Working in mixed NT/AS groups - an interesting commentary

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http://franklludwig.com/autismvgroupdynamics.html

I can certainly relate to much of what he writes.

Thanks for sharing the link. I can relate to most of it too. NTs are much better at adaption. For this it's important to know how to claim the leadership and to cause them to adapt to you ...

Non-autistic people usually follow the set of worldviews of a political camp to which they conform in their entirety and from which they hardly derive (you could call it an opinion package) while autistic persons form their own opinions on individual issues. Unfortunately there are no studies, but you will find that many autistic people hold views others may consider incompatible. One example is the pro-life liberal movement, which continued in the 1960s when the mainstream liberal and feminist position shifted from pro-life to pro-choice, by liberals who consider the right to life the most basic human right. With less than 2% of the general population having an autism diagnosis, and doubling that number to account for the self-diagnosed, you’d statistically expect less than 4% of autistic people in any given group; a poll on Pro-Life Liberal’s FB page revealed that 43% of respondents identify as autistic. (I’m not saying that autistic people are generally pro-life liberals, my point is that we are less likely to subscribe to opinion packages.)


I could get on board with this.

This sounds like something I did on a cruise in September. The first night, I went onstage and sang karaoke, where I inserted my own words into existing lyrics. Namely, I sang the names of the ship's ports of call over the geographic names in the song. One woman noticed me, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I later met her two friends, and other people she met on that cruise. We all hung out together until debarkation. Everyone treated me as a respected equal, rather than a tolerated "mascot". Women flirted with me, and men bought me beers. Well, one man challenged me a little with an irritating joke, but I fended him off well the first time, and he didn't try again.

This goes back to something I learned in a leadership class in college, and also in a PUA article. When befriending a new group, your ultimate goal is to win over the leader of that group. (This isn't easy!) Once you get the leader to respect you, everyone else will follow suit like lemmings. In my case, it looks like the woman who saw me at karaoke was the leader of her group, consisting of both the friends she cruised with and the new people she met.

The most ironic thing? I was cruising by myself. And a man by himself is seldom respected. So I beat the odds.

Thanks for the link. The article prodded me into a course of action that I should have taken long ago...

About 10 years ago, I was elected to the ruling committee of a local church. The term of office was set at 3 years. I resigned before my time was up because there were health and safety issues that were not being corrected. Sure, there was plenty of talk - sub-committee meetings and so forth wherein most of the discussions revolved around whose turn it was to provide lunch. To this day, those little social gatherings have not resulted in action on those issues.

I’ll call in the Health Department, and I don’t need any committee to approve my actions.

I don't hold onto views just for the sake of blending in with the crowd. Also, I know other autistics who think independently due to not caring what other people think of them.

However, this blanket statement isn't true for everyone I know that is on the spectrum. I know of some autistic adults whose parents force their own opinions and political views on, instead of giving them the incentive of thinking and acting independently. (It kind of makes me wonder if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when parents assume their kids don't have good enough judgement for their own decisions.) Also, some autistic people automatically go with the flow of the crowd, due to being insecure. I was like that when as a teenager.