Let me explain myself a little better. I am the gopher that people hit down all the time and I just get back up off of my feet. The last two weeks have not been my cup of tea to say the least. I have felt like I have no friends. When I try to be friendly towards someone, they just ignore me. Over the past two and a half weeks I have had this happen three or four times by all different people.
This year I thought I would get off to a new start and I wouldn't talk about my Aspergers. That solution has not worked in any way. The first day back to school for the high school kids was just the start. I was talking to a someone who I thought was my friend, but she would just turn her back on me. I would just continue to talk and pretend that I was getting the attention I needed.
The past two weekends I have run into the same situations. I talk to someone and they ignore me as if I am not even there. They will even walk away. At this point I am so desperate for attention that I just follow.
Every time someone hurts me or ignores me, I just get back up on my feet and try again. I want to win and I want friends. Those who actually pay attention to me also actually compliment me by telling me that I am the happiest person they have ever met. I have also been told that I have a great personality. If only people took the time to get to know me, you would really like me.
I may talk about my disability all the time when you first meet me, but that is because I am insecure as how you will feel towards me. I have the urge to explain everything that happens. Do me a favor. Next time you see me or someone else who is struggling, try to get to know me or that person. Spend some time with us. We really aren't bad!!!
You want people to see you for who you are rather than what you aren't. I say introduce yourself as the friendly, caring, energetic, and outgoing person you truly are and want people to get to know. You're a really cool person, and need to let people know that. Most people out there have no idea what you're talking about and are quick to make stereotypes and that's for so many issues whether it be diabetes, depression, or cancer -- most people have little to no understanding of these issues while others (like you and your knowledge of all sorts of ASD Spectrum and developmental disorders) are very well educated on certain topics and are able to think beyond the myths and incorrect stereotypes. Personally, I love to study about a huge variety of medical and psychological disorders especially cancer-related disease. It makes me cringe when people automatically say things like "that person's bald, they must have cancer" or "I'm donating my hair for people with caner" when in reality there are dozens of other reasons one can be bald, and none of them are due to the fact that one has cancer (it's certain chemotherapy drugs and radiation treatments that cause the baldness), and two, that hair is going to make wigs for people with all sorts of illnesses (not just cancer). But just like that basic example, people can automatically make assumptions and incorrect inferences about other things because they don't understand it. While we'd love to educate everyone on things we know and they aren't familiar with, sometimes you just have to go into a "spell checker mode" and just correct it as you hear it. Another example: I never really took the time to learn all the in depth grammar rules with all of those ; and : and - symbols. I have a lot of friends that are all into it, but they didn't teach me grammar the day we met (that would be really weird), but they are sure to correct me when I ask for help, or I text them with commas and semicolons where they shouldn't be. :D Now I think I know what I'm doing, but they still get after me every now and then, ha ha! Just like they've taught me all that, you can benefit a lot of others by helping break the barrier between stereotypes and autism -- you just have to do it effectively (confronting the issue without turning them away or appearing awkward). Good luck and keep up the awesome blog entries!
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