This is another true story.
Part of my difficulty in navigating IRL is the fact that I am a brown man living in an area of the country not well known for its endemic covert racism. Of course, it is not so covert to me. Almost daily I encounter someone who gets the wrong impression based on the color of my skin. Having Aspergers just makes things that much more difficult to negotiate.
Some people think I am walking on the street with the express purpose of doing them harm. These folks cross the street or pull their children away.
Others think that my goal in approaching them is to take their purse, wallet or other valuable thing (as opposed to walking to the store or some other destination).
When I am in a hotel, invariably someone will turn to me, regardless of who is on the elevator or near the buttons, and ask me to push the button for their floor.
My tale takes place on such a day, and I was irritable because it had alread happened once that I was on the elevator, at the back, and someone got on and asked me to push a button for their floor.
Anger was seething at the back of my brain when I got on the elevator again. A man stepped on, stood near the buttons, and asked me to push three.
"What's the matter," I asked irritably, "are you blind?"
"Yes," he said, "I am." (Remember aspies not making eye contact?). I looked up and sure enough he was. I pushed the button, mumbled an apology, and waited anxiously for the elevator to arrive at his floor, which was before mine.
I was on my way to speak at a diversity training workshop.
Even I can be blind.
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Raised by Wolves
if you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
03 Oct 2005, 1:27 pm
