Aspied are normal people
ICY
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 17 May 2011
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 192
Location: Hertfordshire England
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?
While I agree that normalcy is a social creation, I believe the creation occurs when a majority of people exhibit a certain response to particular stimuli which becomes the definition of normal for that situation. I also agree that is it possible to be normal in some ways and not others, it depends on an individual’s response to stimuli and the responses of any majority in a given situation.
Verdandi
Veteran
Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 56
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)
Well as I said, statistically most people fall within a single standard deviation of most other people. That is what is labeled normal.
"Normalcy" as a social and sometimes moral imperative is a social construct, not the idea that most people work in particular ways.
ICY
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 17 May 2011
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 192
Location: Hertfordshire England
"Normalcy" as a social and sometimes moral imperative is a social construct, not the idea that most people work in particular ways.
I can't see how you can assign numerical values to behavioural traits. I also don't see how you can say that normal is within one standard deviation as how can the human mind make that calculation, and what are the boundaries of the population from which the data would be acquired from even if it could.
With regards to the second half of your second statement. How, when throughout time those who have been different from the situational majority have been mistreated.
I've read (in two completely different books on Autism) that people with just mild AS are on the ''normal part of the spectrum''. I didn't quite know what that meant - I didn't know if it meant most people, who are born on the spectrum, are more likely to just have AS than severe (low-functioning) Autism, or if it meant most people with AS can learn some of the social cues and are more able to learn self-awareness as they get older, ect. I don't know - I'm no doctor, but I'm just going by what I've read. I'm always advised by Aspies here that I should research a bit more on Autism, which is what I'm doing, so I'm not going to disbelieve everything I read about it.
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Sweetleaf
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Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 35,278
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
Well I find my aspergers syndrome traits to be quite severe, not in all situations......but yeah I litterally cannot walk up to someone I don't know and talk to them, I can't make eye contact unless I know someone really well and yeah people automatically know you're weird when you don't make eye contact. And I am not sure that this is totally related to aspergers but I hate when I feel bad about myself because of how people react. I wish I could find a way to just not care at all. Just because I am fairly intelligent and can do well enough acedemically(graduated from highschool and am now attending college). does not mean its just a little flaw that does not really effect my life.....I don't understand how they rate severity I mean it seems like they rate it on how well other people think you function rather then how the effected person feels about it.
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