Aspergers
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Very interesting thread. I'm surprised that so many people scored so highly - very revealing indeed. I would normally argue that stereotypes about developers are wrong, but perhaps it's something about the dedicated ones which separates them from those who purely do it as a profession, a way to earn a living. I scored 19.
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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Interesting. 27 for me. So I'm just an antisocial sunshine, it's not medical...
The universe is composed of electrons, neutrons, protons and......morons. (ThePhantomUpvoter)
OriginalGriff wrote:
Interesting. 27 for me.
Same here.
OriginalGriff wrote:
So I'm just an antisocial sunshine, it's not medical...
That is exactly how other people see me. After they pissed me off. You know, I mostly hide my "Antisocial sunshine"-Me from people - Until they step over the line and piss me off. cheers, Marco
**Marco Bertschi
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Scored a 37. That may just be down to the fact that I'm a massively antisocial and moody know-it-all who doesn't care much for reality TV and casting shows, thus leaving me with zero material for small talk should anyone ever get past the abject hostility I project outwards at all times. I used to think I was on the spectrum, until I met some people who genuinely did fit the bill.
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Wow - 9 ? How is that even possible ? :P
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Christian Graus wrote:
seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be [aspergers]
You're projecting. Score for me: 19
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein -
OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I got 26 on that test, but I wonder if my higher than average score is due to raising 2 lads that suffer from Aspergers. I still find it amazing how different that they are. The eldest lad has a photographic memory for numbers that can span years, but struggles with the simplest of things. The younger lad needs academic stimulation on a daily basis but suffers from mild temper tantrums and fits of anger etc.
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Help end the violence EAT BACON
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Interesting. 27 for me. So I'm just an antisocial sunshine, it's not medical...
The universe is composed of electrons, neutrons, protons and......morons. (ThePhantomUpvoter)
30 for me. I always tell my wife I'm allowed to be antisocial, I work in IT when she has a go at me for being rude. I'm much happier with social interactions on line, I really hate talking on the phone, I enjoy performing for people when I know what I'm doing. I'm fascinated by numbers and patterns, I hate routine. I completely fail to notice detail most of the time. I have an incredibly short attention span.
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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30 for me. I always tell my wife I'm allowed to be antisocial, I work in IT when she has a go at me for being rude. I'm much happier with social interactions on line, I really hate talking on the phone, I enjoy performing for people when I know what I'm doing. I'm fascinated by numbers and patterns, I hate routine. I completely fail to notice detail most of the time. I have an incredibly short attention span.
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
Phones? Hate 'em - I can't get any sense of what the other person is thinking while I talk, which makes it incredibly difficult to explain stuff. The attention span I know as well: I annoy Herself by reading a book while watching TV (and talking to her at the same time)
The universe is composed of electrons, neutrons, protons and......morons. (ThePhantomUpvoter)
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The biggest problem in psychology today is - if you behave different than social norms tell you to, we have to give you some diagnosis. My opinion at "aspies" (I might be one) is that they are normal people that just behave differently (you can have hyperactive people, pasive people ect.). So I would never make some special group for introvert, observant, asocial type of people. And there is always one quote that goes something like this : "Today if you don't fit in school they try to find you diagniosis (so we have ADHD....), in my days we were just stupid
The definition of what is considered *normal*, I fear is manipulated by the drugs companies who have a vested interest in selling their product. No doubt Marketeers help enforce the reports produced by the drugs companies. The new normal. over-medicated zombies. I am happy :|
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I have Aspergers, and no, it is NOT a disability. I am an Eagle Scout with all 129 Merit Badges that were out when I turned 18. I am the 125th person in 100 years to do that. I am an honor roll student, and was on the deans list at my high school for all 4 years, and I received the Academic Letter three times. I got accepted to any university I applied to, and won sixteen(!) different scholarships. I used to be nonverbal and unable to interact with people, but now people do not realize that I am autistic unless I tell them. That is how far I have come in getting over this.
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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Haha, me too. They then put me into some advanced classes and I got along just fine. Turns out I just had "smart". :-D
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I feel like some of the questions should be more clear. People may be reading "I find it difficult to" and answering it as "I just don't like to." I find that wording strange. For instance, taking out the garbage, it is physically easy to do, but not necessarily easy to find motivation to do, since I don't like to do it. I may be tempted to say, "I find it difficult to take out the garbage." because I find it difficult to be motivated to take out the garbage. I also feel like a lot of the negatively viewed symptoms or traits can be learned or unlearned via conditioning (how to empathize, for instance). You can look at the poster above me for that. 31 By the way.
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The biggest problem in psychology today is - if you behave different than social norms tell you to, we have to give you some diagnosis. My opinion at "aspies" (I might be one) is that they are normal people that just behave differently (you can have hyperactive people, pasive people ect.). So I would never make some special group for introvert, observant, asocial type of people. And there is always one quote that goes something like this : "Today if you don't fit in school they try to find you diagniosis (so we have ADHD....), in my days we were just stupid
The trick is to diagnose EVERYONE with something. People who aren't aspies, for example, are neurotypical. Or, "neuros". :)
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OK, so my wife works for speech pathologists, who have muttered about me being 'on the spectrum' for years. I've read a lot of books on male/female brain difference ( which feminists insist do not exist, and even Skeptic magazine ran a fallacious story on the topic this month ), and one in particular, by Simon Baron Cohen ( cousin of Borat ), posited that autism is in fact a type of hyper masculine brain wiring. Autism, of course, is a debilitating condition, but, aspergers is less so, apart from the lack of social skills aspect. In the last year, Aspergers has been recognised as a high functioning form of mild autism. When you read that autism numbers are exploding, the cause is not vaccines, but the broadening of the definition. So, it seems almost certain that I am an aspie. And it seems to me likely that a good % of programmers are likely to be. I took the test[^] and scored 35 ( above 32 is an informal diagnosis and 16 is the average score for the general population ). I'm curious how many other people here are diagnosed or self diagnosed aspies, or may find that they could be, based on this test. The test was written by Simon Baron Cohen, the guy who wrote that book, he's written several others that I've also read, he's a smart guy.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Scored 36. Doesn't seem like I have lots of company at this height? Doesn't matter. Sort of used to be a loner. I am also an INTJ. Don't understand what it all means and don't really care all that much. Any wise-guy shrink that suggests I need "treatment" better be prepared to do some bleeding! I collect information: Understanding how "things" work.:confused: Not people. People bore me. :zzz:
Cornelius Henning A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular. -- Adlai Stevenson
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Cool - thanks. I will read it.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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I have Aspergers, and no, it is NOT a disability. I am an Eagle Scout with all 129 Merit Badges that were out when I turned 18. I am the 125th person in 100 years to do that. I am an honor roll student, and was on the deans list at my high school for all 4 years, and I received the Academic Letter three times. I got accepted to any university I applied to, and won sixteen(!) different scholarships. I used to be nonverbal and unable to interact with people, but now people do not realize that I am autistic unless I tell them. That is how far I have come in getting over this.
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
Brisingr Aerowing wrote:
I used to be nonverbal and unable to interact with people, but now people do not realize that I am autistic unless I tell them.
Yeah, I didn't know 'what' I was, but I was the same. I probably overcompensate now, being outspoken and struggling to figure out when to shut up :-)
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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I feel like some of the questions should be more clear. People may be reading "I find it difficult to" and answering it as "I just don't like to." I find that wording strange. For instance, taking out the garbage, it is physically easy to do, but not necessarily easy to find motivation to do, since I don't like to do it. I may be tempted to say, "I find it difficult to take out the garbage." because I find it difficult to be motivated to take out the garbage. I also feel like a lot of the negatively viewed symptoms or traits can be learned or unlearned via conditioning (how to empathize, for instance). You can look at the poster above me for that. 31 By the way.
wizardzz wrote:
I also feel like a lot of the negatively viewed symptoms or traits can be learned or unlearned via conditioning (how to empathize, for instance).
Absolutely. I feel like all that social 'stuff', to the degree that I do it today, I learned by rote and observation, but early on I had no clue about things that everyone else took for granted.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Scored 36. Doesn't seem like I have lots of company at this height? Doesn't matter. Sort of used to be a loner. I am also an INTJ. Don't understand what it all means and don't really care all that much. Any wise-guy shrink that suggests I need "treatment" better be prepared to do some bleeding! I collect information: Understanding how "things" work.:confused: Not people. People bore me. :zzz:
Cornelius Henning A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular. -- Adlai Stevenson
*grin* there is no 'treatment'. To me, knowing that a label applies to me, is useful because I have to interact with people who see the world differently, and I've found a set of tools in recent years to help me understand how they view things and what their expectations are. But, if there's a cure, I don't want it. Life makes sense to me the way I see it, and I'm doing fine.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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*grin* there is no 'treatment'. To me, knowing that a label applies to me, is useful because I have to interact with people who see the world differently, and I've found a set of tools in recent years to help me understand how they view things and what their expectations are. But, if there's a cure, I don't want it. Life makes sense to me the way I see it, and I'm doing fine.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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*grin* there is no 'treatment'.
Thank God! The shrinks are safe and I don't have to fear the consequences if ever I were provoked into irresponsible action by one of them!
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But, if there's a cure, I don't want it.
Ditto! You speak as profoundly as Zarathustra! And thanks most sincerely for starting this thread. It's the most useful thing I ever encountered on the web! :)
Cornelius Henning --------------------------------------------- Also sprach Zarathustra -- Nietzcsche & Richard Strauss
