Social Interaction Challenges Quotes

I've got Asperger's. I come at things from sideways.

I know. I'm very hard to talk to. I realize that.

I don't work well outside the lines; my report card once read, 'doesn't play well with others.'

I think the mild Aspergers have always been there. You see, Asperger's diagnosis did not become common in the U.S. until the early '90s. And an Aspergers has more or less normal speech development and they've always been here, that hasn't changed. I can think back to when I was in high school, this is 40 years ago, I could name kids in my high school class and college class that, today, would be diagnosed as Aspergers.

I am a diffident man. I find it hard to carry on a conversation.

I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.'

I have a condition called Aspergers Syndrome, which is like a mild form of autism It means I don't interact properly in certain social situations.

Some autistic children cannot stand the sound of certain voices. I have come across cases where teachers tell me that certain children have problems with their voice or another person's voice. This problem tends to be related to high-pitched ladies' voices.

I was nonverbal until I was four years old. Back in the 50s, I was the kind of kid they used to just put away in an institution. But then you get the milder autism where there's no speech delay, but they're socially awkward. Those kids were around when I was a child. They were just called geeks and nerds.

I think the core criterion is the social awkwardness, but the sensory issues are a serious problem in many, many cases of autism, and they make it impossible to operate in the environment where you're supposed to be social.

Back then, people thought if you could talk you didn't have autism. I was just seen as this slightly odd child. I saw another therapist aged 12, and another in my early 30s.

I had ADD as a kid and often acted as the class clown. My teachers used to tell my mom, 'Raphael thinks he's a real comedian.'

Being a typical teenager isn't easy. When you have autism, it can be extra difficult. We need more public awareness about these hurdles as well as compassion towards these young people.

Autism does exist on a spectrum, and there are so many manifestations of it, so many kinds of expressions of it. And every case is particular.

People with autism aren't interested in social chit-chat.

Kids are shy and they often don't want to make eye contact or say "thank you."

I'm continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts.

Autism is an extremely variable disorder.

I have an obsession with books about kids with Asperger's syndrome.

If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the Earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.

Human interaction is awkward and weird, even if it happens without a microphone or camera.