of) his interests (cosmology, collecting fossils, cars) and his disinterests (clothes, chit-chat, gossip).
In the Netherlands, a conversation (if the Dutch have conversations at all
) seems to be more than an exchange of social formalities.
I have talked to several people in SA who didn't seem to fit in, and who come across as introspective. They have always been the odd one out, out of place, and I can see their frustrations. In the Netherlands these people would just be seen as introspective; not odd.
Conversations are very shallow in SA. A nice example: if s.o. in Holland were to ask s.o. else how he/she's doing, chances are that the person will reply: "Not so well." In South Africa, "How you doing?" (or the less interrogative "Howzit, bru!") is automatically replied by "Can't complain". Or: "Fine, and you?". And that's it. Men hardly speak about personal problems. And: boys don't cry. On the other hand, girls do.
I wonder how this works in America. I think people have more time for eccentrics in Holland than in South Africa (which is my point of reference) because peer and group pressure is not as high in Holland.
I have just returned from a one month's stay in South Africa. I always notice there that people are very sociable, 99% of their conversations revolve around chit-chat (women, sports, labels, sports, cars, sports, drinking, sports, money and houses, etc.), they lack information and are continuously enforced by strong voices, hyperboles and by swearing. And men hit each other on the backs. And what's most important: you're not supposed to show that you can be vulnerable, too.
Women, conversely, talk about labels (Billabong, Gucci, Oakley, etc), boyfriends, the gym, necklaces, houses, watches, b*tching, etc. And they should talk about this with a falsetto voice. Accents of men and women are rather different, and their vocabularies are so, too.
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.), the socially acquired differences between men and women are not as big, pitch in their voices is more similar, they usually find clothing labels important when they are adolescents, and later on it doesn't really interest them so much. On the other hand, people don't care so much for each other as people do in South Africa, which is bad for a society where there are people who are not self-supporting.
I think, on the whole, South Africa is more traditional. There a person with AS will immediately be spotted, due to his/her speach (no specifically male or female accent; let alone a local accent; no hyperboles or excessive swearing) and (the intensity of) his interests (cosmology, collecting fossils, cars) and his disinterests (clothes, chit-chat, gossip).
In the Netherlands, a conversation (if the Dutch have conversations at all

I have talked to several people in SA who didn't seem to fit in, and who come across as introspective. They have always been the odd one out, out of place, and I can see their frustrations. In the Netherlands these people would just be seen as introspective; not odd.
Conversations are very shallow in SA. A nice example: if s.o. in Holland were to ask s.o. else how he/she's doing, chances are that the person will reply: "Not so well." In South Africa, "How you doing?" (or the less interrogative "Howzit, bru!") is automatically replied by "Can't complain". Or: "Fine, and you?". And that's it. Men hardly speak about personal problems. And: boys don't cry. On the other hand, girls do.
I wonder how this works in America. I think people have more time for eccentrics in Holland than in South Africa (which is my point of reference) because peer and group pressure is not as high in Holland.
I was actually going to refer to Holland. I went there and Germany some years ago on vacation, and in my eyes, your country is a xanadu. Now I'm 100% white and of Germanic decent (not german, germanic, although I am part german) and I've come to the conclusion that all of that part of Europe (Scandinavia, Germany, Holland, the U.K) would be highly aspergers friendly. Infact, Scandinavia has a very high rate of mental disorders because the amount of sunlight they get in the summer compared to the winter messes with the chemical structure in their brain.
And for the record, the way you described South Africa sounds just like America.
UncleBeer
Veteran

Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Age: 65
Gender: Male
Posts: 683
Location: temporarily trapped in Holland
Spargelzeit wrote:
In my country, the Netherlands, people are quite individualistic and theybelieve more in what's inside of you, rather than what you wear, how much money you make or if you can speak like certain groups do.
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.)
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.)
After 18 years of living in the Netherlands, I'd like to say that the preceding statements bear no resemblance to the truth.
UncleBeer wrote:
Spargelzeit wrote:
In my country, the Netherlands, people are quite individualistic and theybelieve more in what's inside of you, rather than what you wear, how much money you make or if you can speak like certain groups do.
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.)
In the Netherlands, people tend to talk about things that have more meaning (ideas, feelings, politics, etc.)
After 18 years of living in the Netherlands, I'd like to say that the preceding statements bear no resemblance to the truth.
Maybe so but I was diagnosed with AS as a kid and I thought Amsterdam was a great place to chill out.
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