Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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It has absolutely NOTHING to do with that, the socially awkward ones are either mentally damaged, have experienced something tragic/traumatic or have been aspies, the mentally damaged ones in china have also been blamed for that, but they have been through much s***. AS has no origin. People from scandinavia, especially norwegians and danes are stereotyped as people who takes life easy and enjoy, and are social, something AS people are NOT, me included. People around my community is social extroverted and 95% happy all day, they laugh of little things, etc. That is not social awkwardness, it's social extrovertedness. Can some of you please name some more extroverted guys or country's that in general has more extroverted people?

Interesting. Maybe that's why Scandinavia is appealing to me. A lot of the music I listen to comes from there, and my favorite modern artist/photographer is from Denmark. *scratches chin*

Horsefeathers. There are a lot of people whose roots are in Eastern Europe who have AS. Not a blonde hair or a blue eye in the bunch.

ruveyn

Ehh... who made up this theory? But that should be easy to prove/disprove, take Island and check if they have any high rate of Aspies than other countrys, they have been pretty isolated, so it should show there.

B.t.w, when you're stuck in snow half year around, you get quite enough of people sitting there talking.

...raping, pillaging, and conquering.....because those are all very autistic traits right?

A thing that makes me to distrust from "nature" (instead of "nurture") explanations of cultural traits is that the modern stereotypes of nordic and germanic peoples all largely the opposite of the stereotypes about the same peoples 1000-1500 years ago.

Who on Earth can trace ALL of their ancestors back far enough to say so? I don't think anyone can.

Actually, a few years back, I did quite a lot of research on the Saami people, and Uralic cultures and languages. I found quite a few amazingly similar traits and odd things about concepts that could only be found in this language group, that are incredibly Autistic like.

Think about this. It is fairly widely accepted already that Autism is most probably genetic in origin. If this is true, it only stands to reason that if the gene set is ever identified, it may also be traced to certain racial subgroups.

I can't say it's likely, but it is an intriguing possibility. I am 1/4 Finnish, but whether it's Scandinavian or not is irrelevant to me. What IS relevant is that, if certain cultural groups can be identified as the "sources" of Autism (or more specifically, High-Functioning Autism), it may be logical to start discussing with much more seriousness the possibility that High Functioning Autism might be merely a cultural difference, rather than "hardwiring."

How many times do we hear or think, "Hey, maybe it's just a different way of thinking?"

If it could be traced to specific historical cultures, it just might be possible that it really IS just a different way of thinking.

All conjecture though. And does not in any way take away from the reality that AS definitely poses many difficulties that are effectively, disorder in nature. Whether that means we really have a disorder, or society is just intolerant of a different mind-set, the problems we face are the same either way.

Just one last thought though. If HFA's really were just a cultural difference, and it could be proven they are, think what that would mean for us in the U.S.

It would mean that we are protected under the Civil Rights Act! (I think... Is that the right one?)

I literally have no Scandanavian ancestors. I definately know this because one of my aunties is into family history and she completed a family tree book of my family, going back to the late 1880s, and no Scandanavian people are in the book at all. Apparently we have Polish relatives dated back, but that's it. Otherwise, most are British really.

"Scandinavians" are basically "Germans" (with some finnic/sami admixture); most europeans are a mix of german and celtic; then, most europeans will have much genes in common with scandinavians.

1880s really isn't far back enough. The vikings had settlements in the Baltic areas too (Poland), so nothing can be ruled out.

Asperger's did not originate in Scandinavia. It is not a disorder that primary affects Scandinavians. It was first RECOGNIZED by a Austrian doctor. That means he was the first to notice a set behavior pattern that he recognized in multiple induviduals and names it Asperger's. However, that does not in any way imply that Asperger's originated in Austria. Asperger's has been around since before Scandinavia (and Austria) existed.

"Asperger syndrome is named after the Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger who, in 1944, studied and described children in his practice who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy.[5] Fifty years later, it was standardized as a diagnosis, but many questions remain about aspects of the disorder"

-from wikipedia.

Because Asperger's did NOT originate in Austria (there are children all over the world that have this cluster of behaviors and mental patterns and have been since before Austria existed) there is no reason to think people with Asperger's would have a higher chance of having blue eyes or Austrian blood in their family tree. And how did we end up with Sweden here? Personally my best friend in elementary school was Swedish. Her family was quiet because swedes are a little quieter but her family was very warm, friendly, open, and honest. Scandinavians are awesome people.

And Asperger's was identified in Austria, not sweden....

An Asperger-with-other-name was, 20 years before, identified in USSR/Russia, a slavic country but founded by a kind of Vikings; and, attending that both austrians and scandinavians are germanic peoples, the "germanic/scandinavian connection" stands.

Could I see where this information is from? What was the name given 20 years previously?

On the Germanic/Scandinavian connection my point was that Asperger's was identified in Austria. Asperger's did not originate in that country. Most likely Asperger's originated thousands and thousands of years ago. Certainly Asperger's first developed much before Scandinavia or Germany...

http://www.jelibean.com/v4/faq/138-auti ... ll-started


Swedish culture makes it more problematic to have milder autistic traits, since the general antisocialness in the country means that a person like me has no real door into society and can go for several years without meeting or talking to anyone. I have had a few conversations during the past 40 years, but not many, and no relationships.

(And normal Swedes are often aggressive loud misbehaving heavy drinkers with little or no respect for others, with a strong tendency towards physical violence. )

They most certainly are not! But they tend to get less uptight when they drink.
Normal swedes are quiet and nonconfrontational.

I am fairly sure not all scandinavian are autistic and not all autistics are scandinavian, but it's true that I've met a lot more people with asperger's here in scandinavia than where I come from, Italy. But I think it's more of a diagnosis difference, not really a difference in how many people are actually autistic.