If you think about it any personality trait or cognitive ability carried far enough to an extreme is going to get diagnosed as a "mental disorder" or "neurological dysfunction".
For dyspraxia the personality trait is "clumsy".
For dysgraphia water down the definition far enough and the person just has "sloppy handwriting".
Our condition watered down enough is "laziness" and I expect we'd find self-described "lazy" people tend to score closer to having Asperger's whether they do or not.
I think after that most people's subconscious uses "conventions" picked up subconsciously from the environment over time to weed things out. Then the brain logically starts trying to come up with every possibility that's left and then compare them to each other.
I've noticed how NTs can so easily just "follow the crowd" without thinking about it. It is very hard for me to do that. Even at football games. I'll yell and cheer even louder than anyone but it seems like everyone else knows the exact moment when its coming without thinking about it so I always start just a second later and still don't really feel completely a part of it (but the yelling is fun) and even wonder how I'm coming off to the people if I come off as too quiet, nervous, or alternatively if I'm making a scene. It seems like there's this "herd mentality" we can't tap into in order to synchronize.
Because we don't "synchronize" with the crowd as much we pick up less conventions, because even when we are socializing most of our attention is on what ever we find interesting at the moment either thinking about our interests or interesting things in the environment. With less conventions to use as shortcuts to cut down on "possibilities" to be analyzed by our brains we easily get lost in what ever we're thinking about or doing and shifting through every possible thing before making a conclusion. The conclusions turn out better because we're not relying on arbitrary social conventions that are sometimes wrong. However, it can also pose a lot of anxiety and stress. Also, paradoxically getting stuck on the things we want to do sometimes stops us from doing the things we want to do. For example, I completely lost track getting absorbed in internet conversations on various websites that I forgot about a movie showing I wanted to go to. The social cluelessness I can deal with, since I've finally figured out nobody hates me for it, I just hate that I keep missing deadlines. I'm starting to just type it all into my phone but sometimes I forget to check.
And really that's what "laziness" is as a social reality. Going around indulged in what ever we're doing looks lazy and is the essence of it relative to the perceptions of mainstream society. The nature of the people who were conceptualized by our society in the past as "lazy" and are still is very similar to our own nature. The fact that a long time ago they didn't attach official psychiatric labels to these things doesn't mean they weren't recognized, just under a different name(laziness) and with less obsession(people didn't make as much out of these quirks as they do now).
Even something as seemingly unlazy as organizing I can explain at least for myself by laziness. I put every event and deadline into my phone and did that even before I realized I had AS. Before that I thought I was lazy and would forget it so I should keep a list. When we organize things(and right now my room is very disorganized, haven't had the motivation to do it) we generally like to do it once and get nervous if something is out of place because we know it will take us forever to find it.
The irony is being lazy to a point is more efficient. Workplaces stress multitasking. Multitasking makes you look busier, like you're getting more done. But studies show multitasking actually slows people down. They thought it was only us who couldn't multitask and now studies prove that nobody can. Anything else you are doing at the same time is just "automated". A lot of NTs compulsively and without realizing it switch tasks a lot in order to conform and look like they are getting things done faster when we're the ones who actually get things done more efficiently. We didn't synchronize with the social expectation of multitasking. Some Aspies might be aware of this social convention from hearing about it, instead of picking it up subconsciously or just notice their boss is paying more attention to neurotypicals who multitask all the time and then try to logically figure out how to do it. Applying logic to social situations is a good thing, but before diving into figuring out how people do certain social things you should think about whether it even makes sense either for your happiness or efficiency(mostly happiness) while also considering if it makes sense in a wider social context and factoring in the consequences of improving at it or not improving at it. Sometimes in trying to pretend too hard to be normal we overcorrect and adopt the unuseful aspects of the NT world.
And I think trouble with "synchronizing" is a better description than trouble with "empathy". If I notice someone get hurt it makes me very upset. I hear about injustices in the news and often feel rage. If someone looks like they need help I offer it. The NT world wants to make us sound like monsters.
I used to be in constant fear even before I stopped denying it that people around me though I had Asperger's. Now I'm realizing people see me as a little lazy and forgetful but that's all. The only people who've figured it out also have Asperger's. I know at least 4 of my friends have it and it seems like a lot more might.
Although we're "lazy" by NT standards paradoxically they're "lazy" too. They're lazy because they often just go along with the crowd and conform without taking any time or effort to think about it. We're just lazy as far as "synchronizing" our behavior. No matter where you are on the spectrum (including the most synchronized NTs) doing something that involves more synchronizing or more systemizing is going to be harder to motivate yourself to do.
One thing I've found helps combat laziness along with anxiety is to think logically about the use of logic itself. Asking "what's the worst that could happen if I make the wrong decision?" is a useful question. If the potential consequences aren't severe enough I pick a random decision, because I know it will make me feel happier that way in the long run.
11 Mar 2008, 8:32 pm
