Calling it having an A-Type (or a S-Type) Mind?

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Roman
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28 Oct 2012, 9:55 am

btbnnyr wrote:

My family has always traveled by wandering. No planning, no reserving, no idear where we are going to be when the sun rises the next day. When the sun sets today, we are still on the road, heading somewhere. When people used to ask me where I was going for a week with my family, I could never tell them, because I, my mother, and my father all didn't know. We would just know that we going to drive in a certain direction, northeast to Utah or thereabouts, for eggsample. People used to think that I was evading and not telling them on purpose, until they realized that this was a pattern of wandering of our family trips.

The point of our trips seemed to be wandering around together for fun, not to see this particular sight or do that particular activity. Someone else might have observed us from the outside and decided that we lacked organization and eggsecutive functioning or something.

WOW you are lucky. My family never traveled that way, but that is how *I* like to travel. In fact if I were to tell my family thats what i do they would go crazy because they are over protective of me due to Asperger. They would want me to make all kinds of plans, but whenever I am on my own i am completely spontaneous and I love it. Like this past week I went to the general direction (mountains) without having any destination in mind. It is such a wonderful feeling to go somewhere and KNOW that I can stop at any hotel on my way any time I feel like it because I don't "expect" myself to be anywhere in particular and never to regret about any "unfulfilled plans". I changed my mind like a dozen of times (and at least 3 times I changed my mind as to whether I return on Saturday, Sunday or Monday), now that its Sunday night I know that Monday will be it

XFilesGeek
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28 Oct 2012, 11:22 am

Roman wrote:

XFilesGeek wrote:

In the DSM-IV, Aspergers is defined as a disorder.

If you are not "disordered," you do not have AS.

The "disorder" inherent in AS is not caused by just "social stuff."

If you are not impaired, disordered, or disabled, and/or your difficulties are merely "social stuff," then you do not have an ASD. Period.

Have a nice life as an NT introvert.

I AM disordered because a lot of things (such as whether or not I am hired, and so forth) are due to other people's decision. So if due to "social stuff" OTHER PEOPLE come to wrong conclusion that I am not hireable, then I don't get hired, even though in reality I would do the job just fine if only they were to give me a chance (hence the "only social stuff" part).

Besides, the "social" part of my disorder is far worse than most people on this forum: I don't even know most people's names or faces except for my professor and a couple of other ppl I interract a lot, I dont know how to start or continue conversation, etc. Now most ppl with Avoidant personality and other stuff has BETTER social skills than ppl with AS; in my case i have WORSE social skills. So yes i am very much AS, and this illustrates the point that AS does not affect non-social stuff.

If your only problems are "social stuff," then you do not have Aspergers Disorder.

Congratulations. Enjoy your normal life.

P.S. Personal anecdotes don't "illustrate" squat.

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idratherbeatree
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28 Oct 2012, 2:35 pm

I don't have any social anxiety. (With the exception of some OCD and transgender related stuff.) And I don't really get bothered by it even though I'm impaired. It's VERY difficult for me to communicate myself verbally. But that results in frustration, not anxiety.

However, my sensory problems, are by far the worst thing. Sensory problems are a non-social issue. So are my special interests. Which is to say I am constantly distracted by them, and find it difficult to get anything done that isn't related to them somehow...

My point, there is more than social problems in autism.

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Jaden
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28 Oct 2012, 3:52 pm

Roman wrote:

and this illustrates the point that AS does not affect non-social stuff.

Your personal situation doesn't speak for the whole AS community, everyone with AS is different, just because one person out of a small group of the whole doesn't have X problem, doesn't mean that X problem isn't a symptom of the diagnosis, it just means you got lucky in X area, unlike most of us. AS is a mental capability handicap, social skills are usually most apparent in this handicap but they are not the only thing that AS effects.

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Nonperson
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28 Oct 2012, 6:59 pm

emimeni wrote:

What we call ourselves really doesn't matter at all, because that will not change peoples' minds.

Partially agree. What we call ourselves makes no difference, but naming ourselves, instead of being named by others, does.

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28 Oct 2012, 7:06 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:

If your only problems are "social stuff," then you do not have Aspergers Disorder.

I seem to recall pointing out to you how, based on the DSM, it could. It depends heavily on circumstances. It also means that there are people with ASD who don't share all the symptoms you have. As for redefining ASD around your own symptoms and bitterly lashing out at anyone you perceive as having it "easy", well, that's just immaturity.

Callista
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28 Oct 2012, 7:33 pm

Asperger's cannot be diagnosed without there being some non-social symptoms present, though it may be only one symptom from that "repetitive/restricted behaviors and interests" category--repetitive behavior, routine-dependence, focus on details and small structure, and special interests that are either unusually intense or unusually narrow. Most Aspies have more than just one, but you only need one for the AS diagnosis.

However, someone with autistic-type social problems, and no non-social symptoms may still have a diagnosis of PDD-NOS, which is on the autism spectrum. Usually this happens only in cases where the social problems have existed since childhood and cannot be explained by some other disorder such as social anxiety, selective mutism, reactive attachment disorder, schizophrenia, or a personality disorder (among others).

Someone with purely social problems can still be autistic. It is atypical autism, but it is autism. And if I see any of you guys telling people they shouldn't be here because all their autism-related traits have to do with socializing, then I'm going to give you a virtual kick in the butt, because social problems suck and we're not here to be some kind of exclusive club.

If you want to say to somebody with social-only problems that they probably should have been diagnosed with PDD-NOS instead of Asperger's, fine. But telling them that their lives are "normal" is a low blow. It trivializes the obstacles they are facing. They already get enough of that from the rest of the world; they shouldn't get it here too.

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Nonperson
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28 Oct 2012, 7:50 pm

Callista wrote:

Symptoms, yes. But are all symptoms always problems? There have to be impairments overall, but that doesn't imply that every symptom causes problems - at least not directly.

Jaden
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28 Oct 2012, 9:09 pm

Nonperson wrote:

Callista wrote:

Symptoms, yes. But are all symptoms always problems? There have to be impairments overall, but that doesn't imply that every symptom causes problems - at least not directly.

All symptoms wouldn't necessarily have to cause problems, no. But whether or not they cause problems isn't part of the actual diagnosis, it only amounts to how it affects the person and whether or not they can lead a relatively normal life, or whether or not they'd need assistance with things (severity). With me, I can't hold a normal job, I have capability issues that tend to interfere with a job that involves any real skill or repetitive action, but that issue wouldn't necessarily be a problem for other jobs, I just haven't been able to find one that works yet (although I am continuously looking at career possibilities, including Music Production). What gets in my way is time limitations, I can't work under time constraints because I shut down when I have a limited time to do something.

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Roman
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29 Oct 2012, 1:19 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:

If your only problems are "social stuff," then you do not have Aspergers Disorder.

Congratulations. Enjoy your normal life.

Like I said in previous response, I DO have symptoms from "category B"; namely, I have "special interests" that I previously listed (weather, science, mental illness, religion, and so forth). When I said it is only social stuff what I MEANT was that I don't have DISABILITIES besides social stuff (special interests and disabilities are not the same thing). The lack of disabilities besides social stuff is consistent with DSM 4 criteria for Asperger:

DSM 4 criteria for Asperger wrote:

(V) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood..

which is precisely why I am pushing this point.

XFilesGeek wrote:

P.S. Personal anecdotes don't "illustrate" squat.

If they are confirmed by DSM 4 then they do.

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