My single biggest gripe about neurotypical people is the profound reluctance that so many of them have towards learning about neurodiversity, autism in particular. Most cannot be bothered to read one Wikipedia article about us, even knowing that one of their acquaintances is autistic and needs them to understand.
I am not trans, but I take the time to learn about trans people, from trans people, so I can better understand the unique difficulties they face. I also do the same for races other than my own, genders other than my own, nationalities other than my own, religions other than my own, neurotypes other than my own, disabilities other than my own, etc. If one disabled, exhausted, and socially encumbered person can find the time to actively learn about and from all these groups, then I can say with confidence that it is not too much to ask the same from a neurotypical person regarding just one. But when I ask for it, I only get excuses and conversational redirections.
Just wanted to share this video from Autistamatic. Who was a wonderful friend in the #ActuallyAutistic community over on X-itter. He's really hitting some excellent points here & I just wanted to share his stuff cos he's a real jem.
it frustrates me that i need a companion to feel good, or i get lonely. my #ADHD and mild #autism traits mean i'm not typical boyfriend/husband material, so it's hard to find someone.
@thor It's hard man. It's hard for #neurotypicals as well so you can only imagine how hard it can be for the two of us. The one thing I got going for me is I watched guys that have "game" and mirrored them. If anything, being #neurodivergent made me an excellent actor. :blobcatthinking:
Look people, the fact you nearly all (70%) put yourself as neurodivergent on these fucking surveys says a lot. Us normies are the odd ones out and we should be taken care of accordingly. You're not the ones looking for answers, we are! Stop trying to be the cool kids, we're the weirdos now.
So many of my #autistic and #adhd students are ashamed of their special interests, which breaks my heart. They're too young to see that engaging in things you're passionate about is difficult for most NT people. It's a life skill NTs must learn.
Most NTs I know have to work hard to find a deep passion for something. Not that they can't, of course, but that the social pressures around them discourage it. They struggle to disentangle from those pressures enough to be themselves.
@internet_ginger I am on the #spectrum myself so I've been underestimated all of my life. I've learned to embrace the status of being underestimated because it makes the bar for success low. I use the #neurotypicals behavior towards me to my advantage.
Your use of the word "infantilized" is quite on target. Ironically, I see more infantile behavior of users in front of computers. I do IT support for a living and it's amazing how I hear adults whine like 5 year olds. I've learned to sit in silence, ignore them, and wait until they finish their temper tantrum. It doesn't go over well most of the time because they want me to be actively sympathetic. It's a good thing I am a state employee and all they can do is whine but when push comes to shove the problem is solved and that is all that really matters.
I hope other #autists find the following statement validating and righteous-anger-inducing rather than invalidating because it's meant to be the former:
#Alexithymia is not developed by autists due to their #autism. Alexithymia is developed by autists because #neurotypicals continuously invalidate our #emotions until we become utterly confused by them and incapable of expressing (or even of knowing) anything about them.
The #trauma that our society heaps upon autists is the cause of autistic alexithymia, and we really need to talk more about how "normal" people psychologically fuck us.