asperger's

A year or two ago, I took the same test. I can't remember my exact score, but it was in the same range (definitely in the low 30's somewhere). At the time, this surprised nobody, least of all my mother, who said she suspected it all along.

http://similarminds.com/personality_disorder.html

Paranoid |||||||||||||||||| 74% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||| 70% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||||||||| 86% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||||| 42% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||||||| 70% 47%
Histrionic |||||||||||||||| 62% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||| 34% 41%
Avoidant |||||||||||||||||| 74% 39%
Dependent |||||||||||||| 54% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||||| 46% 40%

ack - i was hoping for madonna or maybe black sabbath instead i get fucking anthrax - I BLAME SOCIETY!

cousin of the other Baron-Cohen - not brother as it says here: http://www.limbicnutrition.com/blog/archives/021245.html

http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/products/a413/a413.gif

I got 18. Hah! I expected to be far more autistic than that. I was once told if there'd been the same label-mania when I was a wee tyke I'd have been misdiagnosed with autism by ANYONE.

or at least that's what i'm telling myself

i'm feeling pretty insane :(((

could that routine stuff manifest itself in sitting in front of the tv all day, every single day, as if its the only thing that occurs to you to do & could that not getting how other ppl think mean not being quiet when you want to watch stuff, & having to have what's happening on the tv explained to you, usw.??

coz that test made me think i could have been a bit more understanding about my flatmate's pain-in-the-assdom

Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||||||||| 50% Schizoid |||||||||||||| 54% Schizotypal |||||||||||||||| 70% Antisocial |||||||||| 38% Borderline |||||||||||||||| 70% Histrionic |||||||||||||| 54% Narcissistic |||||||||||| 46% Avoidant |||||||||||| 42% Dependent |||||||||||||| 58% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||||||||||| 74% Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen Director

Simon Baron-Cohen...

* Is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge in the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry.
* Is Fellow in Experimental Psychology at Trinity College, Cambridge.
* Is Co-director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge.
* Is Director of CLASS, the Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service
* Holds degrees in Human Sciences from New College, Oxford, a PhD in Psychology from UCL, and an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry
* Has held teaching and research positions at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, before moving to Cambridge.
* Has conducted extensive research into autism spectrum conditions at the psychological, diagnostic, and neuroscientific levels.
* Is author of:
o Mindblindness (MIT Press, 1995)
o Autism: The Facts (OUP, 1993)
o Teaching Children with Autism to Mindread (Wiley, 1999)
o The Essential Difference : Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain (Penguin UK/Perseus, 2003)
o and many scientific journal articles
* Has edited:
o Understanding Other Minds (OUP, 1995 and 2001)
o The Maladapted Mind (UCL Press, 1997)
o Synaesthesia (Blackwells, 1997)
* Is author of Mind Reading: The interactive guide to human emotions (DVD-ROM).

Other one -
Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||||||||||||| 62% Schizoid |||||||||| 34% Schizotypal |||||||||||| 50% Antisocial |||||||||| 38% Borderline |||||||||||||||| 66% Histrionic |||||||||||| 50% Narcissistic |||||| 22% Avoidant |||||||||||||||| 66% Dependent |||||||||||||||||| 74% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||| 38% Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Which, to me, seems a little low.

Is sexual Asperger's where they're obsessed with kissing and all things sensual regardless of taboos? I encountered a 13-year-old girl with Asperger's at a Christmas party and she was very sweet but made a big deal about little notions, like how her baby brother looked like he was french kissing his mother when the mother picked him up to give him a kiss and he stuck out his tongue before his lips pursed with hers, and then her skirt kept coming up all the time and it seemed semi-conscious and semi-unconscious.

Paranoid |||||| 30%
Schizoid |||||||||||| 46%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||||| 70%
Antisocial |||| 18% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||| 46% 47%
Histrionic |||||||||| 34% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||||| 46% 41%
Avoidant |||| 18% 39%
Dependent |||| 18% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||| 38%

This has changed drastically in the past few years. The first time I took it I was considered heavily avoidant, borderline, and dependent, but I've become a lot happier and a lot less desperate since then. I just think civilised Occidental society is far too happy to diagnose and categorize people and use those notions as excuses for their issues.

Schizotypal's pretty much a bogus diagnosis; it usually just means you're surrounding yourself with the wrong people or are just a really interesting person.

Indeed. I'm pretty eccentric and I'm not always around people who I feel I can relate to...not to mention that I loathe small talk and never say anything unless I feel that it's in some way necessary to be said or if I have an anecdote to share.

My alleged mental problems, in order of severity:

Borderline 90%
Paranoid 82%
Dependent 78%
Schizotypal 70%
Histrionic 66%
Avoidant 62%
Antisocial 58%
Obsessive-Compulsive 58%
Schizoid 46%
Narcissistic 10%

:(

These tests are strange, anyway - people interpret the questions in such different ways it is impossible to credit them as being valid or reliable. Having said that, I'm not completely surprised that I scored highly in some sections, though I wouldn't have expected to go so high. I think maybe you could say that because I think that I'm paranoid, I respond to questions with that label on me, and thus bump up the score - but I don't know anything about borderline personality disorders and therefore couldn't subconsciously affect that, so it worries me more that that is so very high indeed. Boo.

Could be, but I meant it more like, my score would go up if those questions were strictly about how autistic I am around women I'm attracted to.

Paranoid |||||||||||||| 54%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||| 66%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||| 58%
Antisocial |||||||||||||||| 66%
Borderline |||||||||||||||| 66%
Histrionic |||||||||||||| 58%
Narcissistic |||||||||| 34%
Avoidant |||||||||||||| 58%
Dependent |||||||||| 34%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||||||| 58%

The other:

Paranoid 74%
Schizoid 66%
Schizotypal 78%
Antisocial 34%
Borderline 86%
Histrionic 70%
Narcissistic 14%
Avoidant 50%
Dependent 78%
Obsessive-Compulsive 42%

i find that if i get to rate myself from 1 to 100, i might answer better because... let's say for example... "from 1 to 5, 1 being least accurate and 5 being most accurate, do you like social situations"

well, does that make 1 a total shut in hermit who is catatonic and refuses to acknowledge people while 5 is the exact opposite and can't piss alone or in groups of less than 10 or something?

so naturally it's like a 2, 3, or 4... and geez, that's just a thin corridor of deviation if you ask me.

etc etc.

sometimes it would help to have more clarification on what certain numbers signify too.

of course, i guess at that point you might as well be seeing a shrink. if you NEED a real diagnosis from something that can account for all the variables, then of course, a webpage is gonna suck. i mean, what if you lived in antartica... "i like to spend time outside"... i'm sorry, but i bet that's gonna create a lot of negative responses.

Paranoid |||| 18% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||| 42% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||| 50% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||| 34% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||| 42% 47%
Histrionic |||||| 30% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||||||| 54% 41%
Avoidant |||||| 22% 39%
Dependent |||||| 30% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 26% 40%

i guess this explains why i post long messages sometimes. i'm full of myself. 16 on the autism.

but look at the rest of my scores... it's obvious i know how to answer timidly.
m.

I AM FUN AT PARTIES.

I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I wibble when I piddle
Cos my middle is a riddle
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticusI dribble when I nibble
And I quibble when I scribbleHello to you out there in Normal Land
You may not comprehend my tale or understand
As I crawl past your window give me lucky looks
You can be my body but you'll never read my booksI'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticusI'm knobbled on the cobbles
Cos I hobble when I wobble
Swim!So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin
And thank the Creator you're not in the state I'm in
So long have I been languished on the shelf
I must give all proceedings to myselfI'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
I'm spasticus I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus54 appliances in leather and elastic
100 000 thank yous from 27 spasticsSpasticus spasticus
Spasticus autisticus
Spasticus spasticus
Spasticus autisticus
Spasticus spasticus
Spasticus autisticusWiddling griddling skittling diddling
fiddling diddling widdling diddling spasticusI'm spasticus spasticus
Spasticus autisticus

and a 15.

JBR OTM re chitchat.

Me too, but I only got a 16.

On the other:

Paranoid 34%
Schizoid 46%
Schizotypal 54%
Antisocial 38%
Borderline 30%
Histrionic 26%
Narcissistic 42%
Avoidant 34%
Dependent 42%
Obsessive-Compulsive 26%

But I think mainly that's because I'm so obsessed with pattern recognition. I have lots of autistic symptoms - but I think that I have learned enough social coping skills to actually function. I'm better at social things once I figure out what the social codes are, when I can see that social codes are just about pattern recognition.

Or maybe that's just Being English.

I suspect the test is a little cleverer than it appears, in that some of the obvious "aha autist" statements are red herrings.

But that said, I just think that anger management is partly about stress reduction and handling anxiety in more constructive ways, so who knows.

Paranoid  	50%  	average
Schizoid 	42% 	below average
Schizotypal 	38% 	well below average
Antisocial 	66% 	well above average
Borderline 	34% 	well below average
Histrionic 	74% 	far above average
Narcissistic 	58% 	well above average
Avoidant 	22% 	well below average
Dependent 	46% 	above average
Obsessive-Compulsive 	58% 	well above average

My god, you're on the money there. The GP was completely disinterested until I told him I wanted to kill my neighbours w/a hammer (the noise nuisance ones) then it was like someone threw a fucking switch - out came the dictaphone, and I got an appointment within 10 days. Fucking ridiculous, I don't really like to contemplate the message of this, if indeed there is one.

The only upside to this = I have learned that I'm not psychotic, duh.

I have the pattern recognition thing though, especially with numbers, words and shapes.

Paranoid 90%
Schizoid 90%
Schizotypal 50%
Antisocial 42%
Borderline 78%
Histrionic 18%
Narcissistic 14%
Avoidant 82%
Dependent 26%
Obsessive-Compulsive 26%

It would have been so much easier if my high school college counselor knew that my best career was to be a Lone Gunman.

this explains a lot about me.

Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||||||| 38% Schizoid |||||||||| 38% Schizotypal |||||||||| 34% Antisocial |||||||||| 38% Borderline |||||||||||| 42% Histrionic |||||||||||| 42% Narcissistic |||||||||||||| 54% Avoidant |||||||||||| 42% Dependent |||||||||||| 50% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||| 38% Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

not exactly...

In one of the uncanny synchronicities of science, autism was first recognized on two continents nearly simultaneously. In 1943, a child psychiatrist named Leo Kanner published a monograph outlining a curious set of behaviors he noticed in 11 children at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. A year later, a pediatrician in Vienna named Hans Asperger, who had never seen Kanner's work, published a paper describing four children who shared many of the same traits. Both Kanner and Asperger gave the condition the same name: autism - from the Greek word for self, autòs - because the children in their care seemed to withdraw into iron-walled universes of their own.

Kanner went on to launch the field of child psychiatry in the US, while Asperger's clinic was destroyed by a shower of Allied bombs. Over the next 40 years, Kanner became widely known as the author of the canonical textbook in his field, in which he classified autism as a subset of childhood schizophrenia. Asperger was virtually ignored outside of Europe and died in 1980. The term Asperger syndrome wasn't coined until a year later, by UK psychologist Lorna Wing, and Asperger's original paper wasn't even translated into English until 1991. Wing built upon Asperger's intuition that even certain gifted children might also be autistic. She described the disorder as a continuum that "ranges from the most profoundly physically and mentally retarded person ... to the most able, highly intelligent person with social impairment in its subtlest form as his only disability. It overlaps with learning disabilities and shades into eccentric normality."

Asperger's notion of a continuum that embraces both smart, geeky kids like Nick and those with so-called classic or profound autism has been accepted by the medical establishment only in the last decade. Like most distinctions in the world of childhood developmental disorders, the line between classic autism and Asperger's syndrome is hazy, shifting with the state of diagnostic opinion. Autism was added to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, but Asperger's syndrome wasn't included as a separate disorder until the fourth edition in 1994.

http://www.dds.ca.gov/Autism/MindReport.cfm

And I guarantee it's not just California anymore.
Welcome to William Gibson's head.

Like most distinctions in the world of childhood developmental disorders, the line between classic autism and Asperger's syndrome is hazy, shifting with the state of diagnostic opinion.

supposedly if you've been diagnosed with autism but show symptoms of ADD as well, the doctor isn't allowed to make a separate diagnosis of ADD. many of those symptoms (hyperactivity, inability to multitask successfully) are hallmarks of autism.

"Stop complaining about my lack of social graces, norm. Only people with my special genius/madness could have coded EverQuest II"

um, that someone came up with those theories in 1943? and that even in spite of dude's clinic being bombed in the war and his findings not being published in english for many years, asperger's has been recognized by the dsm for a while now, long enough for people to engage in some serious research on it.

Something can exist for years before becoming a fad. Say, Multiple Personality Disorder. Or Kaballah.

Paranoid |||||||||||||||||| 78% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||| 46% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||| 42% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||||| 50% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||||||| 62% 47%
Histrionic |||||||||||||||||| 78% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||||||||| 70% 41%
Avoidant |||||||||||||| 58% 39%
Dependent |||||||||||| 46% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||| 14% 40%

This is true as well of Bipolar Disorder and ADD. My pysch prescribed me Strattera but said it was pointless to diagnose me ADD since those symptoms are nearly impossible to seperate out from bipolar.

Paranoid  		10%
Schizoid 		26%
Schizotypal 		70%
Antisocial 		70%
Borderline 		58%
Histrionic 		50%
Narcissistic 		50%
Avoidant 		26%
Dependent 		26%
Obsessive-Compulsive 	30%

So, 36 on the Asperger's, but I'm not particularly antisocial. Yay me.

Paranoid |||||||||| 38% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||| 34% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||| 54% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||||| 46% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||||| 54% 47%
Histrionic |||||||||||| 42% 43%
Narcissistic || 10% 41%
Avoidant |||||||||||| 42% 39%
Dependent |||||||||||||| 58% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||| 38% 40%

obligatory new yorker aspie piece:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_page

original test score: 32 (bit higher than i expected)

You'd have to have asperger's to actually finish that test, right?

25

Paranoid |||||||||||| 50% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||||| 58% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||||||||| 82% 53%

Haha this hell of not a surprise.

more like ass burgers

19

12

Paranoid |||||| 22%
Schizoid |||||||||||||| 54%
Schizotypal |||||||||| 38%
Antisocial |||||||||||| 46%
Borderline |||||||||| 38%
Histrionic |||||||||| 34%
Narcissistic |||||||||| 38%
Avoidant |||||| 30%
Dependent |||||| 22%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||| 18%

16

Paranoid |||||| 26%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||| 66%
Schizotypal |||||| 22%
Antisocial |||||||||||| 50%
Borderline |||||||||||| 42%
Histrionic |||||||||| 38%
Narcissistic |||||||||||||| 54%
Avoidant |||||||||||||| 54%
Dependent |||||| 30%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 30%

9

"I am fascinated by dates"

???? I chose "definitely disagree" because I thought it was talking about calendar dates, but now I'm worried that it means date-dates

http://www.tonytantillo.com/images/pic_dates.jpg

Paranoid |||||| 26%
Schizoid |||||||||||| 50%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||||| 66%
Antisocial |||||||||||||||| 62%
Borderline |||||||||| 34%
Histrionic |||||| 30%
Narcissistic |||||||||||||| 58%
Avoidant |||||||||||||| 54%
Dependent |||||| 22%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 30%

27 but that test sucked

My last boyfriend has asperger's.

17

up to a 19.

In another 20 years I'll be an Aspie :(

What anguished pity I used to feel for piñatas at birthday parties, those papier-mâché donkeys with their amiable smiles about to be shattered by little brutes with bats. On at least one occasion, I begged for a stay of execution and eventually had to be taken home, weeping, convinced that I had just witnessed the braining of a new and sympathetic acquaintance.

???? I chose "definitely disagree" because I thought it was talking about calendar dates, but now I'm worried that it means date-dates

the fact that youre worried about answers on an online test that will tell you whether or not you have aspergers probably means you have aspergers

15

Paranoid |||||||||| 34%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||||||| 82%
Schizotypal |||||||||||| 46%
Antisocial |||||| 30%
Borderline |||||||||||| 50%
Histrionic |||||| 26%
Narcissistic |||||||||| 34%
Avoidant |||||||||||| 42%
Dependent |||| 14%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 22%

I met a kid with full-blown asperger's syndrome once. He was 12, and nearly terrifying in his monomania. No mere computer nerd with a knack for remembering the model numbers of routers, it was simply impossible to make polite conversation of on any subject available to myself with him (not that I'm so great at chatting up 12 year old "normal" kids). I like to joke about nerds with "ass burgers", but my mental snapshot of this kid prevents me at least from lying to myself when I conflate simple dorkiness with asperger's.

my cousin has asperger's. he's a sweet guy, in his early 30s, really good at crossword puzzles and a pretty talented poet, too.

Paranoid |||||| 30% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||| 70% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||| 38% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||| 34% 47%
Borderline |||||||||||||| 58% 47%
Histrionic |||||| 26% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||||| 46% 41%
Avoidant |||||||||| 34% 39%
Dependent |||||||||| 34% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||||| 46% 40%

you just keep on pushing my love

Disappointed to have recieved only a 24. I thought this was going to be the test that finally confirmed what I've suspected about myself for a long time, but no. Guess I'm just an angry loner after all.

Paranoid  	        ||||||  	22%  	49%

Schizoid 	        |||||||||||| 	42% 	53%

Schizotypal 	        |||||||||| 	38% 	53%

Antisocial 	        |||||||||| 	38% 	47%

Borderline 	        |||| 	        14% 	47%

Histrionic 	        |||||| 	        26% 	43%

Narcissistic 	        |||||||||||||| 	54% 	41%

Avoidant 	        |||| 	        14% 	39%

Dependent 	        |||||||||||| 	42% 	37%

Obsessive-Compulsive 	|||||||||||| 	42% 	40%

Heh, whups. Look at all that whitespace.

^^ lol, OCD

Still 17, bang on average for a bloke. It kills me that I have no real psychological problems. I am so damn boring.

9

This is a declaration from the worldwide autism community that from here on we wish to be recognised as a minority group.
We make this declaration to assert our existence, to be able to have a "voice" on autism, rather than only that of experts and professionals in the field, to show how discrimination affects our lives, and that we want to direct a change from this type of bias against our natural differences, and the poor treatment that can ensue thereof.
We recognise the autism community as those diagnosed with any condition on the autism spectrum, including autism, low-functioning and high-functioning, those with asperger's syndrome, fragile x, hyperlexia and PDD-NOS. We are aware that there are some people who have not yet received diagnosis, yet still recognise themselves as on the autism spectrum, and have the same elements on the diagnostic criteria.
We recognise ourselves as a minority group based on the following factors-
People in the autism community have their own way of using language and communication that is different from the general population, is often misunderstood and can cause a bias against us.
Autism spectrum conditions are scientifically proven to be largely genetic and heritable. Many of those on the autism spectrum who have children bear children who are also on the spectrum, this needs to be recognised to avoid the frequency of criticism of autistic parents and discrimination that is suffered as to misunderstanding of the different needs, and communication between family members on the spectrum.
People on the autism spectrum have a unique social network, this is primarily using communication with text on the internet. It is an invaluable community for many of us. There should be increased availability and recognition for this autism community online so that isolated members of the autism community can join and participate.
People on the autism spectrum have our own cultural differences, unique habits, such as stimming and different perspectives than the norm. We feel it is essential that this is recognised as these "traits" are the things that some children and adults are forced to stop by some harsh and intensive therapies. We should have the right to be ourselves, without the pressure to conform and change our cultural differences.
We experience discrimination in various forms, often because of our different use of language and communication, habitual differences such as stimming, and lack of acknowledgment that autistic parents may have autistic children, and differences in the children are not due to poor parenting, but the innate differences of our minority group.
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure, in whatever fashion that may transpire, prenatal testing for autism that could mean a form of eugenics, and total prevention from genetic counselling before conception. We have grave concerns of the possibility of being forced to accept a cure, of parents being forced to cure children, and of there being great pressure put on parents on the spectrum to have genetic tests, or prenatal screening. In the same sense that this would be entirely unacceptable to cure someones skin colour, we feel that our differences need to be respected and our minority group to be protected.
A specific case of how being afforded protection would help members of the community is the present treatment meted out to autistic children at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Boston in the USA. The children can be given electric shock "therapy", this is from a contraption that can be worn for many years. This inhumane treatment is sickening to members of our community, this is just one such example of many.
We mean for this statement to begin a process of official recognition by the United Nations that we are indeed a minority group, and worthy of protection from discrimination, inhumane treatment, and that our differences are valid in their own right and not something that needs to be cured.

You're autistic?

Did you compose that or copy and paste it from somewhere else?

I dunno. I have difficulties with the idea of a group which claims to speak for all autistic people and their relatives. I am not sure that all people with autistic kids, especially severely autistic kids, would agree with a body which was opposed to a cure or even *the idea* that autism should be cured.

I copy and pasted it for something else because I found it hilarious.

Wow you're a cunt.

The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure

I think it was originally released by someone at http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/

I have difficulties with the idea of a group which claims to speak for all autistic people and their relatives.

That's kind of true for all groups really to various scale.

People in the autism community have their own way of using language and communication that is different from the general population, is often misunderstood and can cause a bias against us.

this must be that 'lol britpop zing culture' i've heard so much about

OMG DG.

:D

I scored 10

I scored a 7, because I'm dreamy and imaginative. Who wants to ride the clouds on high with me? DONT PUSH < THERES ENOUGH ROO M FOR EVEROYNE>

I thought a possible symptom of asperger's was an inability to imagine fictional scenarios?

Definitely no aspie I've ever known has been dreamy OR imaginative. At ALL.

Top 5 things boring people on the internet claim to be, with no justification:

5. Bisexual
4. Suicidal
3. Bipolar
2. Aspie
1. Victimised by bumped threads

I got a 13, which is below average. This surprises me, considering I'm sure (well, a psychiatrist once told me) I (might) have very mild asperger's. I've always been highly imaginative and social, though, and large parts of the test were slanted towards this, so I'm not sure the test is altogether fair.

Not all asperger's suffers are creepy.

Just most of them.

Hi Dad!

i thought i had asperger's until someone with more asperger's's than me came along and told me i only had partial asperger's

and where was the "do you swing your arms when you walk?" question in that quiz?

I thought I had cancer until someone with more cancer than me came along and told me I only had partial cancer.

I have a kitten.

I thought I had a kitten until somebody with more kittens than me told me that I only had a partial kitten

(Does Nick know that kittens become cats and then he will have one no longer?)

isn't there a similar discussion to in re: deaf culture & preservation thereof vs. surgical advances that restore hearing?

I believe so, aye; probably blind culture, too.

Where's Robin Carmody to accuse you of being a Nazi when you need him?

How long is it since Robin's been a regular here again?

Too long

isn't there a similar discussion to in re: deaf culture & preservation thereof vs. surgical advances that restore hearing?

There was a news story a few years back about a deaf couple who deliberately set out to conceive a deaf child as a hearing child wouldn't be part of their community.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4390037,00.html

There was a news story a few years back about a deaf couple who deliberately set out to conceive a deaf child as a hearing child wouldn't be part of their community.

ILX tried to have a thread about this, and ended up talking about the X-men:

Would *you* want to create a deaf baby?

ILx rules

i like the idea of deliberately conceiving a deaf child.. through hard work

I suppose "deaf culture" is the reason why we have to put up with that annoying person signing in the corner of the screen right the way through the Hollyoaks omnibus as opposed to turn-offable subtitles.

So low and behold, my Sky+ búggered up so I missed last week's Gadget Show on Five. Luckily enough, they've reintroduced their Saturday morning repeats, so I was happy. That's until I realised some pillock was making shapes with their hands in the corner of the screen throughout the show, or as some people call it, "sign language".

I know in some cases, it's necessary, but in this new digital age, do we really need sign language when we will have (or already do) have access to subtitles?

I copy and pasted it for something else because I found it hilarious.

what does the acute accent do on the u of buggered?

Actually, switching from the deaf to the blind, I find audio descriptive TV and films ten times better than normal shows. I watched My Super Sweet 16 w/it the other day. "The girl has her arms crossed in an angry manner. Her father then reveals a new, more expensive car, and the girl's face lights up."

aspergers is definitely one of those self-diagnosed conditions for people too lazy to learn social skills. /flame war.

^^^this

Uh, no.

sometimes.

??? DID U KNOW ??? Famous aspies: Hitler, JFK, Albert Einstein, Leonardo di Vinci, Kaiser Wilhelm, JFK, Benjamin Franklin, Yukio Mishima, Regis Philbman, Judge Lance Ito, Todd Rundgren, the guy who played the 6th Doctor on Doctor Who, Conan O Brien, the first President Bush, Warrne Beuffet, Maggie Simpson, Augustus Ceaser, Janus Secundus, neo latin poet (Basia), Friederich Wilhelm Zachow, composer, Adam Gottlob Oehlenschl, Robert Fulton, August Reissmann, David Bowie, Claude Monet, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bernhard Paumgartner, Lucius Apuleius

Maggie Simpson?

lol hitler

lol hitler zing culture

[derisive laughter] [fascist dictator]

Maggie Simpson?

they mean Marge.

they mean OJ

they meant maddie

Warrne Beuffet of Asperger-Hathaway?

I know in some cases, it's necessary, but in this new digital age, do we really need sign language when we will have (or already do) have access to subtitles?

-- ken c, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 15:22 (56 minutes ago) Link

Sign language is a lot more descriptive than subtitles. A lot of the emotion is conveyed in the actors' tones of voice, something that you lose with subs. Exaggerated facial expressions and body language are important when you're signing, it can even change the definition of a sign (eg. "I understand" and "I don't understand" have exactly the same sign, but it's your expression that says which one you're saying), so signing can make emotions clearer when the actors are being more subtle. Probably not a problem with Hollyoaks though.

and where was the "do you swing your arms when you walk?" question in that quiz?

OTM

aspergers is definitely one of those self-diagnosed conditions for people too lazy to learn social skills. /flame war.

-- burt_stanton, Wednesday, November 14, 2007 10:34 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

^^^this

-- Dom Passantino, Wednesday, November 14, 2007 10:36 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

asperger's is definitely one of those real conditions that millions of people who spend too much time online diagnose themselves with to justify their social problems.

i tried to get my self diagnosed w/aspergers once to get on the disability benefit gravy train

What can you geT?

take your pick!

it didn't work though :(

Going back to Roxy's comment about aspergers' being typified by an inability to imagine fictional scenarios... that one is tapped by some of the questions in the quiz. I've been puzzling over that one, as I know one diagnosed aspiee who has an astonishingly vivid imagination.

However, thinking about it, there is something a little aspie-like about the worlds he invents - they are not what you might call empathic worlds, but often seem to be based on an obsessive first-person viewpoint where fantasy and reality elements are entwined, and other people or characters seem to float through these worlds as disembodied, robotic or deluded/sleeping characters. So you could say his imagination is rich, but lacking in empathic twists. For example, he never uses the second or third person perspective, and never speculates on the feelings or states of minds of others.

so as i mentioned on the vaccine thread i attended a "get up to professional speed" seminar on autism today (for educators, not for doctors) that focused on high-functioning autism and asperger's (the sort of people you are likely to see as a teacher vs as a clinician)

i have a cousin who has been formally diagnosed w/ asperger's. I would say he's neither particularly high nor low on the spectrum as i've heard described. in some ways i can see him being very successful in life (he's a sixth grader right now and he's learning calculus) and in other ways (socially) i see him being very unsuccessful.

anyway TBH i was always deeply skeptical about the asperger's diagnosis and figured it was just a catch-all or something. i mean, i KNOW he's a weird kid who can barely hold a conversation, and often *completely* ignores the people around him in favor of his pokemon or whatever, won't interact for several hours or something when i am visiting but then will approach me out of the blue and tell me a 10-minute story w/ the verbal development of someone twice his age. and then he'll walk away without answering my questions. but whatever, i just thought he was a messed-up kid, not somebody w/ a condition or something.

then we watched video case studies of kids w/ asperger's and i was shocked to see how much his body language, ways of speaking and even facial tics were mirrored by these kids. same sort of weird eye-movement tracing problem, where he always seemed to be looking at people's shoulders instead of in their eyes. same sort of weird hand movements (always either out at his sides or above his head, like he's always doing fidgety jazz hands). same sort of repetitive tics like pressing his chin against his chest over and over, like he's trying to smash his adam's apple or something.

it was really eye-opening to see something that we use as a shorthand joke around here manifested in such an undeniable way that i'd been sort of avoiding. they said that not everybody who had asperger's showed these sensorimotor problems but that it happened *a lot* (to the point where it was part of the diagnosis)

anyway i'm sort of rambling here, but it was definitely the sort of thing that qualitatively changed how i think about asperger's

one of the things we watched was some clips from this documentary called today's man, pretty amazing to me. i mean, my cousin is basically like a 50% scale version of this guy, with a bunch of the same physical and verbal tics. it's worth a look.

On the originally posted test, a hardly surprising 43.

I scored a 19.

Like moonship, I've also got a cousin diagnosed with Asperger's. His physical and verbal characteristics aren't as pronounced, though he does have extreme fixations with lawn mowers, trains, and a consistent streak of kleptomania.

i haven't read this whole thread, but is there any CW about what kinds of things seem to contribute to asperger's/autism in a child's early development?

i got a 9

Just did this and also got a 9.

An interesting subject - one which has become increasingly relevant to myself. Over the last few months, others around me are finally taking it seriously that I might have Aspergers and it may explain some of my behaviour in my life. I'm going to be checked out and have proper professional tests for it soon. But on the original test mentioned here, I got a 39.

extreme fixations with lawn mowers, trains, and a consistent streak of kleptomania

otherwise known as "being a young boy" if i'm not mistaken

He's 19.

And the extreme depths of his fixations extend far beyond that of any average young b oy.

haha oh!

i guess what moonship is saying is that there's something deeper than "nurture" that is at the root of it, if tics and habits can be so strangely identical across geography and cultures, so it sounds like something that runs in the family (though can probably be exacerbated by certain environments, i'm guessing?)

Yeah, I've wondered about the nature vs nurture aspect of it all as well. Something I wouldn't mind reading up on one day.

Rob--When I was 20 I went through a similar thing and got checked out. Doctor (very reluctantly) said ADD, though.

9. lots of 9s in thread. I wonder if ppl are large are 9s, or just ilxors

I AM NOT A NUMBER I AM A FREE MAN

WHO SCORED A 9

i live with an asperger's person who i've known since i was 13 and i'm pleased to say that he has basically managed to overcome most of the problems assocated with it, despite the odd episode of random behaviour.

I'll be interested to see what results turn up from the professional tests. My behaviour has always been slightly impersonal, very introverted and with a lot of very obsessional tendencies. Oddly enough my mother mentioned Aspergers a few years ago and nobody wanted to know, but now my actions are unavoidably affecting my relationships with people it's time to get checked out.

Forgive my ignorance - is ADD any different to ADHD?

i got 13.

ADD=Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD=Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

I was diagnosed with "ADD with mild hyperactivity".

i got a 32, which really surprises me. not too sure about that test at all.

Yeah I wouldn't take any online personality quiz as gospel.

i often think to myself that in other times or other cultures, this syndrome (and other syndromes) would be taken more in stride and simply accepted, even celebrated

Like schizophrenia in the Bible

in other news-

Personality Disorder Test Results

Paranoid |||||||||||||||| 62% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||||||| 62% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||| 54% 53%
Antisocial |||||||||||||| 54% 47%
Borderline |||||||||| 38% 47%
Histrionic |||||||||||||||| 62% 43%
Narcissistic |||||||||| 34% 41%
Avoidant |||||||||||| 46% 39%
Dependent |||||||||||||| 54% 37%
Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||||| 42% 40%

I'm a paranoid schizoid avoidant histrionic.

now THAT sounds a little more familiar.

and dependent. but hey, at least i'm not borderline.

So much I'd like to write here and not enough time at the moment to go into it. Brief summary: most of my job involves supporting students with ASDs and particularly Asperger's. I'm far from an expert but I've got a lot of experience working with adults and children with these conditions. To kind of answer a couple of the questions raised up there: doctors don't yet know what "causes" ASDs but the likelihood is that it's a combination of genetic pre-dispositions and environmental factors. There are probably different causes for different people. There are certainly different outcomes. The 3 students I've mainly worked with this year are very, very different from one another, tho the underlying similarities are there as you get to know people. Diagnosis is by symptom. If somebody ticks enough boxes against the clinical scale then they are diagnosed with Asperger's/ASD. This takes time and insight, and web questionnaires are way to blunt to be much use here. These conditions are so intimately connected to "personality" that talking about a cure might well be misguided, as well as unlikely any time soon. Some people with Asperger's are adamant that the condition is part of who they are. Most people I've known and worked with have been funny and cool, far from the stereotyped "roboticness" some people associate with ASDs.

how prevalent would uber-brightness with numbers etc be? or is that just given excess coverage?

I hear figures like 10 percent quoted for savant abilities, but I don't think I've ever come across anybody with those skills. People I've known have had the same general spread of intelligence you'd expect from any random group of people.

I've heard that kids with ADD are generally brighter, though I imagine it's sort of a similar myth, maybe to perk us up since we do so terribly in school.

so it sounds like something that runs in the family (though can probably be exacerbated by certain environments, i'm guessing?)

my cousin's son was diagnosed with asperger's, and it apparently runs in his wife's family - several close male relatives are autistic and she actually seems like she has some form of asd). also, some friends with an autistic son were told that their chances of having another son with autism/asd were over 50%.

haha i scored 11pts higher this time. i think i was just more honest/critical

I worked as a para-professional in the SPED (special needs)classroom in the very small, white, middle class town where I live. Middle school, where I believe a lot of needs become diagnoses.
It really seemed to be so much more environment with most of the kids. (nurture vs.nature) There were a few "genetic" kids - like, three brothers, two who were in the autism classroom, one in my classroom.

Even in this small town, there were horror stories about absentee parents, physical/mental abuse, abandonment, etc. that I believe (my opinion) can be a cause of behavioral problems that eventually are diagnosed as ADD, etc.

I DID work with one kid who was completely shut down, hated me; the meanest little 10 year old you can imagine. He's also very small for his age, and has funky teeth, so.... Y'know, he didn't want to do any work, because it was boring and he hated me. Eventually, we discovered that he DOES have a savantish ability with numbers.

He was adopted from the Ukraine when he was just under a year old, so the psychologists/psychiatrists were diagnosing him with attachment disorder.

I diagnosed him with "bored with the whole thing" disorder, because the kid can rattle off complicated multiplication and divisions with just a few calculations on paper.

He can't WRITE - it's almost like the shapes of the letters are confounding to him, so he writes like a pre-schooler. He can't stay within the margins, literally.

And, of course, figuratively.

I feel like learning methods should be adopted for the greater health of the learner. it will never happen as a policy, but lot's of SPED teachers are very tuned in to diagnoses and being really creative in the classroom.
Then, of course, you have the stigma of students being in a SPED classroom and engaging with other students....kids are mean...

Then there was the really "bad" kid who seemed to be getting a little stability from the classroom, and then suddenly went kooky and violent - and eventually got expelled from public school. Turns out his parents were sick of dealing with him, so they withheld his ADD meds, knowing he would get expelled and sent to a live-in program. For BAD kids.

By the way, I'm schizo-something from the second test.

Is "neil asperger" supposed to be like Neil Aspinall + Neil Hamburger?

12

IIRC I scored 90+% on 'paranoid' in that second test, which sounds about right.

Oops nope:

Paranoid |||||||||||| 50% 49%
Schizoid |||||||||||||| 58% 53%
Schizotypal |||||||||||||||||||| 82% 53%

11, mostly because I'm a blowhard.

I should major in Imagineering.

Schizotypal!
me too!!

7

Paranoid 38%
Schizoid 30%
Schizotypal 58%
Antisocial 26%
Borderline 70%
Histrionic 42%
Narcissistic 38%
Avoidanant 30%
Dependent 62%
Obsessive-Compulsive 10%

Oh shit, that don't look so good...

It doesn't really look BAD.

An on the online test for personality disorders is just seeping with danger IMO.

Yeah, that test was pretty weak. I'm just alarmed that "borderline" came up so high.

i got a 7 on the asperger's test

Exactly why I made the previous statement...a personality disorder, esp. say borderline, is a stiff indictment.

xp

i am 17 on the asperger's, which it tells me is the average for men. i am delighted to find i am so well-balanced.

you know i don't want to break up the fun here but one of the things that i was getting at with my first post was that when you watch that film (today's man) it becomes very clear that what we're talking about here isn't a personality condition

"ADD" is an outdated medical term. It's now called "ADHD predominantly inattentive."

it becomes very clear that what we're talking about here isn't a personality condition

I thought everyone knew this already!

I'm also creeped out that many men are being diagnosed with latent ADD/ADHD. And some women that I know are accepting this diagnosis for themselves!

I mean, really, it's an excuse to prescribe drugs. And I am not against the drugs, at all. I just hate a catch-all term or phrase that becomes part of the vernacular to the point of acceptance.
Hegemony?

I will never know if smoking beaucoup de pot made me more or less likely to qualify for a prescribed sedative.
I do know that I was often motivated to clean in my own unique way.

my score is 1. take that, aspie boy.

ignores ball. Contemplates gender.

13.

8

This time I took test: 12. Last time: 17.

http://www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us/farmersmkt/asparagus

You got... asparagus?

Exhibit #1 yr honor.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/08/12/autism.college.ap/index.html

That's pretty interesting.

(xp--omg he named his band Final Fantasy!!!!!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/04/autism-asperger-s-education-society

soudns like this guy started out at my school. idk if i even heard the word 'asperger's' till this decade. this story is pretty effed up & makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach.

i don't know - he only started to get the support at his other school once the problem was identified, and you need a diagnosis to fins the right solution.

suspect the root of the admissions refusal is his history of not attending school - the school would have been worried he'd make their truancy figures worse. which is depressing in a different way.

The curious incident of the straight-A student with Asperger's syndrome

it's not really that curious

And when he pictures life at university, what does he see? "Umm..." he says. "Lectures. Random chats. Robots. Drinking, possibly."

sounds about right

it's not really that curious

― i em , mad;'e of mdshurjookt (Curt1s Stephens), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 15:46 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

met plenty of these types at uni (hell you could almost argue I was one) and on the whole they were pretty regular

Wish I had met more people like this at university rather than some of the twats i had to put up with.

makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach.

makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach
makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach
makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach
makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach
makes u wonder maybe if pathologizing every character trait going is the best approach

I also don't think single-case-study articles like that are remotely fucking helpful. And yes, sorry: what the fuck is with the headline? "Curious" how?

Still: getting cross about shit Guardian articles isn't really worth it, is it?

Curious, like the incident a la Mark Haddon, is what they mean by that.

Except not a mystery about a dog getting killed by a shovel and a kid who hates yellow cars, but the even more otherworldly and sordid case of academic success.

Curious, like the incident a la Mark Haddon, is what they mean by that

Yes, I get the reference. I've not read the book; however, I'm guessing that the incident so described could be described reasonably objectively as "curious". But for a lad with Asperger's to get good results ... is that really so "curious"?

As a wise old sub -- who now works for the Guardian, oddly enough, but sadly not on this stuff -- once told me: if you're going to make a pun or any other kind of reference in a headline, it tends to help if it makes sense.

And isn't potentially offensive, too.

Yeah the book is about a barely-functional child with asperger's who finds a dog that was killed by a shovel & finds out his mom died or was divorced or something (IIRC, I read it one afternoon many years ago).

Which is totally tantamount in weirdness to getting all As.

guys u are missing the ur-referent here which is that one old sherlock holmes story, although that doesn't really help much - the one with "watson, you are forgetting the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" "what was curious about it holmes" "i will tell u later watson" "fu holmes"

i was going to argue that the curious incident from that story (the dog not barking) was somehow the ref they were going for, but on second thoughts that doesn't really work at all

the one with "watson, you are forgetting the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" "what was curious about it holmes" "i will tell u later watson" "fu holmes"

lolll

But for a lad with Asperger's to get good results ... is that really so "curious"?

― a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 18:13 (4 hours ago)

no, the curious bit is why the school wouldn't accept him, considering he was a straight-a student - the standfirst makes that clear. the stuff in the copy where decca aitkenhead professes astonishment that he has a sense of humour is the offensive bit.

Cripes, I did not even register who the writer was. Gah.

The bit about his sense of humour was within the tone of the article, I think. It's an introduction for people who don't know anything about Asperger's, really, so it seems fair that she should talk about some of the myths around AS.

i'm sure it's well meant, but in describing her own reactions she just sounds like she approached the assignment in an incredible simple-minded way. writing about how someone doesn't fit a stereotype is a pretty lazy device anyway imo and can just end up propping up misconceptions - "oh, so this guy's an exception but..."

*incredibly

Decca Aikenhead in making an article about her non-shocker.

I observed, here and there, many in the habit of servants, with a blown bladder, fastened like a flail to the end of a stick, which they carried in their hands. In each bladder was a small quantity of dried peas, or little pebbles, as I was afterwards informed. With these bladders, they now and then flapped the mouths and ears of those who stood near them, of which practice I could not then conceive the meaning. It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to afford it always keep a flapper (the original is CLIMENOLE) in their family, as one of their domestics; nor ever walk abroad, or make visits, without him. And the business of this officer is, when two, three, or more persons are in company, gently to strike with his bladder the mouth of him who is to speak, and the right ear of him or them to whom the speaker addresses himself. This flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his master in his walks, and upon occasion to give him a soft flap on his eyes; because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest danger of falling down every precipice, and bouncing his head against every post; and in the streets, of justling others, or being justled himself into the kennel.

I think about this passage quite often.

http://vimeo.com/11305685

i really love that video

thanks roxy, that's beautiful.

weird fucking asperger's test I found on Encyclopedia Dramatica, of all places, w/ questions like "Are your views typical of your peer group?" and "Do you naturally fit into the expected gender stereotypes?" and "Do you have one special talent which you have emphasised and worked on?" "Do you become frustrated if an activity that is important to you gets interrupted?" you'd have to be a pretty bland and thick-skinned person not to possess some of the aspie traits they're testing for.

also I think I must be an aspie because this test was written by a bunch of Swedes(?), and I keep getting hung up by all the grammar crimes scattered throughout.

you'd have to be a pretty bland and thick-skinned person not to possess some of the aspie traits they're testing for

A diagnosis of AS isn't about having some of the traits, it's about having a whole bunch of the traits in a pattern defined as AS.

that vid made me emotional!

"i was the one who made you a parent" aw lol <3

that vid made me emotional!

39

rip

Ha, this is cool and all, but also seems slightly exploitive:

http://i.imgur.com/svzj9dB.jpg

"Ok, boys! Next up: VEGAS!"

I've seen that image around and I don't get it. Are they having you have to have mild autism to sort boxes, or to even want to in the first place?

http://i.imgur.com/JpcRRZN.png

Thanks for the great post, CURT AUTRY. #pleaseshare

"succeeding with Autism" - very condescending and assuming they no scope beyond menial jobs. I'd hope there would be plenty of people on the autism spectrum who would do the bare minimum for a shit job and occasionally tell the boss to get fucked, and all the other things that neurotypical people are allowed to do.

^^
have no scope

apparently this young man will also work for free because all walmart employees are uniformed at all times

xxp

I can assure you calzino that I know loads of peeps on the spectrum who can do that

it looks like he's just had fun sorting everything neatly and is happy about it

has no-one here ever neatened up the display or rearranged the filing on a bookshop shelf or CD shop rack?

ok, so I got bored while the pharmacy was filling out my prescription.

http://i.imgur.com/rzdO7sn.jpg

those bean sprouts look mighty messy

Interesting Chris Packham documentary last night.

yo dog latin this is the place