Ticker wrote:
I think there is a vast difference among Aspies. But maybe a better term should have been invented other than high or low functioning. With people like myself we are considered high functioning but are extremely socially ret*d. But I'd hate to have ret*d as part of the label so we need better terms.
But there's no way to ignore there is a big difference in "functioning" abilities. I mean some AS adults I have been around act like regular auties if you ask me. They are nearly none verbal and speak like children if they do speak. They have meltdowns even sitting in an autism-friendly environment and they are impossible for me to communicate with. But then there's some higher functioning AS that I can communicate with and its almost like we have a secret language that the NT's don't understand. We can talk for hours on end. Or is this gender difference?? Because all the AS adults I have meet and can enjoy being around are female. I'm talking about meeting in real life. I have a number of guys I email with who have AS, but I believe we all do much better socializing in writing than face to face.
I don't think gender has as important of a role in AS as it does in NT because the logical rationalist in the NT world is stereotypically male while the woman is the emotional nurturer which is something us aspies women and men are not great at even if the women DO have an emotional and nurturing fundamental too them.
It could be just that you prefer being around women in general or that women are easier to talk to which is for the most part true. A male normally will keep everything internal or talk about surface BS. Also while a woman of course can be effected by learning disabilities the CRUCIAL cases like the one you explain about acting childish, meltdown and ect are 95% men. Women's "disabilities" normally lay in the Personality Disorders. The CRUCIALLY depressed cases you'll find are mostly women.
Women also pick up on social niceties better in general, AS or not because thats what they've been doing for centuries. Casual socialization is almost always more "warm" with a female and more "intellectual" with a male.
06 May 2007, 8:55 am
