Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id AAA10430 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 13 Oct 2000 00:35:12 +0100 From: <LJayson@aol.com> Message-ID: <ab.1b63ada.2717a3ca@aol.com> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 19:31:22 EDT Subject: Re: How to Be A Good Friend to Adults with Autism To: stella_maris42@yahoo.com CC: mcomm@total.net, AUTINET@listserv.iol.ie, FACEBLIND@maelstrom.stjohns.edu, memetics@mmu.ac.uk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 117 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 10/12/00 11:38:22 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
stella_maris42@YAHOO.COM writes:
<< the people in our lives who pressure us to be
normal. >>
Hi Andreia --
I must confess that I have not followed the thread of this
post, but your one line << the people in our lives
who pressure us to be normal, >> "hit me in the gut," so
to speak.
It is not so much the problem of "the people in our lives
who pressure us to be normal," because when it's overt,
we are mostly aware of their pressures. These are relatively
easy to deal with and we can consciously reject them.
The real poisons that we autistics are constantly faced
with, and have to guard against, are the insidious influential
**culture** messages constantly pressuring us to be "normal."
For us, this is toxic propaganda that permeates the culture
through every aspect of the media---tv, radio, advertising, books,
movies, magazines, and so on. These messages, in fact,
**reject our autism---** our real identities.
Another form of transmission, attacking our minds, is via
people's innocent little innuendos, not always easy to detect.
I would have to label both kinds of subtle mesages, often
"caught by us" below the threshold of conscious awareness,
as viruses. For those of us on the autistic spectrum, unless
we are constantly vigilant, these viruses will proliferate our
thinking, capable of causing great harm and confusion by
"infecting" our HFA brain hardwiring.
Len Jayson
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