Is sense of humor and Autism/ASD mutually exclusive?

Page 1 of 2 [ 31 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next


Sense of humor = Not really Autism/Aspergers?
Experts say that's true 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
"Experts" don't know what they're talking about 56%  56%  [ 30 ]
Experts don't say that 37%  37%  [ 20 ]
Too early to tell 7%  7%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 54

Shebakoby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Sep 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,759

29 Oct 2010, 1:35 am

I have run across idiots that say that I'm not really Autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) because I have a sense of humor.

Well, there's times I've thought something was funny when NOBODY ELSE did, and there's times I did not get something that other people found funny. Other times I found stuff funny but didn't laugh because I didn't feel the need to.

Is there anything in the DSM-IV that makes a sense of humor an exclusionary symptom for the purposes of ruling out Aspergers/Autism? I can't seem to find it.



Kulkulkan
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 26 Oct 2010
Age: 52
Gender: Male
Posts: 11
Location: Santa Maria

29 Oct 2010, 2:29 am

Most often I fund funny what NTs find not so much so, or I'd rather laugh inside since I;ve been told my laugh is 'sinister'. :twisted:



aspi-rant
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Sep 2008
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,448
Location: denmark

29 Oct 2010, 2:36 am

NTs don't understand aspie-humor.

that's why they assume aspies don't have or understand humor.

most aspies i know, have a wonderful funny humor... so we usually have a lot of fun... but when NTs are around they never get it. :lol: :?



conundrum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 May 2010
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,922
Location: third rock from one of many suns

29 Oct 2010, 2:36 am

Shebakoby wrote:
I have run across idiots that say that I'm not really Autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) because I have a sense of humor.

Well, there's times I've thought something was funny when NOBODY ELSE did, and there's times I did not get something that other people found funny. Other times I found stuff funny but didn't laugh because I didn't feel the need to.


Same here. Our sense of humor is just...different. :wink:

Shebakoby wrote:
Is there anything in the DSM-IV that makes a sense of humor an exclusionary symptom for the purposes of ruling out Aspergers/Autism? I can't seem to find it.


That's because it's not there.

My sense of humor is one of the reasons I survived to type these words. :D


_________________
The existence of the leader who is wise
is barely known to those he leads.
He acts without unnecessary speech,
so that the people say,
'It happened of its own accord.' -Tao Te Ching, Verse 17


donnie_darko
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,981

29 Oct 2010, 6:18 am

Utterly ridiculous. In fact, most aspies probably have more of a sense of humor than most NTs.



wavefreak58
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,419
Location: Western New York

29 Oct 2010, 6:28 am

This poll made me laugh.



FluffyDog
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Oct 2010
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 639
Location: The rainiest part of Germany

29 Oct 2010, 2:39 pm

I have a sense of humour, but it seems to be tuned to other things than those most other people laugh about.

I enjoy oldschool slapstick, but I do not like the cruder forms of slapstick-oesk "humour" that seems to feature in many newer movies. And I have found that I can get more laughs out of Victorian-style humour or Shakespearian plays-on-words than the people around me.

Maybe those "experts" just think that Aspies do not have a sense of humour because the usual explanation for finding something funny is that you have certain expectations of what will happen, many of which are at least loosely based on social conventions, and since Aspies have trouble with sorting out social conventions we do not know what to expect of a situation and thus cannot be surprised by it's "comic" outcome.
If that is their reasoning, I think they are missing out on many aspects of humour...



TiaMaria
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 20 Oct 2010
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 169
Location: Detroit

29 Oct 2010, 2:41 pm

aspi-rant wrote:
NTs don't understand aspie-humor.

that's why they assume aspies don't have or understand humor.


Truth.



Shebakoby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Sep 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,759

29 Oct 2010, 2:57 pm

Also I heard an interesting explanation for why Autistics might not "get" some humor.

http://autismnaturalvariation.blogspot. ... humor.html

There appears to be limited evidence that autistics don't perform as well as non-autistics in tasks related to understanding humor. For example, Emerich et al. (2003) found that HFA adolescents had significantly poorer performance than controls in comprehension of cartoons and jokes.

There's always a possibility that these sorts of results can be explained as part of a language comprehension impairment. But I digress.
In fact, let me make a suggestion to autism researchers: If you ever find that autistics don't perform as well as non-autistics in some test, be it a Sally-Ann (ToM) test or a Weschler intelligence test, consider the possibility that it is due to a language comprehension impairment.

TRUTH. And something the one idiot didn't even think of.



XFilesGeek
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jul 2010
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 6,031
Location: The Oort Cloud

29 Oct 2010, 5:25 pm

I just don't laugh at the dumb sh!t most people laugh at.

I find plenty of things funny in my own way.

I've also been described as a "smartass" and as "witty." However, I'm rarely ever "funny" on purpose. I just blurt out observations, and people laugh.


_________________
"If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced."

-XFG (no longer a moderator)


PangeLingua
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 295

29 Oct 2010, 9:56 pm

I know two aspies in real life and I think both of them are very funny. But I am often the only one who laughs.

Oh yeah ... I think I'm very funny as well ... but I am often the only one who laughs. :)



Shebakoby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Sep 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,759

30 Oct 2010, 3:16 am

XFilesGeek wrote:
I just don't laugh at the dumb sh!t most people laugh at.

I find plenty of things funny in my own way.

I've also been described as a "smartass" and as "witty." However, I'm rarely ever "funny" on purpose. I just blurt out observations, and people laugh.


I used to be funny by accident, too. Sometimes I still am.



Gruntre
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 8 Oct 2010
Age: 52
Gender: Male
Posts: 64
Location: Melbourne, Australia.

30 Oct 2010, 10:10 am

You got it right the first time. They're idiots. To be superpolite maybe they're talking about Aspies when they're cornered and stressed out. When they're comfortable and happy then it's all good. Get better friends.



adifferentname
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,885

30 Oct 2010, 11:19 am

Considering the popularity and success of movies that rely heavily on slapstick, fart jokes and human excretions, I'm of the opinion that at least half of the English-speaking world lacks a sense of humour.



XFilesGeek
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jul 2010
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 6,031
Location: The Oort Cloud

30 Oct 2010, 3:12 pm

adifferentname wrote:
Considering the popularity and success of movies that rely heavily on slapstick, fart jokes and human excretions, I'm of the opinion that at least half of the English-speaking world lacks a sense of humour.


THIS.

Thisthisthisthisthisthisthis......


_________________
"If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced."

-XFG (no longer a moderator)


Severus
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 9 Sep 2010
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 719

30 Oct 2010, 3:22 pm

People say that I have a good sense of humour, though I know that it deviates from the average.
Also, when I watch or read something that is truly hilarious, I don't laugh out loud - or I do, but very rarely, though I might find it very amusing. Does that fall under the category of 'lacking sense of humour', I wonder?