Check in here if you wouldn't have known that Odin2005 is autistic if he hadn't told you

[Orrex]

Funny how our (well, my) preconceptions and prejudices are challenged. I'm very pleased to admit that, whatever my expectations might have been regarding an autistic person's ability to communicate, Odin2005 sure ain't it.

Just goes to show you (well, me) that a spectrum phenomenon is exactly that, and generalizations about what autism "looks like" or how autistic people should be "treated" are, at best, shots in the dark.


I realize that this post isn't quite an ideal match for the Skeptics' group, but I think, for me at least, that it's a useful lesson in overcoming one's assumptions, so maybe it does fit here...

[cosmik debris]

1. I didn't know

until he mentioned it in a post.

But I have never seen an autistic font style so how could I know?

:)

[Orrex]

2. I think it's an Adobe font

Honestly, he communicates every bit as well as (or better than) anyone else on DU. The media stereotype is that people autism can't do more than play the piano and calculate cube roots in their heads.

Disclaimer: although IMO it's generally quite rude to refer to someone in third person like this, I think for purposes of this discussion it's probably okay...

[Odin2005]

7. "But I have never seen an autistic font style so how could I know?" ROFLMAO!!!

:rofl:

[trotsky]

10. Same here, read it in a post of his.

I think it was in response to a bigoted comment calling autism a "disease" that must be "cured."

[TZ]

3. same here.

I agree 100%

[semillama]

4. He's definitely more coherent than many people who post here.

And I'm glad he posts. Never read a thing by him that was fluff.

[Odin2005]

6. Thanks!

:)

[Odin2005]

5. Most people don't know I'm Autistic unless I tell them and/or they know me well.

From a distance I seem like "just" a quiet nerdy loner with a bit of a stutter. Only when I offend someone without meaning to just for stating the facts or being honest; or take a comment literally; or get agitated, grumpy, snappy, and start rocking back and forth because of sensory overload; or start rambling on and on about a topic without thinking if others care; or am totally clueless about some lame social convention, that I start looking "odd"

The sad thing is that a lot of people ignorantly assume that by behavior is intentional, that I am purposefully being "lazy", "rude", "bossy", "insubordinate", "stubborn" or whatever and the result is that I have often had trouble holding a job because of ignorant and/or asshole bosses that get mad because I don't know instinctively how to flatter and kiss the asses of superiors among other things. Fortunately I've FINALLY gotten a steady job at a local YWCA-run daycare/preschool/kindergarten as a cook and preschool para, which is great because I love kids! :) I'm also taking evening college classes part time, working on a degree in the biosciences (Professors that assign group work constantly are teh evil! :mad: ).

[mr blur]

8. One of my sons is autistic - I recognise all this

Respect to you - I imagine you must be thrilled when the Woos tell you a) what "caused" your condition and b) how to "cure" yourself with crystals.

[Odin2005]

11. It is obvious to me that autistic traits run in my mom's side of the family

I have an aunt who is severely autistic and I suspect that my grandfather had Asperger's. And along with those traits seem to run a knack for doing arithmetic in our heads, grandpa worked crunching the numbers at a bank and my mom has a degree in accounting.

[varkam]

9. I had no clue.

His posts are often more coherent than most of what I see from DUers.

[WoodrowFan]

12. hell

I thought you all were. At least those who have been vacinated...


(honest answer, I did not know)

[LeftishBrit]

13. I wouldn't -

but I would just assume that ALL people who've been vaccinated are autistic.

[semillama]

14. My wife thinks I'm cute

does that make me Aww-tistic?

:hide:

[Random_Australian]

15. Didn't know, didn't guess. But I've already been through the whole "woah, that confronted my

stereotypes" thing with someone else. :)