Sheila's Posts

It’s now March and this morning I was remembering when my husband and I attended a Christmas party he was invited to last year and told to bring his wife. The ones who hosted it are local to the area. Being country people, they are typically more of the down-to-earth and laid-back type of crowd. In spite of them lacking the stronger competitive urge to be impressive and show off (that’s too often found among the suburbanites who are generally handicapped in this aspect), I noticed they are no different than any other neurotypicals (generally speaking).¹

Everyone at the party (except for me) was engrossed in conversation. It was obvious they didn’t want to make eye contact with me. It felt as if they were too afraid to. If someone was to make eye contact with me, it would be obvious if they didn’t smile back at me while I’m smiling at them. I know I can trust my husband to give me honest and neutral feedback on what he observed going on. He confirmed my suspicions about how awkward and uncomfortable NTs feel around Aspies they haven’t had to experience time getting acquainted with.

I think that NTs don’t realize they can be just as incapable of knowing how to socialize as Aspies can be in a culture unlike their own. The reason NTs don’t realize this is because their confidence level in socializing is typically much higher due to living in a world that’s dominated by their own kind. That would explain the mental attitude behind why they think they need to ‘fix’ Aspies.

Last night, I watched an episode of NBC’s show Community. I’ve probably missed seeing most of them. My curiosity to see how this sitcom was progressing with the main character Abed (an Aspie) got the better of me, so I took a break and watched tv for half an hour (I rarely watch television). I’m glad to see that this show is portraying an Aspie character as accurately as it is and that it’s being done in a positive light. In hindsight, I see I was too hastily over-judgmental.

I’m impressed by how creatively the producers are incorporating Aspie traits into their plots. The ones I’ve been seeing lately have been thought provoking to me and I hope the effect is the same for NTs. I doubt most NTs delve into deep thoughts while being entertained, but maybe the show will influence them into doing so. Abed has that affect on his classmates. Maybe it will rub off to viewers?

¹Even if the Martha Stewart crowd had barns filled with cows, they’d never entertain guests in an atmosphere where people could come in and leave their dirty boots on. I loved being able to relax sitting on a bale of hay among cows chewing their cud and watching cats roam in the barn while others were chattering away in their own world.