What if it turns out I'm NT?

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With reference to the original post: does it matter? You are you, and it's up to you to do the best you can with the cards you're dealt.

I'm not officially diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, it 'didn't exist' when I was younger, and although I'm told my son almost definitely has it, he doesn't want to be diagnosed. Growing up wasn't easy as no exceptions were made for me, but a positive of this was no artificial limitations were placed on me. I was never told I 'couldn't do' something because I had Asperger's, so I kept on pushing through the pain barriers and ended up well educated, employed and married with children.

Finding this site was a blessed relief, as I now know there are many people out there who share my quirks and could readily understand how bewildering and stressful day to day life can be if you have difficulty understanding and following the rulebook. However, it would probably have been my downfall if I'd had an excuse when younger not to do things which freaked me out to the point of exhaustion.

Whatever your final diagnosis, I wish you every success in life being you

No way. I'm a NT and I enjoy posting on here, why shouldn't you? Don't ever feel like you need any object or status to fit in somewhere. Do what you please.

In one and a half months, prepare to eat bunny. I'll round the tips of the fangs with a file to aid digestion.



Lol. But, if I were deluded, that'd make me pretty neurotypical. NTs, as a group, just show variation in the delusions they choose. [/cynicism]

Last edited by swbluto on 27 May 2011, 1:58 am, edited 2 times in total.

Did you check out the video in that thread I linked?

I did. I described the scene as I interpreted it and inferred their personalities. Is my interpretation more NT or aspergian?

Description_and_analysis:
It looks like the circle and triangle were playing outside and the triangle in the house got mad at it for playing in its yard. The little triangle yelled at it for interrupting the fun and the big triangle said "No horse play!", and then attacked it in retaliation. The circle, after seeing this violence, dodged for cover behind the door and positioned itself to be just out of sight while the two triangles fought. Eventually, it hides inside the house, and then the large triangle opens the door and the circle freaks out at being discovered, then the large triangle reproaches it, and then the circle leaves, and the small triangle closes the door and then the small triangle and circle continues playing. The large triangle took offense at having seen the little triangle think it could stop all the problems just by closing the door on it, and chased them around, mislead the large triangle into thinking it entered the house, and then circled around once and more and left. The large triangle then destroyed the house in frustration from not finding them rascals.

The personality of the large triangle was irritable and mad, while the small triangle was playful and defensive when need be (around the large triangle), while the small circle was playful and timid and afraid of the grumpy large triangle.

Well, it's not diagnostic, so it can't tell you either way. However, generally speaking, NTs used 4x as many social elements and were more likely to assign anthropomorphic personality traits to the shapes.

This is what I wrote:



But there was one guy in there who is self-dxed who came up with a relatively elaborate plot, complete with actors for each of the roles (not going to argue over whether he really has it - I assume he does. Not for convenience's sake, but because generally speaking there will always be outliers).

I think if you use a lot of social elements, it probably indicates less likelihood of being on the autistic spectrum, but it does not strictly mean you're not autistic. I thought it might help you with some level of self-perception in this regard, at least.

And oh god, looking at my interpretation. Can you believe I've actually made money writing material that included fiction?

Just want to say that I could see no social story from the shapes in the link. I saw various shaped sprites (computer jargon) being repelled and attracted via some sort of magnetic force. I had to watch it about 4 more times to even begin to see a story after reading other people's variation... sigh...

I find it pretty amazing that people can get stories out of this kind of thing. Or even characters. Or even situations. It's like, really, people have social perceptions that far off? I never had any clue.

I watched the video. At first I was thinking something pong-ish - I went straight to computer games but as soon as big 'daddy' triangle started interacting with smaller 'mommy' triangle, I immediately got the lightbulb that referenced Pixar studios first short film - the one with the desk lamps, Luxo, Jr.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrnz2pg3YPg[/youtube]

After that 'clue', I saw a scene of domestic violence. Daddy triangle argued with mommy triangle, intimidated her up against the wall while baby dot locked himself in his room while they fought. Daddy went into baby dots room to talk and baby dot flips out and tries to run away. Mommy dot opens the door and she and baby dot escaped around the corner - Daddy chases but mommy and baby get away. Daddy returns to baby dots room and destroys it in a fit of rage.

How much of that is just me being closer to NT than AS - I dunno? Could my own parents combative relationship provided reference - I think so because at one point I did catch myself empathizing with baby dot locking himself in his room. (strange I identify the dot as male... although the triangle is a universal female symbol... ) After I was clued in, could my longtime love of animation and storytelling have kicked in to help me clearly script the story. It obviously had something to do with it because the Pixar image was immediate and definitely the impetus to 'switch gears' in my interpretation. Would I have gotten this, at, say 10 years old? I'm not sure. Even at 20 it may have taken some time. I do get it now but is it natural or learned? I think a good bit of it was learned cues and behavior models guiding me through it but I don't know.

Either I am a deluded NT as swbluto so readily agreed with me previously or I'm AS that has learned enough about NT's to pass the test. I feel more like the cultural anthropologist who has been studying my pet culture for 40 years. I may not be one of them but I do well enough to be accepted into the tribe.

Interestingly enough - today is field day at my daughters school. All the parents get to hang out in the sun and watch their kids run themselves into heat stroke. I let my husband do the kevetching, which he does quite well and enjoys, and I smile alot and try to look busy. Everyone else is suffering in the heat - we brought a bucket with ice and water, a pair of water guns to shoot the kids between events and towels to wet and drape my kidling in so she doesn't drop in the heat. (she doesn't do heat well) I put the whole mess on a beach sheet, under my beach umbrella. We stick out like - well, like we always do. We are NOT the typical parents. We are also unafraid to do something 'attention getting' because me and my husband are quite used to a lifetime of sticking out badly. We are both redheads and he is 6'3" with long hair - he looks like a viking. We stick out no matter what so marching to the beat of our own drummer has always been the norm. So, here I am in a social conversation, deftly avoiding actual social contact YET everyone assumes I am part of the party - fun, outgoing and involved. My husband bullshitted with no less than 10 other parents. (not bad for a guy dx'd with social anxiety...) I said hi to my daughters class teacher and her special ed teacher and not much else. Yet everyone thinks I'm social. Appearances are everything. It can be faked.

A diagnosis of autism/AS is meant help you make changes to improve your life. The diagnosis doesn't define you. So, do the tricks and methods help you improve your life? If not, you should look for a different diagnosis.

It's interesting that you had a process there that went from "I don't see anything" to relating it back to the Pixar short - that seemed to have a big effect. I also find it interesting how often I've seen people describe the scene as domestic violence because of past experience.

Anyway, there's no way one thing can diagnose or undiagnose anyone. Some autistic people will use more social elements than others, perhaps for the reasons you suggest. I didn't really expect swbluto or anyone else to be able to conclude they are or are not autistic from linking the video here, but I thought it might help swbluto add something to his body of evidence either way.

I'm wondering what exactly it is you want to get out of a possible diagnosis?

I've had a diagnosis of "PDD-NOS" since I was 5 years old. I'm honestly not sure how helpful it has been for me. I mean sure, it has helped me in a certain legal sense in terms of getting accomodations, but I still have nagging feelings about it. The diagnosis seems to have shaped the way I was raised in some ways that I appreciate and in other ways that I don't appreciate.

I wonder what it says about me that it looks like the triangles are just going around poking each other's backsides while a rubber ball is weirdly rolling up and down on its own.

Make up your mind, Big Triangle. Do you want to play with the ball or don't you?

The God of holy Autists will require you, half your citizens, and that bunny to.