Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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Similar case here, every single person in my family has black hair and dark brown or black eyes, I have zero North European ancestry. AS may be more prevalent in some ethnic groups than others, but I don't know of any actual evidence that that is the case, or that Scandinavians are more prone to it. Those who think that stereotypical behaviour of a culture is genetically determined need to get out more.

And WHY is THAT?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia

Still, scandinavians, in general, AREN'T recluses, etc... They just have a different way of life. Incidently, it is a way that is closer to how europeans were.

HECK, when I was in denmark, it didn't seem anymore aloof than a place like the U.S. People could go out, they had shows they could watch on TV, knew their neighboors, had school mates, etc....

I strongly disagree, i live in sweden but i'm not swedish and i know that swedish people are mostly extroverted, loud, obnoxious and most definitely not aspies. they even pick on those who are socially awkward.

I had a Chilean student who is autistic. Also, I have read that autism is quite high among the Somali immigrants to the U.S. and saw a video about a school for autistic kids in, I think it was, Dubai. Autism seems to be part of the human condition, with lots of variants.

The only Swedish people I've met are social. My friend Inge never stops talking. Mind he is in a rock band.

This is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on this site.

There are certainly autistic people who are very unlikely to have any Northern European descent at all - for example, as ngoz there has recently been something of a fuss about rates of autism in the children of Somali immigrants to the US. Now I could be wrong but it seems very unlikely to me that there are a lot of people of Scandinavian descent in Somalia.... At any rate these children certainly do not display the physical traits associated with Scandinavians (like blond hair and blue eyes - not that all Scandinavians look that way).


Because Finland isn't Scandinavia.

The accepted meaning of "Scandinavia" is Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Of course it is impossible to break people's genetic lineage down by national borders, but Finland is not a Scandinavian country by the accepted meaning of the term. It is significantly different from them culturally, linguistically and so on. (An exception could be made for Åland which is culturally Swedish but politically an autonomous region of Finland.)

The Scandinavian countries each have their own character but in general they are more similar to each other than they are to Finland. I have been to all these countries and have friends from all of them and I don't think I've ever heard a Finn describe themselves as Scandinavian or a Scandinavian describe Finns as such.

"Nordic countries" is the accepted term for the three Scandinavian countries plus Finland and Iceland (and the autonomous territories of those countries; Åland, the Faroes and Greenland).

Apart from the total lack of evidence for anything you're saying, let me point out that Western civilization is NOT Scandinavian. Civilization in Europe was spread by Southern Italians (Rome) who had in turn based their civilization on that of a Balkan people (the Greeks) that, among many other things, invented mathematics as a science. They in turn had been influenced by other civilizations such as ancient Egypt, but not by then barbarian Scandinavia. Given Italy's place in both the Renaissance and the classical world, surely Western art is more Italian than Scandinavian. Though given other posts, I'm sure the definition of Scandinavian will be stretched to encompass Italy and Greece and Egypt and (why not?) Somali immigrant children.

Check it out, the current definition DOES say part of finland is scandinavian.

BTW, to the person that spoke so much about rome, The current accepted BIGGEST creator of the english language is DANISH! And Danish DOES bear a REMARKABLE resemblance to norwegian and swedish. GRANTED, finnish is different, but I seem to recall similarities THERE also. Look at wikipediaa:



Latin DEFINITELY played a part, but so did Danish and German. Say Knives to an ancient roman, or german, and they may not understand you. But a dane might think it was danish if you wrote it!

You may certainly have a point THERE. There are NO traits that are distinctively scandinavian anyway. They are just considered a variant of caucasion. And the scandinavians
generally spread influence where there was some way for them to improve or profit in some way. I DOUBT somalia ever met EITHER goal.

What about all the black aspies?
I know Germans who are supersocial and not awkward at all. I would never have noticed a tendency like that.

Last edited by protest_the_hero on 07 Apr 2009, 7:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

One of swedens great authors, Mikael Niemi, describe the ways of the northswedes as autistic.


Few words, few facial expressions.


Focus on northern scandinavia, and you're reaching something with this discussion..

/M - swede

I disagree too that Asperger's Syndrome should be Scandinavian.
Also that Scandinavians generally should be socially awkward. (They also pick on those who are socially awkward, like it was said about the Swedes).
Why else should they find any different in those of us Scandinavians who are aspies?

As for being socially awkward, one has to be careful not to mix it up with mere cultural difference. Some people from some cultures may act more reserved than others without that meaning that they are aspies or other kinds of autistics.

BTW I have brown hair and brown eyes. And all my family is Danish as far back as I know.

I'm Swedish (part Norwegian) and although Scandinavians tend to be less exuberanty in their social behaviour, the social code is quite complex, maybe even more complex, because the social signals are so subtle. So in a sense it's actually worse here, because the signals people send out are very weak. However, I'd say it's easier to get away with being shy or reserved here, as it is not considered odd...

So? I wrote that Western civilization, esp. art and science, was of Greek and Roman origin, not that English is a Romance language or that all Western languages derive from Latin (civilization =/= spoken language). The Danes themselves write using the Roman alphabet. Long after the Romans were gone from Britain, Latin remained the language of ideas and learning.

Scandinavia is where I've always wanted to go to!

I don't particularly have Scandinavian ancestors, but I have blonde hair and blue eyes.

Well, its a theory. I'm not saying its a good one.


I think it is more part of our culture:

Ask an American what he/she think about the weather: "Its snowing, awesome! I'm gonna hit the hills with my snowboard dude!"

Ask a Swede what he/she think about the weather: "F-ing snow again! I hate this miserable cold place!"

You will get similar answers for the questions "How are you?" and "Have you had a nice weekend?".

In short: We say what we really think here. Thats why (at least) Swedish people can be percieved a bit "cold" and directly go for the business talk.





Save your money. Go to northern scotland, bury yourself in snow and have a few people stand around you telling you that you are worthless.