Any new theories for Asperger cause?

Post Reply New Topic

apologies if I have been posting widely, I'll shut up, but if you had found a cure for cancer you'd feel an obligation to at least have tried to share it to help out others - I just hope I can get this monkey off my back - thanks for helping Phoenix

my website is there if anyone is interested

the key point is Sopho's comment about LOGICally working out social norms/attitudes. the world and people are too complex and subtle to do logically. you dont have enough conscious processing power and categories to do a good job - your tool is too blunt and not powerful enough. it is better in every way to 'feel' what is going on, to use the mirror neurons and other bits of your brain to do the processing subconsciously rather than consciously

JCJC777:

Just to answer your original questions/hypotheses:

I don't feel in my case my AS was "caused" by today's technological or social culture/society as I was always this way. I've always been this way and interpret the world differently, process differently. I've become better in some ways slowly over a lifetime (rather than worse, which would be more likely if fitting your hypotheses). I continue to confront the parts of aspieness that are hindering head on and continue to learn my own ways of coping and being in the world.

But I would also have to say that I wouldn't give up my way of thinking and viewing the world for anything. I feel my eyes are more open to the truths and realities of world and its possibilities more than any NT I've ever met so far.

This is very true. We may understand interaction more on the obvious level, but its subtleties will always elude us. Further, practical application of what we know is very difficult; we just have so many options to choose from and not the intuitive understanding to which one is most appropriate and which are inappropriate.

A lot of these things either (a) apply to NTs as well or (b) can be leared logically.


Plenty of NTs have social anxiety as well. Some people with AS do not. Also, my social anxiety has probably saved me from looking like a tosser most of the time. I work it out properly. What are the chances of someone I like being (1) gay/bi (2) single (3) interested in me ? Not very high. The chances are she wouldn't like me anyway, so if I'd gone up to her and said something, that would have created even more problems.



I accept that they are stereotypes, and I corrected that in my previous post. But so are a lot of these Aspie stereotypes you are referring to. How do you know I would only lose negative traits?


I believe I will be a completely different person. My life would be easier in a lot of ways. But I would also lose a lot of things about AS which I actually appreciate.

Your comparison to cancer is not a good analogy. Perhaps you would make a better point if you made an anology to another mental condition/disorder..

You must agree that ignorance is indeed bliss though. The realities of the world exposed to me have been ugly and are unsolvable. Really makes you feel helpless and small.

Cancer kills people. AS does not.

Perhaps some may feel that way, but I do not. I suppose it's a matter of perception. Sometimes the world's cruelty can be overwhelming, but I am glad not to be ignorant. It inspires me to find ways to create a better world. Many problems of the world which on the outset appear unsolvable, actually do and can have workable, practical solutions and the more eyes you can open to the possibilities, the more chance of creating positive social change. Ideas carry power. Every positive social movement started with an idea that someone dared to share and believe in.

I am actually researching and planning book projects in some of these areas and vow to make it my life goal to work on leaving the world a better place than what I've found it in.

Last edited by newaspie on 13 May 2007, 9:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

a) But they are not the key defining traits of NT's like they are for us, and I have yet to meet an NT who has all of those problems in one like I do.

b) But not completely, and never to a degree to which NT's possess normally. Logical will never beat intuitive and instinctual; we'll always be subpar and find things in the social world much, much harder.



But again, alot less of NT's have it than us, and we are more likely to get it.

Life is about taking risks, playing it safe all the time just leaves you sheltered and missing out. And what if it had worked out? You'll never know. How many other opportunities have you let

What do you appreciate?

I disagree. I believe if anything, it can actually be an advantage to understand these things logically than intuitively. That way, you actually do understand them properly, rather than just doing it anyway.


Taking risks when the chances are that you were fail, isn't always a good idea.


I don't believe it is a primarily negative thing. Living in an NT society when you are an Aspie is a negative thing, not having Aspergers. We can adapt to this 'social world.' Ignorance is bliss, but I still wouldn't want to be ignorant. Just like I would like the idea of believing in a god and a heaven to go to when I die. But I'm not going to become Christian simply because I like the idea of having an imaginary god looking after me or because it's hard to accept than when i die, that will be it. Yes, having AS is hard, but I wouldn't want to kill my personality.


The way I view the world. The way I can enjoy spending time on my own, whereas most NTs don't. Having interests that do not include fashion/celebrities. Who I am, basically. I would rather be me and keep the personality I have (despite finding it difficult) than become someone entirely different just to make my life easier. That just seems like an easy way out and a crap way to live. When I look at how most (and yes, I know it's not all) NTs live, I wouldn't want to be like that.

I disagree - maybe some of us lose out, but some of us also win... There are a lot of possibilities to use AS traits to an advantage. For example, my school voted me Head Girl because I always spoke directly when there was some sort of problem, I got to the point quickly, I was not afraid to disagree with authority figures, I was popular with the other students because I didn't gossip or talk behind anyone's back, I didn't panic in difficult situations, and I found logical solutions. All these things are linked to my AS directly. That's not negative.
Okay, I'm clumsy, and I have sensory issues. There are worse things that can happen to a person, really.

Last edited by Eller on 13 May 2007, 9:57 am, edited 2 times in total.

OK, I will tell you my OLD theory of why I am as I am!

Something(WHAT????) made me smarter, and SOMETHING(****WHAT****???) made me want to study things.(I used to think ALL boys did), and I disliked certain kid things(WHY?), and this helped to isolate me due to my relative seclusion, and lack of common interest.

This was further exascerbated by my constantly moving around.

Oh yeah, I had the sensory skewing(Why?), but nobody had a common basis of reference, so I couldn't explain it.

The stimming was simply because it felt nice, nostalgic, and a leftover from my youth.(again, WHY?)

BTW as for insomnia? I didn't know, and didn't REALLY care, but WHY?

GRANTED, AS isn't an explanation either. It is merely a label. But it is interesting how it can be the what and the why for everything above, and for so many!

OH YEAH, the social thing is the only thing I would like to have "cured". It is interesting how that desire comes in waves though. Eventually it will subside again.

BTW You say you believe you have AS. WHY do you believe that? You sound like you see only negatives, and like none of your personality, etc... has been affected by it.

Steve

Last edited by SteveK on 13 May 2007, 10:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think you may be right as part of aspieness is the inability to see another viewpoint, or singlemindedness..

Just as a sidenote, I want to make clear that I am not saying all aspies are like this or all are like this all the time.. but it does seem aspielike to me.

one interesting idea put to me was that a combination AS/NT or NT/AS person might be best of all - e.g. able to apply systemising and analysis skills and detachment when appropriate, able to empathise and laugh and bond and relate and 'fly free' in a social context when appropriate.

i actually think maybe many people are sort of at that place already.

maybe you've been describing an 'extreme NT' person, Sopho,

the optimum is, as we've said, having both channels and ways of relating to the world available to us; AS and NT, to use as appropriate.

Last edited by JCJC777 on 13 May 2007, 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

I believe that alot of life is all in the attitude, and I believe in the power of positive thinking. I am not going to sit around and feel sorry for myself in a corner. I am using my talents to make the very best possible life for myself I can. And I bet I'll have as good of a life an any NT and perhaps much better than most.

You forget that NT's have the ability to understand things in both ways, at best we only get one way (and an incomplete one at that).



Of course it isn't, but that's what a risk is! But even when things aren't risks, those with anxiety issues don't do them anyway - it is very limiting.



But never fully, naturally, properly or purely.



Isn't that a paradox?



Why do you assume that you would suddenly lose your personality?