Ask an Asperger

[thetrooper]

How do you 'think' in four dimensions?

 

[downtown]

Who says it needs to be treated?

Its not like social skills training is going to make somebody with Aspergers "dumb" or something...mearly more well rounded. I can't imagine why one would want to write off meaningful social relationships from their life.

Obviously, it doesnt work for everybody, but if my kid, or somebody I loved had Aspergers, I would seek a treatment plan, just like I would for any other mental abnormality, if it negativally impacted their quality of life.

My Brother in Law has Aspergers, and my sister is a mental health researcher who has spent the last several months working with teenagers with the disorder live fuller and healthier lives. Wouldn't that be the best case? You'd be brilliant in some areas, and still be able to handle people.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I figure I should take a crack at some of these questions. I have Asperger's and am rather proud of it, and I think the more voices we get on the topic the more fleshed out of an Image people can get of the Asperger's community.

I now have three questions for you.

What is your name?
What is your quest?
What is the Capital of Assyria?

Matt, To pass my finals, Assur. In that order.

How hard do you find it to make good friends?

I have a usual answer to this question. I don't really have friends, I have aquientences. I know people, I speak to these people daily, and I enjoy associating with those people, but I would not say we are truely friends. I am in a sense, friendly with many, but friends with few.
That said, since I began coming to college, I have had a breakthrough in social relations. For the first time I have been invited to a party, and within months of knowing people (I began in the fall), and better yet, I fit in when I was there.
It is also of note that though I am male, I have significantly easier time making friends with females. They seem to make more sense to me, and throughout my life I have been closer to females then males.

Are you in treatment?

Yes. I am currently taking Respedol, but am going off of it this Winter break.

Do you have any interest in sports?

Yes. I'm a black belt in Taekwondo, and have done some training in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.

Which languages do you find the greatest connection to? Which make the most intuitive sense?

I'm a native english speaker, though I find German to make much more sense. Blockwords make the language much more simple and elegent.

I wonder what it is about either the Syndrome that attracts people with it to CFC or what it is about CFC that attracts people with AS?

If I may venture a guess, Civilization is a very Asperger's friendly game. It has a high degree of micromanagement, an appeal to special interests in varying societies (For example, Stalin is one of my special interests).

How do you do with 3D rotation? Have you taken organic chemistry yet, there's a lot rotation involved in that discipline?

Oddly enough, I cannot relate to people who think physically. I think almost completely in vocabulary, and have virtually no mechanical intelligence.

Do you get annoyed when people refer to it as "Assburger"?

Extremely, though I have developed numerously more vile insults for those who do not have the syndrome.

 

[Swedishguy]

Its not like social skills training is going to make somebody with Aspergers "dumb" or something...mearly more well rounded. I can't imagine why one would want to write off meaningful social relationships from their life.

I can't imagine that some people take for granted that social relationships are meaningful.

 

[Xanikk999]

Socializing is only interesting IMO if its with the opposite sex.

Thats the thing about aspergers we dont get jollies from socializing.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Not all of us. I find socializing very important. However I reject any and all "treatment". What qualifies someone as an expert on socialization? If we are going to qualify one as an expert in socialization, maybe we should compare. How many friends does he have? How many successfull relationships? Is he married?
If he doesn't have outstanding credentials in these fields, as say, a universally beloved person, with a successfull marriage, numerous close friends, and the ability for witty conversation, I don't see what qualify's him as an expert.
Most the time these experts amount to having degrees in psychiatry, which from experience, does not directly transfer into good social skills, if they did, I would imagine psychiatrists would have such an active social life, that they would not get around to the hard work of prescribing drugs to people who are different then them and wondering about oedipus complex's or whatever runs through there head.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

What's your savant ability?

What's savant?

 

[Kyriakos]

What about my questions?

 

[betazed]

How do you 'think' in four dimensions?

It’s not too hard once you get the hang of it.

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As far as this particular syndrome is concerned I must say that I am very skeptical of anyone who claims that they have it and point it as a disability. IME, it is usually the case that they just lack confidence and courage (and usually severely intimidated by the thought that they might be rejected in a social situation) and hence avoid social contact/occasions. Pardon my saying this (and my apologies to all who genuinely suffer from this), but what the average claimant of Asperger’s needs is a solid kick in the ass to boost their confidence! It works wonders!

This does not mean that the syndrome does not exist. It surely does; and there are genuine cases where a person has this and suffers from it. I am just questioning the frequency of this disease.

When I was a kid no one I knew claimed to have this disease. Now dozens claim to have it. Now what does that tell me?

 

[ParkCungHee]

As I understand it, there is also a significant amount of "baggage" with Asperger's, that is unnassociated with Schizoid disorder.
For example, I have sensory integration disorder, which means I don't process sounds normally. I have a much lower tollerance for High Pitched and loud noises. I find concerts a detestable experience for the most part due to this.
I also have a difficult time naturalizing sounds. Most people can easily ignore sounds that go on around them.

 

[ParkCungHee]

IAs far as this particular syndrome is concerned I must say that I am very skeptical of anyone who claims that they have it and point it as a disability. IME, it is usually the case that they just lack confidence and courage (and usually severely intimidated by the thought that they might be rejected in a social situation) and hence avoid social contact/occasions. Pardon my saying this (and my apologies to all who genuinely suffer from this), but what the average claimant of Asperger’s needs is a solid kick in the ass to boost their confidence! It works wonders!

I don't recall anyone being forced into hospitalization for a lack of confidence.

When I was a kid no one I knew claimed to have this disease. Now dozens claim to have it. Now what does that tell me?

That we have advanced in our ability to diagnose and inform the public about it?

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Does a person with Asperger's have a set, structured with axioms way of thinking of how people interract?

Sort of. I've had to learn the rules for social situations that most people pick up on unconsciously, which was painful and involved a lot of screaming "THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!" as a child, but the result is that most people seem dim-witted and manipulable because I can watch them working according to rules, and so I can sometimes pull their strings.
(Example - A teenage clannish gang started being pushy at me once, looking for a fight. I had seen them do this before and nobody had won a fight against the six of them. I warned the first one off, punched him once and dragged him through three rooms and a hallway. Not a single one of them got in an attack on me while this happened, and then they filed off looking stupid.)

How do you 'think' in four dimensions?

By imagining multiple objects in the same apparent position. Try visualising the lines between opposing corners for a square (an X), a cube and then a hypercube...

 

[IronMan2055]

Very hard. Its gotten better over the years but making friends with girls as still hard.

agreed but i still find it hard to order in a fast food place

 

[ParkCungHee]

Yes, thank you! The worst is subway, because you can't order quickly and quietly, you have to keep bugging the man through everystep.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I can't order at a fast food place at all. I have to get someone else to do it.

 

[betazed]

I don't recall anyone being forced into hospitalization for a lack of confidence.

That we have advanced in our ability to diagnose and inform the public about it?

Are you telling me that you do not see the inherent allure to the average person in assuming that he has a ingrained physiological problem which stops him from behaving normally (and makes him superhuman in some sense to boot) than actually standing up and figuring out how to solve the problem the hard way?

If you don’t then I guess you may have Asperger’s

 

[Xanikk999]

One thing i am also unwilling to do is confront someone about something HE did embarrasing or start a conflict.

I never liked dealing with angry customers at hollywood video.

 

[ParkCungHee]

If you don’t then I guess you may have Asperger’s

Or in the very least, I've been segregated from mainstream schooling, forced to take medication against my will, been institutionalized etc. and am Arguing from the other side. I can't see why someone would want all that.
I do agree that there is a serious problem of self-diagnosis, but you have to remember 15 years ago this diagnosis did not exist in English speaking countries, so yes we're going to see a rapid climb.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I can't order at a fast food place at all. I have to get someone else to do it.

For a while I had to do the same at subway. I also can't leave messages on Answering machines without writing my responce first most the time.

 

[betazed]

Or in the very least, I've been segregated from mainstream schooling, forced to take medication against my will, been institutionalized etc. and am Arguing from the other side. I can't see why someone would want all that.
I do agree that there is a serious problem of self-diagnosis, but you have to remember 15 years ago this diagnosis did not exist in English speaking countries, so yes we're going to see a rapid climb.

Park, please do not take this personally or emotionally. I am making no claims on whether you specifically do or do not have Asperger's. You may. Or may not.

I am just asking questions about the general frequency of the disease as it is claimed.