Poll: Autism. Bad or Good?

[katsumoto03]

To be perfectly honest, we're a social species, and we need each other, so while some individuals may thrive with their extra learning skills, without proper social skills, they can sometimes be more of a drag than a bonus. I dont mean to generalize, but social skills are far more important in the way of operating around other people in my opinion.

I was about to post a long-winded argument about why it isn't good when I saw this. Thanks dude.

 

[weker]

I take autism as a well balanced perk in life.
The person who takes it receives boost in all Intelligence at the cost of charisma....
Really need to make a perk about it in fallout new vegas

it is not at all like this the trade of is intelligence in certain areas
and by charisma it not at all like that you just fail to understand human phyc or how to react to it
I am great at predicting peoples thoughts and personality but lack the skill to make me seem normal i tend to be stuck on 90% nice and 9% emotionless

 

[Polyg0n]

It is bad because no matter how good the autist people get in some field it wont really help anyone as they can't share their information and skills with the society and cause a lot of work to those close to them. I'd also belive that it would be easier to live a happier life if you were not obsessed about something all the time.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I confess to having asperger syndrome. the main problem with it is the social problems, however, the cases of asperger syndrome can vary greatly, mine is quite mild. As i got older i sort of "grew out of it" I figured out most of my problems via trial and error, even now my own parents can only really tell i have it when i go into a sort of "panic".

The only time i regret having asperger syndrome is when it comes to talking with parents and my older sister, they have an attendancy to over explain things and talk to me like I'm a child or someone with full-autism. I hate it.

but other than that, as far as i can tell aspergers isnt good or bad, its simply an alternate; like the difference between macs and windows

 

[Spy_Guy]

Lots of people do it on the internet. It's one of the most self-diagnosed disorders in history, especially with the advent of the internet.

Someone else mentioned the fact that you can blame something on a disorder that's very difficult to verify.
Most people take "social difficulties" as "Being an insensitive prick", and use a legitimate diagnosis to validate their behavior.

However, note that there's something called "Internet asperger" due to the fact that the internet, and forums like this naturally disconnects you from the people you're talking to, meaning that you miss a bunch of cues you'd get when talking to a person face-to-face.

Take the phrase "nice work"
Simple, short phrase (removed capitalization and such to make a point).

In real life, depending on how you emphasize it, how you stand, your facial expression, etc. it can mean both "Great job!" or "You screwed up.", or even "You screwed up royally, mate"

I had a chat with an internet friend of mine and I told him:
"You do great work as an admin!" over a text chat.
His response was:
"Are you sarcastic?"

So you can miss the meaning of a message because you don't have all the cues you'd get in normal life.

(as a footnote, I can mention that you could also get emotionally detached from the people you meet online and start acting like a prick, this overlaps with the GIFT [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GIFT])

 

[Danpascooch]

OK then how did a healthy child at birth become slow to learn until he was 6 and then out of nowhere have the education of a 11th grader at 10, he didn't get out of dippers until he was 5. Not bad parenting

Some mental disorders show no symptoms till certain ages, for example, Schizophrenia appears around 18-24 years old (typically), but you're still BORN WITH IT

 

[A random person]

Ignoring the scientific inaccuracies that have been pointed out repeatedly, it depends if we're talking high or low-functioning. Low-functioning is pretty crippling, to say the least, while high-functioning generally just causes some social difficulties (which are often overcome before too long).

Considering I'm an aspie (professionally diagnosed, since that's necessary to point out at this point) and don't really want that part of me changed, I wouldn't describe high-functioning as bad in itself.

 

[Hairetos]

I think you should change the title to aspergers, not autism in general, because aspergers is generally a mild form of autism. I read somewhere that most people with aspergers are diagnosed with it after they are adults, and live reasonably normal lives even before diagnoses.

OT: People without aspergers can learn 3 languages and have good math and reading skills. When i was 10 years old, I could read at a 12th grade level, and i could probably do math at a 9th grade level too, my school only tested reading and didn't do advanced classes, but I could do simple multiplication when I was 3. Admittedly, I only speak english, but that's just because I don't care, speaking other languages would not make my life any better so I don't learn them. Well, i took spanish in High School, but that was required for college.

Not to bring you down, but did you read at a 12th grade level because the Accelerated Reading test said you did? Because if that's true, I hate to inform you but that's bunk. Everyone in my 7th grade English class could "read at a college level" and that's quite frankly ridiculous. Unless you actually sit down and take those classes at that level, I don't think you can accurately say that you were capable of performing at that grade. I'm sure you were gifted to some degree, but I hate when the school system inaccurately inflates the egos of students, because they effectively get ***** slapped when they try the "real thing" (high-level courses).

Now, onto the OP. If he's happy and isn't infringing on the happiness of others, then it's fine. It could even be a good thing, but that's speculation. If it's making him miserable and he hates his life because of it, then it's probably not a good thing. It's really that simple.

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

He wasn't born with it he was given a vaccine when he was 2 years old to help him from receiving the flu, but all of the vaccines in that year had expired and had mercury inside of all of the expired bottles and effected hundreds of kids within those years.

They have disproved this SO MANY TIMES.

Drives me mad to hear it.

You get more mercury eating a single piece of tuna.

If you ask me, it's a bit of a combo of the two, also eating something and having it injected into you are two very different things, thank-you very much. anyway, it's funny you mention autism because I myself was diagnosed autistic as a young child. now, I don't perport to be a "genious", (although I'd like to think I'm somewhat decent with the pen, if you know what I mean) and I can personally say that autism is very much "bad" in the sense that you feel like there's a barrier between you and your peers. that's probably why your brother likes xbox-live so much, he's got a little more control in there. also, I'm pretty sure that being good at one specific thing is known as being a sevant and not autism, although I think the two are connected

 

[conzan]

"he wasn't born with it he was given a vaccine when he was 2 years old to help"
no he wasn't he was autistic before that you just didn't know it because of his age and its not a bad thing both my sister have it and there happy and that's what's important right

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I'm in awe at "Okay, first, I registered solely so I could tell you how completely and utterly wrong you are."

Welcome to The Escapist, sounds like you might fit in pretty well by the sounds of it.

He's possessed of an idea that is actively dangerous. It's not that I disagree with him (I've been lurking for a while, and have seen lots of posts I disagreed with). It's that he's part of a group of people putting children at risk because of their ignorance.

I have to say, that's a decent reason to join. I did just to make a zombie joke, which it turns out someone else had already done.

 

[ryanxm]

is their a choice C?

 

[Altorin]

it would be a little interesting if Autism was actually the next evolution of humanity.

 

[Maclennan]

Don't worry mercury can never expire, its an element. Also what country does he live in that would use expired vaccine?

 

[Korolev]

Vaccines don't cause autism - millions have been vaccinated. Hundreds of millions in fact. In fact, during the mid-20th century, virtually EVERYONE ON EARTH was vaccinated. That's why there's no such thing as Smallpox, in case you haven't noticed.

Are there hundreds of millions of Autistic people?! NO!

Autism is noticed at roughly the same age as when kids receive vaccines. It's a coincidence, nothing more. I've been vaccinated, and I'm not autistic! I've had dozens of vaccinations, from when I was a baby, to present day.

All this "vaccination causes autism" comes from one very bad study performed by a crap doctor, whose papers have been pulled.

Parents want someone to blame for their child's autism. Rather than accept that it was just bad luck due to abnormal brain development, they blame vaccines because they don't understand them. They say "there's mercury in the vaccine! Mercury's BAD!", without learning that

1) Ethyl Mercury is safe - it's a DIFFERENT CHEMICAL COMPOUND than regular Mercury, and has a different chemistry! Yes folks, whodathunkit, but different chemicals behave differently, even when they have the same name! Ethyl Mercury SOUNDS similar to Methyl Mecury, but ya know, that "m" sound actually means its a different chemical compound, and has different effects! Did any of you actually take chemistry in High School? I didn't think so.

2) The amount of Ethyl Mercury (NOT METHYL MERCURY), which does not bioaccumulate in the body (SO IT'S DIFFERENT FROM PLAIN OL MERCURY), in vaccines is VERY SMALL.

But what do you expect? Ignorant people are so easy to scare. They go on a crusade against science, without bothering to properly educate themselves about science. And no, reading a few websites does not count as "education". I have a master's degree, so I actually know my science. Granted, I'm a molecular biologist, not an immunologist, but I took a few courses in pathology and chemistry, so I'm more qualified to comment on this matter than a bunch of easily scared people who believe what the internet tells them.

I'm sorry if you parents have told you that vaccines cause autism. You're parents are WRONG. Look all around you - the vast majority of the Western World's population has been vaccinated. Are well all autistic? NO!

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

It's over-diagnosed like a ************, I'll tell you that much. I have a very healthy social life, but apparently I have this same Aspergers condition.

 

[Knusper]

My oldest other has autism and always got what he wanted when he was small because he was so demanding of what he wanted. This has made him really horrible and hate-filled, fortunately, I can beat him in a fight now, but when I was `0 he would break my warhammer models and things and even tried picking me up and throwing me off the banisters (he tried it I was 14 and I tackled him to the floor). He doesn't hrt me now, but is still really verbally abusive to everyone. I honestly thin he'd be a better person if he did not have aspergers, so I guess the case varies between the individuals.

Also, he was expelled from secondary school and managed to get 5 poor GCSEs when he went to a special needs school and now has a couple of poor A-levels but has no prospects of getting into university and has never got a job better than in a call-centre or behind a till when his fends are nearly graduating, albeit with debts, and have decent jobs that they enjoy. Therefore, I think it would be better for him, too.

 

[Korolev]

But about the topic at hand - Is Autism bad or good? Well, it depends. I knew someone with Asperger's syndrome. He was my friend, he was smart and he was a nice guy. I got along with him just fine.

But he wasn't a "super genius". He was certainly smart, but the smartest person in my grade did not have autism - she just studied very hard. Being Autistic does not automatically imbue one with "superior mental powers" - in fact in the vast majority of autism sufferers, their intelligence is harmed by their condition. There are a few savants out there, but they are rare.

If Autism is mild, it simple doesn't have that much of an effect. It's not good or bad, it's simply a difference. If Autism is serious, it is almost certainly bad as it creates dependencies, and harms social relations.

Look, I understand that those who suffer from Autism (or simply have Autism, but don't suffer from it), are tired of being stigmatized. So they invent a fantasy - that having Autism makes them "Superior" to us "Normies". That's not a healthy attitude, and it doesn't really make anything better. But neither does marinating oneself in self-pity.

You can have self-esteem without resorting to bizarre fantasies designed to give oneself an overinflated, undeserved sense of superiority. Autistic people are people too - they have their virtues and their faults. On the whole, Autism is not a good thing, but it can be mild enough so that it does not interfere dramatically with one's life.

There's a tendency amongst some people with Aspergers to view themselves as the "NEXT STAGE IN HUMAN EVOLUTION", which is downright funny. Might as well start calling them "Hoppy Harrington", eh?

 

[Physics Engine]

My nephew has Autism and he can't do anything but bite and punch himself, other people and walls. He sets fire to anything he can, even himself and giggles as the fire burns him. He cried and hit me when I put it out once and now won't even make eye contact with me. He can only grunt and laugh with a little sign language (seriously all he says is "thank you" in sign, for everything) and scream, oh boy can he scream.

He's 16, getting bigger and nobody's sure how to help him as he's a big boy and can and has K.O'd his father more than once. Respite workers will not help any more, he's too strong for them. My uncle has had to quit his job and try for government funding just to survive. Even his mother has left them, she blames him for their son's Autism and left in the night, then tried to sell their house out from under them.

Autism is too broad a spectrum to say if it's good or bad, but I'm pretty sure that this case isn't too hard to classify.

 

[Korolev]

And does autism boost learning? Much of learning involves communication. Science is a communal effort - even Newton learned from others. Einstein collaborated with leading mathematicians and the discoverers of DNA, Watson and Crick, co-operated together.

If Autism severely damages one's ability to communicate, how can they ever properly develop their mental abilities? Science does have its geniuses and lone inventors, but even they had to work together with other contemporaries to flesh out ideas or publish them or improve them. The Manhattan project was not the work of one man, after all. And indeed, science has become so damn complex these days, you NEED to work with others.

Take some of the work I used to do - I had to do a bioinformatics analysis on a gene to find areas that were conserved in order to locate potential splice-sites. Then I had to test whether or not the protein would bind and initiate splicing of its own pre-mRNA. There was a lot more to it than that, but that took months and months and months. And that was only one part of ONE gene, in one species (rat in this instance, but it was in Zebrafish and mice and humans as well). Much of my lab's work in understanding that gene came from other people, and we pooled our knowledge and findings together. Simply put, modern biology is FAR TOO COMPLEX for any ONE person to make significant discoveries. To make a discovery, you must work as a team. If you have mild Asperger's, that's not a problem. As I've said, when I was still in high-school, I was able to work with a kid with Aspergers on a physics project. We did fine. But if you have moderate-to-severe case of Autism, you'll have a lot of difficulty in being a modern-day scientist - you might never be able to work in science. It would definitely hinder you, that's for sure.

Science DEPENDS on communication, co-operation. It's a communal effort. And can I say, the vast majority of scientists I've encountered do not have autism, although one or two did. Autism doesn't mean you're stupid - but it certainly doesn't mean you're some kind of super-genius we "normies" must bow down to. And don't pretend some of you don't think that way - I've talked to more than a few autistic people to know that quite a few of you do. It's a psychological defence mechanism, I understand, but it's still silly.

And what exactly IS Asperger's? While it exists for sure, I think it is over-diagnosed. I myself was an awkward child in high-school, unable to make many friends - and I did have "difficulty" understanding the behaviour of some of my peers. I also found it difficult to talk to people or gauge their emotions at times. Did I have Asperger's? No, I was just socially awkward. And I grew out of it.

Of course, you can't "grow out of" real Asperger's, which I am at pains to make clear, really does exist. But far too many people "self-diagnose" themselves with it. If a doctor diagnoses you with Asperger's syndrome, you probably do have it. But if you decided that you have it because you read a couple of symptoms on the web and can't ask a girl out, then you probably don't.