Aspies

[lewis hc]

As Asperger's has been mentioned in a few posts recently, I was wondering if there are other Asperger Syndrome guys on this forum. Yeah, there's me.
What I'd like to add though is that we ALL have our cross to bear, and there are an awful lot of things worse than Asperger's.
I think Buk suffered a lot worse than me, he mentioned 'feeling good' in his writing, but not being happy. Or are they the same thing?

 

[bospress.net]

My son has it and I most likely have it. I was never diagnosed as a child (I was diagnosed as an adult), but looking at my symptoms (social awkwardness and obsessive behavior), it is obvious to me that I had it and still have some traits. There are worse things to have, of course. Most kids with Asperger's grow up to lead completely normal (and maybe more interesting) lives.

 

[Rekrab]

I wouldn't be surprised if I have it. I'm obsessive. I can work on one thing in excruciating detail for long periods of time -- like months on end. And socially awkward doesn't even begin to describe my style.

 

[Joseph K]

Although I had beefs with one or two members of another site who had AS, it was due to manic swamping of the board rather than anything in particular they posted or their characters. I know a couple of people with AS and they seem decent people - in some ways more thoughtful than regular people, because they have to try hard to decipher emotions and motivations.

 

[Rekrab]

[...] ... they have to try hard to decipher emotions and motivations.

That's very interesting. I'll have to give that some thought. It might explain a lot of mysteries.

 

[lewis hc]

Thanks, guys, for your posts. Much appreciated. :)

 

[mjp]

I remember a time when if you were obsessive or awkward or misread people you were just a weirdo.

A time when we would say that people with TMJ clenched their teeth, Restless Leg Syndrome was crazy legs, men with "low T" were just old, those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome were tired and the people who were burdened with one of the hundreds of food-related syndromes we now recognize just needed to eat more. Or less.

That's simplistic, of course, suggesting that an anorexic should eat more, and I'm not out to trivialize anyone's misery. As lewis pointed out, we all have our crosses to bear. But if you dig deep enough you'll find that drug companies are behind researching and defining many of these syndromes. Because if you can't put a name on it, you can't sell a drug or an operation for it.

But you cannot convince me that half of the kids on earth suffer from some organically-based learning or behavior syndrome. That is bullsheet, as they say in the Arab world. But there are those who would have you believe that there are so many attention deficit syndromes out there that virtually every living person is afflicted by one. So the question becomes, when everyone has something, is it still a disease? Or is it just being human?

Forgive me, fellow weirdos, I mean no harm. Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, we accept you, we accept you, one of us, one of us...

 

[David]

Yes, I started to notice this a few years ago with television commercials that begin: "Do you ever feel awkward at a party? You may need SOPORIFEX!" Then a description of the alleged "illness"--"social anxiety" or whatever DSM category they come up with--would follow, along with the side-effects from taking the "medication"--heart-attack, stroke, diabetes, shortness of breath, dropsy, tuberculosis, etc. Yep, watch out boys: the men in the white suits are going to find something wrong with ALL of us until we will all need those Soma tablets Huxley warned us about in Brave New World.

 

[justine]

But if you dig deep enough you'll find that drug companies are behind researching and defining many of these syndromes. Because if you can't put a name on it, you can't sell a drug or an operation for it.

But you cannot convince me that half of the kids on earth suffer from some organically-based learning or behavior syndrome. That is bullsheet, as they say in the Arab world. But there are those who would have you believe that there are so many attention deficit syndromes out there that virtually every living person is afflicted by one. So the question becomes, when everyone has something, is it still a disease? Or is it just being human?

YES. i think there is a tendency to over-pathologize personality traits, and it is mostly the fault of Big Pharma BUT i also think a lot of people use it as a way to avoid being responsible for who they are.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I feel stupid and contagious. Give me meds and name a syndrome after me.

That being said, the people I've met met that have been diagnosed with Aspergers seem smarter and more focused than me. That wouldn't take much, really...

 

[jordan]

on the flipside, especially for kids with autism spectrum issues, there are a lot of non-pharmaceutical strategies being developed to manage the condition that is substantially improving the lives of kids who would otherwise be stuck in a catch-all special ed class and would be lucky to get placed in a group home upon finishing school. everything is over-pathologized these days, but i think the increased awareness of autism and related symptoms is contributing to the huge rise in diagnoses. and, for the most part, that's a good thing, since the rush isn't (as it was with ADHD) to medicate the kids into submission, but to demand that educators come up with curricula that can more effectively teach kids at early ages rather than just labeling them as disruptive (and likely overmedicating them). if you've ever spent any time with someone who is autistic or has aspergers fairly severely, it's not just that they're antisocial or weird and the term is being used to rope them into a pathologized category - the set of traits that characterize the condition are fairly obvious and very manageable, but giving credence to the syndrome and being aware of it is necessary to get to that point. so, while i agree with mjp in principle, i can't get too caught up in the cynical viewpoint of it, since i don't think any parent of an autistic kid (not to mention their teachers) thinks that more awareness about autism is a bad thing.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

To Jordan's point, I've encountered a couple kids with autism and meds are not the main part of their treatment. It's all about awareness and socialization instead of isolation.

 

[mjp]

Well, if you must know, I'm also bothered by the awareness craze, but maybe that's just because I'm cynical.

But I can assure you that making the average ape walking down the street aware of something achieves nothing. And I'm especially baffled by the GOD DAMN RIBBONS things like "breast cancer awareness." Really? Is there someone who isn't aware that it exists? And if so, do you really want that person on your side. I don't.

I think the majority of kids who have been diagnosed as being "on the autism spectrum" are extremely unfortunate. I feel bad for them. Not because of their awful affliction, but because most of them should be left alone, but now they won't be. A little autism is a good thing, and I'm completely serious about that. That's where philosophy and creation and art and music come from - from people who can sit around doing nothing but focusing on an idea or a word or a problem. From everything I've read about him, I think it's pretty safe to say that Mozart was probably "autistic," and these doctors today would have "cured" him. Wouldn't that have been lovely.

If I was a kid now I am quite certain that doctors would have had their hands up my ass somehow (that's a metaphor, don't get a boner), and it may well have prevented me from becoming the charming, adorable moppet that I am today. I wouldn't have wanted that, but I wouldn't have had a choice.

It's all too much, this shit. If we're helping people who are extremely fucked up and way out there, well, that's nice. It's "helping" the others that worries me. What kind of society are we looking at in the future? I'll be dead soon, so I don't care, but what about the children? The precious children that Michael Jackson used to sing about and rape? What kind of world are they going to live in?

A Muslim one, yes, I know. I mean other than that.

 

[jordan]

i was going to respond, but i DID get a boner, and then i got too embarrassed to respond.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I'd be embarrassed by your boner too.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

as far as the awareness craze goes, I get the point. everything is a ribbon or a wristband and it's annoying and too much.

but what I'm talking about is the 3 year old kids who scream holy murder if you touch them, can't make eye contact and only repeat what you say to them but have math skills that are mind boggling. that's not normal. ideal, maybe, but not normal. they don't even make eye contact with their parents. maybe they are the perfect specimens and we are the clods. but for now, the clods rule.

and if I was a kid now I'm sure shrinks would have gotten hold of me and told me the fact that I had a single teenage mom was no big deal and that some of my family hating me for something I had no control over was their problem not mine, and that I could read and write at age three meant I wasn't a freak but expressing an emotional need. but I wasn't sent to a shrink and glad I wasn't. some issues need to be worked out by the individual and not be turned into a non-existent syndrome.

but put an autistic kid with a shrink, and he has no idea of whatever angst I or you may have had. or think we have had. he has bigger issues that need to be dealt with.

 

[d gray]

"Do you ever feel awkward at a party? You may need SOPORIFEX A DRINK!"

if i feel awkward at a party i just blame the party.

"Do you ever feel awkward at a party?... Then a description of the alleged "illness"--"social anxiety" or whatever...

it's called being sober at a shitty party...

 

[Rekrab]

I guess I was properly diagnosed as a kid. All the thugs had me pegged as a weirdo. Thanks for reminding me of that term, mjp. Let's make weirdo awareness ribbons. They should be day-glo green.

 

[mjp]

3 year old kids who scream holy murder if you touch them, can't make eye contact and only repeat what you say to them...

Those kids would fall under my clinical diagnosis of "extremely fucked up and way out there," and you would do whatever you could for them.

The problem these days isn't that kid, or Jordan's boner, it's the kids who are shy or awkward or quiet and a system that diagnoses that as a disease or syndrome. "Johnny just sits in his room watching dust particles float around in the sunlight and draws extremely tiny pictures of whales in a notebook, and he doesn't have any interest at all in football or the Kardashians! Can you fix him, doctor? Please! Little league starts next week! Make him normal!"

There appears to be a school of thought now that holds that a kid shouldn't be made to feel upset about anything, and if they are outsiders they should be made to fit inside, and that it is all "for the good of the kid." I'm just suggesting that may not always be so.

But that's easy for me to say, I don't have kids. If I did, I'd probably be in here raising money for autism awareness and there'd be a ribbon on every page of the site. So I get it.

 

[bospress.net]

As someone who has a child that has Asbergers/ADHD and is not just unusual, I can tell you that it may very well be over diagnosed, but in many cases, it is real. I have been living it for 9 years now. My child was thrown out of three pre-schools before he was 4. He is now on medicine. Without it he is extremely unhappy and very aggressive. Without meds he is so hyper that not only can he not concentrate, but he disrupts others making it hard for them to learn. It is nothing that my wife or I have done and we are heartbroken and worried about how he will be as an adult. Some grow out of it and can stop the medication, some do not. He is also extremely intelligent, so I expect him to be successful as an adult.

I can tell you that I am no fan of big pharma and would LOVE it if we could find something to replace the meds. It is not something that we went into lightly. He is very happy and very social/productive while on his meds. Without them, he is miserable and cannot slow down enough to concentrate.

Bill

 

[mjp]

Well I'm glad it's working for your son.

Again, I'm sure if I had kids I wouldn't be such a dick about things like "awareness" or diagnosing everyone. I'd still be a dick about other things, just not this.

 

[bospress.net]

Ha! That being said, awareness is good if it gets funding for treatment/research, but just putting a ribbon on your car and thinking that you are actually doing something for the cause are two different things.

People as a general statement seem to think that putting a banner shows their commitment to a cause.

Also, kids are WAY overdiagnosed, for ADHD, etc, so I'll give you that.

Bill

 

[hoochmonkey9]

it's ok mjp. we're there for you...

I kid!

 

[mjp]

God bless you.

 

[justine]

i highly recommend the documentary Wretches and Jabberers if you're interested in what life is like for severely autistic people.


(there is a lot of controversy over the use of "facilitated communication", but the facilitators in this case don't appear to be speaking for their clients, not to my untrained eye anyway).

 

[esart]

My good friend did a documentary on a few cases of autism and a couple of the kids actually grew out of it for the most part when they got older, so that is something that should be noted. Perhaps good news/hope for Bill's kid.http://www.youtube.com/user/RecoveredAutism
http://www.youtube.com/user/RecoveredAutism

 

[Short Bus]

is everyones keyboard fucked????
The term is artistic!!!!
Mozart was artistic,
People who look out the window and then draw are artistic!!

 

[Bukfan]

I think medication is'nt always a bad thing. I certainly feel much better since I started on Fukitol.:p

 

[lewis hc]

Somebody with Asperger's described his life as being like being on a different radio frequency to other people..Not quite tuned in. I can't put it better than that, from my Aspie brain. I try to re-tune, I really do. Maybe I'm just a weirdo. Any advice is welcome..

 

[hoochmonkey9]

my advice is not to listen to what any of us here have to say. my experience has told me the only people that you really ever have to listen to are pretty women and bartenders.