Aspies and the Nordic countries

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I've noticed that many ppl here are from Sweden and Norway...why is that? Is it because of the universal health care allows more people to look into their issues and get diagnosed or...maybe its got something to do with the whole Neanderthal theory and that they mighta survived the longest up in the Nordic regions?

just a random thought

i dunno but my daughter is aspie and her father was of nordic descent and was also on the spectrum

Interesting. Don't know either.

On my dad's side one of our most beloved ancestors was Norwegian. My dad and I bear a strong resemblance to him. Don't know if we got any sort of wiring characteristics from him, though. The spectrum traits are in my dad's family but through his dad, not the side with the Norwegian connection.

My anecdotal experience on the Internet is that the Nordics are more likely to learn English than, say, France, Italy, Eastern Bloc nations, etc. So might just be a language barrier.

i have nordic roots.. hmmmm. I wonder if there is a connection.

....to awesomeness.

thats a really good point. If Chinese people were required to learn English in school the internet would be a very different place....

Im also thinking that there is some kind of connection. I'm ethnically Japanese and German (and Jewish tho its so dilluted i doubt its really anything significant in terms of genes) and nobody on the Japanese side has any sort of autism, learning difficulties or things of that sort. On the other hand my German side has about 4 relatives who have what I think is mild aspergers. they all have jobs, some have families but I can definately see AS in all of em (eccentric, narrow interests, small social circles, the way they interact) . I know Germans arnt exactly Nordic but I know they are genetic cousins of Scandinavians- so close

Germany lays right below the Norway/Sweden/Finland.. theyre very very close...so I'd say germanic/nordic roots are nearly the same.

Hi

I'm Swedish and joined the forum yesterday. I think it's a cultural thing, in Sweden everybody are supposed to fit in to the same mould. People claim to be open minded and tolerant and sure they are as long as it fits in to the frame of what is politicly correct so to speak. For instance I'm religious which is not acceptable in Sweden. Sweden is the most secular country in the world and if you believe in God people think you're an idiot. I guess all societies have this "mass psychosis" to a degree but I do think it's worse in the Nordic countries. I've lived in Italy and Ireland and it wasn't nearly as bad. Also to be diagnosed with aspergers in Sweden is not entirely easy. I'm 33 and I wasn't diagnosed until about a month ago and it took the psychologist a year to reach that conclusion. And the only reason they bothered was because I had a melt down last year and ended up in a psyche ward for three months. Se in Sweden if you can't work your just lazy. And I think this takes it's toll on people. I've visited some Swedish forums and it's all about the many difficulties and problems people are having. I don't know but I guess this might be because only people like me are diagnosed. You know tried their damnedest their hole life to make sense of thing with no luck. That tends to leave you kind of depressed. But then again it might also be that I've had some seriously bad luck which has tainted my perception on Sweden, but that's my take on things.

This might not be so relevant to the people who live in sunny places but have nordic roots, but there is evidence that lack of vitamin D can be linked to more autism.

http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/Res ... 20link.asp

And there is less vitamin D in places with less sun, that is probably why people in the northern parts of the globe evolved pale skins.

Well, I am not remotely Nordic. I do have a vitamin D deficiency though. My doctor has me taking loads of it daily and I'm still always deficient when I get tested.
I'd put my vote with the language thing though.

I am a mutt

German, possibly american indian on dad's side (most of the OCDers of the family come from that side) while Irish, dutch, and american indian on mom's side(weird genetic diseases on that side, plus every generation has an oddball or 2 like me).

Have you noticed a very low number of african americans and hispanic that are diagnosed.
Is this a genetic thing, a cultural thing, or a lack of access to resources thing?

Most people I know with it are caucasian and usually come from working or middle class families.

Doubtful. China has those really strict internet censors; it's quite possible they couldn't speak their minds even if they wanted to.

The question of minorities is an interesting one. My school had a number of minority students, and my mother (head of the upper school) often had a harder time convincing minority parents to have their kids tested for a learning difference than she did with non-minority parents. (Although some of those were in denial, too.) I think they were aware of the racist undertones in the US which assume that people of a minority aren't as smart as white people -- this is ridiculous, of course, but it persists nonetheless. I can understand not wanting to risk your child being exposed to that kind of attitude. That worry may carry over to having a child "labeled" as having AS or Autism.

Your comment about middle or working-class intrigues me. I come from an upper-class family. I don't know anyone else with AS. I attended an independent school, so most students came from fairly affluent families, although the school was and is generous with scholarships. Most of my friends, and certainly the men and women I've had romantic relationships with, have been from working-class backgrounds, though. I wonder if the middle- and working-class are more willing to look into why a child is "different" than the upper class.

No Nordic roots here. My ancestry is Western European, but about the furthest north it gets is Belguim. I look very very much like a Walloon!

Blond haired blue eyed people are all Germanic, the true Nordic people are the Sami. Do we have any on here?

Lets see I am British, German, Dutch, possibly native American and Irish.