The myth of Normal.
"You are not normal" (but who is?)
One
of the things that I (like many asperger people) have had to endure throughout
my life is to be told that I am not "normal". Now I realise that
"normal" is very subjective and the perception of what
"normal" is can depend on many different factors. The people you are
with, your environment and the culture you grew up in. I now realise that when
people say to you that you are not "normal" it means that you are not
meeting the expectations of what another person believes to be the way that all
humans are suppose to be. But who really is normal? What does normal mean?
The (non) definition of "normal".
I
have just looked up the word "normal" in the Oxford English
Dictionary and one amazing thing that I discovered about it's definition of the
word "normal" is...
...it
hasn't really got one. LOL
It
just casually describes it as an adjective meaning "usual"
"typical" or "expected". So basically when we call someone
or something "normal" it is usually because we automatically assume
that certain events are going to occur or that we are so used to seeing someone
or something in a certain way that we subconsciously find it impossible to view
a person, object or subject in a different way.
My "Madness"
When
I was a kid I was called "mad" many times by my own mother. I had
(and to an extent still have) many behaviour patterns that my mother did not
like for example talking to my self or "pacing up and down". Most of
these behavioural traits were mainly caused by intense thought and anxiety.
During
my adolescence I had a really hard time being called terms like "mad"
and "abnormal". There were even times where it got to the point where
I would get into a violent temper. I was extremely hurt by those words and the
pain of such terms was often unbearable.
The
feeling of not being fully accepted as who I am by my family is still there to
this day but now I realise that you cannot rely on anyone for happiness.
The Imprisonment of Normal.
I
will just summarise what we have learnt about the word "Normal".
"Normal" can be describe as a series of conditions that are accepted
by society. However, what I have realised recently is that the only reason that
"Normal" exists is that society in general are usually afraid of
differences because that don't know how to deal with them.
The
trouble is that we often underestimate the complexity of the human race which
means we develop a somewhat narrow perception of what people are or what they can
be.
If
you think you are "normal" that you are really putting yourself in
some kind of prison. It means you have a limited perception of people and
society and you miss out on how unique you are (or could be) and the uniqueness
of other people. If
you can open yourself to all different kinds of people your quality of life
will improve because you will have more friends and you will have a better
understanding of all human beings.
