What makes an Aspie different?

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Hello--my first post after just browsing around.

A little background before my question. I work at a bookstore and around last December I got an advanced reader's copy for Social Intelligence by Goleman (and then developed an obsession with neuroscience and consequently have more brain books than I can read!). Anyways, I read the AS section and thought it sounded an awful lot like me and was quite surprised. So of course I had to research it which meant a major struggle. Yes, that is me. No, it's something else that makes me different. And so on. Anyways, about a week or two ago, I finally accepted it (and will be going after an official diagnosis).

So, although I may have found reasons for many things in my childhood and some stuff now, I keep noticing people mentioning the words "oddities" and "weird". Generally speaking, what are the differences? I basically feel that I have a different way of looking at the world than the average person and have been told by others that they have never met anyone else like me. Anyways, I guess I am just curious if I have found a group of people that I can fit in with....

Also, does anyone else ever feel like they are ever rambling. (It took me awhile to figure it out, but I did figure out how to tell on most occasions when I am boring someone--or at least I think I can!)

I think odd and weird are the same thing. They both have the same meanings.

Yes, I think they mean the same thing too....

and feel your fit in just fine, us Aspies often rambling!

we are all just unique individuals and lucky enough to share traits which has been behind some of the greatest human achievements to date.

With an obsession on neuroscience I imagine you are probably more apt to describe those oddities than many people here. Of course, by the sounds of it, many here have a longer and more intimate experience of living with knowing about asperger's/autism than yourself. So, donning my neuroscience cap...

Diagnostically speaking the main "oddities" with AS are as follows:

Lack in perspective taking: In practice this leads to not really being able to figure out, typically, what another person may be thinking or feeling. Obviously we'd get the big stuff like a stubbed toe, being robbed, having a parent die... but for the "little stuff" is often completely alien to us. So we tend to come across as rude/insensitive/oblivious/dreamy or any number of other things depending on the extend that this affects us and to the extent that we may have learned to cope and compensate in various ways.

Rigid adherence to routines: Anecdotaly speaking this is the case of being distracted while in the process of doing something, a sense of not being able to get back to concentrating and literally dropping the ball on everything. Also refers to the way life is set up. For instance doing the same activity each day in a specific order. Always catching the same bus at the same time, buying the same thing for breakfast, or always wanting to sit in a specific seat. Also doing things the same way over and over even if it isn't working. All are considered "weird." Especially when a break in the routine will cause distress. Not free choise. Many NT's might do the same thing over and over and have a routine, but if it is busted up, it won't really phase them.

Sensory Sensitivities: A bit one, especially for weird behaviours. Many get headaches or freak out, get scared, or any number of things when exposed to certain sights, sounds, or touches. Freak out when hearing a noise, or being touched, or a certain light source or colour spectrum is considered very weird. And not just the casual screw up the face and hunch shoulders when considering nails down a blackboard type reaction. Everything from migraines to meltdowns can occur under various stimuli. Some can experience nothing so mild as slight discomfort where as others almost shut down until the sensation finishes. Very freaky when considered from an NT perspective.

Lack of empathy: This is my favourite for weirdness behaviour. This is the classic, very similar to perspective taking, of not being able to read a persons emotional state based on facial expression or body posture/gesturing. And of course coupled with perspective taking can lead to the stereotypical AS tactlessness when considered from an NT perspective. Contributes to NT considering us all weird in a big way.

Fact-oriented mind: Hands up who's an engineer? Sometimes referred to as a super logical brain, or extreme-male brain. Considers facts and objects above feelings and people. To differing degrees in us AS people though, and some are actually quite social, but have to approach people (or whatever) in an intellectual way rather than an emotional intuitive way. Tends to create some interesting situations, but also contributes to the aura of super-intelligence of AS people, and the stories of some of the great intellectual crusaders being AS.

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Of course, this is from my own perspective based on personal experience and inference from what I have learned here on WrongPlanet. I am in no way a trained in neuroscience, and it definately is NOT an obsession of mine. And many of the symptoms of weirdness displayed by ASers are a results of many of these aspects working in concert together. I have placed the typically weird behaviour under the categories that I judged most influential on their manifestations. And one must remember that it is truly a spectrum disorder with everyone being effected by each category in differing amounts.

Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list or a complete description of what every facet of autism entails and all the varying manifestations of quirkiness that might result from said neurological differences from the NT brain.

And finally... Welcome to the wrong planet.

Severe social impairment [but with the ability to initiate and sustain a conversation verbally], and an intense, narrow and focused interest that one spends an inordinate amount of time pursuing (sometimes at the exclusion of everything else).

That's what the doctors look for with AS.

At the risk of adding more fuel to your fire, lotus , have you heard of Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind ? The Julian Jaynes Society has on its website a long list of other works that cite his theory of human consciousness.

http://www.julianjaynes.org/related-books_books-citing-jaynes_a-m.php

It's been years since I read the book, but I found it fascinating at the time.

P.S. Welcome to Wrong Planet.

I read it when it was new, I am from before the breakdown. the Uincameral mind. This was twenty years before this unlearned AS, Myth.

Anyhow, the main sign of AS is working in a bookstore.

By Oddities they generally mean our obsessions, "Did you hear about her Martha? She's Bookish! Always reading about things and stuff!

Weird, is reserved for when we ask them questions and expect an answer.

Why get Dxed? They do not know anything.

I have never met anyone like you, or any of the others here.

We are all a Culture of One.

The only thing of note, is we can all talk to each other, and seem perfectly normal to each other.

We also own most of the books.

Welcome!

I've also been interested in Neuroscience recently. I've read recently, In Scientific American IIRC, about research into into a group of brain cells called mirror neurons that some researchers believe are implicated in the social component of Autistic Spectrum Disorders when this system of mirror neurons malfunctions. These neurons seem to play an important part in understanding the intentions of others as well as empathy.

In my view on my own "aspieness", there are two "central themes" in being an aspie. *Dons the electronics-repairman-cap*

One is what I call "the social compass"; some "circuitry" in the neurotypical brain which instinctively decodes all that nonverbal stuff -- in the aspie brain, this compass is not working properly, if at all. Since many of us have unusually "sharp" skills in certain areas, perhaps the circuity normally forming this social compass is just re-wired for other things, such as those unusual skills.
As a coping mechanism, I (and probably a great many other aspies) use the part of the brain normally used for learning things like the ABC or math, to try and comprehend all those little subtle social cues. When in a social setting, that part of the brain is working hard in "playback mode", i.e. applying what it has learned about that social stuff; hence explaining why being with a lot of other people is often tiresome to an aspie.
All the hard work, plus perhaps the experience of being told that you're different and strange despite your efforts, makes it so much easier to cut down on the social stuff: That explains why aspies are often solitude people with just a tiny circle of friends, if any at all.

The other part of it is an issue with the "signal traffic" going from the brain to various muscles, and that coming in to the brain from our sensory organs: At least the path fpr incoming signals seem to be somewhat "out of adjustment", giving rise to the sensory issue that many of us experience.
Controlling our motions is a "closed loop system" as well: When the brain e.g. orders a body part to move, it gets sensory signals telling it if and how far that movement has progessed. If the incoming sensory signal is "out of whack", no wonder the movement produced gets a little clumsy. Although this doesn't rule out similar "out of adjustment"-type problems on the outgoing signal lines from the brain to the muscles.

People with AS tend to be "eccentric," but this can manifest in a wide variety of ways. I, for example, don't wear nice clothes, generally appear rather unkempt, have a very dry sense of humor that most people don't get... most of the time I talk really slowly, but sometimes I go on a rant and unleash a flood... I have strange posture. I am usually walking around my college campus with headphones on playing air guitar, which I'm sure looks kind of funny, but I think everyone else looks pretty stupid when they are standing in line to get a sandwich and they just stare at the wall. Might as well enjoy some music, right? I guess other examples for me would be irregular social interaction (getting better about this) where I will call someone a lot and hang out with him/her a lot and then all of a sudden I either don't feel like hanging out with anyone or decide that person isn't really worth my time and I will "fall off the face of the Earth" as far as that person is concerned. I also eat the same foods alllll the time. At any given time I only have about six meals that I rotate through, and it's not uncommon for me to eat the same thing for lunch all week.

Hope that helps.

Yep, I'll second those traits. I go in phases with friends where I'll hang out and have fun and then I'll just get sick of them for no particular reason and stop hanging out with them. Often this is shortly before I get sick of everyone and go into hermit mode. When going out to eat I have one menu item per restaurant, I rarely even look at menus unless it's a new place.

Wow, thank you for the replies. That really helps because I am still getting a handle on what behaviors are considered weird (I honestly figured most other people were the weird ones. They should cross over to the other side.)

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time, but I'll post a few things that really struck a chord with me.

Thank you Isaak, that explains that much better. I was thinking to myself, I have empathy--I am a Vegan afterall. I guess that explains the strange look I get from some people sometimes. I also just assumed they were bored, lol. hmmm, I guess I really can't read people at all!

Funny cause I figured electronics or engineering--stuff like that goes more along with it. But of course working there feeds my addiction.



Thank you for this. That really helps too.



That is so me! I could never understand why my mom would get so mad at me for not calling. If I don't feel like it, I won't. Man, no wonder I have never had very many friends! It's just funny though cause I don't view it that way, yet if someone who contacts me at certain intervals stops, I do kinda wonder, but more or less because I think it is just someone else who got tired of me.

So, thank you and I am happy to be on the right planet--at least virtually.