I have Asperger's Syndrome and have recently been exploring how people view it.
I have to say, I'm greatly reminded of the way most people treat Mutants in the Marvel Comics Universe. That is to say with contempt, fear, and/or hatred. While the people opposed to Autism are not quite as violent as those who oppose Mutants, they tend to look on us with pity at best.
In the second X-men movie, there's this scene where Bobby 'Iceman' Drake reveal to his mother that he is a mutant. She winds up asking him, "Have you tried not being a Mutant?" This reminds me of a phrase that is often used towards me in some way, shape, or form. "Being able to function in normal society." I truely despise that term. I don't care about "normal society." I just want to be allowed to live my life. Is that such a difficult thing to ask?
In another scene from that same movie, the main villan, Magneto, tells a young mutant who can control fire, "You are a God amoung insects. Never let anyone tell you otherwise." This is a trap that some of us who have Asperger's can easily fall into. We tend to be of above-average intellengence and as such become used to thinking of ourselves as superior to others. Often times, parents, teachers, or other authority figures will unwittingly encourage this thinking with their sometimes extravagent praise. This is a grave mistake because it does not prepare us for the inevitable time when we come across something that challeges us. We are so used to succeeding at everything with little or no effort, that we are at a loss of how to react when we fail.
In the third X-men movie, a 'cure' for Mutants arises. Most Mutants are insulted by this. As are many people with Autism when people talk about 'curing' us.
I neither want nor need a cure.
Autism is a part of who I am. If it were to be taken away, I would not be me. I'd be someone else. I happen to like myself the way I am.
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living it
Thank you for your perspective. I like the way you compare your situation to a movie mutant; it makes quite a statement about understanding differences. You seem to have a flair for writing. I hope we hear from you again! ~a
Thanks for posting. As a
Thanks for posting. As a mother of a daughter with aspergers I feel like I know so much about her. Communication is not her strong suit so I hope she comes to a place where she can be as articulate as you are and explain how she feels about being autistic because much of what I think I know is due to drawing my own conclusions.
Longshot
Homo Superior. The genus given to the mutants.
I began reading X-men, X-factor, Power Pack and the entire Marvel Universe comics in the Late 1980s which are now making some serious cash for Marvel, which I think is a good thing, because the Mutants while having special powers, have a lot to deal with internally on a more intellectual level because they were born that way.
I find that on a superficial level, when talking about autism, either with myself or my son, there is the "mutant ability" of being extremely good with numbers. A by product of the movie Rainman, where the autistic character has Savant abilities with numbers. While I can do some mathematics in my head, I am no where near having the ability of higher mathematics, nor is my son showing signs of it. So you are correct on having too high of expectation in one area, because that will weaken another.
For Example, being smart is a great talent, but if you can't interact with others on a basic social level, then life is going to be lonely. I don't want to be congratulated on being smart but I want to be affirmed that interacted the right way with others. I need to know these things so that I work on my mental database of how to act in certain situations or a script to fall back on in case I get stuck in a situation. Academia allows lots of trial and error and guidance from an educator, but Life doesn't always offer the same luxury. Interact the wrong way with the wrong person and you might be hurt or worse.
The Marvel Mutants had problems because it was hard for them to interact social with others because they either didn't understand their own powers or other couldn't deal with the particulars of deal. In the case of the movies and in real life, education and awareness are key steps to understanding.
My favorite mutant was Longshot (X-man) whose mutant power was pure luck, but only when his thoughts were pure. Even now, being in the right frame of mind is important, thankfully, I understand better the way that I think and process information. And to quote Robert Frost "That has made all the difference."
Cheers!
Terry Higgins
Aspergian, Founder and President of ASD Athletes