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Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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pandabear
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15 Feb 2008, 9:31 pm

ClosetAspy wrote:
In my family's case the Asperger's "line" seems to come down my mother's side which is primarily French Canadian/British Isles--places the Vikings were known to frequent.


Um, the Vikings didn't exactly frequent French Canada -- Vikings did enter Canada, long before the French, but did not stay -- there probably wasn't a whole lot of philandering with the Canadian Indian and Eskimo populations -- although, if there was, that would explain Canadian Indian and Eskimo Aspies...and, possibly subsequent French Canadian Aspies...

...except that Aspies often practice celibacy...



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15 Feb 2008, 9:58 pm

alex wrote:
that's an interesting theory but what about the people with asperger's who have absolutely no scandinavian ancestors?

Agreed, I have no scandinavian roots whatsoever :P



KimJ
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15 Feb 2008, 10:35 pm

French Canada was settled by the French and quite a Scottish population, which is related directly and indirectly to the Vikings.



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15 Feb 2008, 10:39 pm

This is a fascinating proposition. We can trace our genetic lineage way back and literally from all over Europe, Russia, middle East, Ashkenazim. In theory our AS could have come from anywhere. But the AS line can indeed be traced back through the Scandinavian>Scottish lines.

I suspect that there are different AS genes/permutations of AS genes. The way AS manifests in our family (and has done for the past 6 generations or so) is quite distinctive in its subtlety and in the talents it confers.



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16 Feb 2008, 2:02 pm

The problem I see with your proposal (that Asperger's originated in Scandinavia) is that it relies on a Lamarkian theory of evolution, i.e., that behaviors can be passed on through evolution. Lamarkianism was successfully challenged by Darwin.

If you have in mind Scandinavian's who live in Scandanavia, then I would suggest you are referring to cultural, not neurological, traits. However, if you are referring to all persons of Scandinavian descent, no matter where they may currently live, that is Lamarkianism.


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16 Feb 2008, 2:49 pm

pbcoll wrote:
2ukenkerl wrote:
First, Alex, Who could say they KNOW they have NO scandinavian relatives?

Some say that russia means "land of the vikings"! As for germany? They USED to speak mainly platt deutsch, which is VERY similar to scandinavian languages. The scandinavians, dutch, austrians, germans, and swiss OBVIOUSLY had some tight relationships that even extended to areas like africa, england, and the US. That ALSO means that there is some relationship to the Ashkenazi jews as well! HECK, Danish words were changed slightly in hoch deutsch, and then changed in yiddish which Ashkenazi jews speak to this day!

I don't know if this theory has any merit, but the posts trying to put it down clearly have LESS merit!

English is said to come mainly from german and danish, though that was obviously a long time ago. danish is VERY similar to norwegian and swedish and, to a lesser degree, finnish. danish, dutch, and german, and a lot of yiddish, are probably about as similar as languages can get, without someone wondering if the only difference was dialect.


Erm... I think I could say it is unlikely i have much Scandinavian ancestry. My ancestry is a mixture of indigenous Mexican and Spanish and a tiny bit of Italian, with no known components of other nationalities.


HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?



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16 Feb 2008, 3:08 pm

Interesting theory. I have dark brown eyes but I am at least 1/8-1/4 Scandinavian.

I tend to agree that Asperger's Syndrome is just a list of traits and those traits may have a wide variety of genetic origins.

A significant percentage of people with Celiac Disease and similar complaints are also of Scandinavian heritage.


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16 Feb 2008, 6:34 pm

2ukenkerl wrote:
pbcoll wrote:

Erm... I think I could say it is unlikely i have much Scandinavian ancestry. My ancestry is a mixture of indigenous Mexican and Spanish and a tiny bit of Italian, with no known components of other nationalities.


HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?



Wrong. Most Mexicans are 'mestizos' - of mixed Spanish and indigenous Mexican (Aztec, Mayan, etc) ancestry (sometimes with a dash of black African, too). There has never been any significant Scandinavian migration to Mexico. Nobody in my family looks Scandinavian, to my knowledge I have no Scandinavian ancestry whatsoever; I probably have more Arab ancestry (via Spain) than any Scandinavian (if at all). Spain is not a country where you'd expect much Scandinavian ancestry (surely the main non-local influences would be Arab and Roman).


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16 Feb 2008, 6:46 pm

2ukenkerl wrote:
HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?


Ethnic groupings are a social construct. "Mexican" is as real a concept as any...which is to say, it exists mainly in people's conceptions.



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16 Feb 2008, 6:48 pm

Sorry, sounds too much like Nazi notions of Northern European Ubermensch.


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16 Feb 2008, 6:48 pm

2ukenkerl wrote:
HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?


Ethnic groupings are a social constructs. "Mexican" is as real a concept as any...which is to say, it exists mainly in people's conceptions. And no, no one can know their entire ancestry, but some people do have a pretty good idea that there isn't much if any Scandinavian in the mix. I agree with those who suggested that the supposed "AS" observed in Scandinavians is probably more cultural norms than anything else. Besides, if this were true Scandinavia would have a noticeably higher instance of diagnosed ASDs, no?



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16 Feb 2008, 7:24 pm

pbcoll wrote:
2ukenkerl wrote:
pbcoll wrote:

Erm... I think I could say it is unlikely i have much Scandinavian ancestry. My ancestry is a mixture of indigenous Mexican and Spanish and a tiny bit of Italian, with no known components of other nationalities.


HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?



Wrong. Most Mexicans are 'mestizos' - of mixed Spanish and indigenous Mexican (Aztec, Mayan, etc) ancestry (sometimes with a dash of black African, too). There has never been any significant Scandinavian migration to Mexico. Nobody in my family looks Scandinavian, to my knowledge I have no Scandinavian ancestry whatsoever; I probably have more Arab ancestry (via Spain) than any Scandinavian (if at all). Spain is not a country where you'd expect much Scandinavian ancestry (surely the main non-local influences would be Arab and Roman).


Gee, make up your mind! :roll: :lol:



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16 Feb 2008, 7:38 pm

Odin wrote:
Sorry, sounds too much like Nazi notions of Northern European Ubermensch.


OK, maybe we should ask how many here believe the garbage theory that says they SOMEHOW determined a logical progression to mutation limited to mitochondrial DNA and have determined that EVERYONE is related to ONE woman that lived in africa about 5000 years ago!

REALIZE, that a person saying that they have NO scandinavian relatives can't possibly agree with the africa garbage. Of course, the idea of seeing a pattern in mutation, or tracking dna history over thousands of years, or that the human race has only been around 5000 years, sounds ludicrous.

It is ALSO interesting that so many people that have autism or AS have RH- blood. I guess that means we are ROYAL ubermensch also, huh? Although, alas, I am RH+. Who knows though, maybe I have the RH- gene as well.



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16 Feb 2008, 7:43 pm

2ukenkerl wrote:
pbcoll wrote:
2ukenkerl wrote:
pbcoll wrote:

Erm... I think I could say it is unlikely i have much Scandinavian ancestry. My ancestry is a mixture of indigenous Mexican and Spanish and a tiny bit of Italian, with no known components of other nationalities.


HECK, MEXICANS even don't really exist! They are spanish with other peoples. The Vikings, Romans, and Spanish *****ALL***** have one interesting thing in common. Global travel was pretty COMMONPLACE! Still, WHO knows their entire ancestry?



Wrong. Most Mexicans are 'mestizos' - of mixed Spanish and indigenous Mexican (Aztec, Mayan, etc) ancestry (sometimes with a dash of black African, too). There has never been any significant Scandinavian migration to Mexico. Nobody in my family looks Scandinavian, to my knowledge I have no Scandinavian ancestry whatsoever; I probably have more Arab ancestry (via Spain) than any Scandinavian (if at all). Spain is not a country where you'd expect much Scandinavian ancestry (surely the main non-local influences would be Arab and Roman).


Gee, make up your mind! :roll: :lol:


You don't get many people with, say, Aztec or Tarascan ancestry anywhere else except in the US (and those are Mexicans or descendants of Mexicans). It's not like Argentines, which really are just Spanish with other peoples also not from Argentina (Italians, essentially) or Cubans, who are Spanish and black African (neither from Cuba, or unique to Cuba in any way).


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16 Feb 2008, 9:57 pm

don't remember the name, but I've seen at least one African-American (well, he could be from another country) in here. I think there's a confusion of culture vs diagnosis. AS is probably a factor in every culture and ethnic makeup. The answer could be that it seems most prevalent in Scandinavian countries, because they have the best medical systems, and the most accurate diagnoses. Just a thought.



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17 Feb 2008, 12:16 am

Spain was inhabited by many different peoples; Moors, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Germanic tribes. The Scandinavians were Celts.