I too have spent my life divided between UK and North America, and I feel I can comment on the apparent blindness of Americans to Tourettes/Asbergers symptoms you mention.
It is just my opinion, but I think it is that the multicultural nature of North America as a whole that is different. Americans, and even more particularly Canadians are very accepting about minor personal differences between people.
In the UK (which I view as the anomolous culture - but it may really be the norm) is very unforgiving of any kind of difference. For example, immigrants in the UK quickly take on local regional accents. In North America, not so. I think there is intense social pressure in the UK to conform culturally, to a very high degree. People in the UK conform to very subtle social signals that other cultures are blind to, and those in the UK who do not pick these up are treated very poorly, and frequently made the butt of jokes.
On a personal level, I find myself needing to apologise for frequently taking you to task, mostly because I found your grammar lacking or awkward to comprehend. This is now perhaps partly explained by your condition which I was previously unaware of. So - if you have read any of my comments I apologise for being hard on you.
Discussion on:
Message 8 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
