The Autistic Generation Gap

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Don't read this or other threads about this topic if you don't want to.
You can't stop others from discussing a topic.

Easier said than done. I am not going to stand by and let myself get falsely accused over and over again without saying something about it.

If they post something to me and purposely distort what I said, I am going to say something about it.

If they keep bringing up my name that way, I am going to say something about it.

How was I supposed to know when I opened this thread that someone was going to use my name and distort what I said as a premise?

And how am I supposed to just shrug it off and not read it anymore?

You know what an adult told me? I was told that they are projecting on me. I am not going to just twittle my thumbs and ignore being used like some kind of target and whipping post.

Last edited by EzraS on 12 Feb 2016, 2:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think that we are supposed to be helping each other here, not making each other upset. I do not want people to be upset; life is just too hard already.

I understand why everyone is getting hurt or angry. I just want it to end, though. I'm hoping that everyone can virtually shake hands, say " I'm sorry," and just move on, because I think this topic is really emotionally harmful for many people (including me).

Sorry, this is only my opinion. I don't like to see people fight and it's really upsetting to me that this is going on.

This is not addressed to anyone in particular. Sometimes people here think I am talking about them when I am not, or implying something. I can assure everyone that I'm implying nothing, and I only just want people to stop being upset.

You know what I am just going to leave.

Good bye WP.

Sorry to see you go. I hope you feel better.

Ezra don't go because someone read something you didn't intend into your post. People are aware of what happened and know it's not your fault. Everything is OK.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Got the rant out of your system yet? Show me where ANYBODY said that in this thread. This is not about you.

This is what the OP said:


Now, unless your were around for the last three years saying this over and over and over, this is not about you.

This was triggered by something you said. But the above paragraph shows that it is about things people have been saying over and over for three years.

This directly addresses that you said something to trigger the idea, but not the genesis of the idea. Also, specifically states this was not about you:

So, if this has been going on for three years, how is this about you?

It seems it's a big misunderstanding. But when people are trying to let you know it isn't about you, you're just digging your heels to keep it on you. I don't understand that.

Okay I'm back from my quirky space cadet holiday, and now I'm autistic again. (Hey, it was fun while it lasted!)

I realized why 'quirky' won't work for me: I'm extremely reclusive, and the only people I have any kind of 'relationship' with are immediate family, doctors, therapists, and social workers. These people already know I've been diagnosed with autism, so... Yeah, pretending to just be 'quirky' is a bit pointless in my case.

As for random strangers, I prefer to be 'polite and businesslike' - in an effort to minimize interaction.

I suppose online I come across as a 'quirky space cadet', and as we have seen here, there are those who are skeptical of other people's diagnoses - so if those people want to think of me as just 'quirky', I'm fine with that. Ultimately it comes down to about 5 people on this forum (that I can tell?) - and it's really not that big of a deal.

What matters is that I get the support I need in real life, to meet my survival needs, and that is happening, so it's all good.

It's true.

How can a random person on the Internet determine anything about you? They are not present with you. They are not in your environment. They are basing their impressions upon words typed onto a page. Their impression is, at best, speculation.

It's best not to listen to people on the Internet who believe they are God and psychic, and who believe in the truth of their impressions (based on typed words via the Internet). This is especially so if they don't let you get in a word edgewise. Then you know these people have a certain agenda.

Maybe they don't truly believe they are God or psychic, and just want to get a rise out of you.

Yep... Or, it's just an innocent question, but since some of us have spent a lifetime being told it's our own fault, and that we should just shut up and behave like normal human beings, it hits a sore spot.

I've learned a lot from this though, and I think in the future I'll take such comments in stride, and not let it get to me.

I was actually agreeing with your viewpoint in this case.

I was addressing the fact that people can't determine if one is/isn't autistic based upon an Internet presentation.

Even if I met you, I wouldn't be able to really tell the veracity of your statement of Spectrum-ness. That would only happen if I would be around you for a few straight days. Even then, I'm not an expert, so I can still only speculate.

I certainly, honestly, believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. I don't believe Autism is the "next trendy thing" or the "next step in human evolution."

Haha yeah I got that... I was agreeing with you too! (Gotta love autistic communication issues...)

EzraS, just in case you are still reading or you come back and read ...

I acknowledge ASPartOfMe misquoted you, using "most" where you said "some," and things like that. But I have followed ASPartOfMe for months, and I know he is not a cruel person.

I really think of both of you as exemplary forum members, both of whom I would hate to lose.

There certainly is a generation gap, as the OP indicated. I also think it is natural for teenagers to distance themselves, or even rebel, against their parents' generation (or for Ezra, maybe it's even their grandparents' generation).

Then when you overlay this with the history of Aspergers as a diagnosis, its slow acceptance and eventual (possible) overdiagnosis, you can get some strong emotions involved. Heck, strong emotions were also involved when I was growing up in the 1960s. My poor mother... she had a (probable) Aspie husband who in a lot of ways acted pretty damn immature, and then she also had some Aspie children who played Dad's quirky behavior and decisions off against Mom's attempt to act responsibly. But in general, there was the so-called sexual revolution in the 60s (this was before HIV was heard of), in addition there were anti-war protests and civil rights movements and the women's movement... there was plenty of generational strife. In fact the phrase "generation gap" which is in the title of this thread first became popularized in my youth, and with good reason.

I'll say again: I value some of the younger people posting here, and also some of the older ones (we over-60s are in a special class). Please don't fight, I need my strength for other things!

OK. I went into some research today because I watch "Elementary" and the main character is in a developing relationship with an Autistic woman. It seems positively portrayed. I don't know how realistically though. Hence the reasearch.

Well, nothing on that but a HUGE amount of results about "Sherlock being Autistic", "Has Asperger's" and on and on. I never knew that or thought that.

But this is interesting:
"This erroneous understanding of the way that autistic people behave, making Sherlock's abilities and attitude desirable, risks turning a very serious condition into something vogue. Even before Sherlock returned to our screens in his modern setting, there was a harmful trend of self-diagnosis in autism where people would claim to be on the high-functioning end of the spectrum despite not having received, or even sought, a clinical diagnosis. While there may be some cases where this is a legitimate false-negative, the vast majority are not autistic but their misunderstanding of what ASD is - prompted by a lack of accurate, unambiguous representation on television - has led them to believe, and sometimes openly claim, that they are undiagnosed."

And this lends a lot of credence to what has been said by way of it 'becoming a wannabe' issue.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mat-gre ... 48520.html

And a link to another article that relays information from Doctors about this issue as well:
http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com/post/ ... -or-autism

So....maybe there is more to this than previously thought.

That's interesting about Sherlock. And I think it's actually very common for teenagers to be questioning who they are, and coming to understand their basic personality type, whereas older people have generally figured it out.

I remember going through a phase as a teenager where all the social misfits at my school pretended to be vampires, so I did too... Completely silly, but I think it's fairly typical teenage behavior.

So you're right, we need to cut them some slack, for being normal teenagers, and trying to figure themselves out, often in relation to fictional characters they admire.