Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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I stand corrected, but that puts them even farther away from Scandinavian heritage.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not arguing the point you're making. I just thought the picture mismatch was funny.

Technically per population wide scans South Koreans have the highest rates of ASD's, per the 1 in 38 figure, but that specific type of scan has not been done in other countries, however a similar scan was done in Amish Country in the US.

Per official statistics there is no significant differences among any Western Developed countries.

The area that ASD's are recorded at lowest levels among Western Developed countries are among the Amish at rates of 295. Before those community wide scans were done, and the statistics were based on existing diagnosis alone, the prevalence rate was 1 in 15,000.

The majority of Amish individuals are of Northern European Heritage. Considering the rest of the US has an average prevalence rate of 1 in 88, per government statistics and as high as 1 in 29 among males in New Jersey, per those same government statistics, there are likely cultural and/or environmental factors that come into play in Amish country different from the majority of the rest of the US.

It's not just an issue of poorer opportunities for diagnosis, per the community wide scan of 1 in 295, compared to the 1 in 38 in South Korea.

The evidence is mounting that the move away from face to face interaction and the move toward machine interface interaction, while not causing autism, results in autistic like behaviors.

South Korea rates as the most technologically advanced country in the developed world with the highest availability, accessibility, and highest speeds of broadband access for their citizenry by far, per any other country. The country currently boasts average access speeds at 150 times as fast as the average US household.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/technology/22iht-broadband22.html

But, that is not good enough for South Korea, the country plans on providing 1 Gigabit per second access by the end of 2012.

Internet addiction to video games in that country are a problem large enough where the country had to start censoring the internet video gaming in the late hours of the night, to ensure that individuals in the population would sleep.

A study in neighboring China that censors internet porn, was able to isolate internet video gaming from porn, to determine that there was a possible association of structural brain changes as well as impairments in social interaction resulting from the internet video gaming addiction, not unlike what is seen in other addictive behaviors, per the example of gambling, where similar brain scans have determined structural changes in the brain from those whom are determined clinically addicted.

If one can imagine internet speeds 150 times faster than what is available now in the US, the potential for interactive video gaming is almost unlimited, and as seamless as what one would find in a home console. While in the US Football and baseball are considered national sports that people follow, it is video gaming that holds that attention in South Korea.

While there is actually no specific data that supports that the technology itself is associated with diagnosed cases of ASD's, the difference between what is disabling in important areas of life functioning and what are eccentricities that one adapts to in life, are definitely influenced by environmental/social factors.

What we have so far is a 1 in 38 scan in South Korea and a 1 in 295 similar scan in Amish Country. One country is surpassed by no other country in Technological advancements, and the other subculture still lives as they did centuries ago separated from modern technological developments.

The biggest difference per autistic like behavior, is the technologically advanced country spends much of work and leisure hours machine interfaced and the folks in Amish country spend the majority of their work and leisure hours human interfaced. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this would influence behavior, particularly face to face human interaction, where the core impairment of all autism spectrum disorders are measured, per behavioral impairments.

Perhaps at some point in history, autistic like behaviors were more prevalent in other areas of the world per cultural differences, such as Scandinavian countries, but it is now South Korea that leads the world in technological advancements not Western Developed countries. And to this point per limited community scans, ASD's as well.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/nerd-vision-up-to-90-of-asian-schoolkids-are-nearsighted/256847/

Beyond this per nerd-dom, Caucasians do not win out in that category. Nerds not only exist in South Korea, they are the standard. Nerd is the cool in South Korea, where there are literally Nerd Rock-Stars making 6 figure salaries; champions of internet video-gaming tournaments filling what would be comparable football stadiums in the US.

If one wants a loose association, of myopia and the old stereotype of four eyes equal nerd/scientist. Rates of myopia in Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan, are measured in up to 70 to 90% of the country's children, per link above. It is a life consumed with near vision activities that is suspected as part of the cause of the myopia, not only in the near reading, school focused activities of the past, but now the near vision video-game interfaces that are common from early childhood.

This is in comparison to 20 to 30% rates of myopia measured in children in the US.

Per average scores on intelligence testing, myopia, and actual cultural activities associated with what is expected of the "nerd" stereotype, those in East Asian Counties have the Western Developed countries beat, without a doubt, with the evidence as it exists.

Even per ASD's, if one wants to attempt a connection per Aspie like traits and nerd like traits, per the 1 in 38 statistic derived from Schools in South Korea.

There are even self professed nerds that are reported to have migrated to South Korea, just for the opportunity to participate in the most technologically advanced internet video gaming environment in the world, by far.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18rehab.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

But on a more serious note there are actually video game boot camps in South Korea for a cyber addiction that has become deadly in a country where youth have dropped dead from exhaustion, during extreme video gaming sessions lasting days. Up to 30% of the country is suspected of having a serious cyber-addiction/obsession, whereas the problem is estimated at about 9 percent in the US.

Considering overall cultural influence, and rates of ASD's scanned so far, South Korea is likely the most Aspie/Nerd-trait oriented country in the world.

But they don't have a Wrong Planet in South Korea, many already exist in the alternate virtual world of Star Craft.

http://m.korea.net/english/NewsFocus/Sci-Tech/view?articleId=100629

No, I didn't think your were providing an opinion on anything outside the ethnicity of the girls in the photo; I was amplifying my general point per the worldwide prevalence of ASD's and Autistic like traits. I have heard people suggest that South Asians have low rates of ASD's, in countries, like India, where historical awareness of the condition and access to diagnosis, limits the the countries ability to provide reliable statistics.

Now that I understand where the picture is from, it is amusing to me, as well, that the Associated Press would use a picture from India, when there are so many pictures widely available on the internet of individuals with actual autism spectrum disorders in South Korea.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbTsTlQ9I8[/youtube]


TheSunAlsoRises

I've often wondered the same thing, actually (although I'm officially NVLD).

My heritage is a little obscure, but we definitely came from northern or central Europe (we know we have a Polish connection, but little else). I figure that there is a very high chance that there is a Scandanavian lineage as well, especially as my birth-father had a strong Welsh background.

Physically, I have blonde hair, grey eyes and I'm very fair-skinned, so I do 'look the part.' Also, I do happen to very much like the Scandanavian culture, crisp, clean, straight lines, and lots and lots of vowels .

Also, if anybody has ever seen interviews of Kimi Räikkönen, I do sometimes talk very much like he does...

Interesting idea. It's somewhat appealing since I am of partial Swedish descent and certainly look the part. I don't know if this has been discussed earlier in the thread, but I think the OP is mixing up AS and introverted culture. There's a huge difference between preferring not to say much and not saying much due to communication deficits.

I agree, there is a big difference between being introverted and just not liking to say much. I tend to be actually quite extroverted, but only when I'm in a comfortable environment. Whenever I'm in a new situation or in the company of people whom I don't know very well, I tend to shut down and just do endless drills of Spanish grammar in my head. (weird, I know)

That's a good point. Here is a link to another WP Thread where a similar topic was discussed per Germany and Aspergers

And here is a list of the Seven Personality traits of Germans provided from a German Culture website that have some unintended analogies associated with stereotypes per Aspergers.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf142738-0-45.html

http://schnitzelrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/07/seven-personality-traits-of-german.html

Aren't there people from, say, Nigeria or India who have Asperger's?

What is the correlation between developed nations (and, nations who have their basic needs- food, shelter, clothing- met) and autism diagnosis rates?

The girls in the picture, above with Autism, are actually from India, but their socioeconomic background isn't noted.

Access to a diagnosis in developing countries are rare, so prevalence statistics are not widely available across the globe, not even in some developed countries, including the US, where statistics are understood as not reliable for Aspergers syndrome.

The most telling statistic studied is among the Amish where when diagnosis was taken into account prevalence rates were 1 in 15,000 that went down to 1 in 295 with a community wide scan.

In comparison to south Korea an extremely technologically advanced country rates scanned per community wide school populations were 1 in 38.

It's likely autism exists in all cultures, but it doesn't appear to present itself as a disorder as often in non-developed countries, per reasons of lack of access to a diagnosis in some countries, as well as potential other factors separated from modern culture, in Amish society.

It makes sense, the Amish deal with each other, modern culture more and more is becoming interfaced to machines communication instead of face to face communication. The extent of that association is not well understood, though. I think it likely has an impact on whether or not symptoms work together as disabling in major areas of life functioning among some. Just speculation on my part though.

Something is making a difference in Amish country.