Re: intro, NTs and neophobia?

[Guest guest]

Angie said: <some parts snipped>

But this fear of inability to cope isn't the kind of neophobia I am

talking about-- I am talking about the alarm/aversion startle response

that people have when someone looking strange and different for

example walks though their neighborhood, into their place of business,

etc. There is an aversive response to newness which I seem to see

among NTs (which can lead to judging/rejection) that I don't see in my

Aspergerish family members.

<more snip here>

I'm probably wrong in thinking all this, but figured you all would be

good to ask, so I'm asking. :-)

Thanks!

Angie

I agree, and I have noticed this before. I think fear, aversion and judging the

new and different is an epidemic. Parents should be teaching their kids not to

do this, and how to recognise a real threat when they see one. People are

creeped out for the silliest reasons.

--

[Guest guest]

Angie wrote:

>I would agree that Aspies seem to learn prejudice and stereotypes just

>as quickly as anyone. But there seems to be a lack of fear/aversion

>when encountering someone who dresses differently or who telegraphs

>difference in one of a thousand subtle ways, assuming those

>differences haven't been learned/flagged as indicative of some hated

>or feared (stereotyped) group of people.

I've read opinions by some people who study autism/AS who

believe we (autistics) don't become " part of the tribe "

the way most NTs do. Because we do not " pick up on " the

subtler cultural content of our surroundings,we do not

form our identities based on being " the same as " all of

that. The result, in theory, is that we do not have the

automatic " us vs. them " tendency that seems to develop

in most NTs.

Another cause could be a wide-spread autistic tendency

to focus on details rather than " big picture. " When we

see a new person, we may focus on the fact that (to use

an example from my own life) he is wearing a t-shirt

from Bemidji State University, rather than on the

" more global " aspects of his identity. That is why I

impulsively started talking to a man one day (one of my

sisters lives outside Bemidji, I've been there, and I

greatly enjoyed the photos a Bemidji prof put on the

web of a family vacation in the UK). He reacted with

surprise, which I later analyzed as being because he is

not accustomed, as a young African-American male, to

being hailed for friendly conversation by unknown

middle-aged " white " women passing by the bar out of

which he is emerging shortly after noon.

It would be interesting to hear how people who do have

the automatic " shy away " reaction to " difference " over-

come that reaction. I have seen a whole bus-load of

people " shy away " from a physically different passenger.

On the other hand, the other day I saw two young friends

laughing and talking together while moving along the

sidewalk, one of them walking, the other using a wheel-

chair. The young man in the chair was physically very

different from the young man walking (he wasn't " just "

para- or quadraplegic). Yet to all appearances, they

were friends. Should I assume the " normal-looking " one

is autistic (or otherwise not NT)? Or is there room for

the hope that he may have overcome his " programming " to

avoid contact with " difference " ?

Jane

[Guest guest]

wrote:

>I think people are more accustomed to wheelchairs. It's been a focus of a

>tolerance campaign for while. People (for the most part) know what to

>think when they see a person in a wheelchair. They don't know what to

>think when they see differences that they aren't used to seeing.

My observation leads me to conclude that many people,

unfortunately, who have become more accepting of the

presence of wheelchair-users in public continue to

discriminate (unconsciously) on the basis of how

" normal " the wheelchair user appears. It's as if they

can imagine " someone like me " (like them, that is)

having to use a wheelchair for mobility but not being

otherwise " different. " In the case of someone who is

perceived as " deformed " or " spastic, " for example,

I'm not sure there has been as much change in public

attitude.

If I'm wrong, that is good news.

Jane

[Guest guest]

> But this fear of inability to cope isn't the kind of neophobia I am

> talking about-- I am talking about the alarm/aversion startle

> response that people have when someone looking strange and

> different for example walks though their neighborhood, into their

> place of business, etc. There is an aversive response to newness

> which I seem to see among NTs (which can lead to judging/rejection)

> that I don't see in my Aspergerish family members.

I've really seen both extremes in autistics. In fact I remember

someone I knew who was autistic and who was *consciously* trying not

to react like this, as in making an extreme effort not to freak out in

those situations. So it does go either way. In my case if I see

weird people I think " Oh cool, weird people, " if I think anything at

all.

[Guest guest]

> I think people are more accustomed to wheelchairs. It's been a focus

> of a tolerance campaign for while. People (for the most part) know

> what to think when they see a person in a wheelchair. They don't

> know what to think when they see differences that they aren't used

> to seeing.

As a person who uses one, I can say they don't really know what they

're seeing. The focus of a lot of those " tolerance campaigns " has

unfortunately led to a whole lot of pity and condescension on the part

of others. And a lot of assumptions. (You should see what they do

when I stand up.)