Asperger's Syndrome

Ramblin Wreck

Ramblin Wreck

In the year and a half since I was diagnosed with Asperger's, I have learned an incredible amount about the disorder and about myself. However, I've also noticed that many people have a limited or even a mistaken understanding of what Asperger's is. In some circles, a claim of Asperger's, especially if it is a self-diagnosis, is immediately dismissed as someone simply trying to make excuses for why they're socially inept and to avoid having to improve themselves. In some cases, that may be true, but in many other cases the claim is legitimate, and is often followed by a professional diagnosis.

How many others here are familiar with Asperger's, are diagnosed with it, or have heard of it but don't know much about it at all? Does anyone have any questions about it in general, or my experience specifically?
 
I've known a friend or two that had it. Asperger's, like many mental handicaps, comes in a spectrum. Heck, it might even be to your advantage to have a mild form of it, as people with Asperger's often excel in other areas such as music or mathematics.
 
Ramblin Wreck said:
In some circles, a claim of Asperger's, especially if it is a self-diagnosis, is immediately dismissed as someone simply trying to make excuses for why they're socially inept and to avoid having to improve themselves.
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That's because self diagnosing a mental disorder is a terrible idea and the above is often true. You should avoid self diagnosis, pretty much always.

ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome are the two most overdiagnosed mental disorders. Many randomly gifted kids will just get diagnosed with these problems when they might just be a little bit different initially...
 
I personally have a diagnosis of mild Aspergers (not self done), and I quite simply think that it is bullshit. I'm slightly socially awkward, and quite intelligent - I tend to snap easily, and have issues reading people's emotions. However, it is possible to improve. Like with all weaknesses, working at things makes them less glaring, and with mild Aspergers, I worked at recognising social cues (over the years, I've become slightly less awkward to be around). I'm not sure if what I had was proper Aspergers. I have seen some people who are horrendously literalist and unable to understand any social interaction with any subtlety in it - but fringe cases such as my own are capable of improvement.

In a question tp the OP, what have your experiences of it generally been like? Have they been severe, or more moderated?
 
I have some of the symptoms of it, but they're not persistent enough to constitute the actual syndrome. I'm aware of it, a couple of my friends have it. One has come a really long way since we first met him about 3 or 4 years ago.
 
I have a coworker with Asperger syndrome. He's a nice guy, but he he struggles to relate to people and is sometimes oblivious when he gets on other peoples' nerves (which happens fairly often as he's quite loud and very talkative). He's also a chronic worrier and has a host of phobias.

I must confess to not knowing about the syndrome in much detail. However I would never dismiss someone who thinks they have a serious mental health problem as "making excuses", although I would recommend getting a proper diagnosis if it hasn't been done already.
 
If I asked ten people what Asperger's Syndrome was, I might get ten different answers. But on the internet at least, most people agree on one thing; Asperger's Syndrome means that you don't understand other people. Wrong. I've known several Autistic people over the years that had a normal human empathic sense. Personally, empathy was for many years a sense that eluded me. But the truth is that all of my senses are fucked up. Vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, none of them work right. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize. Empathy is only one thing that can be screwed up in the process. Sure, Autistic people are strange, it kinda comes with the territory of having a radically different outlook, but many Autistic people can empathize and recognize social cues just as well as anyone else.

Partly, most people don't know what Asperger's Syndrome is because it's existence is meaningless. It's hand holding way of saying that a person is Autistic.

Phantom_IV said:
Heck, it might even be to your advantage to have a mild form of it, as people with Asperger's often excel in other areas such as music or mathematics.
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People who are Autistic are no more likely to be smart than any normal person. Certain Autistic people have improved senses that we can't explain that allow them to play the piano perfectly at the age of 5, or do advanced equations in their head, but these cases are rare and usually attributed to more extreme cases of Autism.

Chris is me said:
ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome are the two most overdiagnosed mental disorders. Many randomly gifted kids will just get diagnosed with these problems when they might just be a little bit different initially...
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I'd love to see your statistics for this. Speaking purely out of experience, many Autistics are misdiagnosed with ADHD. And while I've seen a few people online that claimed to have Asperger's Syndrome that I was very skeptical of, most people I've met in real life were on the level. Hell, most Autistic women I've didn't even find out until they met me (women usually integrate into society easier).

MrIndigo said:
I have some of the symptoms of it, but they're not persistent enough to constitute the actual syndrome. I'm aware of it, a couple of my friends have it. One has come a really long way since we first met him about 3 or 4 years ago.
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It's not a disease, it doesn't have symptoms (and the method of diagnosing by characterization is very flawed). It's a fundamental difference that affects everything we do.
 
vonFiedler said:
I'd love to see your statistics for this. Speaking purely out of experience, many Autistics are misdiagnosed with ADHD. And while I've seen a few people online that claimed to have Asperger's Syndrome that I was very skeptical of, most people I've met in real life were on the level. Hell, most Autistic women I've didn't even find out until they met me (women usually integrate into society easier).
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Integrating into society is basically the opposite of autism. It's kind oof hard not to notice it.

vonFiedler said:
But the truth is that all of my senses are fucked up. Vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, none of them work right. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize. Empathy is only one thing that can be screwed up in the process. Sure, Autistic people are strange, it kinda comes with the territory of having a radically different outlook, but many Autistic people can empathize and recognize social cues just as well as anyone else.
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That's not what autism is.
 
That's exactly what Autism is. I don't really have anything witty to say after that first sentence. Whatever you think you know about Autism, it is quite likely incorrect. As the OP stated.
 
I have aspergers and was diagnosed with it when i was young.. around 4-7 years old and it was not a misdiagnosis or self diagnosis. If you saw me today you would never know i have/had it, because ive advanced pretty far through it. I play sports, i have a few friends, overall i react better in social situations.. except girls. imagine how hard it is for a normal kid to talk to a girl then imagine an autistic one. it blows.

I completely understand that aspergers is a huge misconception. first of all its just a catergorization. its just a bunch of people who act extremely "similar" to a certain level and they group them. Ive met people who "want to change" and people extremely content with "Staying" aspergers. personally im in the middle. some aspects are awesome. i have a quick enough brain which makes me somewhat witty in real conversations. the social part is absolutely terrible, especially in the current cultural environment where everyone parties and drinks and does drugs and gets laid and shit.

when i was diagnosed with this my mother (and my father) got a LOT of information about it, even doctors opinions and shit. theres some things with aspergers that you cant really explain to other people because it is difficult to put into words what the differences are. Also, i dont personally respect anyone who self diagnoses any disease or syndrome. most of the time it is just for attention (looks at south park episode about add).
i would have to say that ive gotten over most of the sensory issues, and a few of the emotional ones and i fit alright in with guys, and its not like i freak out or shut up around girls or anything but i get a little awkward i guess. also to the emotional part.. i really had a hard time at my grandfather's funeral because i understood the sadness but i couldnt really express it.
 
vonFiedler said:
That's exactly what Autism is.
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No it isn't. I don't know WHAT your weird senses being screwed up is meant to be but it isn't autism.

I was diagnosed at ten, I've spent more than half my life knowing about autism and Asperger's (which is NOT, in fact, just a "nice" way of saying autism) so I know what I'm talking about here.
 
As I said, Autism affects information processing in the brain. Are you suggesting that my senses aren't information being processed by my brain? Autism is characterized by a lack of social skills, but Autistics are also commonly sensitive to touch, have odd eating habits, and show other sensory abnormalities.

When I was diagnosed and told what Autism was, I didn't initially understand it. Did you, at the age of ten? So I've met with other Autistics and studied them. No two people I have met have had the same problems. If you define Autism as a person who lacks social skills, you are saying that we are a blight. A problem. But that's not true at all and it's regrettable for you act like that. We have a fundamental difference in how our brain works that can and usually does cause a lack of social social skills, but once we work through those problems we are still Autistic.
 
Ramblin Wreck said:
In some circles, a claim of Asperger's, especially if it is a self-diagnosis, is immediately dismissed as someone simply trying to make excuses for why they're socially inept and to avoid having to improve themselves.
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This is pretty much the same with any disorder/disability, and I can't speak for all who genuinely have Asperger's, but the sheer stuipdity of claims like "oh but it's ok to do things different cos i is disabled" and the even greater stupidity of such "it's ok" claims being accepted really pisses me off.

Also, vonFiedler is definitely right to at least a certain extent. The way an autistic person or an aspie thinks in general is different to the way a neurotypical person thinks in general. There may or may not be a connection between "abnormal" sensory perception and having autism or Asperger's. Either way, to say it's nothing more than lack of social skills is naive and incorrect.
 
Read Curious Incidents of the Dog in the Night Time. It is about a boy who has Aspergers Syndrome (a severe case) and although it is fiction the amount of research put in by the author is truly incredible (the actual book I found rubbish but the educational value is very high). I know somebody with Aspergers Syndrome and they are quite amazing. They can draw out the entire Tube Map by heart and knows the distance of every planet in the Solar System from the sun. But he's extremely sensitive and can 'explode' at even the slightest things. He is top set Maths (although not the best) but struggles with English. Whenever somebody says they have a mild case it pretty much means that you don't really show it as much (i.e you are kind of socially adept and are above average at sciences) also with mild cases it is not uncommon to overcome it.
 
vonFiedler said:
As I said, Autism affects information processing in the brain. Are you suggesting that my senses aren't information being processed by my brain? Autism is characterized by a lack of social skills, but Autistics are also commonly sensitive to touch, have odd eating habits, and show other sensory abnormalities.

When I was diagnosed and told what Autism was, I didn't initially understand it. Did you, at the age of ten? So I've met with other Autistics and studied them. No two people I have met have had the same problems. If you define Autism as a person who lacks social skills, you are saying that we are a blight. A problem. But that's not true at all and it's regrettable for you act like that. We have a fundamental difference in how our brain works that can and usually does cause a lack of social social skills, but once we work through those problems we are still Autistic.
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Sorry for how I came off before, I think I kinda interpreted what you said as way more extreme than what you meant. You know what I'm trying to say? Again, sorry.

After reading your examples, I can see where you're coming from. My senses are pretty weird (among other things, I'm short-sighted in one eye and far-sighted in the other, and with my eating habits, I swear I should be dead or at least morbidly obese, but I'm alive and not a land whale).

I don't think I understood straight away when I was diagnosed. I don't remember how long it took for everything to set in, but reading the stuff my parents got helped me with understanding it. It also helped my parents notice that my sisters had similar problems, and sure enough, they're autistic too. They were diagnosed younger than I was since we all knew what the signs meant, as opposed to with me where there were some "bad parenting" accusations from my school.

And I wouldn't call us a "blight" at all. My best friend's autistic as well, I actually met him at an autistic centre (which was kinda like school but more with social skill learning as opposed to "school" learning. Also allowed Game Boys and such during lunch breaks. Pokemon was actually a bonding point if you get what I'm getting at). And me and my sisters are pretty good friends too, although family probably doesn't really count as "proper" friends. My sisters have non-autistic friends, and I have a feeling that they like the "weirdness" that my sisters have due to their autism.

We're all pretty gifted too, I could read by like four, and due to a combination of this giftedness and a tip in my school diary saying that the best way to learn something is to teach someone else, one of my sisters, who at the time was in year 3 at school, could do YEAR 11 TRIGONOMETRY. This is Australian school I'm talking about here, so I don't know what the equivalent for non-Australians is.

Wow, this is one of my biggest posts.

sce4 said:
Read Curious Incidents of the Dog in the Night Time.
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I've done so. Read it a fair while ago, so I don't remember it too much though.
 
Some of us are unusually gifted, though I don't think it's prudent at this time to act like we're in anyway superior to others. Alot of Autistics are just that, without any recognizable (above average) genius or intellect.
 
I have Asperger's Syndrome, I got diagnosed with it about 6 months ago. I look back on some of the bad or different situations of my life and I can instantly see that it's almost always, something which people with asperger's syndrome commonly do.

sce4 said:
Read Curious Incidents of the Dog in the Night Time.
MegaMewtwo said:
I've done so. Read it a fair while ago, so I don't remember it too much though.
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I've also read it, again, I haven't looked at it in a while, I've got the book downstairs and will probably read it again very soon, now that I've been reminded that it's about a boy with asperger's syndrome.
 
i was diagnosed with asperger's when i was about... 11 or 12, as well as ADD. i was a formerly gifted student (left the program) who for some reason had a huge drop in his grades (from As to all Bs and some Cs) for no apparent reason in the 6th grade. i was not bullied nor had any emotional problems, so my school scrambled to "solve" my problem, hence how i got diagnosed with asperger's (btw the next year my grades went back to normal even though i was in french immersion... i can't explain it).

i was always a shy kid up to that point, but i had loads of friends. still, i felt awkward at times (probably a normal thing if you're shy) so i attributed that to asperger's and went to some behaviour modification seminars as well as practicing on my own by religiously watching movies and mimicking actors, trying to get at the essence of charisma. it was fun to watch movies so i didn't really mind and that's where i found that i really had a passion for acting.

but as i'm getting older and i'm thinking about it (it has been on my mind lately), i really think i was misdiagnosed. you have a high iq, you're gifted so something obviously is wrong with you if your grades are subpar. maybe school just sucks. because nobody i know thinks i have a hint of asperger's in me, and when i've met genuinely asperger's kids, i can just tell that i'm different. maybe i'm eccentric, but i can maintain eye contact, i am good with social cues, i can spot sarcasm (most of the time :P), i have fluid body language, and i can fucking act for pete's sake (autistic actors hello!).

so now i don't really know where i stand. am i an autistic who overcame his "disorder" or did my developmental psychologist fudge up my diagnosis? hence my cautionary tale of misdiagnosis.
 
My older brother has Asperger's Syndrome. We've known about it for as long as I can remember, so I don't know exactly when he was diagnosed, but it must have been before I was born.

P.S. I never thought that this would be the subject of my first post on Smogon. I always thought it would have more to do with..... Pokémon.
 
It's not at all impossible to develop empathic skills, nor is it impossible for a normal person to develop the musical or math skills that certain Autistic children naturally have. And like I said, everyone with Autism is different, even about as different from each other as they are from normal people. Though I don't know you very much at all ivar, I wouldn't say you come across as someone even remotely Autistic. But I can't properly judge that over the internet.
 
sce4 said:
Read Curious Incidents of the Dog in the Night Time. It is about a boy who has Aspergers Syndrome (a severe case) and although it is fiction the amount of research put in by the author is truly incredible (the actual book I found rubbish but the educational value is very high). I know somebody with Aspergers Syndrome and they are quite amazing. They can draw out the entire Tube Map by heart and knows the distance of every planet in the Solar System from the sun. But he's extremely sensitive and can 'explode' at even the slightest things. He is top set Maths (although not the best) but struggles with English. Whenever somebody says they have a mild case it pretty much means that you don't really show it as much (i.e you are kind of socially adept and are above average at sciences) also with mild cases it is not uncommon to overcome it.
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Curious Incident is a good book, but it's not entirely accurate. I've never met a person who was diagnosed with Asperger's who felt it was an accurate depiction of their experiences. While I can relate to Chris's extreme sensitivity, sensory overload, and odd fixations, they're a bit stereotypical and more profound than anyone I've met. The protagonist is a savant and his case is rather severely autistic, for starters; Asperger's is considered 'mild' autism.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome six years ago or so, as was my brother. I don't really have an opinion on it other than that, as Chris said, it's extremely overdiagnosed. I will concede that my 'symptoms' match (quotes because I am a bit wary of the way it is diagnosed and do not consider them symptoms). The thing about Asperger's is that it refers to a broad spectrum of characteristics, so it feels more like a catch-all than anything. When you say 'I have Asperger's syndrome', I can predict that you are likely to experience a range of 'symptoms' commonly associated with the syndrome, but it's really just a shot in the dark.

As I said, Autism affects information processing in the brain. Are you suggesting that my senses aren't information being processed by my brain? Autism is characterized by a lack of social skills, but Autistics are also commonly sensitive to touch, have odd eating habits, and show other sensory abnormalities.
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This is true, the most 'certain' part of Asperger's to me is that it has to do with the nervous system. After poor social skills (which are partly nature and partly nurture imo), sensory abnormality is the most common thing I've found in the number of children diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome that I've been introduced to. I am extremely sensitive to touch, except on my left side, since my entire left side is screwed up (though I think that had to do with my delivery in childbirth)... blind eye, injuries, circulation problems, less feeling of pain, etc. I overreact to unpleasant stimuli, and overload easily. When I went to school, I often had to do the 'quiet, dark room' thing, because I would have terrible panic attacks. etc. etc. I can go on for awhile. I'm also a synaesthete (look up synaesthesia), though I've never bothered to find out if there's any correlation to Asperger's.

Whenever I tell someone I have Asperger's, they react in extreme surprise. It's a little funny, heh.
 
i was sort of in a rush in my last post, but to elaborate on the sensory issues.. i dont eat food with physical fat on them, or various other textures. i dislike almost all physical contact, especially surprise contact, except hands really. not enough to freak out, but just to be put off for a bit. when i was younger, there were certain clothes i couldn't wear because they would be overly annoying/distracting from texture. i cant really comment on my eyesight because i have a totally(i think at least) unrelated eye issue from birth..

one thing i hate is that my father constantly makes an excuse of the diagnosis when assessing my choices.. like getting a job or hanging out with friends, or doing school business at school.. its just stupid naivety and after a while it really gets on your nerves when people mistreat you because of a stupid label. its one thing to get extra help or accomdations for school but to treat someone like a child is another thing. As far as i know, only my immediate family and a few of my friends even know i have aspergers. i dont avoid telling people and i wont lie about not being diagnosed with it, but i dont go out of my way to tell people.

a book i read about aspergers was "look me in the eye" and i forgot the authors name, but i believe it is augusten burrows. that might be his brother though, because he also wrote a book about something unrelated
 
yeah jumpluff pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Aspergers is too fucking diverse to really even attempt to pigeonhole it. vonFieldler struggles with empathy; I consider myself above-average in terms of empathy (though in a roundabout way - I seem to intellectually process people's problems, then project them onto myself, and I'm not sure that's how empathy normally works); I have relatively normal sensory abilities except hearing, jumpluff is a sensory wreck. I process information pretty terribly in conversation, but amazingly quickly in reading. Some are great at math and science, I am mediocre at best at those and prefer English and philosophy.

I think the only real way to define Asperger's Syndrome is by a bunch of catchalls like

- has some sort of sensory issues
- has some sort of coordination issues
- has some sort of executive functioning and/or informational processing issues

You pretty much can't generalize beyond this.
 
Maybe instead of "Asperger's is a disease impossible to describe accurately", we should go with the more correct term of "Aspergers is horrendously overdiagnosed". You can apply the catchalls to EVERYONE.
 
vonFiedler said:
If you define Autism as a person who lacks social skills, you are saying that we are a blight. A problem.
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A lack of social skills is only a "problem" in so far that you suffer from it. I wouldn't say that someone who is socially inept, but doesn't really give a shit about anyone in the first place, has a problem (though it might be a problem to others, or an obstacle to achievement, but not necessarily). Similarly, it might be the case that some people might only make friends because they feel like they have to, rather than because they want friends - and might use their disability not as an excuse, but as a justification to do what they want rather than what they feel forced to do.

For instance, personally, I prefer to go to the movies alone, I prefer to go to the restaurant alone, I prefer to walk alone, I prefer to work alone, I prefer to sleep alone, and so forth, and for the most part it is like that regardless of who I would otherwise be with. The only reason I usually do some of these activities with others is because I feel that it's how society tells me it should be done and thus I feel out of place otherwise. It is not out of preference. I do enjoy socialization, but only in so far that it is apersonal, distant and involves no responsibility (else I feel attacked). Basically, what I'm trying to say is that while social ineptitude is usually seen as a flaw to correct, it might (or might not - of course this has to be evaluated on a case per case basis) simply be a preference for keeping a much larger distance with others. Someone might not have friends because the very concept of friend, to them, implies a hostile invasion of their personal space. That is not inherently bad, although it can sometimes be an obstacle to achievement. Such a condition might be difficult to diagnose because strong societal pressure makes afflicted people believe that their preference is wrong and that they should be repressing it. Due to these conflicting signals, they might seem as if they long for friendship, but deep down, perhaps they do not.
 
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