The making of Be Different - Pull Quotes

One of the stylistic things that separates Be Different from Look Me in the Eye is the use of what’s called pull quotes. Pull quotes are passages the editors deemed significant. They copied the quotes in little boxes on the pages in which they appear.

Here are a few of the Be Different pull quotes . . . see if you can imagine their context . . .

It doesn’t mean anything. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
p. 11

My differences turned out also to include gifts that set me apart.
p. 18

For me, failure wasn’t permanent state of being.
p.22

Something that seems like a pure disability can actually have components of gift, too.
p. 23

Competence often excuses strange behavior, especially when you get older and have an established reputation.
p. 25

Find life and work settings that minimize your weaknesses, and find your strengths and play to them.
p. 26

I learned to accept the way other people do things even if I’m sure that they are wrong.
p. 28

Rituals become a problem whenever they prevent you from doing the stuff you’re supposed to do, or when they get you in trouble.
p.35

For as long as I can remember, people have commented on my strange names for things. I maintain my names have a sound logical foundation…
p. 40

‘Normal’ often simply means ‘well mannered.’
p. 43

Aspergians like me are notoriously logical and straightforward, and much of the time, manners are neither.
p. 45

I came to understand that I benefited from compliance with the social rules, even when they seem illogical, wasteful and nonsensical.
p. 46

I’m glad my family kept up the fight, trying to train me in manners even if it made no sense at all to me.
p. 46

Why bother? I bothered because I’d learned that having someone to love and cherish was the most important thing in the world
p. 59

After long and careful reflection I concluded that monsters may be real, and I was wise to be wary. Faced with a world of threats, what else is a tyke to do?
p. 63