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Are you proud of your condition?

SCitizen

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In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.
 
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In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.

I don't think that's exactly it. I think Pride is more directed at being proud of what the movement has accomplished, which is substantial, and for most of it, it was only them fighting for it.

Anyway... am I "proud" of my sensory integration issues? No. They simply are, and it's sort of a hassle having to explain to people why I can't understand them and tend to talk louder than necessary when there's a lot of other competing noise. It's sort of like being hearing impaired whenever I'm in busy places or multiple people are talking. It isn't an issue of volume, but rather conflicting sounds.

I'm not ashamed of it either. It just is. :shrug: I used to be a little embarrassed, because, like I said, it can appear to other people like I just can't hear well. I've gotten over that. I just explain that I can hear fine, I just don't block things out well. My head is trying to understand everything at once, and therefore understanding nothing because there's just too much going on.

And arguably, it also tends to direct me towards taking better care of myself, because I don't have the tolerance for unsettling environments that most people do. I don't think anyone does well in those kind of environments long-term, and studies do indeed show that it tends to stress us out, but most people tend to just put up with it. I don't; I improve my environment instead, because I need that. I also think it makes me a more attentive person; little things don't slip by me.

Am I proud of how I handle it? Eh... not really. It's not like it's been some heroic struggle. It's just something I've learned to understand and live with. I think of it more as a quirk than a disability. Like I said, it has both positives and negatives. I can't block things out, but I also don't get sucked into a lower environmental standard of living, and I'm the sort of person who knows what my loved ones need often without asking. In large part, that's precisely because I can't block things out.

I'll notice the moment I see you that something's on your mind. Just bare with me if I ask you to repeat yourself if we're discussing it in a busy cafe. ;)
 
In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.

I agree with you that disabilities can be a sign of genius. I went to high school with a young man who was a math genius. He had some disability I can't identify to you, but socially backward, miscue expressions. I met another 40-something man who was a coding genius for Motorola. Asperger's, if I had to guess. And as a result, exceedingly shy and uncomfortable in his own skin.
 
I'm proud to be a heterosexual white male.
 
I don't think that's exactly it. I think Pride is more directed at being proud of what the movement has accomplished, which is substantial, and for most of it, it was only them fighting for it.

Definitely -- that is an important accomplishment to be proud of. My point is that some people consider Autism and Depression as something to be ashamed of -- thus I am not ashamed of who I am.

As a teenager, I thought that being neurotic was something extraordinary and thus cool.
 
I agree with you that disabilities can be a sign of genius. I went to high school with a young man who was a math genius. He had some disability I can't identify to you, but socially backward, miscue expressions. I met another 40-something man who was a coding genius for Motorola. Asperger's, if I had to guess. And as a result, exceedingly shy and uncomfortable in his own skin.

Definitely, most people with extraordinary talents do have disabilities. Maybe I have talents maybe not.
 
In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.

As a fellow Aspie, I advise listening to your depression. If you're depressed because you're doing dumbed-down tasks, stop doing dumbed-down tasks. Depression is a friend that tells me "this task/thought is not worthy of your intelligence". Some things that depress me and I won't do:

Basically any low-thought task, of example:

Housework
Being someone's chauffeur
Clerical level job tasks, for example data entry
Manual software testing
Using *ANY* software tool sold by Hewlett Packard
 
In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.

Genius is a meaningless word, to me. High intelligence means nothing if you don't have the capacity to do something with it. What you do in life is your legacy, not how your brain functions.

My 2nd son is mentally ill and on medications. He thinks it's cool to have his various conditions and talks about ti incessantly (which is a component of his diagnosed issues). And though he scores high on IQ tests, he doesn't show it in stereotypical ways that one might imagine a highly intelligent person shows it. All his life choices are stereotypically foolish and dangerous.
 
In recent years many LGBT people in general and Transgender people in particular came out with pride for who they are. Now there is even a group of LGBT Conservatives.

Another group of people who can/should be proud of their condition is people with disability. I have Autism and Depression -- both of Moderate Severity. I take antidepressants since early '90s.

Some people thought I am lazy. And I thought and maybe think I am a potential genius -- like so many Aspies.

I would not dare to speak for people who have to deal with Severe Disability or for all people with disability -- but sometimes disability is a sign of a genius.

"Condition", you and LGBT people have - a "condition"?

YOU mean, you're not just normal people living your lives like the rest of us?

My "condition" is - perfect shape!
 
As a fellow Aspie, I advise listening to your depression. If you're depressed because you're doing dumbed-down tasks, stop doing dumbed-down tasks. Depression is a friend that tells me "this task/thought is not worthy of your intelligence". Some things that depress me and I won't do:

Basically any low-thought task, of example:

Housework
Being someone's chauffeur
Clerical level job tasks, for example data entry
Manual software testing
Using *ANY* software tool sold by Hewlett Packard

i think it helps to be more efficient in a lot of cases, but i do know one younger depressive (who also used to post here) who found it provided a creative outlet - really crazy combination of creatures and scenery for his paper serial
 
I don't think that's exactly it. I think Pride is more directed at being proud of what the movement has accomplished, which is substantial, and for most of it, it was only them fighting for it.

Anyway... am I "proud" of my sensory integration issues? No. They simply are, and it's sort of a hassle having to explain to people why I can't understand them and tend to talk louder than necessary when there's a lot of other competing noise. It's sort of like being hearing impaired whenever I'm in busy places or multiple people are talking. It isn't an issue of volume, but rather conflicting sounds.

I'm not ashamed of it either. It just is. :shrug: I used to be a little embarrassed, because, like I said, it can appear to other people like I just can't hear well. I've gotten over that. I just explain that I can hear fine, I just don't block things out well. My head is trying to understand everything at once, and therefore understanding nothing because there's just too much going on.

And arguably, it also tends to direct me towards taking better care of myself, because I don't have the tolerance for unsettling environments that most people do. I don't think anyone does well in those kind of environments long-term, and studies do indeed show that it tends to stress us out, but most people tend to just put up with it. I don't; I improve my environment instead, because I need that. I also think it makes me a more attentive person; little things don't slip by me.

Am I proud of how I handle it? Eh... not really. It's not like it's been some heroic struggle. It's just something I've learned to understand and live with. I think of it more as a quirk than a disability. Like I said, it has both positives and negatives. I can't block things out, but I also don't get sucked into a lower environmental standard of living, and I'm the sort of person who knows what my loved ones need often without asking. In large part, that's precisely because I can't block things out.

I'll notice the moment I see you that something's on your mind. Just bare with me if I ask you to repeat yourself if we're discussing it in a busy cafe. ;)

I can kind of relate to that. I basically had to go through my couple of semesters of college half-blind. I was too broke to buy contact lenses for myself, and my worry wort parents wouldn't help me out with it because my mother was convinced that I was going to destroy my eyes wearing them or something.

I could function well enough in class. I just had to take good notes, and squint at the board. Socially, however, it was a fairly massive handicap. Walking around campus, I just couldn't see anyone well enough to recognize them until they were almost literally right on top of me, which gave off the impression that I was purposefully ignoring them. Dealing with that just kind of drove me inward more than anything else.

I FINALLY got my contacts when my mother came to pick me up from the dorms one day, and I tried to get into the wrong minivan that pulled up to the curb, because I couldn't see the facial features of the driver until I was literally pulling on the door handle. :lol:
 
OP i think there are some parallels. The same forces that cause lgbt to join a parade or even just update their facebook absolutely can compel a depressive (sorry i can't relate so much to autism) to either hide away from potential criticism, or to try raise awareness as you are doing now

Plenty would of course respond "But you should try to FIGHT depression and autism so i don't see the comparison is valid." That's where you may have to do a little educating of the niche benefits, and how plenty of meds they just throw at you aren't going to produce a cure any more than for lgbt. Believe me, i am quite used to same exact judgemental terms
 
I can kind of relate to that. I basically had to go through my couple of semesters of college half-blind. I was too broke to buy contact lenses for myself, and my worry wort parents wouldn't help me out with it because my mother was convinced that I was going to destroy my eyes wearing them or something.

I could function well enough in class. I just had to take good notes, and squint at the board. Socially, however, it was a fairly massive handicap. Walking around campus, I just couldn't see anyone well enough to recognize them until they were almost literally right on top of me, which gave off the impression that I was purposefully ignoring them. Dealing with that just kind of drove me inward more than anything else.

I FINALLY got my contacts when my mother came to pick me up from the dorms one day, and I tried to get into the wrong minivan that pulled up to the curb, because I couldn't see the facial features of the driver until I was literally pulling on the door handle. :lol:

I'm just trying to wear contacts.

They are seriously a annoying pain to put on.
 
I'm just trying to wear contacts.

They are seriously a annoying pain to put on.

They can be... At first.

I honestly just suck too much at taking care of glasses to really use anything but contacts. They inevitably wind up scratched and bent out of shape to the point where it'd be unreasonable to wear the damn things.
 
I can kind of relate to that. I basically had to go through my couple of semesters of college half-blind. I was too broke to buy contact lenses for myself, and my worry wort parents wouldn't help me out with it because my mother was convinced that I was going to destroy my eyes wearing them or something.

I could function well enough in class. I just had to take good notes, and squint at the board. Socially, however, it was a fairly massive handicap. Walking around campus, I just couldn't see anyone well enough to recognize them until they were almost literally right on top of me, which gave off the impression that I was purposefully ignoring them. Dealing with that just kind of drove me inward more than anything else.

I FINALLY got my contacts when my mother came to pick me up from the dorms one day, and I tried to get into the wrong minivan that pulled up to the curb, because I couldn't see the facial features of the driver until I was literally pulling on the door handle. :lol:

Oh dear. Hope she didn't have a white van!

Yeah, I think "unusual" sensory problems are sort of tough to deal with, even if only unusual in circumstance. You don't really want to explain that to people. And with SPD, it's just plain difficult to explain it to people, because the fundamental issue is that I don't experience the world like most people do, and in a way that's sort of subtle and not as easy to grasp as, say, being deaf. That's a weird thing for people to try to wrap their head around. I didn't even get it for 19 years and had no idea what the hell was going on.

I get by fine most of the time. My senses seem to settle a little once I've been up for an hour or two and I can sort of pull things apart reasonably well, or at least fill in the gaps. But if it hits me first thing in the morning, I'm hopeless. I was at Dita's boyfriend's parent's (yay, long chains of relations!) house for the holidays last year, and I went down for breakfast. They're a pretty outgoing family, and so is Dita, and all 5 of them were talking rather animatedly at once. I hadn't even had my coffee yet. Woke up, like, 10 minutes ago.

I caught my name, at some point. Someone had said something to me, and I just stared hopelessly at Dita. I had no ****ing idea who was talking to me or what they said. I was just hearing all these words in random order. As far as my brain was concerned, they were all the same volume, and all part of the same sentence, coming out of a single head that looped all the way around the table and had both male and female tonality.

Dita gets it, and sort of redirected whoever was apparently talking to me. But how do you... explain that?
 
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Definitely -- that is an important accomplishment to be proud of. My point is that some people consider Autism and Depression as something to be ashamed of -- thus I am not ashamed of who I am.

As a teenager, I thought that being neurotic was something extraordinary and thus cool.

No, not into that... I try to avoid this implication that it's "cool."

I think that's destroyed a lot of lives. I think it's an excuse society uses to not treat people who are both gifted and mentally ill with full humanity. We tend to treat our celebrities like goldfish. Sometimes, it's also an excuse of the mentally ill to deny themselves a better quality of life by denying that there's a problem.

I have no interest in romanticising the struggle that can come with various conditions and mental illnesses. It's not romantic, no matter what their gifts are, and the focus should be on giving people the best possible quality of life while nurturing their gifts, not seeing them as some sort of inextricable bond of poetic suffering.

It's not that they should be ashamed instead. It should be viewed like any other issue in life: it just is, and we should do our best to make as much improvement as we can.

Those who've struggled a lot for that should be proud of where they are. But painting illness as cool is a dangerous game I have no interest in playing. It's hurt too many artists I love, and too many people in my own life I love.
 
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My 2nd son is mentally ill and on medications. He thinks it's cool to have his various conditions and talks about ti incessantly (which is a component of his diagnosed issues). And though he scores high on IQ tests, he doesn't show it in stereotypical ways that one might imagine a highly intelligent person shows it. All his life choices are stereotypically foolish and dangerous.

That sounds like myself when I was a teenager. Sadly most people did not understand my situation.
 
No, not into that... I try to avoid this implication that it's "cool."

I think that's destroyed a lot of lives. I think it's an excuse society uses to not treat people who are both gifted and mentally ill with full humanity. We tend to treat our celebrities like goldfish. Sometimes, it's also an excuse of the mentally ill to deny themselves a better quality of life by denying that there's a problem.

I have no interest in romanticising the struggle that can come with various conditions and mental illnesses. It's not romantic, no matter what their gifts are, and the focus should be on giving people the best possible quality of life while nurturing their gifts, not seeing them as some sort of inextricable bond of poetic suffering.

It's not that they should be ashamed instead. It should be viewed like any other issue in life: it just is, and we should do our best to make as much improvement as we can.

Those who've struggled a lot for that should be proud of where they are. But painting illness as cool is a dangerous game I have no interest in playing. It's hurt too many artists I love, and too many people in my own life I love.

I agree 100% -- Autism and Depression is a struggle. To some degree people who have mental problems see themselves as cool -- Edgar Allan Poe said “I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.”

Proportion of people with moderate and severe disability is much higher among extraordinary people then among ordinary. Most celebrities do have some mental issues.
 
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