Aspergers
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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
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Quote:
*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!
Quote:
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
Cornelius Henning wrote:
And thanks most sincerely for starting this thread. It's the most useful thing I ever encountered on the web!
I'm glad. Learning about aspergers has helped me understand a lot about myself, I hoped that perhaps others would have the same experience if I brought it up here.
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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Cornelius Henning wrote:
And thanks most sincerely for starting this thread. It's the most useful thing I ever encountered on the web!
I'm glad. Learning about aspergers has helped me understand a lot about myself, I hoped that perhaps others would have the same experience if I brought it up here.
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 hoped that perhaps others would have the same experience if I brought it up here.
All I can say is: You have achieved your goal, at least in my case! And if it's inappropriate to give another man a rose: Who cares? I have a license to do the inappropriate - I'm an Aspie! :rose:
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I hoped that perhaps others would have the same experience if I brought it up here.
All I can say is: You have achieved your goal, at least in my case! And if it's inappropriate to give another man a rose: Who cares? I have a license to do the inappropriate - I'm an Aspie! :rose:
*grin* I love 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.