rant about the word special.

Author Topic: rant about the word special.  (Read 2398 times)

I HATE THE WORD SPECIAL.
Oh, not in the context of objects, but in the context of people, referring to those who are not "neurotypical" as the book my parents got me (remember that thread?) puts it.

"Special" is a word that separates. It puts people in two groups, "special" and "not special." I don't like being separated for being "special." Oh, sure, I don't care that I have autism, I don't care if people call me autistic when I do something stupid, I just don't want people to judge me more harshly for it. I have a mental disability. A very small one, but I still have one. I don't want people to make that more than it is, I don't want them to separate me and say "This person is special; we have to take care of them because they're not as smart as us." That's what that word does. I get good grades, I actually try more to learn and love learning. I'm considering teaching other students, someone was absent so I taught them what we had learned and they said I taught them better than the teacher normally did. Is that below average? I have some trouble focusing, I might need a bit more time on tests since I get distracted easily, but does that make me below you? Do I need babysitting my whole life? No.


yeah some stranger told me to get off their server and called me special I didn't know them I'm pretty sure they're not even old enough to really grasp the full connotations of what they were saying
it wasn't a game where you could even ban people since host gets passed around based on who has the lowest ping to the proxy when the host leaves or goes over a ping threshold
this is just something to be angry about, I've been stressed lately because I've been staying up late and having trouble focusing on homework long enough to finish it.


OP is a special form of special

"I don't like being called special"
OP is a special form of special

One of the most important lessons you'll learn about navigating the world is the importance of sloughing off the opinions of people who are ignorant or want to hurt you.

It's alright to be angry about it, but you can protect yourself by just not believing them. Throughout your life, people will try to other you because of the way you experience the world, but the important thing is that you understand that they're just a bunch of oblivious jerks.

You'll meet lots of these people, but you'll also find plenty of people that will treat you as an equal. Just stay strong, and be conscious of the kinds of people surrounding you. Don't force yourself to associate with people that treat you badly, even if they're 'popular' or 'cool'.

There isn't a lot of education about Autism and people often don't understand how varied it is and that many sufferers are high-functioning members of society. You probably won't be able to educate people about Autism so I'd recommend (and believe me, this is bad advice) trying to separate your autism from that of others by not brining it up much or specifically saying that you have very mild symptons. Like, I have a disabled friend that is very smart and I do competitive stuff with, and honestly I couldn't even tell because it's so mild in his case. However if he introduced himself to me and let me know he had ADHD I might have been reluctant to partner up with him. I wouldn't let your disabilities define your personality or skills, I would let your personality and skills define your disability.

I personally prefer the terms 'disabled' or 'special needs' because everyone is a bit special (thanks to Tumblr I'm uncomfortable even saying that) and people with mental disabilities are not just people with odd or quirky traits--they are impaired members of society.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2017, 08:28:21 PM by McZealot »


Blatant trolling

anyways, yeah, I'm cool with "special needs," it's just the way "special" is used tends to be a separating thing, where they're not trying to be insulting but it's kind of impossible not to be. I do have special needs, but "special" has connotations. Oh, that kid, yeah, he's... special.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2017, 08:35:40 PM by SuperSuit12 »

The most important thing I've learned in life is that the opinions of others are almost completely irrelevant. If you know you aren't doing anything wrong then just be proud that you're strong enough to be yourself; if being individual means I'll be called "special" then I'm whatever kind of snowflake you want me to be and I know you're just jealous because you aren't capable of expressing yourself as freely as I do.

People naturally ostracise an "other" that they feel is weaker than they are because it's the only way they can cope with their own insecurities, humans need someone to hate or make fun of, otherwise they'll start thinking about the ways in which they feel inferior to those around them, regardless of whether or not those inferiorities actually exist.


holy stuff
you really got on my good side by coming out and saying this

I absolutely adore that you're not making a victim out of yourself because you got dealt a bad hand (supposedly)
that makes you instantly better than everyone who makes fun of you for being autistic or whatever

On a scale of Harmful Opinions to Chris Chan how autistic are you? Because I know Assburgers is now on the spectrum. Are you a complete social handicap or can you cope?



Why the edit?
i found something vastly superior to my previous post