Can you tell the aspies from the NTs on these forums?

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that's interesting.thank you

I'm clueless. . .

I do notice a difference, I think:

In every other forum I've been to there are a few obnoxious pedants and a majority of very dull people that spam, make cliques and basically focus on everything other than the sane exchange of ideas.

Here people seem both smarter and less pedantic. Almost everyone seems to make meaningful and articulate posts as oppossed to a few (who half the times are bullies) in "normal" forums. I have seen almost no conflicts (say, flame wars; explicit or not) as well. In theory, it should always be like this while, in practice, most existing forums* are quite pathological in their dynamics.


* trying to avoid that dichotomy

Last edited by Whisperer on 27 Nov 2007, 8:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I couldn't tell the two apart in real life either.

Tim

No...I don't notice them.

No people with AS are the same, so you can't really tell who is AS or NT just by reading their posts on a message board.

There have been times (in the past) when I came here sort of beaten up or defeated or confused and just wanted to vent with people who would understand. I got replies back that were totally NOT understanding. They didn't say they were NT but after a few days I saw there were more replies and they DID understand and commiserated and shared similar experiences of their own. So, my conclusion was that the first replies I got were from NTs or really HFA who just never had the same experience.

Other than that, I don't think about it. I assume people are people and when they share an experience that touches me I feel a kinship with them.

nope. although i do have suspisions on illnesses and famous last names and rare occurances like lightning and murder plots though

I can tell who's speaking from painful experience and introspection caused by repeated frustration, and who is speaking in a moralistic way, with cliches that we aspies know don't work.

Hello.

I'm sorry but i'm not sure if I understand what you mean. I don't live in an englishspeaking country. Do you mean that there are no people that are somewhere in between beeing an AS or NT or that there is a big differens if you don't count them?

I agree with that. I think it's question of "how much" rather than "either or"

By the way. Have you noticed that your profile says that you have made 999 post?

I frequently check profiles..just to see...but I really don't care...I myself don't know what to list myself as. Lately it has been "other autistic spectrum disorder"....I have been diagnosed with ADD...but it was a kinda shabby diagnosis..
and if I am not an aspie then i might have PDD-NOS....

I do have autistic traits...odd gait, odd voice, bad motor skills, narrow interests, bad social skills, executive dysfunction, dyscalculia, a congenital predisposition towards many of my traits....etc..etc..etc....and the sheer volume of posts i have amassed in a relatively short period of time should account for something...
I am defintely (i think) not NT....but I can't say I am an aspie because I am not diagnosed.

What do I seem like...?

So how do you tell an NT from someone with autism on the message board? My impression is you can communicate a whole lot differently on a message board than face to face because on a message board you are only reading their words not their bodies and faces. In addition you can plan how you want to reply instead of having to spontaneously come up with an answer face to face.

Out of curiousity do I come across as an Aspie on these message boards?

It is really hard to say...except that one of the reasons i am so addicted to this board has something to do with the way the majority of the people communicate and whatnot...

It is alot more on a wavelength I am receptive to than the ADD boards I used to be addicted to.

It's easy to pick up the stereotypical view of Asperger's if you've been here for awhile, many members...have spoken of their narrow/focused interests to a point of intensity that is clinically significant.

It's easy to pick up those who speak of their social difficulties. Overly formal and pedantic speech is easy to see, people taking things literally, people arguing the correct definition of a word within the body, people using a definition for a word that isn't "mainstream", etcetera.

It's easy to see those with a verbal impairment, i.e., autistic disorder, by the way people use language; the substitution of pronouns; odd and repetitious speech. Speaking of which, I would far prefer to say: me would prefer to say or Daniel would prefer to say, but I had a year worth of speech therapy to correct my structure. Echolalia; the repetitious use of words, phrases and what have you (I have both of these in abundance).

I highly resent you calling my mode of speech pedantic. Its incredibly subjective, and I would greatly prefer the word punctilious. Gratiam habeo!

I agree that message boards are wonderful because you can only respond when you feel like it (not suddenly have to react) and you can spell check, or go over your post and add or delete things. I often delete duplicates. I tend to say it and then say it again and then rephrase it a bit but say it still again. Here I can delete at least 2 or 3 of those.

(sounds like a set up for a joke:)

WARNING: NT OPINION ALERT

I feel like I am being somewhat dishonest on this message board if I don't disclose my NTism (lol, I can feel some of you cringing). Why the feeling dishonest, I cannot explain. I try to leave a clue or flat out reveal the fact on each thread where I post.

I have perceived a cool reception from other forum members, but I can't tell if that is accurate. And at the same time, I can say I am happy to call a couple members I have met here my friend (and have met a couple face to face). So, I suspect what I am picking up on are guarded (well guarded) responses. The most odd explanation I hear from almost 100% (ok, exaggeration, but it is by a large majority) of the time is "why put the effort into a friendship when you are going to leave anyway?" That prompts an immediate denial by me, and then, I am told the Aspie "will drive me away." (which I believe to be fear of hurting feelings)

Why am I here? Initially, I came here to help a dear friend with some of his executive dysfunction, find a doctor and get treatment for some of the traits of AS. (ADHD, anxiety and mild depression) I've told the story before, so I apologize to those that have heard it. Over a 30+ day period, I placed 40 calls to doctors in his area, mostly psychiatrists or internists familiar with AS. After all, he lived in the city of doctors, Boston. I thought this was going to be easy. Ha! of those 40 calls, only 2 returned my call. It was one of those returned calls that lead me to the doctor currently treating him. During this search and for a couple of months after, a thousand thoughts would occur to me and I would email my friend to see if he saw/experienced/felt the same as what I saw/experienced/felt. And then something else happened......I started paying a bit more attention to my two teen boys.

I was beginning to wonder if there was a connection between my very bright kids with fierce beliefs and what my friend was telling me. It took me over a year to realize both of my boys are somewhere on the spectrum and it really wasn't until I thought I had a fairly good handle understanding AS,......so much is now explained and makes sense. Kind of like a 4000 watt light bulb going off. I can completely understand how some Aspie teens would be falsely accused of many things. So, what initially became a search to help a friend, wound up teaching me far more. I was dealing w/ some heavy health issues during that time and really think it was in my subconscious for me to deal with when I was physically and mentally able. Each child has different traits......but low enough not to get picked by the radar, but enough to create some *problems with their father (and I) did not understand or recognize as the probable cause. But it's real easy to see where some serious damage to relationships could occur.

TTFN and thanks for reading.


edited for clarification......and a friend would say "use pronouns, dammit!"