Old man, new self-knowledge.

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Hail, citizens,

I'm about to turn 63 and received what I call an "informal diagnosis" of Asperger's a couple of years ago. I got my formal diagnosis off severe ADHD, combined subtype, at the tender age of 52. My therapist whom I had met with for several months in 2021 asked if I was "on the spectrum". After making a science teacher joke, I told him I had no idea what he was referring to. He hastily backpedaled, firmly asserting he wasn't diagnosing me. Recounting this interchange among a group of old friends, I stated "... and then my therapists says he thinks I may have another mental disability...." and the psychotherapist (in private practice) in the group shouts out "Asperger's!" (almost zealously! ) She followed up by saying "I've thought it for years, but I didn't want to say anything until you did."

It certainly explains a lot about my experiences, across my lifetime, with the indigenous technological species on the planet. Epithets cast my way growing up included "Walking computer" "Mr. Spock" and the less imaginative "queer" (because I wasn't raucous or rough-and-tumble) and "weird".

I'm a science teacher by profession, and I believe my behavior in this context stands against claims that us spectral folks (folks on the spectrum) lack empathy. I do fundamentally think the world would be better off the more carefully people think, so that is why I do what I do. Before teaching science at the secondary level, I taught philosophy at the university level. Adjunct teaching got really tiresome. My name on this forum is a reference to the fact that many students in required philosophy courses believe it is useless, and a minority of those are firmly opposed to it, seeing it as actually harmful to their well-being. Being an adjunct meant that I frequently taught at more than one school, so I created a central e-mail address for students from various institutions to use, as a convenience to me. (Of course no one ever did.)

“All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.” Robert Owen (1771 – 1858) Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, and founding figure in utopian socialism. Sounds like a self-diagnosis to me....

I should get back to work.... See y'all around!

BW

Welcome to WP! I agree, when I learned I was on the Spectrum it was a wonderful revelation.

I knew virtually nothing about Autism before I was 64 (I was vaguely aware of Rain Man and that was the extent of my knowledge!). But then I got a formal diagnosis before my 65^th birthday and it did give a lot of self-knowledge.

I had taken a more stereotypical career path, however: IT.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

On what grounds did they deem philosophy to be "actually harmful to their well-being"???

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to the group!

Thank you!

Philosophy causes one to question one's founding assumptions. I guess some college students aren't mature enough to cope with that. My intro course usually covered four topics: Theory of knowledge, political theory, ethics, and philosophy of religion. I choose that order because the topics are successively more threatening. (No one seriously doubts empiricist theory of knowledge . No one likes rejection of representative government, but they feel pretty secure in rejecting old dead white dudes' rejections of it . Everyone feels comfortable about their ethical choices , until they are forced to compare their choices with a consistent, reasonably strict standard. Nobody wants you messing the tiniest bit about their beliefs in a god! )

Teaching younger persons allows me to do more good, I think, because they can acquire more critical thinking skills more easily, due to bad habits having less momentum.

Welcome Aboard, friend

welcome! its scary and exciting, confusing, and such a relief, isn't it? glad you are with us.