I have Asperger's Syndrome. It's an the autistic spectrum on the higher functioning end. Among other things, I cannot bring myself to make eye contact with ANYONE, not even my own reflection. I also fidgit (out of sight from others), rubbing dead skin out of my palms when I am being 'social' like situations at work. I have managed a way to 'fake it until I make it' type of thing for work where I act out Lexi (my dancer persona) like my life depends on it and it works pretty good.
The other night, I had a customer accuse me of being sneaky and a liar when I wouldn't look at him. I got stressed because in an attempt to prove him wrong, I made eye contact with him. So I begin to fidgit and my eyes drop to his chin. In an attempt to get him to stop his berating me (at the time, the 'get up and walk away' response was just not clicking), I mentioned that I have Aspergers, hoping it would click with him that I'm not being deceitful.
"So you're just mildly retarded then? Explains a lot!"
I got really upset and excused myself. I had his ass thrown out for harassing me, but I just couldn't function the rest of the night, and spent the night at the bar, just not doing anything but drinking Sierra Mist.
Fuck you, asshole. Go pick up a book. Read the news. Autism != Mental retardation.



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