Ask someone with Asperger's syndrome.

[J a c k]

As a parent of a child on the spectrum, I have zero doubt that it’s not just a personality thing. It’s not just his learning disability (he’s only advanced in specific areas, but can’t grasp anything that isn’t systematic like math. He loves math.), but it’s a whole combination of things. Just raising him I have developed a love and connection with kids on the spectrum and also for kids with learning disabilities. This is why I want to switch the focus of my career towards them. Nobody could possibly understand what a parent of a child with autism goes through on a daily basis, unless they have lived it. I had to learn to communicate differently, to understand him differently, to help him deal with his frustrations of a world that is not fixed just for him. I’ve had to learn to make home feel like home by not allowing certain scents, or sounds to invade our space. Give him the tools he needs to deal with his stress when routines change. And I look at him just the way he is and I hope he knows how much I fucking love him and that I’m committed to continue learning.

[Fireball]

For Grandizer and Rev Rye:

Has there been any speculation that perhaps autism is really just a rare type of personality, rather than a legitimate disorder/illness?

Nitpick note: In my personal view, there is a difference between disorder and illness, but that's not the question anyway, so to the actual question:

There certainly has been such speculation, even from people diagnosed with high-functioning autism themselves who believe Asperger's is just a personality style and shouldn't be seen as a disorder at all. And then you have people who just have a general distrust in what psychologists and psychiatrists have to say, and so may not even believe most mental illnesses in the DSM are a thing.

I have also noted concerned/angry parents of children with the really severe types of autism who take issue with people with Asperger's being on the same spectrum of disorder as their children, probably because of the way the media's focus on people with Asperger's tends to portray to the misinformed public that autism as a cool trendy thing that no one should be troubled by, when that is not the reality for parents of children who have constant meltdowns and tend to be really violent and cause nothing but misery for them.

Nevertheless, I disagree that Asperger's is not a disorder, because like I said before, it's not an issue of shyness or introversion or anything of the sort. It's a cluster of symptoms that indicate an impairment in functioning in several domains in life (whether social, occupational, relationships, etc.) for the individual who has these symptoms, even those with the less severe levels (like myself). Even if it should just be counted as nothing more than a personality style, I struggle in life and still have to socialize in an energy-consuming intellectual manner rather than in a relaxed intuitive manner. It would also mean that people like me would no longer have any specialized access to support of any type. If it weren't a disorder, there wouldn't be an organization here in Australia who helps people on the spectrum specifically with employment. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been able to get one of the jobs I'm now in. If it weren't a disorder, people would have less empathy for people like me, and blame our failure in social life on such things as stupidity or laziness or whatever, instead of realizing that we genuinely do have trouble with socializing that is due to genetic defects and other biological factors (and a little bit of early environmental factors as well, I'm sure).

All that said, one can have fun debating whether high-functioning, less severe forms of autism are a disorder or not. But no one can reasonably argue that there isn't something "disorderly" about the severe low-functioning types.

Well said. You obviously aren't stupid (not that anyone posted that), so it's a shame that it would be difficult to get a decent job based on an interviewer-perceived personality issue.

[Banned]

If there is something about Asperger's or other autism disorders that you have been pondering a lot and just never got a clear answer to, or you want to know something specific about my own experience with Asperger's, then ask away. I want to see how good my answers can get.

Do you think that the syndrome has given you any special abilities, if so, would you like to tell what they are?

[GrandizerII]

If there is something about Asperger's or other autism disorders that you have been pondering a lot and just never got a clear answer to, or you want to know something specific about my own experience with Asperger's, then ask away. I want to see how good my answers can get.

Do you think that the syndrome has given you any special abilities, if so, would you like to tell what they are?

Nothing beyond having really good rote memory and being good with maths and coding and stuff. If by your question, you mean I can do such things as calculate really large numbers in my head so easily or recite the first 1000 decimal digits of the Pi number off by heart, forwards and then backwards, then obviously no. The majority of people on the autism spectrum, contrary to popular belief, aren't anything like Rain Man. These people, referred to as savants, are rather really, really rare. I think you can even count them with your hands.

[Banned]

Do you think that the syndrome has given you any special abilities, if so, would you like to tell what they are?

Nothing beyond having really good rote memory and being good with maths and coding and stuff. If by your question, you mean I can do such things as calculate really large numbers in my head so easily or recite the first 1000 decimal digits of the Pi number off by heart, forwards and then backwards, then obviously no. The majority of people on the autism spectrum, contrary to popular belief, aren't anything like Rain Man. These people, referred to as savants, are rather really, really rare. I think you can even count them with your hands.

Have you been diagnosed with autism or such, despite it's broad definitions, or is it something you have known about for some time?

[GrandizerII]

Nothing beyond having really good rote memory and being good with maths and coding and stuff. If by your question, you mean I can do such things as calculate really large numbers in my head so easily or recite the first 1000 decimal digits of the Pi number off by heart, forwards and then backwards, then obviously no. The majority of people on the autism spectrum, contrary to popular belief, aren't anything like Rain Man. These people, referred to as savants, are rather really, really rare. I think you can even count them with your hands.

Have you been diagnosed with autism or such, despite it's broad definitions, or is it something you have known about for some time?

Only informally, as in I saw a psychiatrist for one session a decade or so ago, and after interviewing me, concluded that I was indeed on the spectrum (on the high-functioning end). However, I am seeking to get a formal diagnosis on paper once I feel comfortable enough financially to cover the costs of assessment (it's not cheap, even here in Australia).

But long before that diagnosis, I have known something was not right when I was in my teenage years in high school. And then when I was around 20 or so, I looked up online to see what was wrong with me, and then came upon autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's (which, at the time, was still a thing in its own sort of category), and looking at the criteria and reading about other people's experiences with the condition, I knew this was the one that matched what I was struggling with.

[Banned]

Have you been diagnosed with autism or such, despite it's broad definitions, or is it something you have known about for some time?

Only informally, as in I saw a psychiatrist for one session a decade or so ago, and after interviewing me, concluded that I was indeed on the spectrum (on the high-functioning end). However, I am seeking to get a formal diagnosis on paper once I feel comfortable enough financially to cover the costs of assessment (it's not cheap, even here in Australia).

But long before that diagnosis, I have known something was not right when I was in my teenage years in high school. And then when I was around 20 or so, I looked up online to see what was wrong with me, and then came upon autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's (which, at the time, was still a thing in its own sort of category), and looking at the criteria and reading about other people's experiences with the condition, I knew this was the one that matched what I was struggling with.

I don't doubt what you are saying, that you might have mild symptoms, and I base that assumption on the way in which you communicate. Which tells me you are definitely not a serious aspy.

Criminal profiling has given me some experience in assessing disorders, and you'd be happy to know that aspies are rarely persistently violent criminals, almost non- existant.
And they are not sarcastic and malicious, and they are not likely to follow a gang leader or a group, they don't have the mob mentality.
So if someone is put down, they are not likely to join in and add derogatory comments.

You'd be interested to know that 49% of criminals in QLD Australian jails have some mental and or personality disorder.

And I am pretty aware of the nature of the majority of regular contributors to this forum, which has made me wonder whether this forum is part of the limited net access for certain jails or rehab programs.

[GrandizerII]

Only informally, as in I saw a psychiatrist for one session a decade or so ago, and after interviewing me, concluded that I was indeed on the spectrum (on the high-functioning end). However, I am seeking to get a formal diagnosis on paper once I feel comfortable enough financially to cover the costs of assessment (it's not cheap, even here in Australia).

But long before that diagnosis, I have known something was not right when I was in my teenage years in high school. And then when I was around 20 or so, I looked up online to see what was wrong with me, and then came upon autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's (which, at the time, was still a thing in its own sort of category), and looking at the criteria and reading about other people's experiences with the condition, I knew this was the one that matched what I was struggling with.

I don't doubt what you are saying, that you might have mild symptoms, and I base that assumption on the way in which you communicate. Which tells me you are definitely not a serious aspy.

Criminal profiling has given me some experience in assessing disorders, and you'd be happy to know that aspies are rarely persistently violent criminals, almost non- existant.
And they are not sarcastic and malicious, and they are not likely to follow a gang leader or a group, they don't have the mob mentality.
So if someone is put down, they are not likely to join in and add derogatory comments.

You'd be interested to know that 49% of criminals in QLD Australian jails have some mental and or personality disorder.

And I am pretty aware of the nature of the majority of regular contributors to this forum, which has made me wonder whether this forum is part of the limited net access for certain jails or rehab programs.

Ok ... whatever ... you ... say ...

EDIT: By the way, how I communicate here is radically different from how I communicate IRL. For one, I "speak" way more words here (as in appear to be more talkative).

[The Grand Nudger]

Do you find that you're able to control or predict those behaviors that earn you the diagnosis to any degree..or is it more an issue of realising that you engage in them without any impetus or recourse?

[J a c k]

Only informally, as in I saw a psychiatrist for one session a decade or so ago, and after interviewing me, concluded that I was indeed on the spectrum (on the high-functioning end). However, I am seeking to get a formal diagnosis on paper once I feel comfortable enough financially to cover the costs of assessment (it's not cheap, even here in Australia).

But long before that diagnosis, I have known something was not right when I was in my teenage years in high school. And then when I was around 20 or so, I looked up online to see what was wrong with me, and then came upon autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's (which, at the time, was still a thing in its own sort of category), and looking at the criteria and reading about other people's experiences with the condition, I knew this was the one that matched what I was struggling with.

I don't doubt what you are saying, that you might have mild symptoms, and I base that assumption on the way in which you communicate. Which tells me you are definitely not a serious aspy.

Criminal profiling has given me some experience in assessing disorders, and you'd be happy to know that aspies are rarely persistently violent criminals, almost non- existant.
And they are not sarcastic and malicious, and they are not likely to follow a gang leader or a group, they don't have the mob mentality.
So if someone is put down, they are not likely to join in and add derogatory comments.

You'd be interested to know that 49% of criminals in QLD Australian jails have some mental and or personality disorder.

And I am pretty aware of the nature of the majority of regular contributors to this forum, which has made me wonder whether this forum is part of the limited net access for certain jails or rehab programs.

First of all, the audacity of people on the internet lol
I mean... people really think they can figure out if a person is wrong about their own symptoms just by a few posts. Ha! That’s funny. Because the OP must not know himself/herself better than the rest of us just by reading a few lines. And “not a serious aspy...”? Ayyyyyy! I don’t even know what part of that is worse lol