They said that about Paganini too,
@Forest Cat!
That he'd sold his soul to be able to play like he did.
Funny what people will say when they're disconcerted by someone else's abilities, innit?
@Owliet, that sounds like an interesting and convenient way to travel - not to mention unusual. Are mountain trolls ridden bareback, or do they have special saddles?
Returning to the main programme - I've been "accused" of being Aspie twice, in the way people will to put you down. The first was by a passing boyfriend in my 30s, who suddenly decided he wanted to "swing" and have group sex (and involve me in it). When I said, "Well, I'm not interested in that!" he suddenly started saying I was rigid and a goody-two-shoes and given my academic achievements etc and a few other things, I had to be autistic. I did not keep going out with this person, and left him to his group sex fantasies. It's not that I objected to him wanting to do that, I objected to him wanting
me to want to do that, when I really don't. It's a boundary and what I want and don't want for myself, not something "autistic"...I think that was such a cheap shot, both at a partner who doesn't want to be pressured into someone else's sexual fantasies that aren't their own, and at people on the spectrum.
The second time it was when we were building our house and I wanted some part-time work on the side that fitted in with the schedule (I was the main building coordinator and dog's body for the build and did a lot of the interior outfitting when my husband went back to work). I'd seen
William and Mary and the super Japanese film
Departures and thought it might be nice to work in the funeral business for a bit, and sent my CV around. I got pinged by one of the companies and started doing on-call work for them. The boss was
not a nice person - not just by my own assessment, when I saw how he ran things, but also because an older friend of mine who knew everyone in that town said, "Sue,
that man is dreadful, don't tell me you're going to work for him!"
I said it was only a casual thing, and I'd keep my eyes peeled and get out if I got uncomfortable. He was a greasy, swaggering type, late middle aged, with a touch of Napoleon syndrome, by the looks of it. He seemed to think that everything that proceeded out of his mouth was witty and intelligent, and that people ought to adore him and do his bidding. Very unpleasant; but those kind of narcissistic suits aren't uncommon in the business world. The rest of the staff were fine to work with, and sort of buffered each other from him.
I did notice, and call out, his misogyny and inappropriateness, after a while. He'd make leering and inappropriate remarks when he had female staff members on their own or in pairs, and one particular time when it was really really off, I told him straight to his face that this was a totally inappropriate way to be talking to his female staff and that I wasn't going to put up with it. He didn't like that, but the world is full of people like this who think they can treat others with this kind of disrespect - and I don't like misogyny. I don't think he'd ever had anyone call him out on that before. From then on he stopped calling me by my actual name, and sniggeringly called me "Sheldon".
At first I had no idea what he was on about, because I don't watch trashy TV programmes. But I soon found out what the reference was. And really, it was just another cheap shot: He knew what was on my CV and you know what mediocre males do to female so-called "tall poppies" - and actually, that kind of treatment of women in Australian institutions, by men like this, is really common, and there's just been a major report into how lousy that situation is in the Australian parliament, which is a privileged boys' club with a drinking-at-work and sexual harassment culture.
So there you have it - that will tell you something about the ignorance of some people out there, and also about the propensities people have for making the Aspie spectrum into some kind of joke/denigrating comment, with the typical assumed superiority of those sorts of people (who are just common garden variety posterior orifices).
Deficiencies in social skills are really common in the neurotypical population, and shouldn't be seen as the monopoly of people on the spectrum. In the cases of Funeral Man and his ilk out there, and the Australian parliament, I'd go one further and call that atrocious behaviour by people who are deliberately choosing to cross the line in all sorts of ways.
There endeth my sermon. I hope that was helpful for someone. I don't have a high opinion of people like this.
