Heres a wonderful insight into what people with autism struggle with socially on a daily basis. They are not born with the ability to pick up on the little every day nuisances that we call social cues. They have to be taught to them...learned. And even then they may never truly grasp it. There is a scene in the Story of Luke that explains this perfectly. Seth Green does this scene. Its hilarious and insightful at the same time. Here is what he says, Do you see those two NTs (for those of us who dont know that stands for Neurologically Typical people) standing by the water cooler? Theyre chatting! Its the first step. Ive studied NT mating rituals extensively. Here, shell say something stupid then hell say something stupid in return but that something has to have direct relation to what she originally said. And theres a trick! Even though he might not be interested in what shes talking about, he has to pretend! This is transmitted by his tone of voice which has to be full of hundreds of tiny fluctuations and especially by eye contact. Look at his eyes! Hes staring directly at hers. But wait!...he looks away...because if he stares too long he can seem threatening but if he doesnt stare long enough, he doesnt seem interested...its a careful balance. See! There! He looks back again! This can go on for hours. And through the whole ordeal, they have to move their hands around in all of these silly gestures which are actually not silly at all but an intrigal part of a non-verbal communication package that NTs need to figure out if theyre compatible with each other or worthy mates. Could you imagine if u had to consciencely think about these things every time you spoke to someone in an effort to be normal? And thats in addition to having to deal with the sensory issues, communication issues (in some cases), regulating your feelings and volume of your voice, etc. We do these things without having to think about it. Id be exhausted all the time too if I had to deal with all that. Just a little food for thought on this lovely evening.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:53:43 +0000
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