On Sep 10, 10:11Â am, Erwin Hessle wrote:
> On Sep 10, 1:05Â pm, mika wrote:
>> On Sep 9, 4:08 pm, Erwin Hessle  wrote:
>>> On Sep 9, 4:02 pm, mika  wrote:
>
>>>> If you want to use autism as an
>>>> excuse for why you can't deal with or get over your problems, then
>>>> your autism must be so severe that you are incapable of living as an
>>>> independent adult, in which case you are back to option 2.
>
>>> In which case it would almost certainly be so severe as to make any
>>> kind of meaningful insight into one's own condition impossible. The
>>> very fact that she's talking like this demonstrates that she's making
>>> most of it up, I reckon.
>
>> I'm not convinced she's demonstrated any meaningful insight into her
>> own condition. Â It's possible she's just been parroting what she's
>> heard and read, like a robot.
>
> I agree, perhaps I worded my point poorly. I meant that she believes
> she had meaningful insight into her "condition", and the fact that she
> believes herself to have that meaningful insight should be sufficient
> to clue herself in to the fact that her condition is not as severe as
> she thinks it is, and that most of her trouble is caused by just being
> a total whining flake.
Ahh. Well, it's tricky. Autistic people typically have trouble with
empathy, and I'm guessing this also applies to relating to themselves,
not just empathizing with others. I mean, it is obvious that most of
her trouble persists because she prefers to be a big woe-is-me baby
instead of dealing with her shit, but she may simply be incapable of
dealing with her shit. However, she's certainly aware enough of her
condition to be able to get the help she needs to deal if she can't do
it herself.
A friend's son has Asperger's. He just graduated from HS and has been
struggling with college applications/getting a job/general shifting-to-
adulthood and independence responsibilities. He refuses to use the
assistance and support systems available to him, because, as he says,
"I'm not a freak!!!" At the same time, he can't get his act together
on his own. There's a big disconnection, because intellectually he
functions just like his 'normal' friends, so he can easily convince
himself he is just like them, which would be accurate if we were
robots operating purely on intellect. It's like schizophrenics who
get on meds, function 'normally', feel fine, so stop their meds.
There is an illusion of independence. But - just like everyone else,
they need to get over themselves, their pride, whatever, to deal with
their problems.
