Living in an NT world

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on one side,we ask society supply the help to us to come into nt world
on other side ,aspie must learn some tip to fill this nt society

If someone with AS went on a support board for NT's with Aspie family members and said it's wrong to bash Aspies. They would get they're head handed to them in short order. And told to leave in a not very nice way. And those NT's know about Aspergers, so it does not necessarily follow that they will be understanding if only they we're educated about Aspergers.

This thread is quite interesting, particularly after reading a number of threads concerning how to determine where one falls on the spectrum of neural typicality. The problem of helping people live happy and productive lives is a very difficult one.

Several different things occur to me after reading these posts

1. some amount of a person's ability to 'succeed' in life lies only within themselves
2. very often people also need assistance to deal with the things that they can't overcome
3. Its often difficult to determine where the balance is between 1 and 2

4. some conditions are more readily discernible by others like blindness or mobility loss

5. Individual understanding of neurological conditions like AS and ASD could promote greater ability by people in every aspect of life (education, workplace, etc.) to help people with these conditions to both meet their own potential as well as benefit society
6. Government legislation and programming could also help (like the recent $1B invested in autism research)
7. It would be difficult to determine where the balance is between 5 and 6

As I considered the various solutions that seemed to be suggested in the posts I was struck with this thought. Suppose I was considering the problem of a child born in an impoverished nation. If educating people to his plight was the only answer, then of course there would be a significant reduction in this problem because there is an amazing amount of wealth available to solve such an obvious problem. If government legislation was the solution, the same result would be true.

WHY THEN IS THERE NOT A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THE ISSUE OF ECONOMIC NEED.

An intriguing thought. We can think of the majority of Americans (or those living in fairly affluent parts of the world) as being 'NT' which would naturally mean that they have a much easier time in the NT world. But wait, the truth is that NT individuals lives are challenged by the norms that society as a whole has established. 'Normal' people are challenged continuously to try and solve amazing problems, not for the purpose of making their lives or anyone elses more productive, but in the attempt to own more and be accepted more.

IT SEEMS THAT THE PROBLEM LIES IN DEVELOPING REALISTIC DEFINITIONS OF WHAT MANKIND SHOULD CONSIDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND PRODUCTIVE.

I'm sorry, I'm a philosopher.

Yes, it's an interesting topic. Here's some rather random thoughts:

As someone who has spent decades trying, and failing, to fit in, I agree that the world belongs to ALL of us. The NT's may dominate the planet, but they have no divine monopoly of the definition of what is acceptable.

Amhealy, I think pretty much all of us here *have* tried to understand the NT world. For those of us diagnosed as adults, the NT world was the only world and we did our best to go along with it. Don't forget that many of us have suffered awful mental and physical cruelty from NT's at our attempts to get on in their world. Our high frequency of depression and PTSD is predominantly due to being on the receiving end of the NT's contempt. No surprise, then, that eventually we decide to keep that world at arms length.

On your analogy of minority cultures in your country, not sure if it's really relevant as there is no AS homeland to go back to! If there was a 'Right Planet', I'd be first in the queue to return there and leave this planet behind

Also, I can't believe you're really suggesting that all minorities should conform or go home. Tolerance of other cultures is of great benefit to all of us. Do you really think that the dominant US culture has not benefited greatly from the food, music, arts, literature etc etc that has been introduced by foreign cultures? The alternative idea, that cultural purity, the intrinsic correctness of the ruling majority and rejection of all those who are different has caused nothing but evil and misery.

It would do the NT world a lot of good to work harder at basic tolerance of different others. Instead of resenting the effort required and expecting us to make ALL of it, they should realise that it could well make for a better world and improve their own lives.

It's not really an NT world. They just think it is

ManErg that was an amazing post! I agree 100% and I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking the way I do.