Lundi
Well-Known Member
I am not sure how to explain this, but on both sides of my family, but especially my father's side, most of extended family believe that any form of ASD is just a hoax, and that those with the disorder(s) are just acting weird on purpose to deliberately vex people or get sympathy and attention for being odd. Almost all of my extended family are either from the third world, or were born in the Western countries with third world culture passed down to them from their parents and grandparents.
This goes beyond just ASD though, and most of them believe that any mental disorder like OCD or anxiety or depression is just a person who is acting strange to get attention, or is "crazy" or "mad". I am sure that in the third world where they are from, people with ASD (or OCD or depression) get thrown into mental institutions if the family insist. From what I see, a male with ASD is judged much more harshly than females with ASD amongst my extended family. This is mostly due to heavy machismo-type attitudes where men are not supposed to display mental weakness.
The definition of a normal man in this culture is to be an aggressive, physically tough-looking, heavyset, extroverted, carnivorous alpha male who is a womaniser, has lots of girlfriends, eats large amounts of meat, never cries nor shows any sign of mental weakness and of course no signs of ASD. In countries and cultures from such countries like these, a male with ASD is likely to be met with being told, "You know, back in [insert name of third world country], you would just get thrown in the madhouse and the key thrown away."
Is anyone in a similar situation, and how do you interact with extended family in this case? Or do you just stop interacting with them altogether?
This goes beyond just ASD though, and most of them believe that any mental disorder like OCD or anxiety or depression is just a person who is acting strange to get attention, or is "crazy" or "mad". I am sure that in the third world where they are from, people with ASD (or OCD or depression) get thrown into mental institutions if the family insist. From what I see, a male with ASD is judged much more harshly than females with ASD amongst my extended family. This is mostly due to heavy machismo-type attitudes where men are not supposed to display mental weakness.
The definition of a normal man in this culture is to be an aggressive, physically tough-looking, heavyset, extroverted, carnivorous alpha male who is a womaniser, has lots of girlfriends, eats large amounts of meat, never cries nor shows any sign of mental weakness and of course no signs of ASD. In countries and cultures from such countries like these, a male with ASD is likely to be met with being told, "You know, back in [insert name of third world country], you would just get thrown in the madhouse and the key thrown away."
Is anyone in a similar situation, and how do you interact with extended family in this case? Or do you just stop interacting with them altogether?
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