The NT's Guide to Asperger's

Post Reply New Topic

I started this topic because I felt like there wasn't any one comprehensive guide to Asperger's on the site (minus the helpful Assesments in the Writing and Poetry section). I want it to be contributed to by ANY member on the site (a bit like Wikipedia), because the ones who know it best are the ones who've got it . It should cover every aspect of Asperger's, from the breif history it has, to things like obsessions and social interations to the implications it has and well known people with Asperger's. It should also act as an introductory source for those who want a checklist for seeing whether or not they're likely to have Asperger's, or as an NT's guide to it, as the title suggests (NT's are welcome to contribute, as long as it's appropriate!) Who knows, maybe this topic will get stickied for later use (I'd like that ).

Anyway, I'll start off in my next post, which will get updated with each new contribution until I can no longer edit it (after that pesky 9999 minute time limit), at which point I'll just put in another post to use as the update.

To understand how aspies see the other people (NT) is often like what a white guy from Oxford would see a rough black man from Detroit.

==History==
[Yet to be worked on and contributed to]

==Asperger's Terms==
Aspie: Someone with Asperger's
Autie: Someone with Autism
NT: Neurotypical, generally means anyone who does not have Asperger's, but more specifically means anyone who is classed as neurotypical. In rants, NT means anyone Neurotypical who is lazy, inconsiderate, or just plain mean.
Asperger's: Shorthand for Asperger's Syndrome. Preferrably used because Asperger's is not a Syndrome, more of a Neurological re-wiring. The name has yet to be changed to suit this.
AS: Abbreviation of Asperger's Syndrome.

==Asperger's Traits==
These are the main traits to look out for, and not all of them can be present in an Aspie.

Obsessions or very narrow interest range; which can range from Double-Decker Buses to Sephiroth, and have varying times of longetivity, from a few days or weeks, but most often several months or even years. Some obsessions can last as short as a few seconds (such as finding a certain item in the newspaper) to an entire lifetime. During this time, it can be very difficult to keep off the obsession, and yet when it wears off, the obsessor is often left wondering how they could be so obsessed over something like that.
Social Awkwardness; Things like eye contact, sarcasm and any other non-verbal social cues don't come naturally, and must most often be taught in order to be picked up, rather than just mentally picked up. Due to the narrow interest range, Small Talk (also known as chatting about anything) can be a difficulty.
Trouble with Dexterity; hand, finger and general body movement appears to be either clunky, sloppy, lazy, or something similar. This often leads to clumsyness. Despite this, many people with Asperger's don't have this characteristic and are able to do things like climb trees and Rock Climb quite well.
Mental Age Difference; Often those with Asperger's tend to act younger or older than their age, due to child-like behaviours or strong logic senses and judgement. Most often these two ways of behaving occur at different times, so one could act like a ten year old one moment, and be very wise and judgemental the next.
Emotional Instability: More specifically, a lack of control over anger, starting with confusion, and leading on to anger, fits of rage, and then what is known as a 'meltdown'. Can be stopped earlier in the proccess.
A liking of Order; Having things organised and spelt out makes those with Asperger's more calm, and less prone to getting angry. When these plans change, or any sort of change happens, for that matter, it's like throwing a wrench into the workings of an Aspie's mind.
A lack of Sympathy; Aspies can have a lack of sympathy around other and may appears selfish and incapable of relating to others. For example, if an Aspie's friend falls over and breaks his or her ankle, a person with Asperger's may not relate that his or her friends is in pain. They know that they have broken their ankle, but the seriousness of it all may not come through.
A relation to animals; While not an accurate way of telling whether or not someone has AS, it is commonly found that Apires can relate to animals more than to other people. The reason isn't clear, but it probably has something to do with the mistrust of other people due to abuse, but also just because Aspies can't relate to people very well, and animals aren't people, are they?
Hypersensitivity; Those with Asperger's can be highly sensitive to their senses of light, touch, sound and smell. This can be positive and negative, so for example, an Aspie could like certain smells more than most, or can not stand being in a place with bright lights. This can be in varying likenesses as well, so a person with Asperger's could like bright lights, hate smelling a wide range of smells, like loud noises and dislike being touched. Another strange related factor (in the negative area) is that some Aspies dislike things such as Flourescent lights and monitors on the 60 hertz refresh rate as it makes them feel nautious, and the cause is relatively unknown (as is a lot about AS).
An odd sense of Space; People with Asperger's tend to have a different idea of a sense of space then most. For example, an Aspie would have a wider area of 'personal space' than an NT, and yet can sometimes inadvertedly stray into another persons 'personal space' and not realise that this would be socially awkward for the other person.

==Overview==
=Order and Organisation=
Aspie's tend to like a sense of order and organisation. Often they make mental plans of what they'd like to do during the day. Most often when things don't go according to this plan, things go haywire and the Aspie will feel hurt and betrayed, and will get angry and upset. [Needs expanding on by an expert in the subject]

=Overload=
Too much sensory input can become overwhelming and reduce an Aspie to a wide-eyed mute, barely able to move or function. Even if there doesn't appear to be a lot going on, sometimes all it takes is one thing - certain types of noise, light, even people. It feels like there's an internal volume control that just got turned up, so all the sensory input coming in is a lot more intense than it would normally be. It's overwhelming - it takes up all of an Aspie's attention so they can't think clearly or focus on anything else, and talking, moving and concentrating becaomes nearly impossible. Aspies are more prone to overload when they're tired or stressed, so even in the same surroundings, sometimes overload will kick in from the stimuli and sometimes it won't - it just depends on how well our nervous system can handle everything on that particular occasion. Because of the sensitivity to sensory information, an Aspie who dislikes being touched will lash out when touched by somebody, whereas someone who likes being touched will most likely find it relaxing (I don't know about that last one).

==Famous, or at least well known people with Asperger's==
~Sherlock Holmes
~Columbo (not sure where he comes from. A book, maybye?)

Last edited by KBABZ on 26 Oct 2006, 2:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

Tha's true , sometimes you feel like writing an entire book to complain and express your feeling about it, y'know? I would've preferred it if you had posted that after I put up the post that I'll edit, but hey, no use complaining now, right?

Things to be added: Sense of Space, Lack of Social Requirements (hence the need for being alone more often), and hypersensitivity.

More things to be added are that a lot of us have unusual Accents or speech patterns, and that we have more of a kinship with animals, than we do with people.

I do like the part about Obsessions.

This is going to be one of those things where it'll improve and get more accurate over time. Sorta like wine, actually! The main reason I made this is explained in the first post, but the other reason is so that I can print this off and whip it out if I need to explain myself!

And I knew You'd like that one. You and One-Wing have the most expressed obsessions on WP (at least, just by looking at your avatars and posts). Remember, anyone can Edit it, just post in how you think it should be changed (in your own words) and I'll put it on! I'll correct any spelling and grammer mistakes I notice. Thanks for the help.

We are more evelved then Animals CockneyRebel, we are more evelved then most NTs too. There was an an artical in the newspapers about the evolution of mankind by Dr Currey. I will have a look for it when I finnished work.

I wonder if generally black people are more likely to suffer from an extreme case of Neurotypical Syndrome.

Maybe my words weren't clear. We have more of a relationship with animals, than we do with other people.

More to be added (can be rephrased or added to):

Sometimes we don't communicate well through talking, despite being able to speak perfectly fluently at other times. There are neurological barriers at times preventing us from expressing what we want to say (as if the internal wiring connection between thought and speech is broken), and other times for some people there are physical problems like stuttering that makes it difficult to express yourself in a way that appears intelligent. Most aspies communicate/express their thoughts more easily and effectively through writing or typing.

(I'll leave other speech abnormalities like echolalia for someone with direct experience with them.)

Overload - this is a big one, feel free to add other points to this. Too much sensory input can become overwhelming and reduce you to a wide-eyed mute, barely able to move or function. Even if there doesn't appear to be a lot going on, sometimes all it takes is one thing - certain types of noise, light, even people. It feels like there's an internal volume control that just got turned up, so all the sensory input coming in is a lot more intense than it would normally be. It's overwhelming - it takes up all your attention so you can't think clearly or focus on anything else, can't move, can't speak... that's my experience at least. Usually even if it's really bad though, I can follow verbal commands. So someone else (a very understanding person who knows me well) can keep me moving if needed by telling me what to do. Aspies are more prone to overload when we're tired or stressed, so even in the same surroundings, sometimes overload will kick in from the stimuli and sometimes it won't - it just depends on how well our nervous system can handle everything on that particular occasion.

It's a tricky bit to DX the deceased. But fictional people, ahhh, that's a different barrel of fish!

>Sherlock Holmes (Obssessed with details, not very friendly, never married, needed a lot of personal space.)

>Columbo (Obssessed with details, poor grooming habits, difficulty in conversation, inappropriate frendliness at odd times.)

Austin Powers:

Obsessed with details, poor grooming, high Sex Drive, lack of fashion sense, uneven Eye-Contact (sometimes too much, sometimes too little), very friendly.

High Sex drive: I wish
Lack of fashion sense: have you been to America
Poor grooming!! you got me there, I am working on it though.

If Aspie are typical of me, I am often very work competitive, and competitive when it comes to the sciences, cannot stand dogmatic views. Some time a can be very assertive and forceful. But socially, I don’t care about the social pecking order and I don’t mind being told what to do by other members of staff, so long is it doesn’t conflict with my core beliefs.

>Past History-Usually the weird cat lady who lived at the edge of town, and was supposed to be a witch, but was a good herbalist. Male equivalent was the eccentric hermit who lived in the woods and protrated himself in front of a wooden cross twelve times a day.

The need for routine hasn't been mentioned. Also the problems with clothes, because of the sensitivity issues, the one-sided conversation, taking things literal, ability with numbers and music, monotone voice, echolalia, our body language reflects weakness and desire to be alone, procrastination, great imagination, stim, rocking back and forth, walking in circles...

You gotta mention Einstein, Tesla, Carmack, Spielberg and Gates. (actually, I've never seen proof that Spielberg has Aspegers, but it's been mentioned so it might be true.)

About obsessions, I believe they can last from one second to a lifetime, it happens when I see a part of an ad and I feel an impulse to see it all, it's the same thing when reading the first page of an enciclopedia an feeling the impulse to read it all, or reading one post in a forum and feeling the impulse to read them all, thats how obsessions start and they can be over in seconds or in years, they can be very small sometimes.

If you want a comprehensive list of traits, just watch Mozart and The Whale and take note of everything you see.