Do certain cultures despise Aspies?

Post Reply New Topic

I have always been interested in people and cultures.

Back in the mid 80's I lived in Florida. I ended up becoming a powerful local politician. One of the big drivers for that was I wanted change - to have a open acceptance of differances. It seemed to be very welcome all over the state, despite there was lots of bigotry. The harder I faught the bigotry, the more power i was given by the people. Yes - an autistic politcian.

The truth is, I honestly belive humans have built in bitotry and unless leaders / society guides us, most will be bigots. Even though most do not want to be bigots. Some will have the abillty to fight it on their own.

I curenlty live in Minnesota and it is truly unbeliveable. I watched a blind person try to cross a road. When I lost it and made people stop - they cut me down... That was bigotry for a person that wsa just blind... There is little education to combat it in this region. I read a sign that the state of Minnesota placed - it read how this is the first state to take people who are different and send them to "institutions" to remove them from society - like it is something to be proud of..
I hope that I can find the cause of this culture.

The USA over all is bigot country - Native Americans, African decendents and Guy people have always been persecuted. Autism and other "disorders" are on are no execption. Turn on the news and you will see Mexican, Cubans and anyone from the Middle East has been added to that list.

If you happen to live in a culture that accepts you - Do not move. It is not like that everyhwere..

It does indeed sound like Canada is a good place to be an aspie, from what I have read on this thread. I feel blessed to live here!

I live in a very monochromatic city, so this may be a bit less accurate than with some of the other people who live in more multicultural areas. Every example I can think of in regards to being mistreated by others has generally been from caucasians, and of those caucasians, it was always either the really masculine jock type or people who were poor or came from dysfunctional families. Otherwise, I'd say most people are relevantly tolerant, but may distance themselves from me. The only exception to this was not in my home city, but when I was living in Madrid for a few months in sixth grade. I attended a wealthy private school and a lot of the kids were horrible to me. Among people older than me, I find that most psychologists I encounter are extremely condescending. And then for things that aren't actually related to the way my mind works, e.g. my taste in food or the way I dress, it's mainly nosy upper-middle class girls, the type of people who like to know everything that's going on and seem to have some sort of desire to make sure that everyone's a conforming member of society, who like to interrogate me aggressively on those matters. Everyone of other cultures than your typical white American has been pretty accepting.

Since I am a foreigner here most people put my differences down to that. Doesn't always make it easier but after the initial "push" to conform they give up more easily.

I have noticed that (and this is purely my experience btw) Asians and Indians who are westernised react very badly to me. They seem to lack empathy or compassion for someone outside their family or communal group if they have been living here too long. The ones who aren't westernised seem to be much nicer and I actually get on with them, particularly the women very well.

I have also noticed that most ex pats from my original continent are much, much more willing to accept my differences that anyone else. They don't ever force the issue and are extremely nice as long as I make a basic effort. Most of my friends are ex pats from my original continent who have moved here and we have simply stuck together as a group. I think it's partly a cultural thing but they also expect me to be different after living here for a certain amount of time and we share many of the same problems that comes from living here.

I've never dealt with prejudice, per say, but I have met people who think Asperger's and ASD are "made up" and "not real problems". I've even heard of employers not willing to accommodate the needs of someone with ASD.

I don't have it so bad where I live. People notice I'm... ajem, smart before anything else, and that makes them be more accepting. I got bullied a bit in high school, but I had friends there who would help me everytime it started to get out of hand, and now I'm capable of blending in and passing off as someone who just doesn't like to talk too much. Still, overly shy people tend to be made fun of, and if someone can't stand up for himself he will be exploited ruthlessly.