Winner - An Opinion that Made me Think

[Guest guest]

The following review and comments on Winner's recent

lecture on neurodiversity issues was posted in another forum by an

individual who attended that lecture.

If you're not familiar with , you can learn more about her at

http://www.socialthinking.com/

In reading the review, I realized that the author [name withheld for

privacy reasons] is among the few Aspies I've encountered to whom I can

relate on this controversial issue. It felt good to read their words,

as it made me feel much less alone.

This is not a topic that I feel particularly safe sharing about, as it

can easily trigger the take-me-as-I-am segment of the Aspie community.

Who then may be inclined to shoot the messenger (that would be me) for

somehow 'betraying' the community merely because I see the issue in

overlapping shades of gray.

Anyway, I'm curious what y'all think on this one....

Enjoy (or not),

~CJ

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Winner - An Opinion that Made me Think

I heard Winner speak this week. I think overall she is

very thoughtful and is accepting of diversity but she brought up one

opinion that really made me think. I honestly don't have an opinion on

this. I'm still thinking. I'm curious what others think. I'm

interested in all opinions. I honestly wasn't sure about posting this

because I'm afraid people will take offense. This isn't meant as a

commentary on anyone. It is simply something I'm struggling with and

need opinions.

She said often she has clients who say they are happy with the way they

are and that they don't want to learn social communication skills (I

think she was speaking specifically about Nuance Challenged

Communicators - if you look at her website she has an article on the

topic) but at the same time they have high social anxiety and say they

want medication to address the anxiety.

I'm not on meds, but I do fall into this category. I sometimes say " I

don't care " and really I feel like I don't but at the same time I

realize my poor social communication skills are causing social anxiety

which is impacting on my quality of life. Personally I want meds to be

a last resort which leads me to think maybe I do need to work on social

communication.

Basically, I've been struggling with the question of how much should I

try to 'improve'? I feel like I work really hard already and part of me

feels like I shouldn't have to do more. But on the other hand, I think

maybe I do have a responsibility to work on 'fiting in' and I realize

I've never actually had proper support on how to function in society

(like 's model for example). I also realize that I can say I

don't care but if I say " everyone should just accept me as is " really

isn't going to work. I have a full time, stressful, high responsibility

job and I have to meet certain expectations. I can decide to work less

or whatever but that seems kind of stubborn - like if I can't be exactly

me in public then I'll just choose to be less involved in the world.

Thoughts, opinions? I guess I'm starting to feel that perhaps since I

now know about models that are designed to help me I have an ethical

obligation to try them before either giving up on the work world or

resorting to meds as my primary coping strategy but on the other hand I

feel frustration on an ethical level that the world isn't more accepting

- while at the same time understanding why people would be frustrated

with how I treat them sometimes.