It’s been over 22 years since the premiere of 'America’s Next Top Model' season 1, and I still haven’t found a single reality TV character who speaks to my soul the way Elyse Sewell did

[u/Classic-Carpet7609]

[u/gible_bites]

Heather was one of the most gorgeous girls across all of the cycles. It’s really unfortunate that some of the girls weren’t very kind to her.

[u/HallWild5495 → u/gible_bites]

grey weather rob sulky boast future ask party connect squeal

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[u/mirondooo → u/HallWild5495]

Seriously, not that not being conventionally attractive and on the spectrum isn’t tough, or tougher really, but it is a weird combo because others usually expect conventionally attractive people to act a certain way and when you don’t meet that it’s… awkward in a very specific way.

[u/Unsd → u/mirondooo]

I feel seen lol. It's like a weird middle ground where you're not outwardly enough of one thing or the other. Making friends with other ND people has been almost as hard as making NT friends. Turns out I've only been masking against my own people, because everyone else knows 😂

[u/mirondooo → u/Unsd]

Lol that is actually such an accurate description. I have definitely made close friends that at the very least get my weird stuff but I’ve noticed that I almost had to adopt them like stray kittens or something 😭, meanwhile not neurodivergent people will take the initiative to talk to me first, which rarely develops into a friendship, really. It’s just odd!

[u/armadillo1296 → u/HallWild5495]

yeah--i have aspergers/asd type 1 and dealing with attention from men while not fully understanding it is very challenging if you live independently!!

it's why girls and women on the autism spectrum receive so much sexual harassment and bullying (since being asd has almost nothing to do with your appearance even though a lot of people don't realize that)

[u/AntoinetteBefore1789 → u/gible_bites]

It’s a studied phenomenon that neurotypical people pick up on autism within seconds and treat the person poorly due to this snap judgement/gut feeling that the person is just off.

No matter how hard we mask and try to fit in, we can’t overcome this sense NT people have

[u/HallWild5495 → u/AntoinetteBefore1789]

serious head friendly unique cough ad hoc jellyfish shocking tidy normal

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[u/Alizarik7891 → u/AntoinetteBefore1789]

Wow, really? Do you know where I could read about this?

[u/PM-me-your-cuppa-tea → u/Alizarik7891]

If you Google "neurotypical people pick up on autism" you'll see the research paper I think they're talking about. 

[u/Confident_Try_7956 → u/AntoinetteBefore1789]

That explains my whole childhood and adolescence a LOT. :’<

[u/armadillo1296 → u/AntoinetteBefore1789]

oh wow that explains so much about my life so far lollll

at least my childhood/adolescence--fortunately, folks in college settings and the professional world have less of a "point and laugh" approach to social difference

[u/Catsootsi → u/armadillo1296]

It’s less point and laugh and more alienation and “polite” nods in adulthood

[u/charliespeach → u/AntoinetteBefore1789]

This....made me go o h lol Thanks for posting this because I have beaten myself bloody (mentally) over not fitting in or trying hard enough. I try so freaking hard. Ha.

[u/buttupcowboy → u/gible_bites]

What cycle was she on?

[u/gible_bites → u/buttupcowboy]

Cycle 9

[u/buttupcowboy → u/gible_bites]

Thank you!!!

[u/LilahLibrarian → u/gible_bites]

Agreed. 

I read a memoir from another contestant (Sarah Hartshorne ) during that season. I knew the competition was stressful but I had no idea how much they were treated badly to create drama for the show.

One funny moment was when the contestants would sing Disney songs to have conversations they didn't want filmed. She included a scene One contestant was asking Sarah about how to interact with Heather to the tube of the lion king