Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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Yes, part of Finland is physically located on the Scandinavian peninsula. And Denmark, which is universally called a Scandinavian country, is not on the Scandinavian peninsula.

The geographic feature known as the Scandinavian peninsula is not synonymous with Scandinavia in terms of culture, language, politics and so on.


Finnish has virtually nothing in common with English or any Germanic or Romance language. It's not even an Indo-European language.

English (or Danish, Norwegian or Swedish) has more in common with Hindi than it does with Finnish. The only other major languages in Europe in the same family as Finnish are Estonian and Hungarian.

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My comment is there.

I'm not jumping to conclusions, but I read some interesting theory about the lost tribes of the jews. It's told that (not sure if I get the names correct) but there was a tribe called Aser? It's said that in angient times they settled down in the area that now is known as Azerbadjan-(Aser..somthing)
Later they broke up, heading north, and settled in scandinavia.
If you are familiar with norse mythology, the angient scandinavians had gods, but the name for these gods was.. aser. It's assumed that some of their jewish myths travelled with them and by time got changed into norse mythology.
So, If this theory holds any water, the scandinavians are in fact a part of the lost tribe aser, and in fact jews. Asers tribe was known among other things, for their fair skin and blonde hair.

The vikings influence in central and eastern europe and parts of france and the british islands, are gravely underestimated. Like in russia, and the baltic contries, there are clearly two types of people, those with dark hair and complexion, and those with blue eyes, fair skin and blond hair. These features are scandinavian. And of cause you have the mix.
In england and britain, it's said that the vikings settled several places, and took the customs of the place where they setteled. Many names in france and england have norse origin. It's also said that because of their strenght, hight and good looking, they became popular, and often married into the upper class society where they settled.
Just to clearify. But I'm not saying I buy this theory completely

Look at my avatar, if you consider it looks like a finnish guy i will support your theory.

I don't support this theory anymore.

ludicrous and somewhat dangerous to try to pin it down to a race/ethniciity. Minorities are already underrepresented in the autistic culture/especially Asperger hfa.

Asperger Syndrome is not reserved for computer programmers making 6 figures with a scandinavian descent. Bizarre.

Most people on the spectrum are struggling and workng below their ability. That's why it's a "disorder' as Hans Asperger himself identified it as such.

Those successful engineers and programmers are making the big bucks and highly successful and saavy. They are not suffering as some poster suggested.

I worked at one point in a high tech office with computer programmers and they were a certain breed (dull and technical) but they seemed normal enough. They were not like my son who is naive and far from business minded.

Swedes are understated, not awkward. If you talk to one for a while without getting any response, he probably thought he was being polite to someone who enjoys talking. If you want to spend a while listening, then make eye contact with him for a while without flapping your lip. AS is a little more common in Sweden completely because Swedish CULTURE tends to be very tolerant toward people who haven't gone out of their way to be lazy, dishonest or offensive. The trait just survives better there.

That's my understanding, at least. Most Swedes I've known, I've liked. The same goes for most people I've encountered from the region.

However, it may just be that autism is more noticable due to the culture placing a higher priority on non-verbal communication and eye contact. I don't know this is true of any of the Scandinavian cultures, but it is very much a possibility.

Last edited by ThisisjusthowItalk on 09 Apr 2009, 6:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

No Scandinavian ancestry as far as I know, and my eyes are very dark green and grey.

I lived in Sweden, but I'm not Scandinavian at all. No I don't think they are Aspies, their culture just encourages coldness and isolation. If you take a Swede out of the country, they totally change. The Swedes I know here in Australia are quite warm and outgoing. But yes, their culture is similar to Aspergers behavior.

I really don't think it is. At first glance it may seem to be but there are a lot of very complicated unwritten social codes in Swedish culture.

When you say that, you are talking only about the coldness and isolation, or also about the intense interest in a single subject, the need of routines, etc.?

My mom,who is half Swedish and half Czech,believes this. Her and I both firmly believe that autism is inherited. The Swedish side is her mom`s side (my grandma) Her brothers were both genius engineers and seemed like they fit the criteria for hfa very well from what my grandma told me about them,and she worked with autistics and thought they were also. My father is Irish and English but he is pretty much the polar opposite of autistic.

I have very dark brown eyes and dark brown hair,though,and that comes from the Swedish side.

Cool, I didn't know that. That includes me.

I have to say I never noticed Swedes having any particular intense interests, but the need for routines does seem to be heavily built into their culture. The coldness and isolation tends to be on the surface, if a Swede knows you well they will be more open. They are intensely reserved around people they don't know well. I have to say they also tend to lack empathy. I should also mention that Swedes from the South are completely different - warm, helpful, caring. It tends to be more of a Stockholm and Northern Sweden thing to be "Aspergerish."

Yeah, exactly. Maybe the OP should actually spend some time with Scandinavians before making any remarks.