What is asperger's anyway

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Gibsie

and so on and so forth. Perhaps going to see an actual specialist would be the best idea like Bill3000 says, but that's such a draaaaaaag...

But hey, if you get it you can apply for a disability pension.

[Solver]

In fact, a specialist wouldn't diagnose you with Asperger's any better than you can yourself. You have to know yourself. Take the eye contact part. You have to know, yourself, whether you tend to avoid it, or, on the contrary, whether you have eye contact that makes other people uncomfortable. The social skill part, you have to remember how your social skills were, say, during the early school years, and how they developed, etc.

"Some make very little eye contact because they find it overwhelming, whereas others have unmodulated, staring eye contact that can cause discomfort to other people." A friend I hadn't seen in quite a while said this about me, but it could easily have been because he was being a moron on the day, and I had no desire to look at him so closely.

Then you probably don't match this point. You'd know if you did. It's manifested as either a specific desire NOT to have eye contact, and being uncomofrtable with it, or with other people becoming noticeably unsettled by having eye contact with you. In the latter case, you would certainly get comments about having "freaky eyes" or that you're making people uncomfortable.

How's your memory/intellect? Do you believe you score well above the average on those?

[Jon Miller]

How about running into walls, is that a sign of Aspergers?

I think that Aspergers == super nerds.

JM

[Gibsie]

I don't remember if I have "normal" levels of eye contact, and indeed I do not know what that "normal" level would be. Whether I look into someone's eyes or not, I do not know, it's all instinct and not remembered. However, the one time it's been remarked upon the guy was very adamant, even if he was being an ass.

My memory/ intellect vary; while I'm pretty poor with exams, I'm very good at remembering extremely trivial stuff, which the article mentions. So again, it's hard to say. As for social skills, that was okay when I was very young, but got worse, much worse and then better throughout my life. Again, unclear.

[Solver]

Whether I look into someone's eyes or not, I do not know, it's all instinct and not remembered.

See, that's not Asperger-like. Eye contact is a form of social skill, more specifically, social interaction. For most people, it becomes instinct-like, something they don't think about. A person with Asperger's, whose eye contact makes other people uncomfortable, has to actively remember during his conversations not to look people in the eye as he normally would. As the article called it, people with Asperger's "learn social skills intelectually" to avoid making other people uncomfortable.

I'm sure everyone can have his eye contact commented on once or twice. People often avoid eye contact in specific situations for various reasons - they may be lying, angry, etc.

Results in exams don't have much to do with intellect. And people with Asperger's often have poor exam results if they don't find the subject interesting. That's another defining characteristic, they can be downright manic about stuff that interests them, but find it extremely hard to do uninteresting stuff. Exams typically require revision, and revision of something uninteresting will be extremely hard for a person with Asperger's to do.

[Jon Miller]

As every post comes in, I am more and more sure that Aspies are just geeks, but with a special name.

JM

[Darius871]

Out of curiosity, how many people here who claim to have Asperger's have actually been formally diagnosed by anyone worth calling an expert?

[Solver]

Jon: sort of. Now there are people who don't even perceive this as a disease. But Asperger's seems to be stronger than just geekiness, it's well, an extreme case of geekiness, if you please. With some physciological stuff involved possibly.

Darius: psychologists should all go to jail anyway . I am aware of the formal medical definitions of Asperger's and studies related to the syndrome, but I'd be very interested, still, to see how a doctor can really diagnose this. Keeping in mind that diagnosis requires extremely good knowledge of the person in question, including their childhood behaviour.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Darius871
Out of curiosity, how many people here who claim to have Asperger's have actually been formally diagnosed by anyone worth calling an expert?

<--------------------------

[Jon Miller]

I think aspergers is like this centuries ADHD.

JM

[Footie Mad]

Only schizoid personality disorder, but that whas disputed by other doctors. So I guess I fall into that wast category of "nobody knows but let's make wild speculations".

[Gibsie]

Originally posted by Solver
See, that's not Asperger-like. Eye contact is a form of social skill, more specifically, social interaction. For most people, it becomes instinct-like, something they don't think about. A person with Asperger's, whose eye contact makes other people uncomfortable, has to actively remember during his conversations not to look people in the eye as he normally would. As the article called it, people with Asperger's "learn social skills intelectually" to avoid making other people uncomfortable.

You've got what I said arse-backwards. My eye contact doesn't make people uncomfortable: I don't make eye contact as far as I know, and it was that fact which was remarked upon, not that I do make eye contact as an attempt to appear to be normal. As the article called it, people with Asperger's "learn social skills intellectually", and that's what I have done with other aspects of my life, but no attempt ahs been made with eye contact.

Results in exams don't have much to do with intellect. And people with Asperger's often have poor exam results if they don't find the subject interesting. That's another defining characteristic, they can be downright manic about stuff that interests them, but find it extremely hard to do uninteresting stuff. Exams typically require revision, and revision of something uninteresting will be extremely hard for a person with Asperger's to do.

Well, the exams I do badly in are the ones I don't find interesting. Revision IS extremely difficult for me to bring myself to do: throughout my last exam period I was doing maybe 2-3 hours a day, after waking up in the afternoons, playing Civ for a few hours, going online, watching TV, having dinner and then FINALLY when I've done all the stuff that interests me most I would start. Normal procrastination or aspect of Asperger's? I don't know. But most other people had done more revision in their whole day before I'd even woken up.

[Solver]

You've got what I said arse-backwards. My eye contact doesn't make people uncomfortable: I don't make eye contact as far as I know, and it was that fact which was remarked upon, not that I do make eye contact as an attempt to appear to be normal. As the article called it, people with Asperger's "learn social skills intellectually", and that's what I have done with other aspects of my life, but no attempt ahs been made with eye contact.

Asperger's has two distinct possibilities - either people don't make eye contact, or make uncomfortable contact. I misunderstood you initially, though, about you not making that contact.

Normal procrastination or aspect of Asperger's? I don't know. But most other people had done more revision in their whole day before I'd even woken up.

I think that particular part is a hard one to draw the line for. On the one hand, many people can do procrastination. On the other hand, with Asperger's it again seems to be different. It looks like people with Asperger's can have generally normal willpower, but experience these problems exactly when faced with something uninteresting. I imagine the difference as the following:

A normal person will not want to revise, and will do something that they like. Like watch a TV instead of revising, which I am sure is something you'll find many students do.

A person with Asperger's will try to put off revising even if he has nothing much better to do then. He'll do one thing, then another, then another, trying to do anything interesting at all, because it's extremely hard for him to bring himself to do the uninteresting stuff.

On the upside, the better-than-average memory usually helps people with Asperger's get acceptable results in school/university while putting relatively less time into it.

Now that you mention TV, I am weird about that myself. I don't like TV, generally. I hardly ever watch it. But The X-Files, my favorite ever show, I am quite obsessive about, not only I've watched every episode too many times, I seem to remember way too much about the show...

[Dis]

Originally posted by Solver

Whether I look into someone's eyes or not, I do not know, it's all instinct and not remembered.

See, that's not Asperger-like. Eye contact is a form of social skill, more specifically, social interaction. For most people, it becomes instinct-like, something they don't think about. A person with Asperger's, whose eye contact makes other people uncomfortable, has to actively remember during his conversations not to look people in the eye as he normally would. As the article called it, people with Asperger's "learn social skills intelectually" to avoid making other people uncomfortable.

I'm sure everyone can have his eye contact commented on once or twice. People often avoid eye contact in specific situations for various reasons - they may be lying, angry, etc.

Results in exams don't have much to do with intellect. And people with Asperger's often have poor exam results if they don't find the subject interesting. That's another defining characteristic, they can be downright manic about stuff that interests them, but find it extremely hard to do uninteresting stuff. Exams typically require revision, and revision of something uninteresting will be extremely hard for a person with Asperger's to do.

The eye contact I do qualify for. I have to make active actions to do it. When I'm with my girlfriend, I have to remind myself constantly to make eye contact with her and look for body language. I can do it, but I have to work at it. And I can't make eye contact 100% of the time. I look away often. Though that's usually good, as you don't want to be staring to the point you make them uncomfortable.

[Darius871]

nm