Have You Been Treated Different Recently

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Recently I was out skeet shooting with a couple friends when the discussion turned to news and inevitably the Newtown shootings. Eventually the sad topic evolved into how future massacres might be prevented, with new laws against the mentally ill at the forefront. Now, I have never told any of them that I have Aspergers, so I decided to proceed cautiously by asking what mental afflictions they were talking about. Suddenly they began to spew a plethora of newspaper quotes citing how everyone with, schizophrenia,Mood disorder, and Autism (specifically Aspergers) is a potential treat. “At the very least," they said, "we should ban these people from owning weapons". They went on to say how we should even consider forced institutionalization because we simply cannot have people with these conditions living in a civil society. So there I am, with a dumbfounded look on my face as I tried to understand and reply to what had just been said; but all I could do was raise my hand in the air and say, "That's me." They just stared at me until eventually I told them that I have Aspergers. None of them could believe it, they kept commenting on how calm, and sensible I always seem. Over the next 10 minutes, I went on to dispel all the myths that they had heard, and yet, by the end I still felt like they were nervous when I picked up my shotgun and left for home.

Very brave of you

Very brave of you. And good for you for keeping calm. I would have gotten a massive temper tantrum

I've heard both of these myself and it's largely because of the media f*ing it up for us.

I just think it's funny when people talk about doing that stuff and then go on to say they live in a "civil society"... civil my *ss, one person (which is speculation at best) out of the whole spectrum (which consists of hundreds of thousands of people) acts like a criminal and then society goes on their witch hunt to punish the rest for things that they didn't/wouldn't do.

People don't care about our rights or freedoms, they just want to blame something other than themselves, and like usual the innocent will be punished by their form of "justice" and "preventative measures".

I want a gun someday. I would hide it in my basement. Knowing I can defend myself would help me sleep. A paranoid scizopermic should not have a gun. Some NTs should not own guns either.

Sounds like you opened some closed eyes, good for you those people will be better people becouse of you. It may take time for it to sink in and honestly they likely felt really akward around you after that and why woundn't they, they broke the social rules and offended you much like we apperantly often offend them. Nervious yes, becouse you have a gun don't think so as they stated you were not a threat to them.

They don't want their rights taken, so they'll blame some minority group who can be used as the sacrificial lamb. Nothing new.

Hopefully, we live in times where people are "smarter" than how they were once when evidence is provided. Innocent till proven guilty and all that, and a mental disorder doesn't equal guilty. Guilty is violent crime.

I haven't been treated all that differently (other than by my idiot female friend, who decided to act like it never happened after about a month when she realized no one else was going to listen to her whine).

It's just the same old s**t. I try to explain to people-- "Oh, honey, there can't be anything wrong with YOU." Love you too, Granny. Now get out of deNile before de crocodiles eat you up. "BS. You're just evil." f**k you too. "You're OK. Just misunderstood." When someone tries and tries and tries and is chronically misunderstood, don't you start to wonder why??? That's probably as close to an apology as I'm going to get for all the BS you've propagated, isn't it?

And yes-- I hear the comments. And I am not as brave as you. I turn away with downcast eyes and shaking hands, sick to my stomach. I go home and cry. I am afraid to disclose, leary of asking for help, and once again many days too afraid of being noticed to leave my house.

Grateful to pay an extra $25 for my daughter to play soccer this spring if that means I don't have to work the snack stand, don't have to volunteer to chauffeur kids to away games, don't, in general, have to do anything that will necessitate being any more exposed in front of the other parents than I will be just showing up at the practices and games with a raft of cute little girls.

Because that's bad enough. I used to be awkward and withdrawn, and tended to find social events stressful and tiring. Now I'm suspicious, paranoid, and downright agoraphobic, and find even thinking about those events to be utterly draining.