Most people on this forum don't have Asperger's Syndrome

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2ukenkerl
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02 Feb 2008, 2:04 pm

caramateo wrote:

Most Aspies can learn social skills, I mean we are highly intelligent, so at one point in our life we aren't socially awkward.
Having sensory issues has an effect on our social life though.
I have passed as a highly social person, even charming, noone can suspect that I can be socially awkward, but at one point I have to show the real me, the one that prefers to be at a quiet place, alone.

I guess it depends on what you mean by awkward. A LOT of people LIKE me. I mean they call me NICE, AFFABLE, GENEROUS, ETC.... Sometimes they even surprise me by going out of their way, etc.... Still, I can only go so far, etc... Some things others do that I wouldn't DARE, because I could be caught in a mire.

Greentea
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02 Feb 2008, 2:06 pm

I don't think people in this website are just "socially awkward". I, for one, have no social awkwardness at all. What distinguishes us from others who are socially awkward is the reason why. And the reason why, which most of us share in WP, is that our social problems (or awkwardness, if you prefer that term) all stem from a lack of antennae to grasp intuitively what we should do to fit in. This is not what happens to the shy, the schizophrenic, the too intelligent, the too stupid. They have the antennae, they fail at a other aspect of socializing.

I'm not socially awkward. I've been chosen among many, many applicants for amazing jobs and scholarships that are 95% focused on human interaction. I later on put everyone off by missing the hints of what is expected from me socially - things like grasping the pecking order in that specific group, etc.

The shy, the too intelligent, the too stupid, etc. don't complain that everyone else seems to have been born with a book of social rules and they weren't. This is a complaint of aspies specifically.

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GizmoGirl
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02 Feb 2008, 2:06 pm

I have autism not aspergers, and frankly i dont give a damn about people lol... but it's the truth..i just dont know how i guess, i really dont love my parents or anyone for that matter i dont have friends or the want or need to have friends...i like my routines,i like my order, i enjoy reading and animals and want to learn everything i can about them...also i rock, flap and my socail ablility is blah...although i am a good writer i do not speak as well as i write at all....i just dont understand people...i do better with animals...and to me people with aspergers are normal...because i could never do what they do...hold a job, work, school,social life even if its small, or be able to just talk normal...i cant relate...so to me im not being mean i just dont understand people and people dont understand me..they think im rude or mean, or aloof..

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LePetitPrince
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02 Feb 2008, 2:16 pm

scientific studies show that the gender rate of aspies is 4:1 male:female , yet on this forum half of the active members are females ....makes you wonder.

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02 Feb 2008, 2:19 pm

lastcrazyhorn wrote:

srriv345 wrote:

lastcrazyhorn wrote:

If you've read any of the latest studies, they're starting to redefine that whole "not having empathy" thing.

Yes. There is also a difference between being perceived by others as unempathetic and actually being unempathetic. My mother has said to me, "Empathy is not your strong suit." However, I do perceive myself to be empathetic, though admittedly this is seen most strongly in my feelings towards a certain subset of people (including many aspies) and towards cats.

Not to mention the fact that a lot of the scientists were behavioralist NTs.

muwhahahahaha.... working to correct that (covertly, of course :wink:

)

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psych
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02 Feb 2008, 2:27 pm

Its irrelevant how many people are 'aspies', as it is likely a useless pseudo-medical label without any clinical significance.

LePetitPrince
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02 Feb 2008, 2:36 pm

^^ true, as long there's no organic proof for asperger/autism then there's no proof that's an organic condition.

I was diagnosed as HFA because I talked at age 5 and still having spelling difficulty till age 10 , and I was always so self-isolated. Kindergarden teachers always reports that I was always apart from other children.

I always lacked empathy , when my grandfather died ....I didn't drop a tear , I felt annoyed for that.

Liverbird
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02 Feb 2008, 2:44 pm

Averick wrote:

Mw99, maybe you should have started this thread/ tirade a long time ago when the WP first started.

Perhaps if you ask Alex, he'll let you screen all the new members so that this thread doesn't have to be zombified anymore.

LOL

I concur. There have been many on here that seem hell bent on weeding out the real ones from the fake ones. It's like tits on strippers. There's a lot of big ones, but when they're in your face do you really care which ones are real?

Okay, now that I've been crude, the crux is this. I'm almost 40, whether I have an official dx is of little consequence to the rest of the world. What is important is how I identify myself and how I work with the people around me. Is this a good home for someone who never fit in throughout real life? Most definitely. I think that MW99 is missing the point. The real point is the comaraderie that we feel and the comfort that we take in each other. We are finally all in one place. And boy what a wrong planet it is!

Stuff all you lot who want to rely on the doctors to tell me if I belong. I know where I do belong because I've had a lifetime of not belonging anywhere else.

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Raptor
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02 Feb 2008, 2:46 pm

Mw99 was obviously trying to stir the hornets nest.
It worked.

Number_11
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02 Feb 2008, 2:49 pm

Sora wrote:

Number_11 wrote:

What bothers me more is that AS is now automatically associated with autism, so now there are a bunch of fools going around saying that they are "autistic" without proper diagnosis and without any real developmental delay. If all of the rest of this stuff was going on without the aforementioned, I wouldn't really have as much of a huge problem with it as I currently do.

But AS is a form of autism, it was once called 'autistic psychopathy'? I don't think it matters any more when people say they're autistic whereas they may not at all have a pdd than people saying they have 'asperger's', when they have not. If it is considered bad that people who don't have a pdd claim to have one, then it is bad regardless of what pdd they claim for themselves in my opinion. I don't understand if there is a difference that makes one claim worse than the other.

Just because they used the same word doesn't mean that the semantics were the same. The word "autistic" has always had ambiguous meaning (or at least it has had more than one). It was first used to describe schizophrenics.

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elan_i
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02 Feb 2008, 3:01 pm

Mw99 wrote:

It is true that Asperger's Syndrome causes social awkwardness, but to assume that a socially awkward person has a high likelihood of having Asperger' Syndrome --just because he or she is socially awkward-- is ridiculous. It might sound hard to believe, but the first thought that comes into a lot of people's minds when they hear the words "socially awkward" is "Asperger's Syndrome."

Here's a brief list of conditions that also cause social awkwardness:

Low intelligence.
High intelligence.
Immaturity.
Attitude.
Schizophrenia.
Personality Disorders.
ADD/ADHD.

Of course, almost noone wants to attribute their social problems to a psychiatric disorder, low intelligence or a flaw of character; so it's not suprising that when an Oprah/Dr.Phil-educated armchair psychologist labels them Aspergeans, and reassures them that their problem is not a problem, but just a variation in the way they interpret the world, they feel ennobled and redeemed; the blame for their faults swiftly shifts from their own selves towards an abstraction.

The truth is that Asperger's Syndrome is just another fad, like depression and ADD/ADHD. In fact, most people who think they have Asperger's Syndrome probably don't have it, because self-awareness is pretty much inconsistent with the nature of Asperger's Syndrome. Do you feel empathy towards other "aspies" on this forum? Most likely, that means you don't have Asperger's Syndrome. Aspergeans are known for lacking empathy, and saying that an Aspergean feels empathy is almost as ludicrous as saying that a narcissist has low self-esteem; that's just not the way these labels were defined.

For those reasons, I think most people on this forum don't have Asperger's Syndrome.

I was thinking something similar. In a sense Aspergers is becoming another ADD diagnosis. ADD (attention deficit disorder) for the last 20 years or so I believe has been over diagnosed on a massive proportion for normal attention difficulty, and this includes the use of medicines to treat normal attention difficulty.

For example: I watched Heather of Americas Top Model and would say that with no question she doesn't have any level of Aspergers, but instead, that she has some social shyness and becomes introverted at certain times and in certain circumstances. 'Aspergers' is becoming such a trend that it's confidently used to explain completely normal/typical introversion and shyness. So now, rather than a person saying "sorry I'm just shy that's why I had to leave the get-together" they can rely on a medical diagnosis that turns the attention away from them "sorry I have Aspergers and sometimes am limited by this and I can explain what Aspergers is to you if you'd like, it's high functioning autism in a sense."

elan_i
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02 Feb 2008, 3:07 pm

Another example: I remember many people in their childhood who had parents that were relatively very different - highly eccentric, socially awkward, introverted, showed their kid(s) very little emotion and affection, rarely made eye contact with the kid(s), rarely spoke with each other and with the kid(s). The kid(s) themselves evolved much like their parents. Is this genetic Aspergers, or, learned Aspergers? I would tend to think it is learned, as several of these kids, later in their lives, gradually escaped from the limits of their home and would find a new environment at other's homes, and spend as much time as possible there, and gradually the kids "came out of their shells".

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02 Feb 2008, 3:09 pm

elan_i wrote:

Mw99 wrote:

did she have a DX?

all those reality shows are so edited... you can't get a real sense of her anyway.

you could put alex on that show and he would look as "normal" as she did.

lol

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elan_i
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02 Feb 2008, 3:20 pm

Sedaka wrote:

did she have a DX?

all those reality shows are so edited... you can't get a real sense of her anyway.

you could put alex on that show and he would look as "normal" as she did.

There are many very lengthy interview video clips of her, and some longer videoing from the show. The show, over all of the episodes over time, shows pretty well the general nature of the various people. And the show has more than short clips of people -- it shows conversations and interactions over time.

I guess a question is - how minimal can Aspergers be? Can it be so minimal in degree that someone like Heather can be considered as having it? If so, then maybe 50 million people have it in the US.

I'm surprised a fad drug hasn't been developed for Aspergers, or if not a drug, than a supplement, advertised to help Aspergers. What a great money maker, and I'm sure many would report benefits.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt55587.html

elan_i wrote:

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Last edited by elan_i on 02 Feb 2008, 4:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sedaka
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02 Feb 2008, 3:57 pm

elan_i wrote:

Sedaka wrote:

did she have a DX?

all those reality shows are so edited... you can't get a real sense of her anyway.

you could put alex on that show and he would look as "normal" as she did.

but there's also an aspect of practice.

when i started teaching... my evals were full of these "Random" comments on my demeanor... no facial expression... not looking at people when i talk to them... sounding tired... the whole gambit of these catch-phrase AS-symptoms... and i have 60 of those per term for 3 yrs... which was the main thrust of why i started looking into this AS stuff...

being aware of it... and my issues has helped me improve A LOT! i can stand/sit still for hours and talk at people without OBVIOUSLY looking AS (no, im not DXed btw)... but i can look at people's faces enough to not be so obvious... not that you even get that from watching interviews... but it's cause i HAVE to do these kinds of things every day... yeah it sucks often and im tired, but it can also be really fun to just get up and talk about your area of interest ect...

that being said, i havent seen all these footages of her or even most of the show........ but ill wager she's HAD to get pretty good at interviews and the like.

i don't know what you seem to classify AS as... but as i'm meeting DXed aspies... i am realizing there is no way you would gleen it from just having a nice sit-down conversation with them.... yes people do vary in degree and some you can tell...

but it is interesting to wonder at that variance... maybe they will recategorize things.

w/e it's called... i seem to share similar problems with a large range of people i come across on this site...

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AnnePande
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02 Feb 2008, 4:08 pm

Hmm, there's no rule that one has to be an aspie to write here, right?

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