Failed, failed, failed, what a failure!

I've just had the chance to listen to the interview on AWA with Dr Tony Attwood and Ari Ne'eman, and Dr Attwood once again totally FAILED to salvage his reputation as an advocate for people with AS in my eyes. I didn't expect otherwise really.

Dr Attwood has always written from the point of view of a neurotypical person who considers AS and autism to be a problem that just happens to sometimes bring interesting gifts. This isn't really the way I see AS. This isn't the way I see myself or my family members or my spouse. I think a lot of neurotypical people think the way they see AS is the same as the way people like myself see it. This is wrong. I don't look at myself or kin as being above the line of normal standards and below the line in different areas. We are simply slightly different types of creatures. Our values and pleasures and perceptions are evidently somewhat different from those of the theoretical average person. But the way people like Dr Attwood see the world of people is completely grounded with their concept of averageness and normality, characteristics that these people appear to value highly. We never cared a tinker's cuss about what is the norm or the mode, or being ordinary. But people like Dr Attwood always have an intuitive knowledge of where that invisible line at the middle of the bell curve is situated. They know their means, medians and modes as though their lives depend upon it, because their minds are genetically programmed to unconsciously and automatically follow majorities, power-brokers and the most influential ideas and fads. What we have here are a serious clash of values and quite incompatible ways of viewing humankind. This should come as no surprise to anyone. What did you expect?