Metaphor of aspergers

[mw2530]

This is how aspergers works:

A fisherman is braving the open sea but is struggling to catch many fish. For he is constantly battling the stormy conditions. There is typically waves crashing into the boat and water going into the boat. The fisherman tirelessly bails out the water. But the waves keep coming. And they keep coming. There are occasions where the storm will let up but it won't be for long. For soon another storm will roll in and the fisherman will have to bail out more water or the boat will sink. How can the fisherman ever have time to focus on fishing? The fisherman manages to catch some fish, but it is always a struggle. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other fishermen fishing the same sea. But the other fishermen seem to have everything figured out. You see, their boats are large enough that water does not get into the boat. They even have time to sit back in their boats and relax while they have lines out in the water!

The sad thing about the fisherman is that he is a great fisherman and has a vast amount of knowledge about his job. In fact, he is one of the best fishermen out on the sea. The only problem is that he doesn't have a large enough boat to handle to rough waters. So the fisherman keeps battling the choppy seas. He carries on, one day at a time, and holds out hope that one day the seas will become calm. Or someone will build him a new boat.

Explanation: The fisherman is a man with aspergers. The sea represents the world he lives in and the storms and rough waters represent the constant sensory input that he receives. The fish represent words he is trying to find when talking in a conversation. The sea could also represent his mind. (For the world he lives in is often times his own mind). All of the words he needs to hold a conversation are there, if only he could focus more of his attention to putting the words together properly. The other fishermen are NT's. The boat would be his body.

That's my attempt to explain what we with aspergers go through on a daily basis. Also my attempt at telling short stories, lol

 

[nowwhat]

There was a society of musical people. Musical aptitude ran so strongly in their genes, that children learned to play concurrently with learning speech. Viloins, flutes, clarinets, pan pipes, little drums, guitars, harmonicas, etc. etc. Everywhere you went, everyone had a instrument with them, and you would no more see someone without a means of making music, than you would see someone walking down the street nude. People were constantly forming little improvisational groups and spontaneously creating music. Every street, building, home and park was filled with the sounds of music created on the spot. They played at the dinner table between bites, while watching TV during commercials, and in their rooms to themselves before drifting off for the night.

Then there was Percy. Percy had a fine mandolin, given to him by hopeful parents. He took it wherever he went. But Percy always seemed to be in a hurry, and never had time to stop and play. You see, Percy is tonedeaf, without rhythm and has no musical ability. He is an Unmusical. Somehow genetics has played a cruel trick on him. Oh, he carries his instrument everywhere, to look like any other person on the street, but has to constantly avoid the jam sessions that comprise this society. He has to make excuses. He sometimes damages his mandolin so that he can show people why he can't play right now. He lives in fear of someone friendly coming up and stopping in front of him, tapping a tempo with their foot, and launching into a piece, expecting him to join in. He is realizing a lot of people like the mandolin, and wonders if he got a tuba, if fewer people would invite him to play.

Percy doesn't know what to do. He wants to blend in, so he must carry the instrument everwhere, but can't play, and in fact, doesn't enjoy music. He has learned that simply because everyone plays, those that do not are mistrusted. Once people have figured out he isn't going to play with them, they interpret this as hostility on his part, and become hostile themselves. What would they think if they found out he has no musical ability?

Eventually Percy begins to avoid going out. His loving parents try to help. They try to coach him and encourage him to practice, but it's like pushing rope. He even begins to avoid them, because as well-meaning as they are, they are not accepting him for who he is, and that he is blameless in this, In fact given a choice, he would not have chosen this.

 

[Progster]

The scene from the movie "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" is a good metaphor for me - the first part of the clip shows the character Fred, played by Ewan McGregor and portrayed as having AS, turning and going 'upstream' against the crowd, not going with the flow. This is linked into the general theme of salmon fishing, and the salmon also go upstream against the current.

 

[pax]

I think I'll have to check that movie out, though the line about you can't hurt my feelings is not accurate at all. Is the rest of the movie any good?