Do you think that Autism and Aspergers is becoming a trend?

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12 Jul 2014, 8:54 pm

It seems to be a hot topic that's gaining a lot of attention in the media. Hopefully following the hysteria will come true understanding, in time.

It's one of the only trends I am a part of. :lol:

Happy WP Anniversary, Skibum!

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skibum
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12 Jul 2014, 9:10 pm

EmeraldGreen wrote:

Happy WP Anniversary, Skibum!

Oh my goodness! I did not even realize I had a WP anniversary coming up. Wow! Thank you so much EmeraldGreen. The year sure went by fast. I guess time flies when around such wonderful people. I am really glad to be here.

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12 Jul 2014, 10:00 pm

Good! I feel the same. It has been a very good year for me too, thanks to WP.

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MOWHAWK1982
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12 Jul 2014, 10:33 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:

Being positive in a relationship means to be as you want to be, because that's positive to you. Did I mentioned that I am a fan of platitudes? :lol:

Those fools who use being autistic as a pejorative without even comprehend its meaning, annoy me. :roll:

I should "autisticly" bitchslap them. :twisted:

Acedia
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20 Jul 2014, 6:54 am

StarTrekker wrote:

As Skibum said, NTs have no real concept of what living with daily sensory problems, perpetual anxiety, and a constant feeling of "differentness" is like.

That's not true at all, and I find your post interesting because I thought the same about you. NTs have their own stressors that perturb them, so they at least can relate. And feeling "different" to others is so incredibly common that I would argue it's fundamentally human.

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olympiadis
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20 Jul 2014, 10:24 am

Acedia wrote:

StarTrekker wrote:

As Skibum said, NTs have no real concept of what living with daily sensory problems, perpetual anxiety, and a constant feeling of "differentness" is like.

Technically everything is different in some small way, but the point is about the relative scale of the differences.
There is a significant difference between the experiences of the neurotypes.
On what order is this difference in scale?

Well, an example would be the stress of first walking through a city in your home country that you've never been in before. Compare that with walking through a city you've never been in before, but on the other side of the planet, and surrounded by a culture and language that you can't understand. That's a significant difference.

Another example is to be offended about something you see or hear such that you decide to say something out loud about it and declare politely to your friend that what you just saw offended you. Compare that something that is so offensive that it makes you physically nauseous or sick and you don't say anything because no one around you would understand what you would be trying to tell them.

I think you'd just about have to put an NT on another planet with an alien race for them to truly relate.

Short of that, I think a typical NT response to a non-NT would be something like "suck it up and deal with it".

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20 Jul 2014, 10:40 am

Yes, I have noticed it. There is an increase in awareness of it and more people know about it. But lot of people still don't know what it is. I think if a parent thinks their kid has it, my question would be why aren't they taking their kid in to get tested? If the kid is not having any problems in school, then how can they say their kid is autistic? Besides if they didn't have it, the doctor would tell them so.

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20 Jul 2014, 11:27 am

olympiadis wrote:

Short of that, I think a typical NT response to a non-NT would be something like "suck it up and deal with it".

The amount of times I've heard a person say that to me is ridiculous. I've even had a family member tell me that I just need to 'learn to get over myself and deal with it like everyone else'. It's easy for them to do this on a day to day basis but it's not as simple as that for me. If it was, I would have done it a long time ago.

They may find it easy to go into a shop that wasn't on the schedule, walk through crowds of people, listen to a person in a loud busy shopping centre, ignore the loud obnoxious noise pollution in streets, wear/buy whatever clothes they like without having to worry about materiels, buttons and textures and not have meltdowns daily... but for someone with Autism it's a whole different experience. It's almost like we're a different species.

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20 Jul 2014, 11:50 am

kraftiekortie wrote:

There are times when people not on the Spectrum might use their fringe symptoms as an excuse to not get a job, be positive in a relationship, and attempt to rely on disability payments for their livelihood.

I think believe Asperger's is actually less of a "trend" than it was, say, around five years ago because of some recent murders, and the accompanying media portrayal and exposure of Asperger's Syndrome--and, by extension, autism. There are people who are actually scared of people with Asperger's because they are seen as lacking the proper "social skills" to lead a successful life, thereby frustrating them enough to plan mayhem (e.g., murders, computer hacking)--as well as other myths.

However, people are still fascinated with the savant abilities of some on the Spectrum, and their supposed superior abilities in the area of computers.

They are put off by the seeming lack of social skills of people on the Spectrum, and believe they are "not trying hard enough."

There is very little understanding of the present conception of autism spectrum disorders by the public at large. This is especially true in relation to sensory difficulties.

How do you know these people aren't on the spectrum? Also you have to be diagnosed with at least one mental condition to get disability for anything other than physical impairments/illnesses.....so how do you figure people not on the spectrum are getting on disability for autism? I'd think it would be a bit hard to get a diagnoses of autism without having autism, though misdiagnoses happens but in that case there usually is still something wrong.

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olympiadis
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20 Jul 2014, 6:08 pm

Coda wrote:

They do a lot of assuming.
They (the NTs) would run into a similar difficulty if you asked them to just get over it and invalidate much of what they've known as their primary reality since birth.

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20 Jul 2014, 7:34 pm

I think it's partially just that we're getting more awareness and more people are getting diagnosed than before, when ASD was a very rare diagnosis (or didn't exist). There are probably some people who are trying to be interesting or special, but I'd say that's the vast minority.

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20 Jul 2014, 9:33 pm

It is a more social media, pressurized, multitasking, sensory world today. Meaning Autistics who would have been functional in the past are not today

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Acedia
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22 Jul 2014, 2:28 am

olympiadis wrote:

I think you'd just about have to put an NT on another planet with an alien race for them to truly relate.

While there are definitely differences, I think that's an exaggeration.

ASPartOfMe wrote:

It is a more social media, pressurized, multitasking, sensory world today. Meaning Autistics who would have been functional in the past are not today

I don't think so. I do think in some cases it would have been easier to get a job, as a lot of people followed in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers in the past. And most jobs were menial in nature. But I don't think they would have gone unnoticed. And many people who were thought to be "morons" in the past were treated differently, and in more severe cases institutionalised.

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22 Jul 2014, 3:40 am

I think there was a time when it was perhaps a little popular, but that's long gone now.

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22 Jul 2014, 4:58 am

Acedia wrote:

olympiadis wrote:

I think you'd just about have to put an NT on another planet with an alien race for them to truly relate.

While there are definitely differences, I think that's an exaggeration.

ASPartOfMe wrote:

It is a more social media, pressurized, multitasking, sensory world today. Meaning Autistics who would have been functional in the past are not today

They went not unnoticed but bullied, mis or not diagnosed. I was classmates and worked with people who were awkward with unusual repetitive routines. Since the economy was good that might have meant the routines were work related. People were called "rigid" "slaves to routine", "loners", "painfully shy", "dweebs" "pointyhead intellectual" etc. Not all of these people were autistic but looking back some of these people I think were. If you were an engineer, computer programmer, Accountant etc you were expected to work alone. Although it was beginning to change there still was a stigmatization about seeking professional help. Many people were loathe to do it. And if you did it you never dare tell people about it. It was looked down upon for guys to discuss their "feelings".

I am not talking about classical Autism but HFA/Aspergers type because the vast majority of increase in diagnosis has been in that part of the spectrum. Most of the over diagnoses controversy revolves around that part of the spectrum. People are really much more busy and multitasking then 30,40 years ago. I have seen it personally and it has been well documented.

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24 Jul 2014, 9:37 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:

I am not talking about classical Autism but HFA/Aspergers type because the vast majority of increase in diagnosis has been in that part of the spectrum. Most of the over diagnoses controversy revolves around that part of the spectrum. People are really much more busy and multitasking then 30,40 years ago. I have seen it personally and it has been well documented.

I'm referring to such people. I don't think even those who are "high-functioning" would have fared well in any other time in history. I also think stereotypes of what HFA looks like means a lot of people wrongly think HFAs would have done well. There were studies done by Lorna Wing that showed that adult adaptation of people with Asperger Syndrome was really bad.

I think that is a far more realistic picture of AS.

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