ASPERGER'S SYNDROME? WHY NOT SOCIAL DYSLEXIA?

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If they ever called it "social learning disorder"--or put "social" in the name at all--they would do people like me a really huge disservice. I've already mentioned that it's not socializing that's really difficult for me. Sure, I'm socially awkward, and sure, it's exhausting; but if I had nothing but the social problems, it would hardly even be a disability. As it is, what I have is considered a relatively significant disability, not because I don't have friends, but because I have such trouble doing the normal everyday things that people have to do to get along in life, from keeping a normal sleep schedule to keeping a job. If autism became known as a primarily social problem, people would assume things about me and people like me that absolutely weren't true. They already assume "social misfit" when they think Asperger's, and while that's true, they don't seem to have a clue that it's more than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism# ... _treadmill

I, actually, have quite often thought that there are few differences between a computer and myself, once you get past the organics and binary. If you feed a computer more information than its processors can handle, it overloads, similar to many autistics in general. A computer also cannot understand emotion (allthough most autistics can, even if only to a low degree,) or jokes, and aren't very abstract, they are based upon logic.

So I ask, what makes more since to you? Having been born with a bundle of nerves and synapses, or a silicon-based CPU? Of course the question is subjective, but still...

I hear you Callista, but I think different people may experience a variation in degree of severity between the three categories. I have social anxiety but it's not because I'm afraid of being rejected so much as it's I don't know how to do it. I can observe but to act as others act can only be a performance. It will never come naturally. I'm curious about the things that keep you from managing your daily life and holding a job. I ask this not to challenge you but because I'm wondering if all of the categories couldn't be boiled down to a neurological difficulty in processing sensory information and that can manifest in different ways according to the situation. In other words, do people with AS miss verbal cues because of the stress of looking at someone directly? It's been mentioned how it's easier to listen to someone if you're not looking at them. Is doing both too much stimuli? Wouldn't you think the strain of using your executive function at work along with the stress of interacting with co-workers/customers be a sensory issue too? I've been curious about this. I can work and I get the bills paid but it requires all my concentration and I am wiped out sooner than most. This is something I've experienced my whole life. Normal life the way most people manage it is too much for me. That is why I try to make my life so simple.

Well, in a way, and i may make a discussion of this later, but im wondering if our sensory intake may be among the causes. If your brain is taking in more information that its supposed to, other sensory information is likely dulled, or even cut off. That aside, i dont really know what to call the diagnosis. I actually kinda like Adaptable Autism (since we can interact with the world, learn, etc.). Heh, i think the discussion should be renamed, "Politically Correct naming for Autism Spectrum." <shrug>

I sometimes tell people that I'm "Soul Impaired"... Maybe we could go with that...

Planning, organization, and a very, very low stress tolerance. Transition issues play a part, too; I tend to be late to everything, spend too long doing everything, and generally not stop doing something until... uh, well, until I really REALLY have to use the toilet.. heh... I have no idea why I can make complex plans, if I look at it like a logic problem, but completely fail at even the tiniest amount of on-the-fly planning. Ex. I have to plan my route before I go anywhere, including someplace in the same familiar town, because I can't decide to make a turn while I'm already driving. If I change my route at all, I have to pull over and get out the map. Schedule changes can throw me for a loop really badly--change something about the future, and if I can't build a new picture of exactly what's going to happen, I either shut down or retreat and re-plan everything. A lot of things have been solved by just doing them the same way every time, which is how I can keep my place clean and keep my cats fed... but often times, things get very unpredictable and can't be planned in advance. I can often keep up a relatively high level of performance for an hour, a day, a week, or a month; but if stress starts to build up, eventually everything breaks down including some of the basic skills... I keep on trying to do too much, and then wham! suddenly I can't do much at all, and I'm yelling at myself for being lazy.

Yes. Some of us find the other aspects of autism to be more disabling than simply the social stuff. Rigid thinking, sensory issues, executive functioning related to hyperfocus...all of this can be more disabling than social difficulties, for many of us. I'm not great socially by any means, but I don't consider that to be one of my most significant disabilities. The stress that comes from rigid thinking and sensory difficulties generally presents more problems, as does the hyperfocusing and executive functioning issues. I can sit on the computer pursuing my interests all day, and I do well in school because it interests me, but cooking decent meals for myself and doing the laundry even once a month is quite difficult and often doesn't happen. My dyspraxic tendencies can also be disabling at times, as I have difficulties performing manual tasks that most people can perform easily.

Simply reducing AS to "social dyslexia" does not accurately represent the experiences of most AS people, and further obscures the fact that AS is autism.

Planning, organization, and a very, very low stress tolerance. Transition issues play a part, too; I tend to be late to everything, spend too long doing everything, and generally not stop doing something until... uh, well, until I really REALLY have to use the toilet.. heh... I have no idea why I can make complex plans, if I look at it like a logic problem, but completely fail at even the tiniest amount of on-the-fly planning. Ex. I have to plan my route before I go anywhere, including someplace in the same familiar town, because I can't decide to make a turn while I'm already driving. If I change my route at all, I have to pull over and get out the map. Schedule changes can throw me for a loop really badly--change something about the future, and if I can't build a new picture of exactly what's going to happen, I either shut down or retreat and re-plan everything. A lot of things have been solved by just doing them the same way every time, which is how I can keep my place clean and keep my cats fed... but often times, things get very unpredictable and can't be planned in advance. I can often keep up a relatively high level of performance for an hour, a day, a week, or a month; but if stress starts to build up, eventually everything breaks down including some of the basic skills... I keep on trying to do too much, and then wham! suddenly I can't do much at all, and I'm yelling at myself for being lazy.[/quote]

I have these problems but I also have great difficulty explaining them to people. I need my mother to speak up for me when I have to deal with the welfare/benefit people.