Comments | johnmill79: Shut Down

johnmill79

Shut Down

Nov 02, 2010 00:02

The computer speaks, seductively, tickling the sleeping cells of my brain as I stumble to my chair. I feel a surge of adrenaline as I prepare to discover what all of my "friends" have been up to during the lost hours. Only this time, when I go to press the keys that will start up my Twitter feed, I am met with silence ( Read more... )

journaling, rants, technology, grad school

Comments 4

clariyt November 2 2010, 10:58:06 UTC

To be honest, I can't see how autism fits you, John. I read the link to the Norrie Disease website, and the small amount of information I found there indicated that those with ND are often mentally retarded or have behavioural problems. From everything you have written about yourself here, none of that fits. Your achievements point in entirely the opposite direction! You are intelligent, empathic, sympathetic, sensitive and a superb written communicator. When we spoke once, you sounded fine. Nothing to indicate autism - I have worked with autistic children and adults from varying spots in the autism spectrum, and you are totally unlike them. Most autistic people have trouble expressing themselves in writing - dyslexia is a higher level communication disorder which falls in the autism spectrum. You just don't seem to me to have problems of that nature ( ... )

johnmill79 November 2 2010, 18:13:00 UTC

Well thank you, for all of it. Yeah now I'm starting to worry that my social issues result from my inability to see and/or hear what's going on. I miss so much in the facial expression, as often what people mean is truly communicated nonverbally. I'm not even sure there is an answer to fixing that.

clariyt November 4 2010, 00:03:41 UTC

I think it's the most likely explanation, but it's one you can find ways around. You can be up front about it - I think it's likely to be the only way really.

Perhaps you can ask people if they mind you putting your hand on their face so you can imagine what they look like. (I think it's a line!) This is something I've seen blind people do, and it's a great way of breaching the divide, and encouraging cooperation, and actually - greater intimacy. You ask the recipient - say, just for example, a young lady, - to place your hand on her face, and it can be really quite an ice breaker. I don't think you'll have very much trouble reciprocating then. You could even suggest, if they seem to have liked that, that they close their eyes and try doing the same back to you, to get an idea of how it is for you...

See where I'm going with this..? LOL! It could be a problem which could be turned into an advantage:)

Yo! thespis2010 November 4 2010, 18:40:22 UTC

Okay, I'm just sifting through the recent entries of my friends list as it has been a very long while since I've spent an extensive amount of time on this site, and I come across another great and well-written entry from you. This of course goes without stating the fact that when I first started spending a little time on here and reading your journal, my first thought was "Wow!" I mean we used to always talk about writing and wanting to be allowed to do it as a living and how great it would be to make a living doing something you love and I always believed you could do it. I wouldn't mind doing it myself but if anybody can do it, you can do it. This entry is one of the best pieces of writing I've seen from someone that's not a professional. I totally agree with the user who commented on it ( ... )