Board index › General Discussion › General Autism Discussion

Asperger's Syndrome: Just Different or Fundamentally Better?

Page 2 of 4 [ 60 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

thatrsdude
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,178
Location: SA, Australia

06 Aug 2005, 12:19 pm

It wasn't meant to be fact, it was just me explaining why i think it's the case.


_________________
255 characters max. Type your signature with HTML coding


NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:28 pm

We need to focus more on what we can do than what we can't do. Autism or not, people have strengths and weaknesses. Asperger's syndrome isn't all weakness, but it does entail some awfully good strengths.



DeepThought
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 574
Location: VA

06 Aug 2005, 3:28 pm

vetivert wrote:
i agree with all the above posts, except for thatrsdude's last one (cos it isn't asked of me), and deepthought's.

deepthought - i fear i haven't explained myself properly, as i interpret your post as condemning me for something i didn't say, or at least, had no intention of saying. when i say i don't relate to some things people post, it's about stuff that doesn't happen to me, not that i'm dismissing them or don't understand why they are difficult. some of this is sheer age, i'm sure.


I mean no ooffense by anything I say, but this post isn't very clear to me either. Why would you fear that you hadn't explained yourself properly and why would you feel that I was condemning you? I have no power to condemn anyone for anything. I was simply replying to your post from my perspective of what you did say and trying to get you to clarify some things. I interpreted you post very literally. Where things did not make sense to me, I asked you questions. Sure I was upset, but am I not allowed to communicate how your post made me feel when I read it? I was not condemning you and I think perhaps you may have read something in my post that wasn't there. If I can't grasp the logic behind something, I will usually ask for clarification, which is what I did.

Also, all of my post was not in reply to yours. Some of it was regarding the initial post in this thread.


_________________
The Rhymin' Red Rover, that's what they call me,
Too old for a sailin', too young fo' the sea;
Set sail fo' a sunset, to a land that is free,
I'm the Rhymin' Red Rover, and that's where I'll be.


vetivert
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Sep 2004
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,768

06 Aug 2005, 3:30 pm

ah, right. thanks, deepthought. i think i get it now.

if you need clarification, i'm better with specific questions :)



anbuend
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jul 2004
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,039

06 Aug 2005, 3:32 pm

You weren't talking about strengths, though. You were talking about superiority.

And even so, I don't think there is anything to be feared in talking about weaknesses unless you attach particular value judgements to having them. Nor about strengths. But the superiority crap is a value judgement, and one that I don't accept any more than I accept that talking about weaknesses is inferior or awful or negative.


_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams


NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:36 pm

anbuend wrote:
You weren't talking about strengths, though. You were talking about superiority.

And even so, I don't think there is anything to be feared in talking about weaknesses unless you attach particular value judgements to having them. Nor about strengths. But the superiority crap is a value judgement, and one that I don't accept any more than I accept that talking about weaknesses is inferior or awful or negative.


Everyone's always getting down on AS. Why not show a little superiority every now and then? What harm could it do?



DeepThought
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 574
Location: VA

06 Aug 2005, 3:36 pm

vetivert wrote:
ah, right. thanks, deepthought. i think i get it now.

if you need clarification, i'm better with specific questions :)


I don't think I need clarification right now. My brain is too overloaded from shopping for computer parts to think about too much at the moment.


_________________
The Rhymin' Red Rover, that's what they call me,
Too old for a sailin', too young fo' the sea;
Set sail fo' a sunset, to a land that is free,
I'm the Rhymin' Red Rover, and that's where I'll be.


NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:37 pm

DeepThought wrote:
vetivert wrote:
ah, right. thanks, deepthought. i think i get it now.

if you need clarification, i'm better with specific questions :)


I don't think I need clarification right now. My brain is too overloaded from shopping for computer parts to think about too much at the moment.


I've never understood this concept of mental overload some aspies suffer from. How is shopping for computer parts so mentally draining? I just don't understand.



anbuend
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jul 2004
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,039

06 Aug 2005, 3:39 pm

If you seriously talk about being superior, though, and you list the things you're listing, you're also putting a lot of "aspies" and other autistic people down as inferior, as well as a lot of disabled people in general. You're doing it at someone's expense. That's where the harm comes in.


_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams


DeepThought
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 574
Location: VA

06 Aug 2005, 3:39 pm

NeantHumain wrote:
anbuend wrote:
You weren't talking about strengths, though. You were talking about superiority.

And even so, I don't think there is anything to be feared in talking about weaknesses unless you attach particular value judgements to having them. Nor about strengths. But the superiority crap is a value judgement, and one that I don't accept any more than I accept that talking about weaknesses is inferior or awful or negative.


Everyone's always getting down on AS. Why not show a little superiority every now and then? What harm could it do?


What do you mean by "getting down?" It makes me think that you are saying something like "everyone is always getting down and funky on AS."

In what ways would you recommend that Aspies show superiority and to whom should we show it to?


_________________
The Rhymin' Red Rover, that's what they call me,
Too old for a sailin', too young fo' the sea;
Set sail fo' a sunset, to a land that is free,
I'm the Rhymin' Red Rover, and that's where I'll be.


DeepThought
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 574
Location: VA

06 Aug 2005, 3:45 pm

anbuend wrote:
If you seriously talk about being superior, though, and you list the things you're listing, you're also putting a lot of "aspies" and other autistic people down as inferior, as well as a lot of disabled people in general. You're doing it at someone's expense. That's where the harm comes in.


I used to have the mindset that I was a genius and everyone else was stupid. Once I was able to realize, understand and admit my own inferiorities, I realized that I was basically part genius, part idiot and that everyone has their strengths and weakneses and in reality no one and no group of people, AS, or NT is universally superior to anyone else. Thinking one group of people is superior to the other is basically the way that Hitler thought.


_________________
The Rhymin' Red Rover, that's what they call me,
Too old for a sailin', too young fo' the sea;
Set sail fo' a sunset, to a land that is free,
I'm the Rhymin' Red Rover, and that's where I'll be.


NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:47 pm

DeepThought wrote:
NeantHumain wrote:
Everyone's always getting down on AS. Why not show a little superiority every now and then? What harm could it do?


What do you mean by "getting down?" It makes me think that you are saying something like "everyone is always getting down and funky on AS."

To "get down on [someone, something]" means to disregard it or point out its inferior qualities. Some synonyms are to knock on and to diss.

DeepThought wrote:
In what ways would you recommend that Aspies show superiority and to whom should we show it to?

I propose a sort of primordial aspie roar of pride: I am Aspie; hear me roar!



vetivert
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Sep 2004
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,768

06 Aug 2005, 3:47 pm

yep - sounds like me, deepthought.



NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:48 pm

anbuend wrote:
If you seriously talk about being superior, though, and you list the things you're listing, you're also putting a lot of "aspies" and other autistic people down as inferior, as well as a lot of disabled people in general. You're doing it at someone's expense. That's where the harm comes in.

It's not really coming at someone else's expense. These nebulous people who are somehow excluded aren't even aware of it. No harm, no foul.



DeepThought
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 574
Location: VA

06 Aug 2005, 3:49 pm

NeantHumain wrote:
DeepThought wrote:
vetivert wrote:
ah, right. thanks, deepthought. i think i get it now.

if you need clarification, i'm better with specific questions :)


I don't think I need clarification right now. My brain is too overloaded from shopping for computer parts to think about too much at the moment.


I've never understood this concept of mental overload some aspies suffer from. How is shopping for computer parts so mentally draining? I just don't understand.


If you don't understand the concept of overload, then I won't be able to explain why shopping, or going out in public can contribute to it. Perhaps someone else can explain it better than me...


_________________
The Rhymin' Red Rover, that's what they call me,
Too old for a sailin', too young fo' the sea;
Set sail fo' a sunset, to a land that is free,
I'm the Rhymin' Red Rover, and that's where I'll be.


NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

06 Aug 2005, 3:51 pm

DeepThought wrote:
NeantHumain wrote:
DeepThought wrote:
vetivert wrote:
ah, right. thanks, deepthought. i think i get it now.

if you need clarification, i'm better with specific questions :)


I don't think I need clarification right now. My brain is too overloaded from shopping for computer parts to think about too much at the moment.


I've never understood this concept of mental overload some aspies suffer from. How is shopping for computer parts so mentally draining? I just don't understand.


If you don't understand the concept of overload, then I won't be able to explain why shopping, or going out in public can contribute to it. Perhaps someone else can explain it better than me...

Sophist tried to explain it to me in person to little avail. I just don't experience it. Period. If anything, my mind is constantly craving more!