Geeks and Nerds

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I'm not trying to be stereotypical or nothing, but do you think those geeks or nerds-type characters you see on alot of TV shows and movies could obviously have AS?

I think that the "geeks and nerds" stereotypes just match up with symptoms of AS and aren't supposed to be mentaly ill, just comic relief. So, yes, they have the symptoms, but no they don't actually (as characters) have it. something like that.

It doesn't really do us any favors either to have a negative stereotype drown about us in addition to what we already experience.

Negative?

I was a nerd at school and got quite puzzled by some things.

Why was it so uncool to get high marks? I never got that!

At university I was a nerd again. I used to study hard knowing that as a health professional I needed to have good knowledge so I wouldn't harm somebody or miss a diagnosis.

I also used to spend hours practicing my hands-on therapy techniques - again knowing that I would be using this in my job to help heal people.

In the meantime others would be drinking, cramming last minute for exams (and passing) and quickly forgetting that knowledge. They wouldn't practice their tecniques until last minute to cram (and pass) exams.

But I was the one frowned upon for actually studying and trying.

that was my first thought, too. beyond usually being the most sympathetic characters, arent they the guys who just casually come round when everyone else goes bonkers and fix the whole story?

Never a nerd
couldn't follow the herd
the moon IS a harsh mistress
so said my temptress
too meek
to be a geek
that's why I AM a stranger
in the strangest land
that's full of ignorant danger
forever in the war upon your hand

yeah it makes me laugh when i hear people say stuff like, "im not racist or anything, but.."
you know exactly what's coming next.

being a geek or nerd as zero to do with as or related.
relatively speaking there will be as many NT geeks and nerds, as autistic ones.

I scared the nerds
so I was a loner

I used to be part of a group self-referred to as the Nerd Herd. We had some gamers, tabletop roleplayers, emos...general social misfits. I'm not sure if I was the only Aspie.

At least, I perceive it as negative. I just never see nerds portrayed in a positive light in movies or television shows, and I thought that same opinion might be addressed to us. It's reassuring to see so many people think differently, though...

I'm proud to be a nerd!

In the greater part of popular culture such as films and TV series, nerds and geeks are usually portrayed in a relatively negative way, but the majority of such portrayals invariably end with the nerds saving the day, usually by applying their "nerd" skills .. whilst all the other characters die, explode, get eaten, whatever. Its rare that the popular kids survive or do anything else other than provide cannon fodder, or comedy. Random examples.. The Faculty.. pretty much every protagonist including the monster are nerds, geeks, outsiders. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Scooby gang are referred to at least once as "The Nerd Patrol." (Defeating monsters by reading books?? WTF???") Weird Science: Nerds build supermodel, save day, get the hot chicks. The list is endless. Theres a reason for this phenomena. Most of the people who MAKE these things were the nerds at school. I never met a film student or Fictional Writing student who wasnt some kind of geek. As for the nerds and geeks resembling Aspies..the trademark symptoms and behaviours of Aspergers are all the same as the behaviours (symptoms?) of the average nerd. Social isolation and obsession with a fairly random subject that they learn to the exclusion of almost all else? Sounds familiar to me. It stands to reason that at least some of the nerds are actually AS, and that some of them grew up to be George Lucas. (Though if Lucas was Aspie he probably wouldnt have made quite so many glaring continuity errors and general cockups in his plot.) Likewise, many of the actors also display AS tendency in day to day life. Keanu Reeves and Johnny Deppe have both been suggested as people on the spectrum, and after observing a recent TV appearance by Toby Macguire, I would hazard a guess that he might be just a touch AS as well.