Welcome to Living-Autistic

Call me OT; I have Asperger's Syndrome. AS is an autism spectrum disorder, or to put it more simply: a Type of High functioning Autism.
I have created this blog as a way of providing personal stories, insight, opinion, resorce, and help to other people living with a ASD's.(Autism spectrum Disorders) I have decided to do this based completely on my own frustration with the fact that there doesn't seem to be much reading material for/about autistic adults and the way they interact with, and get by in the world.

I am admitedly Very poor at communicating, so my posts may, at times seem Ill thought out, or just poorly concieved. Further, My spelling is horrible; but I will do my best to communicate my thoughts clearly, and concicely. Please bear with me.

I hope you find this blog to be helpful, and If you read a post you found particularly helpful , or if you have a question, or an Idea for a post, I hope you leave a comment.

Thank you for reading,

-OT

Monday, November 23, 2009

Where's your sense of humor

Let's discuss, if we may, Sense of humor. This is a topic once again, covered by many autistic parenting books, but rarely told froom the viewpoint of someone who has lived through it personally.
Growing up, I found things funny, I would laugh at certain things, and I would make up nonsense jokes, like any kid. However, Sarcasm was WAY over my head. Now, granted sarcasm is way over many children's heads, but I think usually by age 10 they've figured it out. I was having a hard timme at 12. I could never tell when people were being sarcastic. I had a hard time reading autible inflection, and had a hard time associating proper facial ques.
Further, I took everything very literally and at face value. This led to many embarrassing moments as a child.
Though I didn't like being "out of the loop" on jokes, I learned at a young age not to force laughter, and not to try to figure out what people were joking about out loud.
It was better to remain silent, seem disinterrested, and not react then it was to be made fun of for reacting inapropriately. People thought I was an odd loner-type, but it was better then them thinking I was an idiot.

At 13 I decided to put my foot down. I was tired of always being made fun of, I was going to get Sarcastic humor if it killed me. I started watching the MTV cartoon "Daria" Just about any time the title character said anything, it was sarcastic. I payed close attention to what she said, and tried to grasp the humor, always reminding myself to not take what she said seriousely. I then tried some of her jokes for myself and got positive reactions! It was odd, I was telling jokes I could barely grasp, and people seemed to love it. I continued my studying of the sarcastic, and slowly I caught on.
it goes back to what I have said in previous posts, regarding the way I feel like I don't quite fit in with humanity, Like I'm a third party observer, doing research on some sort of tribal people I don't quite understand.

Anyway,
Now sarcasm, and subtle humor are my favorite things in films and television. In fact, I seem more in tuned to it than other people. I am always on the lookout for it, and seem to see it more clearly than most. even when the joke rely's solely on facial expressions to communicae the humor, I can see it now.
I still have a hard time interprating sarcasm in real life, and consequently, opperate under the assumption that people are not being sarcastic. This makes me "Stand-offish" and people say I seem cold, and disinterrested. I figure the same principle applies now that did in my youth; It's better to be aloof that look like an idiot. Besides, I don't much like most people anyway, so if they think I'm a jerk, that's allright with me. I realize this tactic wouldn't work of most people. It's my understanding that people in general like to make new friends, Personally I don't.

It isn't that I go out of my way to be rude, I just don't feel comfortable around people, least of all new people.

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