Asperger's syndrome

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Colon


Your personal experiences, whether you've been to a psych and thought it was helpful etc. (if you don't mind)

I didn't find psychiatrists helpful. Every doctor I went to wanted to drug me up.

[Colon™]

That's why I don't trust those geezers. (that and what AH said)

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
The other thing that pisses me off about these syndromes is there is a whole industry of people that indulge this BS and make a living off it. From social workers to teachers and psychologists they all facilitate this crap. They all tell people its okay to be an emotional childish midget.

actually thats NOT what they do, at least not the good ones.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Colon


Wasn't your point that such people don't have a problem at all?

Shut up, I'm just trying to have some fun here with the cripples

[Ecthy]

Asperger sounds like it could be a random name of a German brand of beer.

What beer does the man without friends order in a pub? Asperger's please. ...

[Alexander's Horse]

tee hee, good one

[Ecthy]

I have many friends. Just sometimes when I get down I feel like my social life is fvcked up.

[Alexander's Horse]

that's normal

[Elok]

I repeat, you are an idiot. If you smack an aspie his most likely reaction will be to panic, not to "get in line." It depends on the severity, but some of us will hit you back in a blind rage. We typically don't like uninvited physical contact. When I was little bullies quickly learned not to grab me from behind while their friends tried to hit me--I would more often than not begin thrashing around, and after I bit a guy's hand to get him to let go he would learn to keep his hands off. But that's my reaction, I'm relatively normal. Others will burst into tears, begin stimming or rocking back and forth. Attempting to use violent restraint on an autistic has been known to cause PTSD. We simply do not respond effectively to traditional discipline, it's been tried.

Note also the nonsocial aspects of Asperger's, such as severe sensitivity. This is partly responsible for not liking to be touched, but there are also varying degrees of sensitivity to the other senses. Many children are picky eaters, but not like I was; the usual tactic of "eat your dinner or you won't get anything" didn't work because I would rather starve than put certain foods in my mouth, such as mushrooms and fried eggs. I would literally just sit at the table for hours not eating, and even after I started to grow faint I wouldn't touch the revolting things.

Nor is it a question of being spoiled. While I can be stubborn even today (particularly on ethical issues, as other polytubbies may have noticed), I'm far more obedient than my brothers ever were, and I dislike calling attention to myself. But I still won't eat a LOT of different foods, just because trying to swallow them triggers my gag reflex. Slight anomalies in their taste and texture which others fail to notice or can tolerate stand out to me and make eating them about as pleasant a prospect as consuming my own excrement.

I am also very badly coordinated and extremely poor at communicating, not through lack of practice but because of basic inability. I don't pick up on body language automatically like your average guy does, I can't understand what others are thinking at all, and talking for extended periods of time puts me under extreme emotional stress. I eventually start cracking up if I can't have time to myself. It's not obvious--I've learned to hide my nature to avoid being abused--but I've also learned to not try and socialize the way others do, because I just don't like it. Whatever it is that normal people get from small talk, I don't get. I just get increasingly tired from constantly worrying if I've said the wrong thing, if the person's trying to get me to go away and I'm not getting it, or if what was just said was meant to be funny or if the person saying it is just not very bright.

I might point out that you're on rather sensitive ground here. What you're doing is comparable to telling MrFun that he's only gay because his father molested him or something. Me, Odin, Bill, Ludd--you're discounting our entire lives' experience based on some BS stereotypes and your experiences raising kids who are probably pretty similar to yourself.

[Ecthy]

And why do you respond to trolls with essays? Don't you know that attracts more trolls?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
And why do you respond to trolls with essays? Don't you know that attracts more trolls?

Even those of us without an autism spectrum condition sometimes have trouble recognizing a troll for what it is. I can imagine it might be more difficult for someone with Aspergers.


Note to Elok: AH is a troll.

[Odin]

AH, you don't seem to be getting it, we THINK differenly than "normal" people.


Intrestingly, I heard that Thomas Jefferson may have had Asperger's. An Aspie wrote the Declaration of Independence, Beat that.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Note to Elok: AH is a troll.

Doesn't he slip his actual ideas within his trolls?

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Elok
If you smack an aspie his most likely reaction will be to panic, not to "get in line." It depends on the severity, but some of us will hit you back in a blind rage.

I agree.

Smacking an aspie was of course a schoolyard favorite and it was especially fun when they went off and lashed out blindly. I remember one kid in particular who used to practically froth at the mouth as he spun around flailing wildly at his tormentors - it was a hoot - he was nice guy and mostly left alone otherwise. He had mild muscular dystrophy but we didn't treat him different like a cripple.

Did I mention my school was a boys school and the schoolyard was sometimes like Lord of the Flies? We all copped it, social Darwinism come to life. A favorite was every boy in the form, all 150 or so, would mob someone for infractions like hitting a ball on the roof of the school and whack them on the head with an openhanded slap, that was called "cooning", and the kid would be slapped to tribal chants of "Coooooon!"

Somehow we all survived and came out of it friends. None of us had "syndromes". People would laugh at you if you said that, call you a spaz. Get over yourself, they'd say.

I came out my school years feeling like I could cope with anything. Thanks in part to this school yard "group therapy".

[Provost Harrison]

Leave it AH, you're starting to sound like a Monty Python sketch