Autism

[flippinfreak]

Maybe I'm a klepto, it could be ADD, but my mind doesn't go crazy thinking about things, it would rather think of nothing. Like Asperger syndrome, rather have no feelings than even one, I try to get past each emotion instead of fueling any fire inside of me.

 

[monkeegutz]

hey, just wanted to pop in here, seeing as I have (or perhaps had is more accurate now) asperger's syndrome and have done more than my fair share of research as well as plenty of my own observations

the event described in the first post is quite distinctly not seen by someone with asperger's. as someone said above, a person with asperger's syndrome would not recognize that anythign went wrong there. thats just how I was for the longest time.

I wont go through an entire list of charactreristics, but the easiest to notice of them tend to be the terrible handwriting, social impariment and an extreme skill in one or two fields of interest.

while, alas, is is impossible (right now) to 'cure' autism (or, consequentially, asperger's sydrome) it can be worked around, given enough determination. however, noone else can really help make this change in the guy with asperger's syndrome: he has to seek it himself

for example, when I began to manage asperger's syndrome and try to actualy enter the social field, I found myself with no real socal skills whatsoever (big suprise, I hadent ever tried, so of course I had no skills). since I cant really use someone's facial expressions or tone of voice or any other body language to tell mood implicitally, I had to study (yes, study) facial expressions, and practice with myself determining what each person I walked by was feeling. Knowing what (and when) to say something is constantally a problem, as well as knowing if a joke is any good, or if it just plain old sucks. things like that as well as any unique social situation are not things that I just 'know'... I have to make myself a speerate 'rule' for what is and isn't appropriate for that case. I try my best to use my friends's (alot of them being some of the best playas at our school) stratgies and humor, etc as much as often, and I constantally ask them for advice.

so yes, if you are determined, and you are willing to pay the price (that is, spending inoridaniate ammouns of me studying and practicignd trying even when you know you are going to fail... and Im not talking about 10 hour's time, I am talking 2-3 hours a day, every single day for 4 months or so, to bring me from 0 social life, to slightly below average social life (as a senior at high school). I intend to spend the majority of the rest of my summer before georgia tech gaining more... usefiul skills, such as knowing how to flirt (which, naturally, comes as diffuclt, or even more so, than a regular social life and conversation... ) in fact, right now I only know the very basics (still on the flirtig topic)-- it seems like its basically just a normal conversation, asking open questions, smiling and eye contact...but IDK how that makes a girl like you...see, I stil have alot to learn before being up to par with everyone else...

oh on that topic, could anyone please comment on if I have the right idea on that? (points to section of last paragraph on my beliefs on what flirting is)
thanks

now the ironic thing is, that even though I wrote all this, someone with apserger's (and not having recognized/began to try to ammend it) isnt even going to be the kind of person to try to read this post. in fact, you can be assured that your average person who has asperger's syndrome would never even visit a site like this---they would just look at it and think "wow, why do people even care about girls and dating?? its just a waste of time and money"

erm...well...uh..... Im basically just rambling, so Ill quit talking while im behind

 

[flippinfreak]

lol, monkeegutz, ewwww

I've gone through each of those details. If you knew my life before I was 10, you would understand why I think I have 'Asperger's syndrome'. I have the same symptoms... if that helps, I think every guy here has them.

I have about three memorys a year up until I was about 14. None involve emotions. They are just facts....

All that came to my mind was video games and newspaper. The newspaper especially for the comics. I lived off comics for the first 10 years of my life. I'd always have one friend, ALWAYS, still do... they just keep cycling.

It's the unable to read emotions, and feel emotions that was REAL B!TCH for me to work with when I was younger. I'm quite good at it now, but damn do I ever run into a few spooks here and there.

My entire set of emotions are through Calvin & Hobbes, Farside, and Garfield. Cartoons were my life. Well that and being a tag along to all of my friends. Told to do this, told to feel that, told to think this, and told to ask that. say yes not yup, I still catch myself thinking that phrase.

 

[penkitten]

read :
the curious incident of the dog in the night time.

it rocks

 

[Deep Dish]

I have Asperger's. While it's the "mild" version of autism, where it does affect me it's severe and so overwhelmingly controls how I think that to fight it is almost insurmountable. Remarkable how having a "dash" of autism is still severely disabling in social regards.

I had a kid who had all the tell-tale signs of Asperger's sit in front of me last year in high-school chemistry. The kid was practically a genius, in that he could repeat verbose what the teacher had taught us about a concept a month ago and usually had one of the top scores come test time. However, he may have been more of 'idio-savant' (sp?) because I don't think he could make his own lunch if his life depended on it. He conversed only with the teacher, could not grasp the concept of "indoor voice" or "not speaking out of turn", it would take him an hour to write what you or I could copy down in minutes, and he generally just acted like it was only him and the teacher in the class, sneering or not replying when anyone else addressed him.

About lunches, yeah, I love to eat out and never really cook anything. Cooking, to me, is too complicated and difficult. About voices, it wasn't until fairly recently that I took control of regulating my voice; it's about egocentrism and the fact that changing the pitch of your voice to suit the environment is one of those unwritten societal rules that we were never told but are expected to follow. As is characteristic of the disorder, I picked up many social rules on my own—such as never ask someone what's their name more than twice—but completely missed many others (and no one ever bothered to tell me). As for being addressed, it's not intentional arrogance but that when someone says something to me, often it'll take awhile for it to sink in and understand what the hell they just said; as if they were speaking Russian to me and it took five seconds for the closed captioning to translate it. Many times I'll say "I'm sorry?" or "What was that?" and have the person repeat what they said, not that I didn't hear what they said but either it didn't register or I wanted confirmation. In a few ways, I'm like a broken record, everything repeats itself. Everything repeats itself.

It's manageable but it never goes away. While I can improve and manage my social skills, my thoughts will always be filtered through the tight grip of its control. Other than being cognitively self-aware, which does go a long way, the only thing which seems to help is light use of marijuana. Getting stoned once every one or two weeks seems to help ward off excessive anxiety. It'd be great if the FDA approved synthetic oxytocin for autism—I figure it’s my only chance to be capable of empathy.

Lastly, if my memory serves me correct, Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman" is autistic.

Yes, but he was a mixture of that and being a savant. Wouldn't want people to think memorizing an entire phone book is characteristic of autism.

Wyldfire:
However, there are cases so mild that you'd never guess the person was Autistic.

I'm one of those people. Just today a woman kept on asking me why I don't plan on ever getting married and how I say relationships just aren't my thing, and when I told her why, she said she would have never known.

madgame:
Do you have "special interests" which you are kinda obsessed with?

Even though this question wasn't addressed to me, my obsessions run in cycles. I'll be fixated on one particular topic for up to a few years and then switch to something else.

 

[monkeegutz]

As for being addressed, it's not intentional arrogance but that when someone says something to me, often it'll take awhile for it to sink in and understand what the hell they just said; as if they were speaking Russian to me and it took five seconds for the closed captioning to translate it. Many times I'll say "I'm sorry?" or "What was that?" and have the person repeat what they said, not that I didn't hear what they said but either it didn't register or I wanted confirmation. In a few ways, I'm like a broken record, everything repeats itself. Everything repeats itself.

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oh my god. I thought that was just me. I always take about 5-6 extra seconds durring a spoken conversation to keep up with someone.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

I'm not autistic, but I have ADD. In elementary school I didn't talk to anyone besides my family and 2 friends and at school I was completely mute, but at home I was quite the chatter box. I remember as a child thinking that I was going to lose my voice, because I didnt talk much. High school was better, more friends, more associates... I was shy from K--1oth grade. Now I'm anything but shy; I talk to everyone and approach ppl every where. I'm also a LOUD talker, always have been and I dont know why. What is the connection between talking loud and ADD/autism.

I also have revolving hobbies/ interests that consume a huge part of my life. For 2 weeks I might become infactuated with gyrocopters and will read and learn everything about them, next week or next month it might be golf, then writing screen plays. I revolve these hobbies every few months, there's always something new. It's definitely an interesting way to live and I love it!!! My daydreaming has stopped since I've changed my diet to lower carbs and only whole foods.

 

[Deep Dish]

SELF-MASTERY:
I'm also a LOUD talker, always have been and I dont know why. What is the connection between talking loud and ADD/autism.

Apparently, many people diagnosed with ADD are being re-diagnosed as having high functioning autism as the awareness of the disorder among doctors increases.

It's definitely an interesting way to live and I love it!!!

Hell yeah, brotha!

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

--- There has also been a link made between ADD and OCD. I have chatted to many ADD people who have strong OCD tendencies, incldng myself. I always have weird thoughts that linger in my head, since 3rd grade I've always counted my steps, since 4th grade counted to ten after I pray, before bed check the knobs on the stove and oven 20 times, always make initials for EVERY thing I here. Example: I'm watching TV and the actor says "We have to save him," I hasteful repeat to myself W.H.T.S.H, W.H.T.S.H. I think that ADD is a misdiagnosis in most cases people have multiple afflictions that are too mild to be fully diagnosis as a more serious disorder, but in the end we live with our weirdness and our girlfriends and family learn to love us for our oddness; no bitkhing allowed.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

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oh my god. I thought that was just me. I always take about 5-6 extra seconds durring a spoken conversation to keep up with someone.

I always get accused of not paying attention to someone speaking to me. I can give strong eye contact, but the world around me is too interesting to give one person all of my attention. I was at a job fair today and it happened there. I'm talking to this guy about a teaching job and everything he says gets a little fuzzy, I get bored with his conversation, so, I let my eyes and mind wonder a little bit and I could he was getting pissed at me for not "paying attention." I think that I'm pretty glib when I want information: tell me the nuts and bolts and save the filler...

 

[frivolousz21]

damn.



Now I can see why I couldnt get threw to most people here.



Good luck with deal with these issues guys!

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

And why do we need you to get through to us???

I'm loving the hell out of my life.