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Having your differences be dismissed by neurotypicals

I was telling someone in my Chemistry class earlier this year about my book where my main character knows she's going to die, and he asked, "Does she have autism or something?" (He meant to say cerebral palsy). I teased him non-stop for his mistake. Then the next day I said, "So, about your whole 'people die of autism' idea... Do I look like I'm dying?" And he was like, "You're autistic?"
 
Always. I am singled out for every little difference they can find, yet if I bring up either how hard I've worked them and how far I've gotten so far on those issues or worse yet, their flaws and foibles, I'm treated like a vicious attack dog that needs to be put down. I've given up hope on convincing anyone to ever really put forth the effort to understand us. It's not that they can't: it's that they don't want to. I've seen more effort put into the smallest or most superfluous efforts to stop cruelty towards animals than I've ever seen towards all aspies combined. It comes down to this: we are less than dirt to them because they don't understand us, and making them uncomfortable is their cardinal sin even amongst each other. Which is what suggested or failed attempts at understanding do for them.
 
I just had this reply come up while visiting the company doctor. I think his problem was that he only saw the problem but not my reaction to "the problem".

I just replied. Yes everybody has that problem, the difference is in how I deal with it.
 
Reedstorm17 said:
I don't exactly want people to understand me. I just want them to accept me.
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YES!! YES YES YES!!!!

And the kicker is, thinking back to my pre-diagnosis days, the more I felt accepted, the more I worked at developing social skills and to set goals and improve myself.

Unconditional acceptance made me a better person. If I feel judged, I shut down and withdraw.
 
One thing that people say (usually my parents) that drives me crazy is, "I'm just trying to understand." Especially when the problem is something I can't explain.
 
Bellatrix said:
Or even worse, someone saying, "But you can't have Asperger's Syndrome, or autism, because you're not like Rain Man or Sheldon Cooper", which is rather like saying, "But you can't be neurotypical, because you're not like Donald Trump".
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Brilliant! I have a presentation to do for some of our students about Asperger's for World Autism Awareness day - I am sooo using that!
 
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