I think that incapulates how the world should see a person with Autism no matter where they are on the spectrum. The Temple Grandin movie on HBO the other night could have been a 6 part mini series so that we could have seen more of the trial and tribulations that she and her mother went through especially in the 60's and 70's but I give the movie makers an A for what they did it was informational and inspiring....yes I cried....It may have shown better how our kids think and feel than any other movie out there, I truely believe that my son uses the images and scenes from all of his movies to help him make sense of the "real" world. .From now on when I tell someone that my son is Autistic and they ask "like Rain Man" I will say no
"like Temple Grandin".
Yes, exactly. That's all
Yes, exactly. That's all the neurodiversity community wants- to be treated like equals.
I'm not sure how realistic it is though. Look at the homosexual community. They're also "different, not less" in their message. But they are a 1:10 minority, asking the majority to give them equal or special rights to be themselves. And the only relief they've gotten is in the courts- at the ballot box, homosexual rights go down in defeat. Now take that lesson and apply it to the 1:93 minority that autistics are. What hope do we EVER have of being seen as "different, not less"?
Having said that- Temple Grandin and the fictional character of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, I think, are examples of the answer. We need famous characters in real life and in fiction who are achieving great things if we are ever to be respected.
You are right, this could
You are right, this could apply to anyone with any disability or is part of any minority including all alternative lifestyles, even anyone who has been persecuted for a belief or lack of a belief. There are some groups of people that this will not apply to, if someone exploits, hurts, objectifies, or performs other illegal acts to others then its a different story.
I've never quite understood
I've never quite understood that; if one is to tolerate diversity, one should tolerate the bad along with the good, at least within reasonable limits (sorry, your right to swing your fist ends when it connects with my nose). But that's my entire problem with understanding appropriate vs inappropriate behavior to begin with. An example with lesser horror for neurotypicals for me is teenage girls who wear t-shirts with words printed on them. It's inappropriate, supposedly, to stare at a woman's breasts, especially a woman younger than you are, but how else am I going to read the t-shirt?
There is a fine line in life
There is a fine line in life that we have to balance on....That line is socially acceptable behavior and typically we balance on it very well but there are times we don't by accident and there are times we do it on purpose....for example if I take some friends to Hooters to lunch I have taken myself off the typical line but also as soon as I walk in that door the line changes because its part of their marketing scheme to have people "read" the shirts in there but you still can't be verbally abusive or grab people, so not only do we have to stay on the line we have to pay attention for when it moves.
It's the difference between tolerate and understanding the bad....its true that everyhthing I think is bad may not seem as bad to you or others, but there are some universal bad things that we all should understand but not tolerate. If we understand these bad things then we can learn how to make them better or make them go away. Here I will use an example ther you and I know very well Portland Police. Should we tolerate their treatment of some of the citizens in the disabled community? I say no...but I want ot understand where the problem lies and try to make it better and hopefully you and I won't have to see anymore news reports about how they cannot treat people with disablities with the respect they deserve.
I have a really hard time
I have a really hard time understand where the line is at any given moment. In fact, I'm pretty sure I step over that line quite frequently.
I think the same is somewhat true even of neurotypicals- especially when the line is positioned by evolution. I think the real problem stems from the fear of other- which for 99.999% of the species time on this planet was in fact a survival trait.
Toleration at all goes against this survival trait, on both sides of the line. The Portland Police have a bad track record with ANYBODY who acts outside of their training of what to expect for proper behavior- black, disabled, walking down the middle of the street, etc. And because people who are "outside of proper behavior" are a minority that they don't have to deal with every day, they don't really know how to respond.
Heck, I've had the Portland Police talk to me because a drunk guy was bugging me and wouldn't leave me alone- and I took out my folding cane to defend myself, which is apparently outside of their definition of socially appropriate behavior.
They knew what to do with the drunk guy- they didn't know how to respond to me.