So I'm in my early 30's but I was born with Aspergers Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorder. It basically means even though I look normal, my brain (and sometimes immune system) develop differently to everyone else. This *can* mean 'Spectrum people' like me have a higher intelligence (I'm about 137 but whatever), they can be really creative or particularly insightful. A huge amount of people who have created incredible things & pushed society forward were actually on the Spectrum.
But, there are a lot of struggles too. Things like over-sensitivity to light, noise, colours, textures, smells or sounds because everything is amplified 3 - 10 times compared to the average person (going clothes shopping can be a nightmare for some). It can be really hard to know someone's being sarcastic or lying and to understand why ('why not just say what you mean?'). You often have interests or behaviours that are quite different from your peers and tend to interpret the world in a completely different way. For example my family sees Everybody Love Raymond as a satirical take on family life but I see it as a woman being content to live with isolation, neglect, disrespect and psychological abuse from the family around her and a detached partner who doesn't care about anything (aka sociopath style) but that's another story.
As you can see from the above paragraphs focusing on one thing can often be difficult. Other things that are common are: Epilepsy, ADHD/ADD, Low immune conditions, low iron conditions, anxiety, social anxiety, depression and even commonly misdiagnosed as Personality disorder, Severe depression or even Schizophrenia.
In short, it's a big and daunting subject, where a lot more research needs to be done. But even though Spectrum people will see many specialist in their lifetime, the most effective way for them to find stability and purpose is through the care & compassion of those around them. Often we're made to feel completely unlovable, even that we're just in the way and deserve whatever we get, like we chose to be disabled. A lot of the same intervention and teaching theories from over 100 years are still commonly used today. But as you can see from this video, a lot of that can do a lot more harm than good.
I know people don't realise they're doing this and are often desperate to help in any way they can find. Up until I watched this I unconsciously thought a lot of the things he said were true. Even though I wasn't diagnosed til 20, I went grew up going through all of the things he mentions and I have a very loving, supportive family. I've had very few friends and was always exhausted after seeing them because I had to keep up this conformity act as best I could every single time I would see them plus the guilt that would follow from not being myself or even talking about any struggles because I thought it was 'against the social rules' to burden people by discussing your problems. That makes them uncomfortable and go away.
But now I see, as he said, much like with the sitcom, I was seeing things completely the wrong way around because of how I'd been taught things. I didn't have to pretend to mimic this perfect, socially well adjusted image anymore who was always there for everyone else but that I can start knowing that people love and accept and I can add to that by the people I connect with. This (is slowly) changing my whole outlook on life. Where everything is now hopeful, that it's okay to express myself, instead of hopeless, desperately acting like everyone else just to worthy of a scrap of love.
But this video is SO IMPORTANT because Spectrum people DON'T KNOW most unspoken things that Neuro-Typicals (non-austistics) learn automatically. So things like this go completely over our heads. Autism/Aspergers certainly isn't the only kind of special needs struggle that people go through but I want to hear from you guys. Any Autism/Aspergers stories? Do you know someone on the Spectrum? Does this change the way you see those who are?
At first I was going to publish this anonymously and be hidden but it's time this was bought more out into the light. Even though this isn't the best MyTake, I hope it will encourage other people to write about their disabilities or help teach each other about them. Thanks for reading ;)
Yoshi
Most Helpful Opinions