WHY WE ARE INVISIBLE

I hope this explanation takes some of the sting out of the way we are treated by others. We are perceived as less than fully human or part of the furniture, if we are

noticed at all. We lack something I call "personal presence". Compare pictures of faces of neurotypicals to people with with ASD. The neurotypicals get and hold your

attention; the ASD people do not. I have been searching for 45 years for the reason that I am isolated from others by an invisible wall. It was was so mysterious that

I thought it was something supernatural. Now I know! Connecting with others is normally an automatic process that happens in a split second, many times each day. It is

a feedback loop between people that involves the senses, the brain and expression through the face and voice. The brain has evolved to recognize and respond

emotionally to espressions that are SPONTANEOUS, SUBTLE and often FLEETING in the face and voice. The brain has also evolved to express emotions through thousands of

tiny muscles around the eyes and mouth and through variations in pitch and prosody of the voice. This is how people connect emotionally with one another. The "social

brain" is a very complicated network of brain centers that pick up on expressions of others and respond emotionally to them with our expressions. It is so complicated

that if even one part doesn't develop properly or there is a connectivity issue between parts of the network, the ability of a person to set up the feedback loop is

impaired. Despite any progress we may make in learning social skills and making adjustments I warn you to never expect to connect as naturally and easily as do

neurotypicals. We will always be just a little "off" in the eyes or the world. Double whammy- we will never receive the compassion that people with easily understood

handicaps such as being blind or crippled do. But ask yourself- would you rather be blind or crippled?