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Jayo
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01 Jun 2013, 11:09 am

I've never been to Germany, but it looks like a great country to visit for food, drink, festivals, architecture and museums etc.
It popped into mind b/c on some yahoo poll it was ranked as one of the best countries to live in. Not that I'd move there - but I have had a certain curiosity as to whether people with Aspergers would be more accepted there, as opposed to here in Canada, or the USA or Australia...as those countries seem to reward and favour more extroverted, laid-back type of people - especially in the USA where my impression is that somebody (in a work context) is more valued in a sales position than in an engineering position. In Germany, I would see it as the reverse. I would see the culture there as being more forgiving and welcoming of Aspie behaviours, i.e. intense focus on the tasks at hand in a linear and logical fashion, being prompt and attentive to detail, rigid about rules, being conscientious of potential gains of efficiency...etc...yes I guess I'm still talking in a work context. But after I read some post several months ago about how one of my fellow Aspies in the USA who was in a shipper/receiver type of role didn't say "hi how are you today" to a customer who walked by, then the customer complained to his manager that he should fire him...again I can't see this happening to the same extent in Germany.

Yes I know it's a stereotype that we tend to see Germans as cold, somewhat rude and to the point and so forth, but I see them as highly industrious and intelligent people, and even in the social non-work context, somebody with Aspergers would probably make good conversation with them if they're by and large more into academic-like chit-chat and not just superficial small-talk being the better part of dialogue. And though I did learn some German back in high school (which I had a natural knack for learning!) I haven't gotten the chance to practice it - but believe I could pick it up again if the occasion ever suggested.



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01 Jun 2013, 12:41 pm

The idea that Germans are highly industrious and intelligent is also a bit of a stereotype, and as a German, I always find the impression we seem to make amusing. I sometimes feel that my Asperger's is the most German thing about me, as it seems to explain your description "cold, somewhat rude and to the point" quite well.
Frankly, I don't see much of a difference in the level of "acceptance" of Asperger's here- you might stand out less in some situations, because many people keep their distance from each other. But for anything important, the same social games take place as they do pretty much everywhere else, and if you can't play them well, you'll suffer. Being an engineer isn't a particularly well respected profession here either, even though everyone thinks they make a lot of money and have no problem getting a job.

And, by the way - in Germany, the general perception is that good places to live in are Scandinavia, Canada, NZ or Switzerland maybe.
The example of your friend getting fired seems more like an issue of a crappy employer rather than a cultural thing to me.


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Nambo
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01 Jun 2013, 1:23 pm

Germans are just naturally nice people.
Here in the UK a few years back, they had a TV show were they would arrange situations to test various nationalities, for instance, they had somebody pretend to lose a wedding ring, then timed the nationality that spent the longest of their own personal time, looking for it.

In every single instance, the Germans came out on top, as the nicest people.

Ive been to Germany quite a few times, when you catch a strangers eye in Germany they smile back, here in the UK you get daggers in their stare.

Whenever I stopped my bike and got my map out, everybody around would walk over to give me directions, on two occasions, motorists stopped and then told me to follow them as they drove to the turn off I required and then pointed the way, that has never happened to me once in England.

All that stuff in the first world war about them cutting off babies hands and having corpse factories were they melted people down to make soap, turned out to be propaganda to encourage whole British towns to donate their young mens lives, trouble is, folk would still rather believe it today.



Jacky
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02 Jun 2013, 4:36 pm

I am myself living as a foreigner in Germany, and generally had good experiences with the locals. The place is well organized, what helps a lot. You do not need to know a lot of people socially to get access to basic services, a lot of stuff like health insurance, electricity,... can be arranged over the internet and they usually get things done in a reasonable amount of time.

It helps a lot if you speak the language, many people do not speak English well. I personally found learning German hard work, the grammar is so complicated. Now I speak it fluently, but avoid writing it; you can't just write a serious text down in the style you would say it, my style looks at best naive, probably plain silly.

And people have the good manners not to easily touch strangers, and keep their distance crowds. Very pleasant if you have hypersensitivity to touch. :)



Dutchy
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03 Jun 2013, 3:42 am

As a dutchy, i can see were you get the idea from. Many people think The Netherlands and Germany are almost the same (which in a lot of things maybe are true). I've been a couple of times to our lovely neighbor-country, and the things that were already said here by the 'germany-experts' i can relate to that. German people are very nice! But so are American people or UK people in my opinion. I guess every culture has his charm. What i think were might be the idea is coming from, and in my opinion is true, is that Germany is very progressive and advanced when it comes to science, psychiatry, research and medicine, so are country's like Austria and Switserland. I mean, Asperger is named after the in Austria (Vienna) living pediatrician Hans Asperger. And more great names are coming from that direction like Leo Kanner, Carl Gustav Jung, and Eugen Bleuler (and a whole lot more). I think when it comes to medicine, research, science and psychiatry, Germany, Austria and Switserland, are the most progressive and leading country's in Europe to do so. Germany, Austria and Switserland have a long history on this. It's quite interesting! I must say, i can't deny, i'm a little bit proud of being on the European continent and being an European. :) I certain think Germany can be a role model when it comes to people with autism. Just look at the recent news of Germany's company SAP, who is tented to hire hundreds of people with autism in their business. That kind of messages makes me very happy :D But i think it's all the country's in the world combined that can make differences. Brace yourself people, a better world for people with autism is coming! :lol:


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If you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn't have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social 'yak yaks.' - Temple Grandin