aspi and autist must be viewed seperately.

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I dunno; I'm rather asocial and spend a lot of time in my own world. I don't need friendship, but I like to have friends so long as they don't keep me from the things I really care about. I'd like to think I'm loyal to those from whom I take such enjoyment.

And I'd like to think I can invent and develop.

Personally, I know that I can be very shy and sensitive, but I can also be loud, fun-loving, argumentative and crazy-awesome, all at once. I've definitely gotten shyer and more asoicial as I've grown up, though. Yep, both at once, despite having gained a lot more confidence in who I am.

I'm diagnosed with Asperger's, but my friend, HFA, is far more social than I am, as well as even shyer. From what I can tell, she lives in the "real" world at least as much as I do, if not more so. Much more so.

If anything, the issue is why we're considered separate groups. Speech? Speech is a continuum. Maybe you could separate us based instead on how much we want friends, or how able we are to make them, or how much light touch bothers us, or how much noise bothers us. Why not split it based on whether we're good with animals, or what our special interests are? All equally arbitrary. All about equally meaningful distinctions.

So I, specifically, have the type of autism spectrum disorder that includes better than average verbal abilities, moderate-to-severe sensory issues (but naturally tending toward severe; I found a treatment that's been effective most of the time for the last several years, and confuses your results as much as the fact that plenty of people with a speech delay eventually attain normal fluency), no difficulty enduring fluorescent lights, slightly lower than average ability to make friends, significantly lower than average desire to make friends, constant unstoppable relatively discreet stimming... and anyway, I consider all of those about equally meaningful. I can speak, which tells you that you can ask me about the other things-- but you do have to ask, and you'd still better know which language I speak.

Just for fun, I'm going to divide the spectrum up into real autism (where you're sensitive to fluorescent lights) and Dandelion Syndrome, where you're just like autistics, only fluorescent lights don't bother you. Then whenever someone with Dandelion Syndrome complains about people maligning autistics, I'll remind that person that he or she isn't really autistic. He has Dandelion Syndrome. He's high-functioning. Not like those people there. After all, they're sensitive to fluorescent lights.

Makes about as much sense.

_________________



I like you.

Because they're false. I don't crave friendship, but I'm creative. I'm very quiet and used to be over-concerned about upsetting people, but I'm getting better at putting my own needs first. So what am I? I score half each on your scale.

Saying autism and Asperger's should be separate is like saying Fords and cars should be separate. Makes no sense. A Ford is a type of car, right?

Also, this.

The problem with Dandelion Syndrome is that it lumps together those that stim primarily with their left hand and those that favor the right hand. Then there are foot tappers, skin pickers and rockers. So I propose that Dandelion Syndrome should be further divided into the sub-categories

*Dandelion Syndrome
* Dandelion Wine (hand stims)
* Varietal (left)
* Port (right)
* Dandelion Greens (foot stims)
* Dandelion Wishes (rockers)
* Dandelion Blossom (skin pickers)
* Dandelion Otherwise Unspecified (Uh ... it's unspecified you dolt!)

But what about people who stim by picking the skin of both hands, pressing the sole of one foot against the top of the other and rocking? Maybe we'll call them autistic, because clearly, they're too low-functioning to have Dandelion Syndrome, right?

(Did I just call myself low-functioning?)

Dandelion Salad?

Yeah, and now we need to remind the Dandelion Wines that just because THEIR stims are harmless doesn't mean Dandelion Salads' are. After all, Dandelion Salads also rock themselves. What would Dandelion Wines know about that? Dandelion Wines don't speak for all Dandelions. I'd rather we reserve services for real Dandelions, not for those posers.

Nothing like a little satire to warm the heart ...

You want open minded comments for a narrow minded opinion?

This is why I say I just have autism. Because it's a part of a very diverse spectrum. And I want to stay as far away from those people that say they have mild AS as I can. Because a small group of those people are the ones that try to separate autism and Asperger's as though they think they are better than them.

I don't crave friendships. But I have friends that I love and care for. I just can't always show them through words. I can invent; I come up with many crazy ideas. I can be in people's faces and at other times not giving a crap about them.

Also, have you met one Aspie that isn't in your face talking about their interests? Isn't that the stereotype?

I'm not in anyone's face anymore. Too many bad experiences; I'd rather not risk letting anyone else know about my special interests until I'm comfortable with them. And by the time we are friends, it's not really in their face, because they can give as good as they get.