How Autistics View the Rest of Us
February 21, 2010
The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting piece that flips the autism script: We are the abnormal ones, and this is how they perceive us. The entire article is interesting, although this paragraph personally resonated:
"The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic," she says, "because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It's like being in a play; I'm always in a play."
People are not that complicated - except you. If I know someone's age, race, sex, and income, I can tell you she shops; what brands and styles of clothes he wears; and what kind of car he drives. I can predict when you'll have a life crisis, and what will cause this crisis.
(Given Crime & Federalism's readership demographics, your crisis will be caused by status anxiety and jealousy. You'll see people whom you view as inferior to yourself and ask: "Why does he have so much more than I do?" You won't look at the hundreds of people just like you who didn't make it in life. This is due to narcissism. Instead of viewing yourself as having so many things in common with others that you can be stereotyped, you'll be convinced of your own uniqueness. You will not realize the illogic of your position: If you are unique, then why are you comparing yourself to others, and measuring your success or failures based on measuring sticks of status, wealth, and accomplishment that others created? Instead of embracing your own individuality - which you consciously proclaim, but what of your subconscious? - you'll obsess over people who did slightly better in life than you. And it will ruin you and any chance you had at living an authentic life.)