Asperger Syndrome "ridiculously" blown way out of

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Hey everyone, how is it goin with you all.

I didnt know they have forums for asperger "syndromed" people. heh. I think i have it.... I think.

Ok first let me introduce meself. My name is Shane, I am an Indian, i'm from Bangkok, Thailand. I'm 21 years old. I like philosophy, entertainment and film-making.

Ok now my main concern is this. I know people that could be certified with asperger syndrome ok now the thing is this. I have read in many forums about people claiming to have asperger syndrome, but i wonder, do they really have asperger or do they just want attention or want to "feel important". Cause you see asperger syndrome means like really getting obsessed with something like a hobby or whatever, "But that one thing only", or anything related to that one thing. And you know, all these asperger symdrome people can do is think about that "one thing", when they wake up, that "one thing" is the first thing they think of, when they eat or sleep or drink or drive, all they do is think about that "one thing" only, you get my point?

Now some people claim to have asperger syndrome, because "they think" that they're spending 4-5-6 hours on that something, making them think that "oh i spent so much hours on this, i must be crazy or something". Or people, whos got nothing better to do but browse the internet and writing long stuff does not means that they "really have asperger syndrome". If a person has nothing better to do, and they live in isolation in their rooms or are socially inept or whatever, all they "can do" is browse the internet, because its present in their rooms, and they have easy access to it and plus its simple to use, and to justify their isolations, or to justify their 5-6 hours of working on that "one thing" on a daily basis. they think they have asperger syndrome to "feel better". But dude, think again, i'll tell you why.

Because i can name you plenty of people who are as hardworking and even more hardworking then we are. You see, if you know anything about film-making, you will understand that professional film-makers work extremely hard on their careers. Like "Geroge Lucas", he once claimed to have sat in one place from 8 in the morning to 10 in the evening for 3 weeks straight and wrote the screenplay for "amercan graffiti", and many countless hours for "star wars". Now dude, that does not means he has asperger syndrome, and he dosetn claim to have it, its just something he loves doing, he loves film-making and THATS WHY PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY DO, BECAUSE THEY LOVE WHAT THEY DO". And I can name you countless other writers and film-makers who goes to work for countless hours every freakin day on the film set for months and years, working day and night, but that does not means "THEY HAVE ASPERGER SYMDROME".

BILL GATES claimed to have not slept for 2 nights, but just kept on working and working at the early stages of the founding of microsoft, he was just a hard worker, but u cant say he has asperger sundrome. I know many great and rich businessman who works day and night, it does not means they have asperger syndrome.

I think this whole asperger sndrome is blown way out of propotion today and so hyped up because of the internet and the medical companies and all these phycological institutes who wants to profit from making us think that we are crazy or odd or wierd when the fact is we are completely NORMAL and what we go through alot of people also go through it, rich and famous, poor and the unknown. You see PYCHOLOGICALLY and UNCONCIOUSLY IT HAS BEEN INGRAINED IN US, from all these newspapers, internets and magazines, medical companies and etc etc that something is wrong with us. Nothing is wrong with us, unless we eat our own s**t. HEHE.

If we truely have asperger syndrome, and truely like something and we want to do it and make that "ONE THING" a part of our life, i think MY FRIENDS, we should pay less attetion and time and energy to the internet and gossips and pay more attention on that thing we love doing and start making a living out of it and excel in it. If we do indeed have asperger syndrome then we are gifted and have insights on that one particular thing that alot of people dont have. Yet we are foolish enough to be diverted by the simpleness of the internet and magazines and etc etc.

Remember, STEVEN SPIELBERG has asperger syndrome in film-making and directing movies, and he has done well in film-making like no other losers in the film industry can ever imagine. He had an edge in film-making because of his syndrome. So think about that. You all should concentrate more on what you do.

You see in the 1950s till 1990s nobody really cared if they had asperger syndrome or not, they just did what they love because they didnt have internet and magazines or etc etc to distract them, and they didnt waste their energy on anything else.

So this is just my thoughts and insights, please do tell me what you think about it and i am open to any suggestions. NO ONE IS EVER 100% CORRECT AND THAT IS A FACT OF LIFE.

The main topic head is "Asperger syndrome blown way out of propotion"
geez

People with Asperger's don't get on one subject every single day. That's boring to me. If you have any comments, pm me. I am on here 10 times a day.

Emily Danielle Brown
a.k.a Captain_Brown

Honestly, there's WAY more to asperger syndrome than JUST narrow yet intense intrests. And realize, the terminology is narrow yet intense INTRESTS. Meaning there can be quite a few, if the person has expanded into different areas of life and found a fancy for them. Now, I do agree that sometimes it SEEMS like we use our "diagnosis"(self or official) against progress. The problem lies on both sides of the field though. We are not usually autistic enough(as in classic autism) to recieve extreme care and some of us can actually come off quite Neurotypical. We are then believed to be perfectly fine and expected to respond and react the same as NT's do to certain situations and circumstances. Not only that, we all have different household which mold our persona.

Realizing the autistic spectrum is mainly a Neurological disorder, not psychological, many people can grow up to be extremely successful. Dan Akroyd is a famous comedian and the creator of the house of blues which showcases a variety of musical acts in several cities in the US. As you said, Stephen Spielberg has made many movies that have been brilliant. They used their skills/intrests to benefit themselves. They also had supportive families to my knowledge. Back when they were growing up, autism and especially asperger syndrome were no where near as researched as they are at present day. It was also an era of can do/will do, and walls being broken down(metaphorically speaking), new experiences and new freedom. People had the teaching of their parents of how you have to make the world you want to live in. Hard work and ethics were instilled in the generations before us.

Not to say that they aren't exactly anymore, but things have changed again. We are a more rebellious and revolutionary generation(starting from the middle 1980's on I'd say) where people have come to realize restrictions that are unneccessary. Conformities that don't apply to the world anymore. Self awareness is now as important as the big picture was back then. We are learning more and more about the mind and body then we've ever known, yet there are still and probably always will be those groups of people who are intolerant to difference.

Most of the people on this forum were bullied or could even be considered traumatized by their childhood because of misunderstandings on both sides(the worlds(including thier parents) and our own). The internet in a way is a safe haven for those who are just not ready or even capable to improve thier social skills in a real life environment yet. I am most likely one of them. I was lucky enough to have had the father I did for the 9 years of my life he was alive. I learned through watching him some of the golden rules, morals and ethics in practice. But that didn't prepare me for jr high and high school. That didn't tell me why I was different and people didn't want to accept for who I am.

We all have a certain gift in that we have intense intrests and yes, we do need to look further into the use of them. But you can't go making generalizations. Take this from a guy who's made this mistake on this board. You may get your supporters but many people will take it as an attack on who they are and some may even criticize you back. While I agree with a lot of what you're saying, you have to understand that a lot of people on this forum are still in their teens, if that, or parents of them, realizing for the first time that this is what has been "wrong" with them. It takes time to overcome these things. I understand your intent was to motivate, but people here takes things very literally.

To Captain Brown,


"asperger syndrome means like really getting obsessed with something like a hobby or whatever, "But that one thing only", or anything related to that one thing. "

I understand, but lets say for example, a person with asperger syndrome likes film-making. Now to actually become a film-maker one has to have a good imagination and then meet different people, negotiate with actors and studios executives and on the set tell hundreds of people what to do and what not, then the filmaker has the techincal aspects to worry about. So you see, film-making is a good mesh of interpersonal skills and technical skills and is requires multiple skills to be a film-maker.

But that film-making "IS ONE THING". And asperger people obsesssed with film-making will definitely find a way to learn all these skills to BE THAT ONE FILM-MAKER.

You get what i mean?

maybe AS has been blown "ridiculously" out of proportion because so many aspies seem to define themselves as such, as people WITH AS, rather than PEOPLE with AS.

but i don't know about what shane said. asperger's seems very loosely defined from my point of view. in my case, i'm sure some doctors would say i have it, and some would say i don't.

Dear Emoal6 and mishluvher2boys,

I can completely relate to that. You see i have just recently stepped out of my teen life, so i know very well how its like. My younger bro is a teen, and i understand. My dad wasant a perfect dad too, he used to fight with my mom plently of times. It really put me down. And plus when i was 16, my dad got stroke and well, i havent spent much time with my parents since then. I never really got to know my dad, he was strange. And my mom is a very loyal, shes sticking with my dad till the end. So i have faced plenty of family problems myself. There was lots of sorrows and tears.

I am also a mild stutterer, and i still do stutter. My verbal skills were pathethic. I had to learn four languages, hindi, sindhi, thai and english. And no one talks in english in Bangkok and very rarely in india, but all i can speak is English, this is why i can only relate to international students and people, western people. I was so isolated in my own native country, in india and thailand. Yet my main language was english, how the heck did i learn it i find it strange myself.

Plus i was so profoundly bullied when i was in India in a boarding school from 4th grade to 7th garde. Yeah i was a typical loser, betrayed by friends and bashed up from my spine to head. Man, i tell you, it was hell. i never liked it, so after a couple of years i came back to my home town Bangkok. In Bangkok i started grade 7th. But then i didnt wanted to be a loser no more. You see, i could see my future as a loser, and i hated it. My first few days was ok, but i could premonitate my butts kicked all the way to kingdom come. But i refused to be a loser you know, i tried hard, i worked my ass off to first try to improve my language skills. I tried to analyze why people were bullying me, and what was i doing wrong or what? Anyways in school i tried very very very hard to blend in, and i was highly successful and well respected. But the amount of pain i had to go through was well...painful. I was a failure in my class, yet at the end i pushed myself, i was obsessed with getting good grades amd i did, i was obsessed with trying to make people happy.

I have many symtoms of an asperger syndrome and OCB.(obsessive cumpulsive behaviour) and still do. But that dosent means i was going to let it hinder me, i knew although some things were not right about me, i had to do everything i can to learn and try to learn from my mistakes. And i am still learning from my mistakes. My point is everyone, even the so-called normal people make mistakes, and they learn from it. So i did the same things, somethings were definitely hard to change, but i did it, i wanted to, i was obsessed with that change. I always looked things in a positive way. Never the negative, and i am trying to send a positive mesage here. All my struggles took place when i was at teens, and i think i came out of it fine and how did i do that? I really thought about it. I read stuff in the internet, but i would read it just once or twice and take action. I took action and helped myself. It says clearly in wikipedia ""THAT PEOPLE WITH AS MUST LEARN THESE SOCIAL SKILLS INTELLECTUALLY RATHER THAN INTUITIVELY" So thats what i did. I was only 17 at that time. I tried and i tried, it took me a long time, but i believed in myself, and finally i saw the light of things, i started understanding people more. I really started learning from my mistakes. And slowly i got better socially and now i have more freinds and yet i am still obsessed with my film-making stuff, i cant get it out of my head. I love entertainment and stuff and thats gonna stay. I really experimented with stuff.

Please undertsand that internet is a blessing in disguise, read and gain knowledge from it, but dont depend on it, dont spend way too much time than you have to on it. Because the real world is much different than the internet. Having a community is excellent, but ultimately, one has to move on in life and thats the fact. I am saying this because i have the rights to do so, because i feel that i may have AS, but i dont wanna go on telling everyone i meet that "hey i got AS", that would be wack not to us but to them.

Take extra social classes, take public speaking classes, take all kind of classes, get professional help. United states is a great country with many facilities and professionals to help you unlike Bangkok. Believe me, you will fail, you will piss in your pants, you did probably have constipation while trying to face your fears and you will be laughed at and spit at, for for how long? for one year or two years? At least its better to learn now and be spit at rather than keep on repeating the same mistakes and never learning and being spit at for the rest of your lives. AS people has powers thay dont realize they do.

I know extremely severe cases of asperger syndrome people, those people are so obsessed in their stuff that 24-7 they would be locked in their room, just looking at planes, or whatever they want. They just sit out there at one place. But I doubt they would log on into the internet.

If we log on into the internet, it means we are exploring, it means we are searching for answers and we want answers, and we are seeking for a change. Is that not true? We have that much sense at least to ok, lets explore into this territory and it really takes guts to write in the forum, man ask me, the first time I was writing in the forum, I didn’t know what peoples reaction was going to be, I was on the verge of puking, my heart pounding like I am in love again. But I said "ah what the heck, just to it, if I wont, how can I learn?" My point is, do your search and then get the appropriate help you have to. I believe we being here at this website and this forum is proof enough we have sense enough to want to change and are not completely mentally ill like the real ones are. We don’t have brain damage and we know it. I mean well.

AS is a milder form of the greater mental disorders. We are not john nash, we are not hallucinating are we?

(I recorded over 170 videotapes of cartoons from cartoon network in my highschool)
NO ONE IS EVER 100% CORRECT AND THAT IS A FACT OF LIFE.

You focus exclusively on only one aspect of AS: the extreme focus on a narrow range of interests. I agree totally that this can be a positive aspect.

However you miss several other significant aspects of AS. Such as serious social difficulties. If you look around this forum, there are lots of people who have few friends and rarely go out. Social contact is painful for many of us. This can negate the benefit of having a narrow area of expertise. There are also a multitude of sensory difficulties, but don't take my word for it, take a look around the internet, theres *loads* of articles describing AS from a sufferers point of view.

Shane, had you even bothered to read an article on Asperger's (the wikipedia one is quite good), you would notice how many errors you just made in your post.

1) It is called Narrow and Intense InterestS (hint: plural)...in-fact, it is more common for there to be multiple interests as opposed to one. Your assertion that people with AS live and breathe only one thing and nothing else is rubbish, to say the least.

2) The social impairments sometimes make it difficult for people to make a living. I know I am currently having problems with this. Easier said than done, right?

3) Not sure about where you live, but until I had read the article on Asperger's on wikipedia , I had never once in my life heard about Asperger's. I asked a bunch of people close to me and they said "Ass what?". This isn't exactly ingrained in our minds by the media....more along the lines of obscure and unheard of. Someone even accused me of pulling some random new age spiritual syndrome off the internet, until I told them AS was in-fact in the DSM.

4) "Nothing is wrong with us, unless we eat our own s**t. HEHE. "

I sincerely hope your being sarcastic or ignorant, and not being a prick just for the hell of it. This is coming from someone who knows an Autistic person who can barely function or hold a job for more than a few weeks. Or has known autistic people that can't even talk. I'm leaning more towards ignorant.

5) We may be gifted, but those gifts come with impairments. Had you done any reading on the disorder whatsoever, you would know it is a spectrum, some being more severe than others. Spielberg may have a very mild case of AS, whereas someone else may have it so severe they cannot function in society. You saying that everyone with a certain spectrum disorder have the same strengths and weaknesses is like saying black equals white, it does not make sense. You do know what spectrum means, right?

6) Steven Spielberg cannot have asperger syndrome in film-making....you seem to be confused about the disorder. You either have AS or you don't, you don't have it in specific fields and not in others. Your thinking is absurd and ridiculous.

7) No, I did not just get on with life without the internet. Let me tell you something, when I was 1-3 years old, I used to lay on the ground and want nothing to do with my parents. I was incapable of socializing, and my parents had to pay thousands of dollars for "training". When I went into school, my repetitive body movements were so severe they thought I was ret*d, but my IQ tests didn't concur. I had so many things wrong with me they couldn't figure it out. Those things affect me till this day to the point where I don't function in society...and guess what, I found out about AS a few months ago, I've had problems my whole life. Do I have AS....well, I don't know for sure, but there is definately something wrong with me.

You thinking that all Aspies are going to be famous and successful when they put their minds to it is like saying the same thing for NT's, yet I know lots of NT's who have failed in life as well, despite there being lots of successful NT's.

9) My obsessionS ARE (2nd hint: plural) computers and law, but guess what....I don't want to work in either of those fields. They are more like hobbies that take up the vast majority of my time. Not every Aspie wants to dedicate their entire life to their current interest.

10) Some people with AS have their interests shift unpredictably. For instance, I was obsessed with Unix operating systems and wanted to work with them as a sys admin when I grew up. This obsession took up thousands of hours over a couple of years. One day I woke up and couldn't care less. I had moved onto something else. Again, had you bothered to read about AS before assuming the role of an expert, you would know some people with it have this happen to them.

11) Yes, sometimes I work with computers because I have nothing else to do...but guess what? I have nothing else to do because of computers. My interests throughout my life have been so intense that I have lost friendships due to it. Again, you are stereotyping, which is a sign of ignorance.

As for myself, I have struggled with things that NT's like yourself (I simply do not believe you have AS based on what you have posted so far) take for granted. My interview skills are awful, my motor skills are impaired (funny you didn't mention that, it is noted in every AS article I have read) to such a degree that there are things 10 year olds can do that I can't, my interests caused me to drop out of high school and lose friendships, i have been socially ret*d my whole life, even as a kid. I could go on and on, but it is really pointless.

Please do some more research or else at least ask some questions, and please quit making dumb comments like

"Cause you see asperger syndrome means like really getting obsessed with something like a hobby or whatever, "But that one thing only", or anything related to that one thing. And you know, all these asperger symdrome people can do is think about that "one thing", when they wake up, that "one thing" is the first thing they think of, when they eat or sleep or drink or drive, all they do is think about that "one thing" only, you get my point?"

because you just make yourself look like an uninformed idiot, and you wouldn't want that now would you?

PS. You seem to insinuate that we use Asperger's as an excuse for not leading successful lives. I find that insulting. I come to WrongPlanet, because for once in my life people think the same way I do, and I can communicate with them easily, and they understand me. I have also learned things here that have taught me how to work around some of my weaknesses, which is a far cry from using it as an excuse for being a loser. Also, I am getting diagnosed for exactly this reason, so I can learn to somehow work around my weaknesses, and get help doing it. The reason I was happy that it described me so well was NOT because I had a reason for being the way that I am, BUT was because I finally had other people like me that could help me become a better person. Sorry if you can't understand that, but you have basically come onto this forum and attacked the entire Wrongplanet community.

Go to "Getting to Know Each Other" and read some of Oz_Sputnik's posts....and you'll see just how entirely off-base you are.

Things look different from the perspective of a parent of more than one kid. What I have learned from the 24-7, intense experience of parenting is this - 1) People's brains DO work differently, 2) Some people's brains work VERY differently.
I have learned (am still learning) not to be judgemental about this - they're just differences, not good or bad. But the truth is that some types of brain function make it easier for a person to get along, get by, succeed in society, and other types of brain function make it VERY challenging.

People with AS have brains that work differently from NTs, but not just like each other. The common challenge that I see is a difficulty understanding the nuances of communication. I've seen obsessiveness in other sorts of personalities, but it's the common difficulty or inefficiency in processing of communication nuances that hinders, frustrates, and penalizes apies.

There are lots of other fairly common traits among those with AS - sensory issues, coordination challenges, difficulty in handling or recovering from stress, etc. The beauty of having a name for it is that people can learn about it and help each other - like they do here! (Thanks, everybody!)

Trapped,

Do you realize that i said maybe i have AS or maybe NOT. But most probably i do. No offence, i was really trying to be as positive as possible. There are people who see things different ways, and i see things different ways. I know my childhood was filled with alot of the symptoms and i still have some. But somehow, i CHOSE not to be part of it. I CHOSE not to be wierd. I CHOSE to focus my obsesssiveness on changing myself. I have been through hell, and i learned from it. I dont know if people can CHOOSE to be what they are, but i did. Now it has become a part of me and i am doing well. I have speech disability, i wash my hands every chance i get, i have junk i collect, it takes great effort still to make eye contact, i sweat when i talk, i have mind-blindness at times. I still have social difficulties yet i make it a choice to learn from it. Damn it, what so hard to understand that?

And look film-making includes many skills that i chose to focus on. I dont know why people think its one thing, its a combination of different skills, like to do a BA in business you need to study different subjects, in the same way, film-making is different subjects but going towards that one ultimate goal which is filmaker and sometimes i cant seem to stay put and i'm very impatient.

Like i said, i was spit at, i was beaten at, yet i was still standing firm, always trying to analyze what the heck and why?

and look, i wouldnt be here if i had nothing to do with AS. I am here to share my mind and thoughts, and what worked for me.. And i definitely am not discriminating AS people. Stop implying that i am.