Ever since I read about the autistic superpower of being invisible, I’ve been on the lookout for possible ‘autistic visibility’ patterns. If my theory I’ve been developing continues to hold true, then it should receive more attention.
Before having had the chance to notice if waitresses would behave differently towards me (if I went at least an hour’s drive further to the west or north, further away from New York City than where I am), I already knew that most people are more sincere with their friendliness the further one gets from NY City.
Besides geographic locations, time eras are another factor. I’ve lived long enough to see clearly that people (generally speaking) are becoming more phony in regards to acting like they care about others. Instant gratification, affluence, high-speed lifestyles, moving often, etc. all play a part in this. The Amish give the best example of how a lot of people once were.
The way I’ve been treated by the Amish verses those who try to keep up with today’s trends, is almost as different as white is from dark gray. That’s what started me to wonder how Aspergers syndrome people were treated years ago.
Because Aspergers isn’t something as obvious as a person in a wheelchair or someone who is deaf, it’s highly likely that Aspies didn’t have as many difficulties in society as what we now see. If that’s the case, then Aspies wouldn’t be as ‘irritating’ to neurotypicals the further back in time one goes. After all, a person was more likely to be concerned about their crops failing from a drought than if someone didn’t smile, make proper eye contact, had a strange way of speaking, and processed thoughts differently. Priorities were different and so was society.
Today, there seems to be a remnant of people who are still not so finicky. I went through the same routine eating out as what I wrote about in my posts on March 29th and May 16th, but instead of experiencing the usual ‘I must be invisible’ effect, I was treated the same way as my husband was by the waitress! Not only was the waitress friendly towards me, but so were the others in that vicinity being nice.
