Asperger's Syndrome

tgt

Have you ever gone to New Year Eve's fireworks?

Just say you went alone. Would it still bother you if you did not need to do anything social and people may not even notice you since its in the mid of the night?

355113

I've been to fireworks displays before, but I don't think I have specifically for New Year's. Yes, I would still dislike it because of the noise and chaos that comes with a crowd. It's sensory overload in a bad way. Besides that, I don't like fireworks.

zoobyshoe

That is interesting and true: you don't always need to know how to do something right to know that someone else is doing it wrong.

355113

In the case of my friend, he tends to make a bit too much eye contact; he holds eye contact a second or two too long and too rigidly. It is readily apparent, though some people probably wouldn't notice that specifically and just get a general "socially-incompetent" vibe.

I've also noticed kindergarten/elementary school teachers, or really anyone trying to talk to someone they regard as an inferior or immature/incompetent, will tend to make excessive eye contact, and in a somewhat unnatural and forced manner. Presumably this is to attempt to command the other person's full attention (I guess a mental "lesser" is assumed to be unable to pay attention to multiple things at once), but it is exceedingly frustrating to deal with such people because with them I am unable to maintain any eye contact- it's simply too painful at that point. I've noticed this most frequently at my uni's disability office. This is typically combined with a slower, slightly higher-pitched voice than is typical for normal interaction, again signaling condescension towards the person being addressed.

Grr. So frustrating being able intellectually to analyze human interaction but not being able to usefully apply that knowledge.

zoobyshoe

Yeah, your analysis is spot on. It's completely clear to you what's going on.

I have to ask, though, is all eye contact painful to some degree, not just when someone is being condescending and imperious?

355113

It tends to be uncomfortable, yes, or at the least somewhat awkward. I believe this happens to NTs as well- looking at someone in the eye simply becomes awkward or uncomfortable after a few seconds. With me (I can't speak for everyone on the autistic spectrum) that just seems to happen much, much faster than it would for NTs. For most typical interaction, I'm able to pull it off without too much discomfort, and usually without anyone noticing anything different.

zoobyshoe

It happens to everyone, yes, and can even happen a lot. However the average person can always name at least several people whose eyes they very much enjoy looking into with total comfort, free of awkwardness. This doesn't ever seem to be true for Autistic and AS people. However much they might enjoy someone's company, the direct gaze is always too much. Sound right?

OmCheeto

I'm sorry.

I've been seeing this Aspergers thread for the last few days pop up and I never bothered reading it until today. I see that it is a very old thread. One of those necroposter threads. Where dead threads come back to life. I think it is a funny word. Anyways, I read a bit of the book mentioned by pattylou; The Curious Incident....

I didn't read much of the story, but it seemed a bit like my birdy story, filled with strange things and strange people doing strange things.

Anyways, I've not read past the first page of this thread, so I don't know why it came back. I'm very tired right now and want to go to bed, and may read the whole thing in the morning.

But I just wanted to say, before I forgot, that I really dislike labels like Aspergers Syndrome. People are all different. Even animals are different.

Hmmmm... There's a man on tv right now making a funny face. The tv's on mute right now because I was listening to edith anne earlier, so I do not know what is so funny. But it is the comedy channel, so I guess it must be.

Good night.

355113

Of course people are all different. But some people show similar traits, and the purpose of labels like Asperger's Syndrome are useful to classify people who are different from what would be considered "typical" but share a number of similarities with each other. Putting people who have these traits in a similar category can be helpful when we have different needs than the general population.

When people say they dislike labels, what I think they mean is that they dislike stigmas that get attached to labels, even if they aren't personally making that connection. There needn't be any stigma attached to Asperger's: like almost all other human variations, it comes with its benefits and drawbacks, and doesn't make anyone a better or a worse person.

355113

More or less. Part of it is just the consciousness of "Oh, here's another aspect of nonverbal communication at which I utterly fail." And eye contact is a much more obvious one than most body language, so I still probably don't notice when I'm doing that wrong.

The Dagda

A lack of social development skills needs a name. It could have underlying physiological reasons, or you could just be socially inept though so perhaps it's wise to be extremely cautious when assigning labels. This has reminded me of the episode where they think Dr. House has Aspergers, finally they come to the conclusion that he's just basically an arse.

Houses misanthropy can be explained by is Sherlockesque insight into human behavioural characteristics, particularly body language. When you often know when people are lying, fakes probably make you extremely cynical. I do wonder though how many kids get diagnosed as Aspergers incorrectly, and if for some it is even necessary to label them.

355113

I haven't seen that particular episode of House, though I have heard of it. House does not seem even remotely AS to me.

I think AS is more likely underdiagnosed than overdiagnosed right now, given that it's a relatively new diagnosis and not a whole ton of people have heard of it. I would never have heard of AS, much less been diagnosed with it, if not for my habit of wandering aimlessly through Wikipedia.

Kurdt

I find it funny when people say how come diagnoses in AS are increasing when people never used to get diagnosed, it must be a made up illness. The simple answer is that people have only been aware of it for less than a century and it is only recently that a significant number of medical staff have become aware of it. Couple that with the rise of the internet and the availability of information about it to the general public. Many people will seek a diagnosis where before they would have known little or nothing about it.

355113

Worse is when they try to say that we're all sick from mercury poisoning in the MMR shots.

The Dagda

That was debunked long ago.

355113

Doesn't stop people from saying it. It was ridiculous when it first came out, given that the MMR shot has never contained mercury and currently I think it's only flu vaccines that still have trace amounts of mercury as a preservative.

The Dagda

Not in the UK I asked last time I had one and they said we don't use mercury in flu shots.