Autism show: "As we see it"

[Storm Hess]

I’d recommend it even if you don’t need to.

And now I want a cookie, too.

Cookie was just consumed. I like this forum.

 

[Magna]

I've almost finished watching the following Podcast and found it to be very interesting. The podcast is perfectly "on-topic" to this thread because it's a podcast put on by an actor, Rick Glassman, who plays one of the main characters in the show As We See It and his guest, actor Joe Mantegna, who plays his father in the show. Doubly "on-topic", because Rick Glassman was diagnosed with Level 1 ASD when he was 30 and Joe Mantegna has an autistic daughter in her 30s who was diagnosed with autism when she was a young child. A good portion of this podcast is spent on talking about autism and Joe Mantegna's experiences as a father to an autistic child. I recommend this podcast. I have watched a few other podcasts from Rick Glassman with other guests and found them to be worthwhile. "Shout out" to Rick Glassman and Joe Mantegna.

 

[Rasputin]

Do you think it is possible for a mentally disabled person to overcome intellectual struggles if he tries hard enough? Is it possible for a person with no legs to learn how to walk? Those are just as unlikely as an autistic person overcoming their social disability. It sucks that life is about people and emotion, if you can't walk there is still so many ways you can enjoy those 2, but if you are socially and emotionally disabled there is nothing else you can do.

We are all different, and some individuals with ASD do not have intellectual disabilities. Some, myself included, have overcome many social fears to some extent, if not awkwardness.

The source of this confusion and disharmony among members of the Aspergers and Autism Community is the lumping of all of us in the ASD bucket, which implies that we are a homogeneous group. We are in fact a diverse group, which is why this television show attempts to portray different manifestations of autism spectrum disorders. Some have tried to use functional labels to differentiate us, but that causes disharmony within our community. Similarly, trying to homogenize a diverse group also causes disharmony. So, my question is where do we go from here?

 

[Xerces Blue]

Do you think it is possible for a mentally disabled person to overcome intellectual struggles if he tries hard enough? Is it possible for a person with no legs to learn how to walk? Those are just as unlikely as an autistic person overcoming their social disability. It sucks that life is about people and emotion, if you can't walk there is still so many ways you can enjoy those 2, but if you are socially and emotionally disabled there is nothing else you can do.

From experience I can say you're off the mark here.
Last year(2021) around Christmas I went to a party with some friends (my state had loosened up restrictions)
out of ~14 people the least socially awkward where myself and another Aspie.
Everyone else was stiff, like they forgot how to talk to people.
Was rather shocking to me.
I used to be the most awkward in the group, they made me seem serine.
One or two of them haven't recovered their social finesse even now.
I find it sad.

The reason I find your post off the mark is because my best friend is physically disabled - He's missing 70% of his muscle groups.
Can't walk, hands are twisted backwards, no bicepts, missing 3 out of 4 in the rotator cuff, no muscles below the knee.
most of his toes don't have toe-nails.

We did sword fighting with wooden swords in high school.
And he was no slouch.

You underestimate people.

 

[Jordy]

From experience I can say you're off the mark here.
Last year(2021) around Christmas I went to a party with some friends (my state had loosened up restrictions)
out of ~14 people the least socially awkward where myself and another Aspie.
Everyone else was stiff, like they forgot how to talk to people.
Was rather shocking to me.
I used to be the most awkward in the group, they made me seem serine.
One or two of them haven't recovered their social finesse even now.
I find it sad.

The reason I find your post off the mark is because my best friend is physically disabled - He's missing 70% of his muscle groups.
Can't walk, hands are twisted backwards, no bicepts, missing 3 out of 4 in the rotator cuff, no muscles below the knee.
most of his toes don't have toe-nails.

We did sword fighting with wooden swords in high school.
And he was no slouch.

You underestimate people.

I literally said there is still a lot you can do if you don't have
legs to walk.

You cannot fix the broken social wiring in the brain of someone with a development disorder, the same way you cannot teach a blind person to see, sure you can explain him to concept of colors, and explain him what colors different things are, you can even summarize paintings can't see and help him remember how to get around his town, but he can't see.

Im pretty tired of this stuff actually, either accept you have a disability or don't.
If you really have autism you don't know any better, you have never been in the mind of nt and thus have no clue about what you are missing. You don't know what normal non autistic disordered socializing even is or feels like.

 

[Magna]

Personal update: I've completed the entire season of As We See It and my NT wife also agreed to watch the entire season with me.

Certainly there are almost no prior autism focused American TV series (e.g. Atypical) to compare with, but even so in my opinion As We See It is THE best autism-focused American TV series to date. No question.

My wife liked it as well and we both hope there will be a season 2 of the show.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

Interesting and insicive points @phantom , but I would not say your take on living with autism is a typical one, either. To me your views often seem very negative in tone, which I think is due to depression, not autism. Depression can be helped with, so this is an important issue to be aware of.

Could not stop myself to say:

Typical autism is probably in 3rd World countries, where most of the human population are.

I know its not very usefull, but I wanted to say it.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

@Magna
Oh yes, I did mean Violet. I only watched 1/2 of one show weeks ago. I couldn't continue because I disliked that character so intensely.

The original character being heavily focused on a boyfriend makes a lot more sense.

Even my developmentally disabled cousin, with the mind of a mere child and very low cognative function, understands relationship comes before the physical. She can't even wash her own hair and would never be able to work a fast food job. So to have Violet being so focused on sex is just insulting to autistic women in particular and to women more generally.

This is the harlot trope and it has been used in American media since the begining to dishonor and degrade women as merely "things". Shame on the writers! They certainly didn't put any effort into this character and seemed to go with the idea that the harlot trope is "funny" as a plot device.

I allways had problems understanding why if a man and a woman do have sex for the fun, the man is a winner and the woman is a degraded piece of meat that have been used and abused. Almost a beach.

I understand that from a biological perspective, women are wired to look for stability because back in the origin of times a pregnant woman who is not backed by their family could be easy prey, while men could happily have sex all the time and are wired to do so.

But nowadays I really dont understand the difference. Whats the big problem about women who freely decide to have sex for the fun or men who freely decide they want an stable relation?

 

[Atrapa Almas]

Do you think it is possible for a mentally disabled person to overcome intellectual struggles if he tries hard enough? Is it possible for a person with no legs to learn how to walk? Those are just as unlikely as an autistic person overcoming their social disability. It sucks that life is about people and emotion, if you can't walk there is still so many ways you can enjoy those 2, but if you are socially and emotionally disabled there is nothing else you can do.

There are limits. A person without legs can not walk, but a person with coordination problems can learn to walk. A normal person can learn to skate, and to do equilibrium on a rope.

So a person whitout a certain brain circuit probably wont be able to do some things, but our brains are made to adapt and learn. And with the proper suport many things can be learnt to a certain degree.

So answering your question, that person may not overcome their struggles, but will get closer that by not trying.

Actually the only 100% proved way of not achieving our goals is by not trying.

 

[Magna]

Actually the only 100% proved way of not archiving our goals is by not trying.

I'm guessing you meant "achieving". The word you wrote amused me because "archiving" our goals is in a way the same as not trying.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

I'm guessing you meant "achieving". The word you wrote amused me because "archiving" our goals is in way the same as not trying.

Corrected, thanks!

 

[Magna]

I just learned that this show was canceled after the first season and not picked up by the stupid streaming channel for a second season. I'm upset by this. It was a great show among such a LIMITED offering of autism related content. My NT wife even liked it and I've been looking forward to a second season. I guess good autism related content isn't good enough. Worst news I've heard all day.

 

[Xerces Blue]

I literally said there is still a lot you can do if you don't have
legs to walk.

You cannot fix the broken social wiring in the brain of someone with a development disorder, the same way you cannot teach a blind person to see, sure you can explain him to concept of colors, and explain him what colors different things are, you can even summarize paintings can't see and help him remember how to get around his town, but he can't see.

Im pretty tired of this stuff actually, either accept you have a disability or don't.
If you really have autism you don't know any better, you have never been in the mind of nt and thus have no clue about what you are missing. You don't know what normal non autistic disordered socializing even is or feels like.

My apologies Seems I miss-read and responded in haste.

 

[Storm Hess]

I'm trying to like it...something isn't clicking with me. I can't put my finger on it...I'll watch a few more episodes and see what happens.

 

[Xerces Blue]

@Storm Hess what's the difference between INTJ-A and INTJ-T
I fall under INTJ categorization but I've never heard of an A or T subset.
I haven't taken a personality test for quite a while.
Last time I did they didn't call INTJ - Architect.
They called us "Master Mind"

 

[Storm Hess]

@Storm Hess what's the difference between INTJ-A and INTJ-T
I fall under INTJ categorization but I've never heard of an A or T subset.
I haven't taken a personality test for quite a while.
Last time I did they didn't call INTJ - Architect.
They called us "Master Mind"

https://www.16personalities.com/articles/assertive-architect-intj-a-vs-turbulent-architect-intj-t

 

[Xerces Blue]

@Storm Hess Thank you for the information.
Honestly I don't think this is useful information though - I think it's splitting hairs.
It's not useful for people that usually think they're right, they're still going to think they're right.
The ones that don't will either put themselves in a loop of doubt or ask someone else to bounce their ideas off, or back them up.
No functional change really, except adding another layer of doubt to the Turbulent subset
(Am I doubting myself because I have a habit of doubting myself?)
Honestly Instinct works pretty well with most things.
The exceptions are things like driving on icy roads (dependent on vehicle configuration), active shooter events and hand grenades.