Do u wonder what NT's think of AS

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As a person on the spectrum, I often wonder what NT's think of what having AS/HFA is like. I often wonder if the assumption of typical NT or the mean assumption amongst a handful of NT's on what they think it's like to have AS/HFA is accurate in truth. Sometimes I wonder if I had to opportunity to go in a bunch of NT's heads and experience what they feel being on the spectrum is like, I wonder how close they are in accurately guessing what it's like. Do you often wonder that too?

On an interesting side note, even though I'm not an NT, I seem to have a pretty good idea of what it feels like to be an NT- thought process is smooth and less rigid but intense focus on specific things is less intense. It's kind of like comparing being high on weed to being sober- being NT is like being sober while being high is like being AS/HFA.

I don't have to guess what NT's think about AS. To be more specific, I don't have to guess what they think about me. They all encapsulate me with one word - crazy.

I am OK if NTs think of me as crazy. There are hundreds of not-so-nice phrases that I can use to describe them. My favorite is shallow, manipulative idiots. It’s unfortunate we need to live under their rules. Sigh...

I can imagine what being NT is like. Well, I've only got to think of one NT person at a time, since they're not all psychologically identical. I've also got to know them enough obviously.

But I mainly imagine what I would be like if I was still in this same body but had an NT brain. It's easy if I put my mind to it. It's very easy to imagine. But it's very complicated to explain, so I shan't explain it, otherwise this post would go on and on, since there's a lot to explain.

If NTs are supposed to have empathy and Aspies are supposed to lack empathy, then how come NTs can't seem to imagine how it is for an Aspie but I can easily imagine how it is for an NT?

I would guess that NT's do not think deeply enough to know what having AS is like.

I imagine being NT involves being -

stimulated by other people and social situations
able to quickly work out complex relationships between groups of people
clear about what is going on at any given moment

however

I reckon they:

forget things quickly
have to concentrate hard to do anything that technical
find it depressing to be alone

These are sweeping statements I am sure, but I reckon it is an approximation.

I'd generally agree with this

It's alien to most NTs to want to analyse anything at an abstract meta level like this - it's of no practical use to them to understand how it would feel to have Aspergers and if they said to another NT that they wondered how it felt, they'd immediately be put into the 'weird' category by the other NT and they'd know this so wouldn't do it. Everything has to have a direct practical application to their own lives for NTs. If they had a child, partner, relative or friend with Aspergers then they might try and imagine what it's like as that has direct consequences on their own life.

Generally I'd say most see Aspergers as a defect they wouldn't want to have and they put it in the general
'mental illness'/'not normal' category as they rarely understand the concept of Autism

There is no single answer since different people will have different conceptions. But there is one group of NTs that have put considerable effort into trying to figure out what it would be like inside an AS person's head. That group is NT authors. Whenever an author who does not have AS tries to write a character who does, that author will have to figure this out. So if you are wondering, read some books by NT authors which contain AS characters.

They know a little about it, but not a lot and they don't nearly put as much emphasis on it as people here do.

I don't think they really care, especially if they are uneducated about it. They think being an Aspie is an excuse for our perceived rude and odd behavior.

Ah, but if you were a millionaire, than they'd think of you (and me) as eccentric

Most think of us as mentally ret*d. I know I won't tell anybody I am a aspie.

It seems to me they think one of two things, depending on how they judge our "functioning":

1. We don't think at all, we're just basically giant brainless slugs.
2. We think exactly like them and behave differently because we're lazy, selfish, want attention, didn't get enough spankings, etc.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x7AAoITqrw[/youtube] My take on what its like being an aspie! At least from an aspies perspective! I recommend NTs to spend a few weeks in Japan heh.

I already know what they think of AS. It's all over the internet when they talk about it. Some think it's a fancy term for socially awkward and think it's a load of crock. some think people use AS to say whatever they want, some think too many people self diagnose themselves with it when they are just socially awkward or shy or anxious and use it as an excuse, some think aspies have no intention of changing and they think it's everyone else's fault and there is nothing wrong with them so they expect everyone to bend over backwards towards them, some find them annoying, some see stims as habits and behavior issue, and some do have positive thoughts about aspies like they are innocent, sweet people, wouldn't cheat on their partner or play head games, very reliable, be able to follow rules and not break them.

Hi, can you tell me a place where NT's talk about Aspies? I would love to read their comments.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthre ... =aspergers

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthre ... +publicity