What is asperger's anyway

[Lorizael]

I really hate the posthumous diagnoses of famous people. Always seems like the people performing the investigations have reached the conclusion first, and then set out to find evidence that supports their theory, and discard evidence that does not.

[Japher]

Always seems like the people performing the investigations have reached the conclusion first, and then set out to find evidence that supports their theory, and discard evidence that does not.

Has this turned into another religion vs. science debate?

[Lorizael]

Yes. All those damn religionistas always trying to prove how Jefferson was the son of... err.. uh... had Asperger's.

[Japher]

Moses had Asperger's, that's why his borther did all the talking

[Lorizael]

I think God has intermittent explosive disorder. Always wiping out cities and flooding whole worlds. Don't get in a car with him.

[Solver]

I dunno, if you consider that persons such as Einstein may have had Aspreger's, can you really consider it a bad thing? Okay, the majority of "normal" people would probably freak out at the thought of being without such social skills, but AS doesn't sound like too bad for me.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Solver
I dunno, if you consider that persons such as Einstein may have had Aspreger's, can you really consider it a bad thing?

This is exactly why I don't like when people try to diagnosis dead people. Those with Asperger's have a vested interest in proving that highly regarded historical figures also possessed the syndrome. This means bias.

[Solver]

Bias is everywhere. Psychiatrists want to prove that schizophrenic people should be kept confined, that's also bias. Big time bias.

Diagnosing dead people is hard, but in the case of Einstein at least, there's a significant amount of information available on his life, childhood and otherwise. I haven't done that diagnosis stuff myself, but I quite feel there may be enough details to truly give him an Asperger's diagnosis.

[Lorizael]

That everyone does it doesn't make it right.

With Einstein you may be right, but then again, there are people on this board that sincerely believe Einstein's wife was the actual genius and that he was a lying, cheating, bastard. There is even some "evidence" to point to this.

I just... I don't like labels, really. I think that attempting to figure out the mental makeup of a genius is interesting and perhaps even edifying, but I don't see any particular use in saying - oh he had Asperger's, or schizophrenia, or whatever.

In the end, the effects that these disorders have on people are all that really matter. And when historians and psychologists are studying famous people in an attempt to diagnosis, all they have to study are those effects. I don't really see the point in going any further.

[Solver]

I personally see Asperger's just as a label for a complex set of personality traits and behaviours. The society always uses those. There may be people who mistakenly diagnose themselves as Aspies, but there's certainly a significant enough number of people with these unusual thought patterns and personalities - and Asperger's is really a label for this sort of thinking/personality.

It does serve a practical purpose, just because it's easier to refer to. Because it isn't comfortable saying "a person with some mild social disability who is very obsessive about some narrow interests, and is this, and does blah, and so on". Saying "a person with Asperger's" simply is easier.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Solver
I personally see Asperger's just as a label for a complex set of personality traits and behaviours.

Quite true. This is probably true with most things, actually. I'm annoyed when people draw arbitrary lines between negative personality traits and personality disorders.

Some people are "just dicks" whereas other people are sociopaths. There isn't a switch in a person's brain going from not-sociopath to sociopath. If you're a dick, there's a part of your brain telling you to be, just as a part tells you to be sociopathic.

It does serve a practical purpose, just because it's easier to refer to. Because it isn't comfortable saying "a person with some mild social disability who is very obsessive about some narrow interests, and is this, and does blah, and so on". Saying "a person with Asperger's" simply is easier.

I know it's easier and useful for human communication and all that, but I'm insane and have radical ideas to the contrary.

[Elok]

Good, just please don't pull the religion threadjack just yet. WRT Einstein and such: it's politically useful, you might say. It's a way to discourage people from assuming we're defective and treating us as second-class citizens. Mind you, I honestly think he was, I'm not just playing games--but, with the growing movement towards ABA treatment or even "cures," it's good to have examples to point to that indicate we can have happy, productive lives. Even without the cure trend, it's incredibly frustrating to be a perfectly fulfilled human being who gets treated like a ****** or a pariah.

[Provost Harrison]

I was looking through this test and there are quite a few traits I have noticed I possess, however the social aspects of my personality have always been innate and have never struggled with. This one is interesting:

I usually notice car number plates or similar strings of information.

I've been like this since the day I have born, often picking up on silly little details and nuances and being quite excited about it. Just part of who I am I suppose, others would consider it to be quite geeky.

It gives me an overall score of 16...

[Odin]

Originally posted by Elok
Good, just please don't pull the religion threadjack just yet. WRT Einstein and such: it's politically useful, you might say. It's a way to discourage people from assuming we're defective and treating us as second-class citizens. Mind you, I honestly think he was, I'm not just playing games--but, with the growing movement towards ABA treatment or even "cures," it's good to have examples to point to that indicate we can have happy, productive lives. Even without the cure trend, it's incredibly frustrating to be a perfectly fulfilled human being who gets treated like a ****** or a pariah.

Qute frankly, I don't WANT a "cure," I consider such a thing to be eugenics.

[Lorizael]

But some do. Many with Asperger's aren't functional, productive, or happy members of society.