Do people think that we aren't human? with no feelings?

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Once someone joked at me... "Maybe you're human afterall"... when I got some joke and laughed on cue for once.. I've heard other comments to that effect all along and wondered...

Do other people just think that because I'm different and don't get everything they are talking about, that somehow I am "Inhuman"? Is that why they feel they can treat me horribly and not have to feel any guilt about it.. because they think I'm not human?

Have any of you experienced this? or is there a "normal" person here that could translate what those comments could mean? As a normal person, have you ever viewed someone on the autistic spectrum as being "Less than human" and therefore, felt it was o.k. to tease, humiliate and otherwise treat them badly?.. did you somehow think they weren't feeling any emotional pain from the humiliation because they didn't show it as outwardly as others might?

Some people seem to think that people with AS or autism are robotic and mechanical and have no emotions. It's the whole judge a book by it's cover mentality.

In my opinion we are all human. We all make mistakes and feel things.
Everyone is fornigan to someone.

People who treat us like that, can't see past the tips of their noses.

I have wondered this too. I think it is so.

You're all talking about being human like it's a good thing.

I actually don't consider myself human.

50 points for you.

I don't think I've encountered anyone who knows about AS before I tell them, so they usually get my end of it, which helps portray me as the pinnacle of the modern man.

I think Aspies have plenty of emotion. We just don't display it for others too see as well.

If I don't laugh at a joke, that's because it isn't funny.

If some people think that we aren't human, it would be something that goes both ways. Some of our membership here likes to think that we are separate from, and better than, Humans. I don't buy such BS myself.

I remember my mom bitching about me like that saying I had "no emotion" and s**t like that. Then I was diagnosed as autistic. THEN she stopped bitching and playing her crap r&b/old house music in the car so goddamn much and trying to get me into conversations.......
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Every once in a while, with certain people who apparently didn't know they were hurting me so badly, I would show the pain outwardly by actually having my eyes tear up a bit or something.. In the past, a bully would be even more motivated to continue to humiliate if I would cry... but as an adult, sometimes if I show strong, outward emotion (rare but it does happen) then suddenly, a person will stop teasing and actually see that they are hurting me...

Sometimes, I think "normal" people will think it's o.k. to keep dumping all their anger or meanness onto another if the other doesn't show the pain, because they think they aren't feeling any pain or maybe they are frustrated at the lack of outward emotion. The moment I show pain, the people who actually have a heart will stop the abusive behavior. Maybe I should just feign showing pain on the outside when I really AM feeling it on the inside so these people that do have a heart, will see the pain... and leave me alone or treat me better?

I was brought up not to show emotion, so I don't. Emotional display in other people is very uncomfortable for me, probably precipitated by having a father who has a hair-trigger temper, and who lashes out verbally and physically at those around him (though not physically to anyone older than 15).

Life would be so much easier if I didn't have emotions, so it's unsurprising I aspire to that.

There is a movie that talks about the true definition of being human. It's called The Island. No matter how much the owners of Merrick Biotech tried to objectify the agnates (clones grown for organ transplants) living in the facility, it was hard to obscure the fact that there were indeed people. However, one comment on a movie discussion board I read mentioned that it was easier to feel sympathy for the main characters due to the fact that they weren't really human.