Novel way to improve autism tolerance

Post Reply New Topic

Some of you are going to be screaming for my blood over this, and I'm almost hesitant to propose it. However, it could be revolutionary in getting the public to accept autists and Aspergians. Read no further if you are obsessed over having a sense of dignity.

Deep breath, now. Autists and Aspies may have a tendency to make untoward comments about another person's appearance, and it sometimes results in persecution and social marginalization. However, this expresses a certain innocence as well, and this innocence may act as a trump card in defeating intolerance. It could also serve to improve socialization. I think that school children may be able to understand their auistic classmates better by being told to think of us as they would a younger child or a puppy. As undignified as it may be, it might result in more nurturing classmates playing a protective role for this child, and these more socially mobile protectors might have success in both shielding young autists from abuse and enhancing their social integration. The reason that I fear some of you rejecting this is that some of you might take a great deal of offense to being treated as a child or an animal, and I think that the hardest audience to persuade in adopting this method would be higher functioning autists who may already have hurt feelings over some people's natural propensity for taking this nurturing attitude. Using this formula, autists would take a submissive, child-to-elder role with their peers, and they would receive careful instruction and training in areas in which we, as autists and Aspergians, are naturally deficient. Umm...it might also improve our chances of getting laid, which some of us seriously, seriously need. The reason this would work is that prolactin-induced cuddling might have the effect of developing into romantic relationships.

I hope that this idea will bring about a warm reception with at least some of you. Please don't be offended. I'm trying to help.

No, I actually want to be treated like a human being.

I understand your feelings, Flagg. Please try to understand mine. I really want to give some of these kids a better chance of being accepted, and some of them truly need protection in the cruel environment of an educational facility.

Hmm, right idea, wrong implementation. The younger child or puppy thing is just.. yuck. No, thank you. I'd rather be an incompetent social outcast than a pet, and the suggestion also has IMO a high likelihood of making the autistic child looked down upon as somehow mentally incompetent or inferior. But, many schools already have mentoring programs, where older children help, for instance, those behind in reading skills catch up in one on one situations. It might be possible to set up a mentoring relationship, where a particularly empathetic or calm individual could be assigned to watch over the younger autistic or Asperger's child. They could help smooth over difficult interactions, look out for bullying, and try to provide help in those areas the child was finding difficult.

i maybe could see merit in the theory within elementary schools...

i was a guest teacher in elementary schools and they had disabled students mixed in with the class...

i dont think it would necessarily hurt the lil kids to have this sort of modelling behavior...


but i dont think it should be implemented at older stages.... dunno where the cutoff should be

I think that tends to happen naturally at times with people. My bf-he sees me as an equal, but I think that is always underlying. I just don't get things the way he does, and he has to explain. It is hard to look at someone who is always asking questions and not see a childlike nature coming out in them, I imagine. But I also don't think implementing it in the school system so much will help. There are kids who hear their parents nag about people with all kinds of disabilities all of the time, and are angry at people who are different in any way just because that is how they have been taught in the home, which is more influential I think in a lot of ways than anything they can teach at school.

I think it just boils down to human tolerance. Some learn young how to be cruel to anyone who is different, and if we were to implement something that somehow got them to view us as needing extra help or anything from the other students, chances are that would come out even more negatively than it already is in some cases, because not only would they not like us already for being different, but it would be pointing us out as well. There are always some kids here and there that are very protective of anyone who is different, or they can relate because they have a family member who is and whatnot. It would be hard to attempt to force others to be so open-minded and non-judgmental if they don't see a reason why. Most people could care less how they effect another in the long run-it's cheap entertainment for them.

Griff,

You are NUTS! It won't make it more likely that you will have sex, and neither party would likely be much into it anyway.

Many ALREADY think autistics are animals or immature.

Frankly, I think the smarter autistics, and AS people especially, would like more space and respect. YOUR idea presents less of both.

Who is this supposedly aimed at? When is this behaviour to start?

And children are not little tyrants because they are naturally born a***holes. They are tyrants because they haven't learned how the world works and how to properly interact with things. It's why they aren't left alone with babies, kittens, puppies, or chocolate cake mix. The level of sophistication you are expecting from little humans that eat their own boogers and torture ants and bugs with magnifying glasses on a sunny day is astounding.

I would suggest much like mmaestro and nobodyzdream have intimated that there will always be a natural subset of "protectors." Those noble children who get their self-worth out of helping others rather than in looking cool or tough in front of others. They perhaps could be encouraged in that behaviour. But as a general rule, children are not adults and lack the sophistication neccassary to implement your ideas without constant supervision.

lol, that's one of the worst ideas ever, sorry :p