My brother: AS Traits or just Eccentric?

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lostonearth35
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29 Aug 2012, 4:00 pm

I have mentioned about my older brother a number of times on this site, but I often really wonder why I was diagnosed with AS and he never has. Of course his life wasn't almost completely ruined like mine was before my diagnosis but he has always been rather "eccentric". He is usually very quiet and introverted, and has a habit of speaking in a flat monotone that makes it difficult for the rest of us to understand him. When he is with me or someone he is good friends however he opens up and will laugh and make jokes and stuff. His sense of humor is quite dry, however, and you can't always tell if he's kidding or not. He'll often say something weird or crazy-sounding when we're together, like the time he said he wanted to become cold-blooded like a lizard and slow his metabolism down so he could go for days without eating, like a snake. He will eat almost any food that's put in front of him even if he isn't crazy about it but has a huge problem with people making loud chewing, smacking or chomping sounds while eating. One time I thought he was going to throw me out of his car because I was chewing gum and when I blew a bubble it made a loud "snap" sound when it popped! Even when we were teens back in the 90's he hated nearly all the music that was popular and would listen constantly to popular bands from the 60's like the Beatles and Pink Floyd. In our early 20's he was just plain obsessed with Bob Dylan and later a band I'd never heard of before called The Residents whose...music... is very... "bizarre" is too weak a word for it. 8O He is not fond of sports but enjoys the arts and poetry. He doesn't care for Hollywood movies and would rather watch foreign films. He really is kind of a snob. :) He has been married for over ten years now, graduated from high school, went to college and has had friends for as long as I can remember. People with Asperger's nearly always seem very unlucky and unhappy including myself, so is my brother showing AS traits that just make him appear somewhat unusual or not?



redrobin62
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29 Aug 2012, 7:18 pm

His being married and having friends is not indicative of ASD. We're just too awkward and prone to saying the wrong things that keep people away. We're too honest and haven't learned the NT unwritten rules of talking just to hear the sound of one's voice. We're given to one-sided conversations and thoughts that acts as a barrier to the outside world.



EstherJ
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29 Aug 2012, 8:47 pm

redrobin62 wrote:
His being married and having friends is not indicative of ASD. We're just too awkward and prone to saying the wrong things that keep people away. We're too honest and haven't learned the NT unwritten rules of talking just to hear the sound of one's voice. We're given to one-sided conversations and thoughts that acts as a barrier to the outside world.


I know people that are married that have it, and I have it (definitely, no doubt) yet I have a couple of friends. They stick by me because they like me for some odd reason. They know I have ASD.
But you are right in that we tend to push most people away. I know I do.



TE4751
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30 Aug 2012, 4:54 pm

Your brother sounds uncannily similar to me in many ways, and I think I probably have AS, but OTOH there are some AS tendencies I don't identify with so much. I would say he's at least Aspie-ish if not a true Aspie.