Let us describe autism for NTs

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We all agree Autism speaks does not speak for us,

In ten sentences or less can we describe what autism is from our point of view?

I will come back to this thread my mind is working overtime on my own contribution but between a few of us I am sure we can come up with something good.

Autism means something different to each autistic person

I would echo Tony Attwood: many autistic people want to interact with others, but they are awkward in doing so. This is what frustrates them most.

It's not that they want to be "NT"--it's that they frequently want a connection to their world.

I don't want a connection to the NT world: it's too chaotic, illogical, emotional, and hierarchical. I'd much rather NTs had a connection with my world. I can't yet think of a way to describe autism in ten sentences or less. I'll come back when some other people have provided examples.

I don't know if it can be described in ten sentences or less I just picked that number because I know most people will not read anything long.

You don't think there's hierarchy within the Aspergian/Autist world? Of course there is.

I've had that hierarchy shoved down my throat because I don't offer a philosophical treatise every time I post.

There's also, at times, a strong Social Darwinist component to Aspergian thought.

I'm not angry about that. It's just what I've sensed.

We are more NT than we think we are.

I am no brain box either.

Did the borg ever get over species 8472?

Please don't be disturbed. Hierarchy is inevitable.

Perhaps, within the autistic world, hierarchy is not so overarchingly importantly. But it exists. And it takes different forms than that which is found within the "NT" world.

I have found that the hierarchy is based upon:

1 Perceived intelligence

2. Perceived adherence to "logic."

3. The ability to be rhetorically clever.

It's not inevitable that an autistic person, or any person, would think that way--but I have found this sort of thought-pattern with some frequency.


There's nothing inherently wrong with that. Aspies are HUMAN, after all.

Ooops....I screwed up a bit. This was supposed to be about how to convey Autism to NT's.

Being autistic means I have uneven skills, and difficulty with things that neurotypical people find so easy they take them for granted.

Being autistic means that I learn differently than the norm, and I think differently.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability -- so some parts of my development happen at a different pace and often along a different path than the normal one (the points along the path are in a different order, some points are missing entirely while some extra ones have been added, the shape of the path is different, the distance between points are different....the entire path might be longer or shorter).

Here are some words to help describe autism/aspergers:

Lonely
Broken
Damaged
Burden
Miserable
Dysfunction

These are some of the words I can think of, I am sure there are more.

How about:

Savant
Creative
Alternative Perspective
Logical
Unique Slants on Things

Autism is a disorder where one's brain often has knowledge of more unusual facts, knowledge and memory, but at the steep cost of social skills and thinking. One with autism is often more honest and straightforward to the point where they often makes things worse for themselves or others, as they often see the truth as being of up-most importance. This great disadvantage in such an important aspect of life often makes us seem and/or feel inferior to others, as our strengths are not seen to the world nearly as often, due to society's demand for high social skills, and our high degrees of social isolation as a child, which often shapes our view of others. Despite, or perhaps because, of skills are often unusual or specialized, we take great pride in displaying our skills, as they are also often something of great interest to us. Although we can pick up on many of these skills, we often are left in the dust as others seem to get ahead like magic. We however, do not hate the majority of you (NT's) for this, and only want to be accepted as equal members of society where we can use our unusual gifts to contribute to society in our own way. We desperately scrape for a job relating to our skills and interests, just like you. However, our skills are often lesser-trained and rarely fit what society needs us to do, and we are often left further isolated from what we desire. We wish to be known by this title, but do not wish to have it be a universal label or one that interferes with our daily lives, which should be something any minority group can relate to. There's more to it than that, but this covers the basics of what most of us have to go through

Artistic
Creative
Eccentric
Sensitive
Logical
Unique

The reason I put both sensitive and logical, is because I think not to hurt others, because I know how it feels to be hurt.

Odd ball
Awkward
In our own world
Interest challenged
Socially dysfunctional
Conversationally inept
Sensory hypersensitive