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George Versus Lennie

People seem to believe that you can't have cognitive deficits if you don't seem stupid.

The image many carry in their minds of a person with cognitive problems is an image of someone whose internal dysfunction necessarily finds clear outward manifestation in unusual physical proportions, motor skills, vocal quality, and speech patterns. Less objectively, it's an image of a cartoon idiot: Lennie from Of Mice and Men as depicted in Looney Tunes. 

This is a suboptimal situation.  My autism involves some cognitive impairment. Because I'm intelligent and articulate, even paraprofessionals have trouble remembering or, in fact, believing that I'm not as able to apply my intellect as ordinary people are. I'm smart, I'm not Lennie, but I'm not George either. The dichotomy between those characters is the only way many people can understand the difference between neurotypical people and people with cognitive or neurodevelopmental disabilities. If I'm not obviously a moron, they think, I must be exactly as capable as anyone else. 

What can we do to educate? I'm beyond hoping that it's possible. I'm giving up on that. Humans aren't comfortable with nuance cramping their impulses. They're naturally inclined to superficiality, and I understand why. It's Darwinian. If you stop to think, you might die. If you act impulsively, the chances that you'll die go down a little bit. The benefits of impulsivity are just enough to outweigh the benefits of restraint. So if you don't look like you need special help, most people will listen to their guts' assertions that you don't need it rather than listening to your own assertions that you do.  

This feels bad, and it creates situations in which people who need help can't get it. But I don't think education is the solution because I don't think ignorance is the problem. The problem, from an evolutionary perspective alone, is that impulsivity doesn't get enough people killed.

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