This Thread is About Asperger's Syndrome

[Booze Zombie]

But I still have the right to piss and moan, right? Because that's all that seems to matter to these other posters- the right to do something.

Did my first post come off as moaning? I thought I had asked people if they had noticed a trend of insulting Autistics for no real reason and stated that I didn't understand why they were doing this? Oh well...

 

[Jenny Creed]

I'd like to throw in my observations from having Asperger and reading a few books.

It seems the fundamental problem with all autism related disorders is the inability to instinctively understand that different people see things differently. It may be impossible for an autistic person to ever grasp the idea that other people don't know things that he knows, and being confronted with the fact that other people know things he does not can cause panic attacks. The lesser degree of autism present the easier it is to deal with these situations.

Related to that, the common problem with Asperger's Syndrome is a lack of certain hard to define instinctive knowledge of social interaction. Out of the hundreds or thousands of things people do during the course of a normal conversation, Aspies know none, although some of it can be learned and consciously applied. Though not usually before the patient becomes socially reclusive.

There's a great deal of things that have to be considered consciously. For instance I can't throw a ball without consciously calculating the movements of my arm; no matter how much I practice it never becomes repetitive or natural. I can walk without being conscious of it - although I can also walk while being conscious of it without tripping on my legs unlike most people - but that's about it. Many different personal quirks arise from this necessarily being overly conscious and self-conscious.

Which leads to a major tenet for those who have to deal with our various uniquenesses: No two people with autism related disorders express it the same way. But there is a key to reducing frustration and misunderstandings for everyone that I'm gonna share with y'all; Never assume that you know what I'm thinking or feeling and never assume that I know what you're thinking or feeling.

(Yeah, we have feelings, we just don't know what they are for the most part.)

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Of course you have the right to piss and moan. That is the right that I am prepared to destroy the planet for.

And on roots comment of baps: That be legalised stupidity, otherwise known as litigousness (Pray correct my spelling if I'm out, I have a killer hangover.) Prevalent in most society's around the world is the concept: Women's breasts=Nice..... . It seems however that people are tooeasily offended and should get over themselves.

Takeme forexample: I'm mildly overweight. If someone points that out to me rudely, I call them a sad, lonely little cockbag who's life is so meaningless they have to comment on other peoples issues, and tell them then to stop fantasising about their mothers and get on with their lives.

 

[Saskwach]

Since you asked me to indulge in my favourite hobby Fondant, here are your spelling errors:
Litigousness=Litigiousness.
tooeasily=too easily
Takeme=Take me
forexample= for example
who's=whose
peoples=peoples'
And that's forgetting the grammatical errors. Yes I notice these things all the time, in every thread. It drives me up the wall.

 

[Dramus]

It's not about political correctness. Or, at least my original posts aren't.

I wasn't angry about Yahtzee attempting a joke about people with Autism/Asperger's, I was angry he didn't do it correctly. That is, he didn't make fun of stuff we actually do.

Well, I think he can be forgiven for that, seeing how widely Autism/Asperger's is diagnosed. Take me for example. When I was 8, I moved to a new school district. When we asked for TAG identification, the counselor said no, because I displayed 'traits of autism' and demanded that I be moved to a lab in Denver for research. No shit. Of course, we called her bluff and all ended well, but let's assume for a second that it didn't. Now, as people who have been following along know, I have tourette's, and my symptom is that I twitch my hands when distracted. I am also easily distracted (though that probably has to do more with my personality than anything). If I had been improperly diagnosed, then I'd be 'autistic' and one of my 'symptoms' would be that I was easily distracted. If Yahtzee somehow knew about this in this hypothetical reality, he might think that one of the symptoms of Autism/Asperger's is being easily distracted.
Also, as I've said before, the joke had pretty much nothing to do with Asperger's, other than naming it. It would have worked just as well if he had said 'this game seems to have the attention span of a small child', because the real target of the jab was the game.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Also, as I've said before, the joke had pretty much nothing to do with Asperger's, other than naming it. It would have worked just as well if he had said 'this game seems to have the attention span of a small child', because the real target of the jab was the game.

And if it had been the above, then no-one would have minded.
In the same way that comparing Dramus to something negative might hurt you, but comparing it to posters like you wouldn't be.

Especially as a high number of Aperger's/Autistic don't actually display hyperactivity or short attention span.

 

[Mistah Kurtz]

Define 'high number' - are you talking about the majority or a notable minority?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Define 'high number' - are you talking about the majority or a notable minority?

Difficult to speculate on, but as high excitement is painful to them, they're likely to avoid situations that would trigger an attack. The hyperactivity/short attention span comes from the attack.
A similar percentage would be migraine sufferers that seek out loud noise.

 

[Highbrow]

Part of the problem comes when the pervasive 'victimhood' culture, the one that seems to have taken hold in North America and Western Europe, where everyone claims to be 'in the most persecuted minority worldwide' to rack up sympathy points, collides with the ultra-PC, internet = serious business crowd. What I'm getting at is this: people who self-diagnose, claim a mental disability, and expect preferential treatment are directly and intentionally making life more difficult than actual autistics or Asperger's (I try not to use the word 'sufferers' because a majority of the autistic kids I've worked with are coming around to a more recent phenomenon, saying that autism is not a 'disability' and they don't want to be 'cured' or treated as lepers).

But, of course, hypocrisy reigns supreme on the internet - a thread about 'CHRISTIANITY = SCIENTOLOGY LOL' would probably get thousands of 'LMAO' replies whereas even implying anything of the sort about so much as the extremist fringes of Islamic groups sets off an explosion of ugliness comparable only to the 'Macs > PCs' dramabomb. Which makes me wonder if anyone goes on the internet for any reason any more other than to find something to disagree with. Incompetently. Or get laid over Facebook.

 

[Knight Templar]

I have Asperger's and I find the jokes about it funny. I don't think its personal they don't mean any harm. If they do, to be blunt, fuck 'em.

 

[Cerebrium]

Autistics themselves are usually quite normal and docile, if overwhelming; but they can be flared to extreme emotions by things that confuse them, especially emotions, as they can't understand why people act in that way. Rapid change, like Christmas, activates their condition and they will try to flee/fight the source of the 'strange emotions'.

Is Richard Attenborough hiding in the bushes with a film crew?

Don't you mean David Attenborough?

 

[Simalacrum]

although such things may be quite insulting to Autistic/Asperger people, i believe it better if we (i say we for a good reason, i am a high-functioning Asperger child) simply ignore such insults as people who do not understand Autism and Asperger Syndrome whining about silly things. It is similar to people saying that another person is a retard; they may not actualy be retarded, yet the phrase is used as a general insult. We may not like it, but since there is not much we can do its best to ignore it.

On a similar subject (i feel like i'm advertising now ) any Autistic/Asperger people who read this may be interested to know that there are yearly conferences in Britain and America (the last one in America was in Syracuse), i have gone to several in both countries before, and they are very interesting to go to, and have had much positive feedback from the people who go there; it is often described as a place where people on the Autistic spectrum can be themselves freely without harsh consequences. The conferences are called Autscape (in Britain) and Autreat (in America), please search for them in Google (or other similar web sites) for more information if you are interested. Thanks (it would be appreciated if Neural Typical ((normal)) people do not try and take advantage of this) sorry for any grammar/spelling errors XD

 

[BlueMage]

(I try not to use the word 'sufferers' because a majority of the autistic kids I've worked with are coming around to a more recent phenomenon, saying that autism is not a 'disability' and they don't want to be 'cured' or treated as lepers).

Now, with my own experiences with ADHD, I can actually understand this. With time, self-training, medication and a fair bit of willpower, I've turned the general lack of focus and constant shifting of attention common to ADHD to my advantage by applying it to multitasking. As such, because of a perceived disability, I gain an advantage over folks who don't have ADHD.

Now, I've no doubt something similiar exists regarding skill sets and autism. But it will only manifest if the "sufferer" grows a thick enough hide to deal with insults and jests. And that is an application of willpower.

 

[werepossum]

I have Asperger's and I find the jokes about it funny. I don't think its personal they don't mean any harm. If they do, to be blunt, fuck 'em.

The eternal secret to happiness in conditional statements, congratulations. If people didn't intend to give offense, then don't take offense; if they intended to give offense, then their opinions don't matter.

There was a story about a woman with autism who makes a good living as an animal consultant. Her theory is that her particular brain is wired more like an animal's brain, but for whatever reason she can usually look and immediately see what is out of place from the animals' viewpoint. Things that most people overlook even when searching for the problem can be very threatening to animals, and she is usually able to pick it up immediately. The larger point here is that something that makes you unique in a bad way might also make you unique in a good way, if you can only find it. The world is chock-full of normal people, and a slightly abnormally-wired brain might turn out to be an asset in myriad ways. Everything is valued according to its rarity and its utility, and the intersection of those two properties can be a very good place to be.

EDIT: BlueMage said it better and quicker; I should have read more closely before posting.