did you ever meet someone who was ambiguously NT/AS?

Post Reply New Topic

My anecdote is an interesting one. To this day, I have to admit I've never met anybody quite like this guy Steve. It was back in the 90s when I was 18 and working at McDonald's (that alone gave me a hint of developmental delay, as my 18-year-old peers were very few in fast food). I couldn't tell what sort of condition this guy had - he was 27, so about a decade older than me at the time and he seemed low on street smarts the way an Asperger person might, but he was also lacking intelligence. Yet he spoke clearly (not large vocabulary) and looked you in the eye, he always seemed enthusiastic to see me when I came in for my shift and asked how I was. But he'd never heard of certain famous actors or musicians or events that recently transpired, it's like he was in a cave for a while - not only that, but there were certain incidents he'd told me about that even I would know not to do with my limited street smarts. He asked me one day "hey jayo, what's the deal with some people? I was biking to work in my McDonald's outfit, and some guys were yelling 'ha, you look like a loser, just lose the outfit man.'" That's not something I would have even thought about doing, as I knew it was considered socially improper and not something people respect.

I wouldn't have called Steve a classic autistic a-la Rain Man either, he was nowhere on the spectrum as far as I could tell. But, that was around the time Forrest Gump came out, and I sort of compared the two and thought, maybe that's a closer fit.

Maybe he just had learning difficulties?

My first thought was that I'm kind of like Steve! LOL

Because I would totally bike to work in my McDonald's uniform. When I worked at McDonald's, I didn't have a bike. But I walked a mile to work in my McDonald's uniform. And would have biked if I'd had one. I understand that people might yell stuff at me, but people yell stuff at me when I'm walking or biking anyway so I wouldn't have even associated it with the uniform.

As for Steve, I have a cousin who's .... I think they call it something like cognitively challenged these days, but when I was growing up it was "mentally ret*d." (Apologies, I know there are people who don't like the R word. I'm not saying it to offend, it's just what I was brought up to call it and I'm trying to make sure I'm communicating clearly. I won't use the word a second time.)

Anyway, my point being, that's probably what Steve was. That's *TOTALLY* what Forrest Gump comes across to me as. He's *SO* much like my cousin. And my cousin was like that. Spoke clearly and perfectly but no big words. Kind of slow on the uptake. Kind of socially naïve. But looked folks in the eye, LOVED people and had no qualms about letting you know she was happy to see you.

Remember that cognitive challenge is a spectrum just like autism. someone without Down Syndrome will not have "the look" that is stereotypically associated. They also may not have the slur to their speech -- my cousin, like I say, spoke perefctly clearly. And a cognitively challenged person's IQ (Down Syndrome or otherwise) may be up around 65 or 70 -- only a couple of standard deviations below the norm. My cousin was able to do a few semesters of college-level work before she hit her wall and dropped out. She almost got an associate's degree. It surprises people who don't have a lot of personal experience with cognitively challenged people, but MANY of them are capable of some undergraduate work.

A lot of the stereotypes about being cognitively challenged are just as flawed as the stereotypes about being autistic. Think on all the autistic/asperger's stereotypes you don't fit. Not all people on the cognitively challenged spectrum fit their stereotypes, either. And your fellow, Steve, sure sounds to me like that's the spectrum he was on. He also sounds like a really cool guy to work with! I really enjoy co-workers who are happy to see me. I've worked with far too many people who seemed to flat-out hate me. I would really value a Steve in my workplace.

Well, you know, I actually had lunch with Steve regularly back then - nobody else wanted to with either one of us, I endured harassment from a bully co-worker there who turned a couple of other against me - and he did the same with Steve. Yes, they were no less merciless with either one of us, despite our different challenges. So if anything, that made me more inclined to hang around Steve, since he was like the archetype of the "noble simpleton".

And speaking of stereotypes - I tend to think subconsciously, quite wrongly I'm sure, that janitors are on that cognitively challenged spectrum. From the janitors I've met in the past mostly in childhood, I always got that impression. Then I watched Good Will Hunting and despite it being fiction, it did kind of make me question the stereotype

After studying at university for 7 years working in science for 10 years the smartest person I've ever met was a janitor (I was a janitor as well, just graduated). He had 3 degree's in physics, engineering and maths. He had family money and a career as an academic but had a breakdown couldn't handle stress but wanted the comradery of work. Out of the entire site of 150+ people only 3 people had degree's the two janitors (my friend and I) and the top manager.

Sounds like a non-spectrum individual with a profoundly low IQ.

Someone with a profoundly low IQ couldn't work as a janitor.

My aunt had a profoundly low IQ and was unable to speak, unable to even sit up unassisted.

To me, he sounds MUCH more like someone mildly to moderately challenged.