My revised essay, Rejection and Asperger's Syndrome

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Your essay definitely describes things I have seen, and that can be true for some people. Here is something I wrote in the past that dealt with things usually attributed to autism that might not truly be (at least not in all cases) as related to our innate neurological structure as people assume.

At the same time, I know that these things are not always results of social rejection. I'll take "need for sameness" as an example. You did say that it's true "in many cases", so I assume you know it can be a result of other things besides aesthetic preferences. I thought I'd elaborate on one of them:

I seem to be aware of far more information around me than most people are, as a result of neurological aspects of perception being different for me than for most people. At least some part of different neurological aspects of perception is replicably unusual among autistic people. (I don't know as much about AS-specific stuff since (a) I don't tend to divide that way, and (b) I've never been formally defined as AS, only as other types of autistic.)

Anyway, the more familiar information is, the more I am able to actually perceive the information as something other than a bombardment with a thousand different colors, shapes, sounds, smells, textures, and other sensations. This makes it easier for me to think about things other than dealing with all that data at once. Which in turn makes it easier for me to function in a large variety of areas.

Additionally, if I am in a familiar environment, it is more likely that, even if I can't understand what's going on around me, I already have pre-designed sets of actions that allow me to do things in that environment, even if I am essentially unable to consciously understand what I see, hear, feel, taste, smell, etc., around me. In an unfamiliar environment those pre-designed actions don't work so well, or at least there is a higher risk of them failing or doing something totally unexpected that I am unprepared for.

In that sense, my "need for sameness" is no more incomprehensible than the need a blind person has to make sure their things are in the same place every time. I used to know a blind guy and if someone moved his stuff he just couldn't find it without a lot of trouble, because he had to feel his way around for it, plus he was in a wheelchair so it was harder for him to maneuver around to even do that. I have similar trouble finding my stuff if someone moves it, because I have to (as one autistic person I know referred to it) "plug in" a certain mode of perception to then go around hunting for it.

But it is definitely not a purely aesthetic preference, it has serious functional consequences for me if it goes otherwise. There have been times in my life when I have simply plunged into that sort of sensory chaos and made it -- and randomness -- my home, and I may have looked less odd in some ways from that (less obvious freaking out at change, but lots of obvious other things to make up for it), but it didn't work for functional purposes very well at all. And I'm not able to do that now on a regular basis.

I know that not all autistic people do it for those reasons, I'm just giving mine, which are pretty well divorced from anything related to social rejection. Similarly, developing a special interest seems to in many people happen so young that it'd be hard to explain as related to anything social. (In fact, as far as anyone can tell, the primary traits of autism are not social at all, those are just outgrowths of underlying perceptual and cognitive differences that still exist in non-social situations.

Also you might be interested in this post by a friend of mine, who got into the topic of "conceptualizing autism". She divides autism into three layers: Underlying neurological differences in the brain, the actual lived experience, and the outward signs of autism (that last one is where"social skills" differences lie, as well as repetitive behavior, etc.). She describes the third category, outward signs, as both the ones that most people rely on to detect autistic people, and the least reliable (and most open to different societal preconceptions changing things) method of detecting autistic people or understanding anything about us. I agree with her on that point.

Unwritten rules definetly exist. They exist becuase people need to know who's "With it" in regards to their community and themselves. In the past, it was a way for tribes to filter out people who do not fit their mold or could be subortanent.

Aspies get hit hard with these becuase deep down, we're not connected to the whole social-group-formation wave length as everyone else. NTs are social creatures, and group cohesion is importaint to many of them, even those who claim to be outside the mainstream. Aspies tend to exist on a more individualistic level, and hence can be seen as a threat to group cohesion. You can see that in the overwhelming spectrum of views, ideas and abilites represented on website, whereas NTs tend to splinter into rich/poor/black/white/gay/striaght/jock/nerd/etc...In short, we're "different", and different is threatening to many people and threatens group cohesion. Hence the issues we face in the world.

You bring up several interesting points, and I like your perspective MikeH106.

One of the things you mention, odd appearance, specifically relates to me. As it were, one of the things you specifically mention directly applied to me-long hair. It is funny that you mention the fact that fifty percent of diagnosed male Aspies had long hair as a child. I've never even considered this. Coincidence? Is there a correlation between long hair and Asperger's-LIKE symptoms that are merely "signs" of a condition not actually present? It seems that is your point. I've met very few long haired males growing up, and the fact that half of respondents to your informal servey actually sported long hair does raise eyebrows. However, is it not an actual Asperger's trait to shun ideas of conformity? And thereby causing eventual rejection...?

It seems to me, how the actual rejection begins might not only cause Asperger-like traits, but may also be rooted in the fact that Asperger's Syndrome is present in the first place.

I do see the overall point you've made, and do believe those fears of misuse of the DSM IV are justified. Just had to point that little bit out there.

Yes, I had long hair since 4th grade! I was very surprised by the results of my survey.

My avatar is Magus, a long-haired wizard from the game Chrono Trigger.