The Asperger syndrome

TenYearsAfter wrote: Hello Baldjean.  I am not only a proghead since 1975 but also a psychiatric nurse since 1990, the last 10 years I visited clients at home with ADHD, borderline-personality, schizophrenia, and a wide range of autism, including Asperger. Reading your words (including small talk) I would like to ask "how about humor?" Because one of the symptomes of Asperger is troubles with understanding the coherence between words and facial expressions from a person. Often words with humor (or sayings) are taken literally.

to give an example: I am very fond of Loriot, a German comedian, and find him incredibly funny, but I can't understand at all why Louis de Funès is funny

That's an interesting description. I've heard that Gary Numan has a form of it. I've often heard that it is a mild form of autism, but I don't know if that's right. I've also heard that it is an amplified form of introvertedness. I can relate to some of the aspects on the list. I can be very logical about things at times. And, although sometimes I'm ok in social situations, other times I just completely freak out. I especially can't stand the "let's go around the room and introduce ourselves" routine where I end up like the guy from the movie Broadcast News. I find the idea of having a vacation on a cruise ship abhorrent. And, although I love and care about people, I often find it a huge energy drain being around them. But, since I don't think it's right to just always cut and run, and go hide under a rock, I try to find ways to motivate myself to go - usually being glad I went afterwards. I went into science and engineering, and I love music composition as a hobby but struggle with executing what I write, so I'll spend years on it. I doubt I would be diagnosed with this, but I definitely relate to several descriptions in the article. I empathize with you on the more difficult aspects of life with this, but other aspects are certainly beneficial. The world is a much better place because you and others with Aspergers are in it.

Edited by BaldJean - June 23 2019 at 09:15

It is great that you've lifted each other up. These things are often more complicated than what people perceive. I don't really know much about it, but your article helps.

Regarding Gary Numan, I think Pleasure Principle was a very odd album, the genius being its relative simplicity but elegance in its composition with intricate use of space and percussion. People often say it is cold and devoid of emotion but I always found it to be quite the opposite. Of course, it is not prog! It is not prog! < just covering my butt there >

TenYearsAfter wrote: BaldJean wrote: TenYearsAfter wrote: Hello Baldjean.  I am not only a proghead since 1975 but also a psychiatric nurse since 1990, the last 10 years I visited clients at home with ADHD, borderline-personality, schizophrenia, and a wide range of autism, including Asperger. Reading your words (including small talk) I would like to ask "how about humor?" Because one of the symptomes of Asperger is troubles with understanding the coherence between words and facial expressions from a person. Often words with humor (or sayings) are taken literally.  I am into humor, but only very sophisticated and deadpan humor. many things other people laugh about simply escape me, though I may laugh along. simulation again   You must love the British humor if you are into deadpan humor, the passive agressive undertone with a smile or pretending it's OK. The British typecasting is the best in the world, so how about the difficulty to understand this kind of humor, the distinctive blend of sarcasm that is hidden behind a wide range of contrasting facial expressions?

BaldJean wrote: TenYearsAfter wrote: BaldJean wrote: TenYearsAfter wrote: Hello Baldjean.  I am not only a proghead since 1975 but also a psychiatric nurse since 1990, the last 10 years I visited clients at home with ADHD, borderline-personality, schizophrenia, and a wide range of autism, including Asperger. Reading your words (including small talk) I would like to ask "how about humor?" Because one of the symptomes of Asperger is troubles with understanding the coherence between words and facial expressions from a person. Often words with humor (or sayings) are taken literally.  I am into humor, but only very sophisticated and deadpan humor. many things other people laugh about simply escape me, though I may laugh along. simulation again   You must love the British humor if you are into deadpan humor, the passive agressive undertone with a smile or pretending it's OK. The British typecasting is the best in the world, so how about the difficulty to understand this kind of humor, the distinctive blend of sarcasm that is hidden behind a wide range of contrasting facial expressions? I certainly love British humor, though I know I am missing something there too. the sugarcoatings that many of the acrid remarks are given perhaps fall flat on me, so the intended meanings of the remarks all the more stand out for me. example: "what a beautiful dress you are wearing, Lady Carnovan! too bad it was made for someone of a smaller size". I can understand that this actually means "you are making yourself a laughing stock because you don't fit into this dress, you fat cow", but only because in this context (two women, of which one is overweight, speak to each other) the first sentence (the sugarcoating) doesn't make any sense to me because it is obvious the other woman does not fit into the dress. I am not certain I made myself clear here; it is difficult to explain the wide range of contrasting facial expressions is probably what makes it difficult for me to understand the humor of Louis de Funès. reading facial expressions well is certainly not what we Aspies are renowned for

 

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: The term asperger syndrome isn't officially used anymore. It's now considered part of ASD(autism spectrum disorder). I personally have no issues with it being used in this thread but I just thought I would mention that.  I have done some(admittedly rather cursory)research on the topic. My brother who works in special ed(and for a while had students with ASD)insisted several years ago that I had it and my father suggested I had it also at one point. However, my brother is not a doctor and had no business trying to diagnose me or try to get me to admit I have it. I personally don't believe I do. I have never been diagnosed with it and no doctor has ever mentioned it to me. I had one therapist once who said I "might be on the bubble" but this was because her brother had it and she thought I spoke in a bit of a monotone voice(I really don't though and am not sure where she got that). I do however definitely feel like I have adhd and have been diagnosed with that in the past but I never really took the proper steps do to deal with it properly and so at almost fifty years old my life is still a mess. So on the one hand I can understand why my brother thought that(in his own way he was trying to help)but ultimately it led to tension between us. I'm not sure if he still feels that way or not(it's quite possible). Anyway, I apologize for the self indulgent rant(then again I am a prog fan :P ). Anyway, as far as I know ADHD is not really something you outgrow. I suppose it can be greatly reduced and it can definitely be managed but typically it's not something that disappears when you get older.

 

Regarding an earlier comment, I love Gary Numan, though mostly I turn to Replicas and Telekon.

I'm on the autism spectrum. My parents insisted that I had Asperger's whilst growing up due to my apparent inability to register other people's emotions, particularly their boredom when I was talking about things that I was passionate about. I was aware of their eyes glazing over, so I would try to express it in an even more passionate, excited manner, which I can see would be extremely irritating. Just because I was excited about something doesn't mean they should be, and people only have so much of an attention span. It gets tiring for people, and people want to focus on other things after a little while. I began to isolate myself more, and now I only go on-and-on at this forum, and keep my talking very sparse in social situations. I never like to be in public spaces and avoid socialising.

I do have OCD, depression, and anxiety disorders (social and generalised), and I have scored high when taking online Asperger's Syndrome tests. One therapist did suggest that I have it, another said that we don't like to label people. I'm a perfectionist by nature despite my sloppy posts and I get very passionate and quite single-minded about certain things, but I'm interested in everything.

Of those videos, I also only found the first one funny. I like comedy that has character, and I can identify with that situation.   Being very socially awkward, a lot of my favourite humour deals with social awkwardness. I love with much British humour how they deal with socially awkward situations, and I like the dryness. I love so much British TV -- I grew up with it. I have something of the stereotypical British repressed nature about me and am very reserved in social situations and a fear of causing embarrassment both to myself and others. At this forum, I feel embarrassed almost every time I post, but I tend to force myself. I get really upset with myself when I feel like I can't convey an idea well. With my experience I should be a better communicator, but a stroke presented some challenges, and extreme insomnia.

Interesting article, and a lot of that would refer to me (including sensations and sounds) and family members (my children are both on the spectrum). I think my understanding of others is quite good, but a big fear of mine involves not being understood, and I do feel this strong sense of disconnection/ alienation from others, and have a deep yearning to be part of a loving, compassionate community. Well there is PA, but I do want physical contact with people outside my kids and wife despite being scared of being in those situations. My work itself is very isolated (I do it from home mostly, and communicate with people via email).


Edited by Logan - June 23 2019 at 12:25