Heads up that I don't actually feel this way about any of my presumably allistic siblings, who also don't do much of what I'm talking about here anyways. This is just a satire. Also heads up that it is satire of how people describe their autistic siblings. (Allistic just means "not autistic.")
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It's about my sister. I love her more than anything, but it hurts, sometimes, to look at her, and know. See, she has allism. Allism has stolen my baby sister.
When she was younger, she would try to get me to look at her eyes. Her eyes! Can you imagine? And she didn't understand how awesome spinning or rocking were, either. She never did learn how great certain textures could be. We were getting worried, by this point, and while we weren't surprised, the diagnosis of allism still hurt. She would never learn these things. She would never understand how awesome textures could be. And it would only get worse.
She became obsessed with appearances, with fitting in, with being like other people. She started hiding herself because she didn't think who she was really like would fit in. She cared more about fitting in than about her passions. She even started to lie so as to "not hurt people's feelings," creating more and more complicated excuses as to why she was so sorry, but she just couldn't meet up for something. She didn't feel comfortable saying that she didn't want to and ending the whole mess right there, instead choosing to string the other person along, confusing them indefinitely.
She began to assume how other people must be feeling, what they must be thinking, based off things like tone of voice and expressions, never thinking about the fact that those don't always match up with thoughts or feelings, never thinking about the fact that most of us don't communicate thoughts that way. She even tried to communicate things to me using her tone of voice! She should know better than to use a code that doesn't really mean much! Communication should be direct, but her allism keeps her from understanding that people are not mind readers, and that subtle hints don't change that.
I am eternally grateful that she has not turned violent, as many allistic children do out of frustration with their inability to communicate clearly, though she is still prone to lashing out when misunderstood. I'm not sure how to help her- I'm sure my sister is in there somewhere, but it's so hard to find her under all the allistic behaviors.
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Yes, that's really what you lot tend to sound like when you say how hard it is to have an autistic sibling or kid.Oh, and just in case you were wondering: The links go to things that are not satire but are relevant to the thing I was talking in this satire.
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It's about my sister. I love her more than anything, but it hurts, sometimes, to look at her, and know. See, she has allism. Allism has stolen my baby sister.
When she was younger, she would try to get me to look at her eyes. Her eyes! Can you imagine? And she didn't understand how awesome spinning or rocking were, either. She never did learn how great certain textures could be. We were getting worried, by this point, and while we weren't surprised, the diagnosis of allism still hurt. She would never learn these things. She would never understand how awesome textures could be. And it would only get worse.
She became obsessed with appearances, with fitting in, with being like other people. She started hiding herself because she didn't think who she was really like would fit in. She cared more about fitting in than about her passions. She even started to lie so as to "not hurt people's feelings," creating more and more complicated excuses as to why she was so sorry, but she just couldn't meet up for something. She didn't feel comfortable saying that she didn't want to and ending the whole mess right there, instead choosing to string the other person along, confusing them indefinitely.
She began to assume how other people must be feeling, what they must be thinking, based off things like tone of voice and expressions, never thinking about the fact that those don't always match up with thoughts or feelings, never thinking about the fact that most of us don't communicate thoughts that way. She even tried to communicate things to me using her tone of voice! She should know better than to use a code that doesn't really mean much! Communication should be direct, but her allism keeps her from understanding that people are not mind readers, and that subtle hints don't change that.
I am eternally grateful that she has not turned violent, as many allistic children do out of frustration with their inability to communicate clearly, though she is still prone to lashing out when misunderstood. I'm not sure how to help her- I'm sure my sister is in there somewhere, but it's so hard to find her under all the allistic behaviors.
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Yes, that's really what you lot tend to sound like when you say how hard it is to have an autistic sibling or kid.Oh, and just in case you were wondering: The links go to things that are not satire but are relevant to the thing I was talking in this satire.
The satire is good but many parts describe autistic people too, including myself, not the last and first part but about fitting in, many of us care about fitting in more than anything, others wanted to be accepted, I don't exactly lie but I say the truth in a way that's not going to be hurtful, I also care about my appaerance many times but not I'm not obsessed.
ReplyDeleteThe first and last part I understand, textures really are great and direct communication is better.
That "some of these things aren't even limited to allistics!" is an intentional thing because in the real ones I'm always reacting with "some of those things aren't even limited to autistics!"
DeleteSame goes for the "some of these things aren't even BAD!" reaction.
It's not the specific behavior, but rather the pathologizing of fairly reasonable human behavior that is emphasized here. Or, at least, that's what I took from it. Of course we autistics look ridiculous and sick when pathologized - so does anyone. Studies have been done showing that the second someone is placed in a "patient" role with doubt cast upon their sanity, those around them start treating completely normal, reasonable behavior as obvious symptoms of mental illness. As with most things in mainstream allistic culture, designated social status is of the utmost importance.
ReplyDelete^^
DeleteThat.
My brother used to have allism and it was SO HARD! But we cured him and now he has passions just like me! :D (And, how dare you call it the "Allistic Sibling Satire"! It's "sibling with allism"! You wouldn't call a person with cancer a "cancerous person", would you!?)
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