Why do aspergic star trek fans get such a rough ride?

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I love this forum so don't misconstrue my words here... I am opening up a debate rather than a rant so don't take this the wrong way. I want to try and highlight a topic that seems to be making its way around the board in a hidden fashion.

I have noticed a continual theme with some posts in and around this forum. It seems to me that the atypical star trek fan or IT nerd [for example] is being castigated by certain people because they fit in with the stereo-typical notion of a geek. People seem to want to deny that persons right to be a geek and aspergic at the same time. Why can't a geek have aspergers?

It seems to be battle of wills against those who don't want to associate themselves with the official notion of a geek. I don't see a problem with this. I also don't see a problem with people wanting to protect themselves from others who are incorrectly self-diagnosing.

HOWEVER, I see a MASSIVE problem when someone makes a sweeping statement about a certain type of person not really being aspergic, for instance, a star trek fan who is a geek and a loner. Why on earth can't they be aspergic? You can't simplify things like this. Aspergers is not simple. People are allowed to have whatever hobbies they want without fear of being cast out as being a fraud or fake. Yes there will be people who mistakenly self diagnose but it is not our job to beat them down into submission. Give them advice by all means but don't be selfish and cruel. Let them learn their own path. let them continue their voyage of self discovery.

One last point. Being aspergic doesn't make you a professional therapist or psychologist. It doens't enable you to assess the varied types of personalities that people have. Being aspergic DOES allow you to give a personal indication of what it is like and how you self diagnosed or how you got diagnosed. It allows you to compare war wounds and similar traits. It allows you to paint a picture for others to browse. You can't read minds and if you really have aspergers then you definitely can't read minds, so don't try to diagnose - you might hurt their feelings without realising it.

I agree. What is wrong with geeks? Generally many geeks may actually have Asperger's Syndrome. SO why deny your genes? Embrass your AS and celebrate both geeky Aspies and not so geeky Aspies on Saturday.

I agree, I'm a big fan of Dr Who and Star Wars (never got into Star Trek), and I enjoy tinkering with my PC. I'm an AS Geek, so what!

"Embrass" isn't a word.

Anyways, I underdstand what you're saying, geeks can have AS. I don't think of myself as a geek, but chances are I am. I never liked Star Trek.

I think he mean't embrace.

I never used to like Star Trek either - not in an obssessive way. I used to catch the odd episode. I bought TNG on DVD and watched it back to back. I enjoyed it a lot. I wouldn't want to extend it any further than that. I don't want to obssess about the technology - I find it flawed and cannot get over excited about its technical merits. I enjoy the escapism but wouldn't want to participate in it myself. I'd love to live on a starship but wouldn't dwell on the idea because it will never happen so any kind of imagination of such an event would be pure fantasy and not very fruitful in the real world. I don't mind people who do get totally involved in it. They tend to be very creative and friendly people. They aren't football hooligans, they aren't dangerous, they aren't aggressive. They are thoroughly nice people.

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Last edited by Ante on 09 Nov 2005, 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Do you realize that most of the doctors around here are extremely under or uneducated about autism and aspergers. There are only specialists to turn to. I took considerable interest in looking up social and mental disorders and found a couple that I matched very closely to. I in fact, DIAGNOSED myself in the beginning. It was a series of cross references of information and closely matching the symptoms with my own experience and personality. I didn't just say "i'm wierd. I was a loner and a geek with a narrow theme of high interests so,...... I must have Asperger's syndrome". No, it wasn't like that at all. I didn't try to say it until I knew almost for sure. In fact, I stood in front of a doctor and psychologist and listed off my findings to them. They were completely blown away. I have nothing against people attempting to diagnose themselves but they should get their facts straight. Why would you help to alienate yourself by dividing the world up into sub-groups of people? I know it does help in terms of identifying and sharing experience with others but sometimes it's just stupid. All this NT, ADD, Geeks, Fake aspies, whatever.....who cares? I also don't care about people trying to be psychologists and helping others. Long winded rants and articles are my kind of thing, whats wrong with it? If I can help someone by sharing my experiences and points then let it be.

Personally, i consider myself dual classing as a Nerd Stoner. All of my friends have different feelings on the words geek, nerd, and other such things, but i prefer nerd myself. I know why too. I identified with Revenge of the nerds. (Watched it very young)

I am extremely nerdy, but i have balanced this out somewhat by being a stoner. I am able to relate to the less nerdy, more normal, and downright stupid people by enjoying the pleasures of drugs, alcohol and general hedonism.

Some other student walking out the door, "Geniuses first."
Me, in a slurring a bit voice, "I'm not a genius, i just take a lot of drugs."

I like the image of the stoner savant, someone who is wasted all day long, but the second someone disparages them on their indulgance they whip around and say something brilliant. Also it is an interesting style, i think, to put together complicated and coherent messages, and throw some relaxed s**t in there too. Other times I just hint at being more intelligent while commenting about things in a relaxed way. Using these techniques, a lot of people know me and i could enter into their cliques fairly easily if i was so inclined.

I don't actually take a lot of drugs, but I do enjoy overindulging on alcohol occasionally, and some of the softer illicit drugs, and one weird one which virtually no one takes.

There is no need to discriminate people based on their interests. Whether there are a LOTR Fan or Star Trek fan. We are all different.

What if you're a LOTR and Star Trek fan? Then what are you? (I can't wait to hear the responses on this one...)

I used to like Star Trek...

Then it started to suck with Voyager and Enterprise...

Star Trek is basically a 12-year old boy scout's perception of the future...

I know! That was a stupid spelling mistake I made when I was too busy listening to music to take notice.

I am a Star Trek fan, a geek and a loner, and I do not feel castigated on this board, nor is my self-diagnosis put in doubt (other than by myself, of course). WooYayHooplah, can you elaborate on why do you feel that such an injustice is happening?

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Last edited by GalileoAce on 02 Apr 2006, 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think it's because ASPIE trekkies are different then NT trekkies.

AS rules! So do trekkies, unless they go mad and hold satanic rituals and sacrifice you....