What are the traits common to all aspies?

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ButchCoolidge
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17 Dec 2007, 8:26 pm

What is inappropriate, age-wise, about liking cats and Roger Bannister at age 43?

Inventor
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18 Dec 2007, 3:27 am

Being socially independent and self directed in a co-dependant and vaugely other directed world.

AspCat
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18 Dec 2007, 8:57 am

Wolfgang wrote:

Having to explain to NT's what's absurdly funny. For instance, Tuesday I heard the following on the radio:

"We'll be serving you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Delicious. I'll take a thigh and drumstick. Perhaps some would prefer a breast? White meat or dark meat?

Another one: some time ago these shoe stores began appearing. They were called 'Payless Shoe Source'. First time I read it, I swear, I thought that meant the shoes were FREE.

ed
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18 Dec 2007, 10:22 am

CrushedPentagon wrote:

Sensory processing issues.

I have a theory. Hear me out.

My theory is that all autism stems from an abnormality in the way the brain processes sensory input. Aspies develop coping mechanisms to varying degress, ranging from some "overcoming" the abnormality so well that they do not report any problems at all to others having obvious symptoms remaining. They really haven't overcome the problem, though, their brains are just good at working around them.

This coping process, which starts at birth, in turn causes their brains to develop certain areas more than normal and others less than normal. Their brains soon become wired in an atypical way. Probably by the time they are a couple of years old, these become permanent, ingrained habits. As they grow up and try to figure out the world around them, Aspies begin to exhibit certain traits as a result of this strange wiring.

All other traits are a result of this. For example,

resistance to change: you have this set way of working out what is going on around you (remember, you cannot process your sensory input normally, so you are using a workaround). If your environment changes drastically, then your old workaround may no longer work. Confusion results. You prefer to stick to a routine and what is already familiar.

thinking too much: your brain has to do some extra processing for so many everyday activities, so you get used to thinking all the time. It seems like the right way to approach everything.

sleep problems: with all this thinking, it is hard to settle down to sleep.

social interaction: this one is complicated. A lot of it seems to come from the fact that you are expected to act illogically. To talk for the sake of talking, rather than having something to say. This goes against the Aspie thought patterns. Also, there may be visual cues we should be picking up, but if we do not know where to look for them, we will miss them. Not knowing where to look could be a result of coping with vision abnormalities.

This is just a short list off the top of my head. I haven't really finished this theory. Just remember, each Aspie is different, because the exact level and style of coping is different for each person, but certain patterns emerge, so we see many traits in common.

This is very similar to how I view AS. We have covered a lot of traits here; some of them are directly caused by the AS, others are a natural result of having those traits. I think of them as primary and secondary traits. I definitely agree that sensory issues constitute a primary trait. (My problem is smell, especially fragrance; that literally makes me allergic to many people)

I'm still trying to come up with other primary traits, with no success yet. While it is possible that sensory issues are the only primary trait, I don't believe it. Can any of you come up with other primary traits? Personally, I think that this line of reasoning has the best chance of defining and understanding AS.

jjstar
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18 Dec 2007, 11:16 am

There are NO traits that match exactly every person. What is true for one, is not for the other. Case in mind - is every aspie vindictive, petty, gloating, mean, jealous, egotistical, self-serving, selfish and neurotic?

Are you?

Am I?

But that's what comes to mind when I think AS. Why? Because it's an observation. Then again, maybe I myself possess these traits and every one else is my mirror. Or maybe not.

So much for theory.
So much for conjecture.
So much for BS psychology.

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SleepyDragon
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18 Dec 2007, 8:28 pm

jjstar wrote:

... is every aspie vindictive, petty, gloating, mean, jealous, egotistical, self-serving, selfish and neurotic?

I guess I'm not the only one who sometimes despises herself.

Emotions aside, it is still worthwhile to speculate about these things, even if only to come up with hypotheses, which can then be tested and proven valid, or otherwise.

Izaak
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18 Dec 2007, 8:51 pm

According to Tony Attwood the "core characteristics" of Asperger's syndrome are as follows:

(i) difficulties with the ability to consider another’s perspective during social interactions (Perspective-taking);
(ii) difficulty accepting change (Rigid adherence to routine);
(iii) a different sensory processing system observable by sensitivity to certain noises, lights, aromas and/or touch (Sensory sensitivity);
(iv) difficulty with ‘reading’ emotion in others, and in expressing emotion appropriately (Understanding and expressing emotion);
(v) a thinking style that is oriented toward facts, information and detail (Fact-oriented).

Apparently those are in descending order of relative importance. For context and more information...

Source:
http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/pdfs/summ ... milies.pdf
or in html:
http://www.mindsandhearts.net/research.html

anbuend
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18 Dec 2007, 9:25 pm

I think it's a matter of perceptual/cognitive differences that end up taking all kinds of different outward forms depending on how someone develops but retaining some kind of inward similarity as to what the underlying difference is. (And it's very possible that the same underlying perceptual/cognitive differences, with very different or even just slightly different directions taken, underlie the things dxed as autism, AS, and PDD-NOS, as well as possibly things that don't have a diagnosis attached at all because they seem to most people to be within the realm of 'normal'.)

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