Two Questions

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I've been wondering about a couple of things. I know I am not the only one who was shocked upon first coming to Wrong Planet to learn that so many others shared thoughts, feelings and experiences that we had thought were individual to ourselves. These are things that are not necessarily spelled out in the diagnostic criteria. My question is,do you think this is something the "experts" will eventually look at?

I also wonder if Asperger's manifests into two broad types and the distinguishing difference is the presence or absence of Executive Dysfunction. What do you think?

I'm just throwing out ideas here. I may be way off.

Hhhhm, that could be a possability with the whole executive dysfunction thing. Because there are the very organised aspies that sort eveything out prefectly, but then there's the disorganised dumbasses like me that can't organise my life for crap.

Or right brained vs left brained-Anyway I think the world needs both dreamers and doers.

I feel like I fall somewhere between those two. There are certain types of organizing (categorization, alphabetizing, pattern arranging) that I do quite well. Then there are others (long-term planning, building a conceptual model of a project yet to be executed - like outlining a novel) that are like blank spots in my brain. I can't even conceive of how to begin them.

I suppose those are two different functions with entirely separate names, but it seems to me as though they SHOULD be connected somehow.

The problems I have seen in myself, regarding this, are not so uncommon that I see them as being AS symptoms. I think my problems are due to my not having any real automatic ability to get on track. I almost have to think about that all. If I fail, I may not ever come back to it. If I succeed, I could discuss a tangent for HOURS and start right back where I left off.

Maybe everyone here really works like that!

I don't know about the executive dysfunction. Since childhood I've been obsessively organised, but still the chaos gets on top of me and I have to have a clearout. I think I'm overcompensating.

<-----Disorganized dumbass here!

A friend of mine who took the online Aspergers test scored one point lower than me (I was 136, she was 135) is VERY organized. The two of us working in a office together (which we no longer do) was actually kind of funny. You've got me, just wanting to get the job finished so we can move onto more relaxing points in our day, then we have her, who needs to read everything, understand everything, organize EVERYTHING (I'm pretty sure that even her post-it notes need to be in the right place).. in fact, her need to organize caused a friction in me, because it seemed like she was wasting so much time trying to accomplish something that ultimately made no difference in the end.... which I'm sure would be an awesome quality, in some line of work, just not ours. It's not even remotely recognized where we work.

Also, it's possible to be organized but still have executive dysfunction. I think that usually involves getting caught up in the organizing to the point that you can't do anything else.. Like useless organization.

But I have seen some dysfunctional executives.

The question about the little quirks we all share is a good one. Here are some typical ones: solitude, want of an underground retreat, love for machines (computers in this day and age), aversion to sports, great care to avoid inconveniencing others.

None of those are in the diagnostic criteria, and none of those have anything to do with our poor social skills or difficulties with non-verbal communication.

When I first read Ayn Rand, she blew my mind. That was the very first time I found someone else who thought the way I think. Her characters were so much like me. Even simple things like her ideal of a perfect house matched my own. Or her love for technology. Why do we all share this?

I'm glad someone responded to the first question. I'm very curious about it. It's almost like twins raised apart meeting and discovering they both have a passion for opera. I can see that it's not set in stone but there are a lot of commonalities. One of these days I'll try to make a list of things I thought were peculiar to myself that I share with others and compare it against the diagnostic criteria.
One other thing, I found myself lining up and stacking items on the checkout line at the grocery store. I didn't feel like I had to do it but I found it immensely satisfying. My question is why? Why do some people have that need for visual order?

I don't know, but I've gotten many a queer look over the years for doing the same thing. I tend to line them up straight out of the cart - I won't put the cans of peas on the belt until the cans of corn are all out and in place. Whatever ya do, don't mix them up!

You'd think it would make the cashier's job easier - all she has to do is scan the first can in each group and hit the times key, but nooo - they always scan each one individually. All my neat organization for nothing.