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Is there an opposite to Autism
Poll ended at 06 Apr 2008, 1:46 am
Yes 71%  71%  [ 32 ]
No 29%  29%  [ 13 ]
Total votes : 45

lastcrazyhorn
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28 Dec 2007, 9:14 am

Politicians?


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anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 9:48 am

LabPet wrote:
I do not too much about William's Syndrome, but the only overlap between William's Syndrome and Autism is musical ability. Otherwise, WS is characterized by, yes, opposite traits of autism.


Not all but musical ability, people with WS also tend to have real problems in some social areas for instance.

Quote:
Those with WS are invariably mildly mentally ret*d


Not invariably.


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anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 9:50 am

Most of these attempts to figure out an "opposite to autism" are going to fail as long as nobody knows what autism really is internally. An opposite would be brain mechanisms working in the opposite way to what is usual in autistic people. It would not be just the presence or absence of certain superficial skills. When you take the various superficial skills into account, frequently the opposite of them is still quite possible for an autistic person.


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Danielismyname
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28 Dec 2007, 10:01 am

My sister is the opposite to me.

Where I become easily overwhelmed with the environment, and I'm happy doing the same old thing over and over again; she is easily bored with the environment and must seek out new things to keep her amused.

She's "normal", and I'm autistic.

Granted, I'm only a single autistic individual, and she's only a single "normal" individual; it makes sense to me how I'm happy with an empty room and a single non-fiction book, but she's experiencing hell if she was in my place, just as I would experience hell when she goes out and about with people.



anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 10:03 am

My brother and I are near total opposites in most areas and we're both autistic.


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Danielismyname
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28 Dec 2007, 10:13 am

anbuend wrote:
My brother and I are near total opposites in most areas and we're both autistic.


Yes.

My father has Asperger's (see: verbose), but he is an extroverted individual (he still likes doing the same old thing over and over again, plus much of the other autistic stuff). Taken as pure sensitivity to the environment, I am the complete opposite to many people, people need to experience external stimulation as they don't receive it as I do; I'm happy staring at the ground and imagining my obsession (I really don't know where they got the whole lack of imagination thing from), outside my empty room, the environment hurts. Inside my room, the environment hurts them.

(As an aside: my mother and I are very similar in personality, and she's "normal", she still needs to experience the outside world, I don't.)



anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 11:37 am

Some examples:

My brother is pretty extroverted (although he needs some time alone), I am pretty introverted (although I need some time with close friends).

My brother and I both have trouble judging depth. However, he reacts to this by being afraid of small slopes. I react to it by being over-confident to the point where I've gotten head injuries mistaking big slopes for small ones.

My brother was for the most part a very loud baby. I was for the most part a very quiet baby.

My brother has had some trouble learning some things, but at the same time always (by the standard prejudices) continued to learn steadily and not lost anything. I have since infancy been on a constant pattern of fluctuations in what I learned or the ability to apply it.

My brother thinks in language and symbol to the point where he has trouble with things that aren't in that realm (although he can do a few things that aren't very competently). I think outside language and symbol to the point where I have trouble with things that are in that realm (although I can do a few things that are very competently).

My brother is good at purposefully applying the social cues he knows, but has trouble learning them. I have less trouble learning social cues, but far more trouble applying them on purpose.

My brother has always had good language comprehension although often extremely literal. I have always had crappy language comprehension although often better at metaphor than him.

When it comes to picking up on other people's social cues, we seem to have... sort of if the grab-bag of social cues to pick up on was set in front of us, we'd each have some and not others, but he'd mostly have ones I didn't and I'd mostly have ones he didn't.

My brother in general does things deliberately but clumsily (and doesn't seem to have access to a large store of non-deliberate/triggered things, although there's a few). I in general do things non-deliberately but accurately (and don't have much access to a large store of voluntary movements, although there's a few -- and this is to the point where even simple ones put a good deal of stress on my body).

And I could go on for pages. Even in areas that have to do with autism, we are usually at opposite extremes. We're like strange autistic inverses of each other who resemble each other in autism-related ways only because of our frequently near-exact symmetry in oppositeness.


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Last edited by anbuend on 28 Dec 2007, 11:46 am, edited 2 times in total.

Greentea
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28 Dec 2007, 11:42 am

I was going to say politicians, but someone beat me to it.


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anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 11:45 am

Greentea wrote:
I was going to say politicians, but someone beat me to it.


I know many autistic people who perseverate on politics. One of them nearly ended up in a fairly high Republican position at one point. Another actually worked in the White House in some very minor capacity. And another worked for the U.N. Others have never gotten that far with their involvement in it but still have an extreme interest in it. Autistic people generally don't do politics the same way as non-autistic people do, but they are good at the aspects they do do. (Which is less the slimy manipulative BS than other things, although one of the ones I know is actually good at the slimy manipulative BS and kind of alarms me because of that. It's like that person is imitating some of the worst aspects of NT social skills I've ever seen, instead of just imitating typical ones.)


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shaggydaddy
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28 Dec 2007, 12:08 pm

I am an aspie, my son is an aspie, my daughter has williams syndrome.

something like 1 in 20 people with WS are also autistic. They have many sensory issues like autistic people. Yes they are very high on the social spectrum, but they have "cocktail party personality" where they can instantly relate to anyone, but like was previously mentioned, they have mostly superficial relationships. My daughter's cocktail party personality was evident on the day she was born, seriously.

They are typically good at music, but for a different reason than Autistic people. Autistic people tend to be good because of the relationship between music and math and technical skills, whereas WS people tend to think in music, they often have perfect recetive and 1 in 10 has perfect expressive pitch. Their hearing is physically more extreme than typical people (possibly because they have less elastin, making their ear drum more "precise". My daughter is only 1.5 years old and she can match pretty much any pitch she wants to, the blender, the vaccum cleaner, some random person screaming on TV, etc etc.

They usually have poor spatial relation skills and poor abstract logical skills, and high social and linguistic skills, so it is very convenient to call WS "the opposite of autism" but that's a very superficial definition of both. I use that description sometimes, but I usually elaborate on it.


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KimJ
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28 Dec 2007, 12:23 pm

I know people who are disabled by their hyper-social thinking. "Hyper NTness" They suffer from depression, loneliness and a type of shallow thinking, mostly due to depending on trends, mob mentality and not keeping close friends close enough. They need to always be accepted, which leads them to behavior that eventually contradicts stated beliefs and morals. Their relationships are chaotic because they can't independently think or decide what they want from them.

They often lack personal taste in music, art, literature or fashion. So, they can have on the surface 'eclectic" music selections because they buy concert CDs, have gifts or music they have heard incidently. But they can't tell you what they really like.

They buy trendy clothes and tailor their outfits according to the crowd their with. This can lead to panic when plans change and they "run into" unexpected acquaintances while they are dressed in a different "costume". They frequently dress down to avoid making too much of a statement. When these people get together in a group, they appear to be wearing uniforms (holidays, birthday parties)

They get depressed easily because they don't maintain loyal friendships. When they do have friends, they are compelled to see them often. They may make the social blunder of invading other people's spaces because of their need to be in their company. They have friends for different purposes, "party friends", "vacation friends" "church friends" work friends" "nostalgia friends"

I know people like this. This is what happens to some of the popular kids you knew in high school.



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28 Dec 2007, 1:27 pm

Groo would probably be it.



NeantHumain
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28 Dec 2007, 5:59 pm

In my opinion, psychopaths are the polar opposite of persons with Asperger's syndrome. Unlike people with AS, psychopaths are highly skilled at manipulating others to do their bidding. Lying comes naturally to them whereas truth comes naturally for us. They have no feelings whereas we often suffer from a great deal of depression, anxiety, or other emotional disorders. They are highly sociable and charming whereas we are aloof and socially bumbling.



anbuend
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28 Dec 2007, 6:08 pm

I think sociopaths are the ethical/social inverse of the typical autistic person in general.

As in, they have the normal range of social and manipulative skills, and no conscience. (They don't have to be excellent manipulators, they just often end up that way because they don't care about screwing people over.)

Whereas most autistic people have the normal range of conscience and usually fewer standard social and manipulative skills. Although we can have some manipulation skills, like Temple Grandin playing practical jokes that looked like other kids did them in school, or a few autistic people I've met who just creep me out with their level of manipulativeness.

This isn't to say that there's no such thing as an autistic sociopath, of course. That'd just be an autistic person who happened to lack a conscience. They're relatively rare, but I think I've met one or two. (Keep in mind the rate of sociopathy has been occasionally said to be 1 in 25, which is very high, so there's always other conditions it could overlap with. It's just that most sociopaths are functional ones, not mass murderers.)


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28 Dec 2007, 7:58 pm

The opposite of Autism are people that are highly social and charming but are very shallow at the same time. Ronald Reagan is a good example.


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MeganVegantoast
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28 Dec 2007, 8:13 pm

normal personality disorder?

From what I've heard its a study being carried out to see if even the suspected NT's could be classified on a spectrum. If you notice, there are NT's who obsess over social norms and traditions and then there are some NT's who could care less about social norms, but follow them anyways.

The ones who obsess with social norms and socialization in general are the ones to be typically thought of as having a normal personality disorder.

Its a rather interesting theory. but I think it just goes to show that everyone is wired differently as far as thinking and logic goes. for some people. socialization IS their logic. For others, art or science may serve as a logic. It really just depends on the person.

Wow. That was a huge tangent, sorry. :roll:

Edit: Sorry, I had the wrong link. Its fixed now.