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This is a thread in which we argue about the true prevalence of Asperger’s Syndrome
brandotheninjamaster
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
For those of you who don't know what Aspergers is:
Personal Accounts of my bought with Aspergers:
Social Stuff:
My entire life, my mother was told by many people that I have ADD, but for some reason Ritalin did nothing for me. To say that I had problems in school socially would be an understatement. I have always had problems carrying on conversations, understanding mannerisms (more specifically body langauge), and looking people in the eyes when speaking (even if it was 1 on 1). All of the aforementioned social ineptitudes combined made me a very easy target for bullies.
Physical Stuff:
Many people with Aspergers also tend to have heightened vision and hearing; I am no exception. My vision is 20/15 and loud noises, well...I don't like them. I also have an intense shiver that will last 1-3 seconds at least once a day. There are a bunch of things that trigger it from rain falling on me to someone brushing up against me. Sometimes it just happens without any warning. I do however exert slight control over the outbursts.
What this thread is really about:
As the title suggests, lets talk about Aspergers. Is there anyone you know that has it? Do you have it? How are either people you know or you yourself dealing with this? If you had this and they came out with a cure, would you take it?
I'll start us off with the way I dealt with/deal with it now:
After I graduated HS, I had to go out and find a job. Having no experience with anything substantial prior, I started in retail. While helping customers and just talking to people I began to gain a limited understanding of how to carry on a decent conversation, what mannerisms and overall body langauge meant (folded arms meant defensive posture, etc.), and how strike up a conversation with a total stranger without worry. I think it also helped that I wasn't diagnosed with this until I was 24 so I had no idea that I was combating this; I just thought that I was socially inept.
My apologies if I made this OP sound like a LiveJournal entry. I suck at making OPs.
wiki wrote:Asperger syndrome (pronounced /ˈasˌpərgɘr ˌsɪndrəʊm/ in the U.S., /ˈasˌpəːgɘ/ in Britain; also called Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's or AS) is one of several autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by difficulties in social interaction and by restricted, stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities. AS is distinguished from the other ASDs in having no general delay in language or cognitive development. Although not mentioned in standard diagnostic criteria, motor clumsiness and atypical use of language are frequently reported.
Personal Accounts of my bought with Aspergers:
Social Stuff:
My entire life, my mother was told by many people that I have ADD, but for some reason Ritalin did nothing for me. To say that I had problems in school socially would be an understatement. I have always had problems carrying on conversations, understanding mannerisms (more specifically body langauge), and looking people in the eyes when speaking (even if it was 1 on 1). All of the aforementioned social ineptitudes combined made me a very easy target for bullies.
Physical Stuff:
Many people with Aspergers also tend to have heightened vision and hearing; I am no exception. My vision is 20/15 and loud noises, well...I don't like them. I also have an intense shiver that will last 1-3 seconds at least once a day. There are a bunch of things that trigger it from rain falling on me to someone brushing up against me. Sometimes it just happens without any warning. I do however exert slight control over the outbursts.
What this thread is really about:
As the title suggests, lets talk about Aspergers. Is there anyone you know that has it? Do you have it? How are either people you know or you yourself dealing with this? If you had this and they came out with a cure, would you take it?
I'll start us off with the way I dealt with/deal with it now:
After I graduated HS, I had to go out and find a job. Having no experience with anything substantial prior, I started in retail. While helping customers and just talking to people I began to gain a limited understanding of how to carry on a decent conversation, what mannerisms and overall body langauge meant (folded arms meant defensive posture, etc.), and how strike up a conversation with a total stranger without worry. I think it also helped that I wasn't diagnosed with this until I was 24 so I had no idea that I was combating this; I just thought that I was socially inept.
My apologies if I made this OP sound like a LiveJournal entry. I suck at making OPs.
brandotheninjamaster on
Posts
This is my gripe as well.
Most people are dianosed in the early years of life. Since people with Aspergers have poor motor skills, they tend to crawl and walk late. As for the diagnosis itself, you just go to your general doctor who asks you a bunch of questions. If you are an adult being dianosed like myself you have to go before an autism board so they can rule out a bunch of other stuff before saying "this is what you have." (I haven't done that part yet, so far I've just seen my family doctor I don't really have the time or money for the rest yet, so thats on temp hold). As for what those tests entail, I'm not sure yet.
Not every asperger diagnosed individual exhibits all symptoms, and not every one exhibits the same symptoms to the same degree, although all of them tend to be universally the same.
According to the DSM -
In order to be diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a person must show two of these problems:
* "Marked impairment" regarding nonverbal social cues (doesn't make eye contact, doesn't understand others' body language, etc);
* Failure to make friends;
* Lack of appropriate social and emotional responses to others; or
* Inability to spontaneously share enjoyment, interests and achievements with other people.
In addition, the person must show one of these behaviors:
* An abnormal and intense interest in one subject;
* Adherence to a strict set of rules, routines and rituals;
* Repetition of certain mannerisms like hand flapping, hair twisting or even whole body movements
* An obsession in the parts or mechanics of objects.
Some people are just misanthropic, curmudgeonly assholes. It's easy to say "That guy must be Autistic/Asperger", but odds are, he's just a miserable cunt.
But, I met a girl this past week. It was at the VSA of Washington--I'm not sure if you're familiar with VSA or not. Anyway, you could tell she was kind of tightly wound, and had a service dog. I meant to ask my sister (who helps run it) what the point of the dog was, but I forgot. The only thing really "wrong" with her was sensitivity to noises. Not just loud noises, but having a radio station on would upset her, etc. Other than that, she was a pretty good artist.
Just something on the side, have you heard of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime? Follows a teen with Asperger's. One of the interesting things is that he would carry around a CD of white noise, I believe, as it was a constant sound that calmed him down. After meeting this girl, that seems like a pretty realistic scenario.
Though that fucking moron on YouTube, Daxflame or whatever, hitting his head on the doorknob while spazzing is hysterical every. damn. time.
From my gf's experiences, these are the kinds of traits which are most often manifested:
The adherence to rules and routines is a very particular one she notices, as well as a seemingly total lack of empathy or concern for others.
From her point of view, there's a clear distiction from kids who have some form of autism, and kids who are just naughty or weird or have some other relatively normal issue going on.
She's also said that in her opinon some of the kids which have been "diagnosed" with Aspergers, don't actually have it at all. In some cases this has been corroborated when the school finds out that the "diagnosis" has not been provided by a doctor but by the parent.
I would actually recommend, you know, learning something before running your mouth like a goddamned idiot.
I would actually recommend, you know, not making excuses for your social awkwardness and being an asshole.
Aspergers is bullshit. I say it again.
We better not be dating the same girl.
Wow, I didn't think Mike Savage was a frequenter of the Penny Arcade Forums. Just a suggestion, but it's pretty unlikely that a documented mental condition is actually a vast medical conspiracy by socially awkward people to feel better about themselves. It might, you know, actually exist. Occam's Razor and all that.
What evidence do you have for your claim?
It would be both awesome and bizzare if this were actually the case and the PA:D&D thread was her undoing... 8-)
I don't even know who Mike Savage is.
I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, I'm just saying it's a bullshit excuse to explain why some people are socially awkward. When I was a kid, ADHD was the big thing all the kids had. Hell, I was even diagnosed with it. And I think ADHD is bullshit. And I'm not trying to say "Well the government maaaann, they just wanna make us all the same, maaaan. They wanna control your thoughts, maaan." like some idiot hippy.
I don't understand the need to categorize everything all the time. Some people are just hyper, others just don't have good social skills. It's just what makes a different. To classify these things as diseases and disorders just reeks of medical bullshit.
It also gives morons excuses. "Well, I can't study well because I can't focus from ADHD." Then fucking get rid of the distractions. "Well, I can't get a date because of my aspergers." Then fucking learn how to talk to people. You know what helped me with my social problems? Working in sales. As much as the job sucked, I learned how to talk to people better than I ever did before. I didn't have a disease, I just needed to learn.
To me, it's like Chris Rock said in '96. "Whatever happened to 'Crazy'? Can't people just be crazy anymore?"
Just because something is over-diagnosed, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Good gravy.
So be quiet.
Alot of that for ADHD is perpetrated by Pediatricians who don't reccomend the kids see a proper psychiatrist. They just throw a disease out there to satisfy the parents.
And Bama, the Chris Rock was meant to be funny. Not really serious to my argument.
I have known a number of people with Asperger's and let me tell you what the difference is between someone with a disorder and somebody who is socially awkward.
Somebody like yourself who is/was only socially awkward can get over it. You worked in sales, got past it, learned to fix it. That is good, well done. Somebody with Asperger's? Can't do that. They can't just learn to get past it. Can they mask it, adapt? Maybe some of them. But it doesn't really go away (I mean, maybe some less severe cases can get past it, I'm not an expert, but I don't think that is the case).
What I'm saying is, you don't seem to have any concept of what the difference between social awkwardness as a result of a disorder and social awkwardness as a problem is.
I agree that probably many people diagnosed with Asperger's don't really have it, but that happens with most things. I have bipolar disorder, a very severe "case" of it. I can tell you 100% that it is real. However, I have known plenty of people who claim they have it and in fact don't. Many people are of the opinion that it is not a real disorder for that reason (people being misdiagnosed with it). This seems to basically be the case here with Asperger's. Just because people are misdiagnosed with it does not mean it doesn't exist.
In general, if someone on the internet or someone you don't know very closely says they have Asperger's, they are full of fucking shit. Punch them in the cock, if you can. It's pretty rare and it pisses me off to no end when I'm in an IRC chat room and someone says "I have Asperger's" and five other people are like "me too ololol".
However, brandotheninjamaster seems to at least have somewhat of a clue, so it's possible he actually has been diagnosed with it. But, he could be a well-informed douche bag. brandotheninjamaster, if I find out you're full of shit, I owe you a cock punching. I'm keeping my eyes on you.
Is it overdiagnosed? Well, in children, yeah. Or at least it was. I don't know about now. Is it overdiagnosed in adults? No. It's actually pretty underdiagnosed in adults.
he could also be a hypochondriac (man i have no clue how to spell that) and just assign random diseases to himself.
but ill believe he has it since its not really being used as an excuse for some other behavior in this thread so it seems like he really believes he has it.
the term they want is probably asocial but they are too damn shy to ask! (now im just joking)
Unfortunately, I am making a sardonic and grandiose statement to sort of offer a humble point that there's a distinction between bad people and people who have diseases. I'm not sure if the criteria I have posited is of any use to anyone, but I decided to put it out there, anyway.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is a defined and specific problem. It has less to do with avoiding people and more to do with either wanting to hurt people or not caring if you hurt people. So, close. It's not that "serial killers are considered antisocial" so much as having APD would tend to create a personality that could become a serial killer.
I'm not suggesting that people with problems are just bad people. I'm suggesting there are two brands of people - people with problems, and people with disorders. That being a bad person doesn't necessarily mean that you have a disorder. I guess I should just 'be quiet' though, I don't want to put forth any sentiment that detracts from the validity of the disorders in question, merely to say that correlation does not mean causation.
Are their any actual cures or treatments for it? Or is just generally a thing where if you know you have it, you then know you have to work extra hard to get around it?
You treat mental illness the same way, by going to a professional, figuring out what's wrong, and coming up with a way to treat it.