Asperger/ADHD and dangerous behavior?

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pawelk1986
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09 Jan 2017, 2:29 pm

Many people think of ADHD as adventurers, but we also autistic people like dangerous things, the difference between us is only this that we like to do dangerous things to see how things work, and people with ADHD only for FUN have adrenaline rush.

For example, my childhood was interested in electricity, even built my own electromagnet, but when I accidentally did an experiment how the alternating current voltage of 220 V working on human body (my own) I do not like it so much now :mrgreen:



This_Amoeba
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09 Jan 2017, 3:52 pm

When I was a child I really liked playing with fire. It was fun seeing how different things reacted to fire. Burning plastic would drip with the drops also on fire, so it was dripping fire. Watching flames was calming for me too, but it was so dangerous. Glad I don't do that anymore :)
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Joe90
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09 Jan 2017, 4:28 pm

I was a bit of a wimp as a child so I didn't really put myself in any danger. I liked getting up to mischief and I also loved running and climbing, but if I knew I could end up getting hurt, I wouldn't do it. A bit like when we played down at the river dam, the other kids would jump across the river, but because the dam sloped down each side I was afraid that I will fall in, so I stayed at the top on the bank where it was safe.
I loved swimming at the local pool, in fact swimming was my favourite thing ever, but I still wouldn't go into the deep end because I was scared of deep water.

I'm still a wimp now. I haven't ever got drunk in my life because I'm scared to. I'm scared of what I might do while drunk, and I'm scared of a hangover.

But the good thing about being a wimp is that I have never broken a bone in my life.


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voidnull
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09 Jan 2017, 4:35 pm

pawelk1986 wrote:
For example, my childhood was interested in electricity, even built my own electromagnet, but when I accidentally did an experiment how the alternating current voltage of 220 V working on human body (my own) I do not like it so much now :mrgreen:


Yeah this. My fascination with physics began when I was 5, when I wired an old rotary telephone into a mains plug then plugged it in and soon found a respect for high voltage. Similar experiments followed, finding comparable fears and fascinations with fire and bangs, high wattage radio, electromag, etc etc.

Now I'm 38 and my home is essentially a fabrication/chem/electronics lab.


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Fraser_1990
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09 Jan 2017, 5:05 pm

Joe90 wrote:
I was a bit of a wimp as a child so I didn't really put myself in any danger. I liked getting up to mischief and I also loved running and climbing, but if I knew I could end up getting hurt, I wouldn't do it. A bit like when we played down at the river dam, the other kids would jump across the river, but because the dam sloped down each side I was afraid that I will fall in, so I stayed at the top on the bank where it was safe.
I loved swimming at the local pool, in fact swimming was my favourite thing ever, but I still wouldn't go into the deep end because I was scared of deep water.

I'm still a wimp now. I haven't ever got drunk in my life because I'm scared to. I'm scared of what I might do while drunk, and I'm scared of a hangover.

But the good thing about being a wimp is that I have never broken a bone in my life.


The great thing about getting drunk and experiencing a hangover the next day is that you don't remember any of the stupid things you did the night before. :lol:


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09 Jan 2017, 7:42 pm

voidnull wrote:
pawelk1986 wrote:
For example, my childhood was interested in electricity, even built my own electromagnet, but when I accidentally did an experiment how the alternating current voltage of 220 V working on human body (my own) I do not like it so much now :mrgreen:


Yeah this. My fascination with physics began when I was 5, when I wired an old rotary telephone into a mains plug then plugged it in and soon found a respect for high voltage. Similar experiments followed, finding comparable fears and fascinations with fire and bangs, high wattage radio, electromag, etc etc.

Now I'm 38 and my home is essentially a fabrication/chem/electronics lab.


I only really had two friends during my whole childhood and teen years, had almost no "normal" social life, and spent almost all my time when not at school shut in my bedroom at home (by choice, I mean), which I turned into a sort of live-in laboratory where I played with electronics and with chemicals. There must have been spilled mercury all over the place, and sometimes my chemistry experiments had unfortunate consequences, like once when I was 14 and an attempt to make nitrogen trichloride ended prematurely (fortunately, perhaps!) with a major leak of chlorine in my bedroom, after a pipe burst. I still have a bit of a residual cough now and again, almost 50 years later, resulting from that incident. I also played around a lot with old TVs and radios. I quickly learned to pay attention to which way to connect the live and neutral on those old direct-mains connected devices, where the chassis could be live (240V in England where I grew up) if the plug was wired the wrong way. Otherwise, working on the device while it was switched on could be a bit hazardous.

These days I again have a room that's my electronics laboratory, and spend a fair amount of my spare time playing around with building vacuum tube amplifiers and things - so I still get to play with the high voltages!

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10 Jan 2017, 3:55 am

* Burnt fingers from lighting magnesium ribbon.
* Burnt bedroom carpet when lighting a trail of hundreds of match heads.
* Built pipebombs and bangers.
* Electric shock from building a strobe unit from a camera flash gun capacitor.
* Lit a large firework in my bedroom and JUST about put it out in time.
* Broke the toilet cistern when trying to understand how it worked.
* Hurt a friend when winching him up a tree while he was on his bicycle.
* Stuck my eyelids open with expanding foam.
* Radial, compound break in my tibia and fibula and had a helicopter rescue.
* Sliced wrist open after jumping on a flatbed truck.
* Hurt my back when acting as a prop for an overturned car we were trying to right.
* Electric shock from messing around with an old record player.
* Electric shock from changing a mains socket and throwing the wrong circuit breaker.
* Accidentally sliced many parts of myself with various knives.
* Built an electric guitar from an old acoustic guitar, some condenser-mikes and a tapedeck.
* Built pressure-plate burglar alarms.
* Built many go-karts.
* Lots of nasty, smelly experiments with chemistry sets.
* Homemade bows and arrows, slingshots, catapults, spears, atlatl.

How many of these are due to ASD or just growing up in the 60s/70s is debatable :)


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QuantumChemist
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10 Jan 2017, 10:32 am

Oh, growing up I did some stuff that would now get me put on a watch list (or more) for sure. However, it was a different era then (pre-911). I do not condone what I did do as something positive, but I was seeking how certain things (or ideas) could be done. Often, I could con my two cousins into being willing assistants to whatever I was cooking up at the time. Starting an electrical storm by using a fabricated metal rocket filled with copper turnings (and an explosive) comes to mind as not one of my finest moments from back then. We got it to work (produced an amazing lightning show by the way), but was not ready for the hail storm that it unleashed upon us due to the concussion of the explosive. Looking back, I should have studied the storm clouds better before the launch.



rats_and_cats
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10 Jan 2017, 10:40 am

I'm now incredibly paranoid, but when I was a kid I would pick up bugs just to see how they would react. I thought it was funny how worms would spaz out. I stopped after being bit by an ant.

I do still get the urge to touch wild animals, but I never act on it unless they're trained education animals who are okay with being touched. One time I stumbled on a bear while hiking and thought "I want to pet its ears." (the bear was sleeping off a full stomach so it didn't care about my existence, and I was smart enough to walk at a much faster pace back home)



neurotypicalET
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10 Jan 2017, 6:07 pm

Personally... I just call it misguided curiosity....


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EclecticWarrior
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10 Jan 2017, 9:47 pm

I'm the opposite- scared of doing some very benign things in case I injure or even kill myself.


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leejosepho
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10 Jan 2017, 10:09 pm

pawelk1986 wrote:
...we like to do dangerous things to see how things work...

Yes, or maybe we just like to see how things work and then discover danger along the way. I once removed the shot and powder from a shotgun shell so I could get a good look at and experiment with the various parts, then discovered the idea of using a hammer and a nail to trigger the primer was a very bad idea.


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lostonearth35
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13 Jan 2017, 5:44 pm

Seems the only "dangerous" activity I'm good at and not afraid of is swimming. Just today at the mall I saw some weird new balancing exercise gizmo, and the first thing I thought was how I'd fall and seriously injure myself.



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14 Jan 2017, 2:04 am

I used to keep a knife and a butane lighter at my computer desk for soldering work. I used them more as fidget toys than anything. I have ADHD traits though.


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Edna3362
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14 Jan 2017, 4:11 am

I don't have ADHD or even a dash of it.
But I've done many dangerous things and end with little or no consequences when I was younger. :lol: Except for worried and/or angered people...


I have no injuries, no danger related scars, or any trauma. And I still have a screwed sense of fear as an adult.
But yes, just because I could or would take a dangerous activity, that doesn't mean I'm a thrill seeker. :|


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IstominFan
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14 Jan 2017, 10:51 am

I did many more adventurous and active things when I was a kid. I grew more fearful as I grew older. I think a healthy dose of common sense took over as well. Usually, a person with no fear is one with little or no judgment or common sense.

Lately, I do feel as though I take my life in my hands every time I get in the car, what with the increasingly crazy drivers in my town. However, I wouldn't change my life now for anything in the world.