http://kozue.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] kozue.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] delta_mike 2010-10-20 03:29 pm (UTC)

I didn't know you were undiagnosed :S

It's without doubt horribly insensitive of me to say such things, but someone once had a huge rant at me for being mad about something you did once on the grounds that you were diagnosed whereas I was just an aimless freak (my embittered and utterly biased interpretation of their meaning, not an accurate reproduction of the actual words they used). I wish I'd known then; being more than a little odd by popular standards myself, I found it a tad squicky to be expected to treat someone differently in the first place on the basis of a piece of paper signed by a doctor, but at the time I had no counter to the sudden assault rehearsed. My approach has always been to treat everyone in the same harsh way unless they tell me in advance that they don't like that. I'm trying to be more like that as I get older.

It seems that there is a scale of social dexterity, mostly split halfway as introversion and extraversion (Those aren't actually the correct words at all in anything more than a superficial sense, but I don't know what the correct words would be. Neurotypical/not doesn't feel solid enough, especially if the idea of what is typical may change as studies delve deeper.). It is definitely desirable to be on the 'extraverted' side of the line in our everyday western society. Exhibiting traits which mark you as an 'introvert' will often lead to a person being branded as mentally ill - or at best unpleasant to be around - very quickly.

For the purpose of my mental image, higher-functioning autism and AS are likely on the extreme end of the 'introversion' scale along with those of us with other social ailments, though I'm not sure what an extreme 'extravert' would be. Other than profoundly annoying, in my case; much as I suspect that a person like me is to socially buoyant human beings.

I rambled, whoops. Maybe it was an excuse to air my outdated moan about being yelled at, or maybe it was just because I find the subject you brought up interesting. Sorry!

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