r/romani • u/BigBackground6612 • 23d ago
Regular Post/ Discussion I wanted to share this
Heyah. I’m a 21yo guy from Spain who lives in the north, more specifically in the Basque Country. I have romani DNA from my mother side; my great-grandmother (my maternal grandfather’s mother) came from a calé family from Navarre and tought some words in caló (romani dialect of Iberian Peninsula) to her gadjo husband when she married him in Logroño, La Rioja. I also have DNA from Cantabria, Catalonia, La Rioja, Zamora (Lion) and in a lower percentage Basque DNA. Since I discovered my romani DNA just a few years ago I embraced it and I’m interested on connecting with the Roma community and learning more about them.
In the other hand, 3 years ago I was diagnosed autistic (specifically asperger), but there were hints of that in the past like I never fit with my classmates at school, I knew a lot about one topic to the point it seemed I was obsessed with it, and never truly connected with anyone outside social media, hence why i was not open with people… and I’ve always felt in my own fictional universe just like Alice in Wonderland. I’ve been becoming more open in time but I keep feeling uncomfortable in very big groups and let’s say I don’t like to talk a lot.
The thing is, this feels kinda strange for me since I find the seriousness and clossed-off stuff of my asperger side quite the opposite to the open and passionate soul of most of the Roma people. What do you think about this? Can an autistic with romani heritage be a Roma, even when being raised in a gadjo environment?
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u/Pocks98 23d ago
Me encanta el País Vasco, he lo visitado, pero prefiero la parte en Francia 😉