Spectrum Disorder (formerly Asperger's Syndrome)

Seeing as the old thread was not only dead, but also vague in title, I think it's time for a new thread for this ever-so-interesting topic.

I decided it would be best to narrow down the topic to not include the other types of low-functioning Autism, as they are not as pertinent as to what most people discussed in the previous threads. Also, Spectrum Disorder is medically classified out side the Autism spectrum, but still part of the larger spectrum that contains Autism. With that said, post away!

As far as what I think about Spectrum Disorder (and as a person with it), I see it as an immense gift to have. I firmly believe that the human race is done progressing physically and is evolving further in our minds. Spectrum Disorder is that new step in our evolution, and as far as human attraction goes, I definitely see it breeding out neurotypicals over the span of a millenia or two. See, as a person with it, I've oddly been attracted to women who have blood relations to the disorder (don't ask me how). I've had a major attraction to two girls since elementary school, and both of them have brothers with Spectrum Disorder. Judging by this, I think that there's some underlying genetics behind us who have it being attracted to others who either have it or are closely related to it. It'll be very interesting to see how people like us pan out in the future...

As far as how I handle the disorder, I like to defend my disorder, as my bipolar, ADHD, and Tourette's Syndrome often are the real culprits behind what goes wrong with me on a daily basis, and more often than not my Spectrum disorder gets blamed for it.

Some good questions to answer would be "Do you have Spectrum Disorder?" "Do you know someone with the disorder?" "How do you handle it?" "What do you think the fate of the disorder will be?"

I have a bipolar spectrum disorder. I was misdiagnosed with asperger's as a kid and it was miserable. Imagine having your mother tell you all of these things about you that aren't true (like having obsessive interests, not being good socially, etc.) It wrecks your self-esteem to have your perception of reality not match up with your parents'/doctors'.

I don't find people with asperger's attractive. I did date someone with the disorder, and we just ended up being irrevocably unable to understand each other. He did not understand my emotions nor did he play the "games" that neurotypicals do (for instance, he couldn't recognize nonverbal expressions of emotion or nonverbal cues to help me out.) Being completely verbal about everything still didn't work out as he just was unable to meet my emotional needs (and I was unable to give him the understanding that he deserved). There was this disconnect between us.

Asperger's isn't the only syndrome associated with high intelligence. ADHD comes to mind as another disorder with stereotyped high intelligence. The intelligence aspect is only a stereotype. I've met aspies that definitely are not exceptionally intelligent, they're just average. I feel like aspies aren't inherently more intelligent but rather due to a lack of interest in socializing, academic and other intellectual pursuits take the forefront in terms of attention which leads to the development of academically-based skills and knowledge.

I think the only reason why it looks like the prevalence of the disorder is increasing is because we are better at diagnosing it now. It's also made it into the mainstream, so people are more likely to seek a doctor diagnosis now that they are aware (vaguely) of how it looks like. Before, people just didn't know to seek out doctors for what was probably perceived as just being "eccentric." Anyway, the prevalence of the disorder is 1.5% IIRC, similar to the rates of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and I don't foresee it going up much.

I'd just like to make a short comment about evolution and how it's not deterministic. All evolution really is simply the change in population over time. It's caused by certain traits being passed on more than other traits, basically having more babies with said trait per generation. I mean, it's kind of preemptive to say what's the next step and what isn't, especially since we - or at least me personally - don't really know if ASD is adaptive or not. I don't really see how it contributes to more ASD babies, for all we know, ASD individuals could reproduce less as deficits in communication and emotional expression don't really help that. "High functioning" neurotypical individuals exist as well, and they'd carry all of the perks of being high functioning, as well as not being limited communication and expression-wise, eh?

To flesh out my thinking on the evolution aspect: I think autism does have a genetic component, but I don't remember the figures nor the last time I've read about them. It's plausible that ASD individuals find each other more attractive in comparison to an ASD and a neurotypical simply because they have more in common, understand where each other come from, etc. While that certainly exists on an individual level, I'm not too certain we can extend it on a population-wide level.

I don't know enough about the subject to give much of an opinion, but what does strike me as worth commenting on is the name change. This may be old news but it's the first I've heard of it so sorry if I'm repeating stuff haha - but does anyone else find the change odd? 'Spectrum Disorder' just strikes me as such a patronising and derogatory term as opposed to what it used to be known as. I suppose I see 'disorder' as something of a buzz word for 'oh god look at that person they can't function at all' whereas that's not the case here, and with a term so general as 'spectrum disorder' it sounds a bit like... "we don't know what's wrong but basically ****'s hitting the fan all over the place"? I think the old name was 100% better, at least. :p

BlahISuck said:

To flesh out my thinking on the evolution aspect: I think autism does have a genetic component, but I don't remember the figures nor the last time I've read about them. It's plausible that ASD individuals find each other more attractive in comparison to an ASD and a neurotypical simply because they have more in common, understand where each other come from, etc. While that certainly exists on an individual level, I'm not too certain we can extend it on a population-wide level.

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Well, my father, my uncle, and their father (albeit the latter is unconfirmed) all have undiagnosed traits of ASD. It's definitely genetic in my eyes. As far as attraction to the disorder, let me say this.

Whenever I've been attracted to a woman with these traits, it's because of one thing: intelligence. These people with relations to the disorder understand me mentally (sometimes better than I do myself), and know exactly how to handle me without trying. My guess is that they think on a similar plane as I do, and know how I would handle something, as they would do the same.

I don't know much about this topic, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that not being neurotypical (neuro-atypical?) is a gift since there are apparently people who are high functioning and people who aren't. Can you see where my confusion is? For some people they aren't able to function so well. Maybe it's because I am neurotypical, but I don't see a benefit to that. If there is some kind of intelligence element where people may be pretty smart regardless of how they function, well, that's possible in anybody.

I'm not trying to say it's bad, just that I don't understand.

AlexOzzyCake said:

I don't know enough about the subject to give much of an opinion, but what does strike me as worth commenting on is the name change. This may be old news but it's the first I've heard of it so sorry if I'm repeating stuff haha - but does anyone else find the change odd? 'Spectrum Disorder' just strikes me as such a patronising and derogatory term as opposed to what it used to be known as. I suppose I see 'disorder' as something of a buzz word for 'oh god look at that person they can't function at all' whereas that's not the case here, and with a term so general as 'spectrum disorder' it sounds a bit like... "we don't know what's wrong but basically ****'s hitting the fan all over the place"? I think the old name was 100% better, at least. :p

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When and why did they decide to change it anyways?

I see it as an evolutionary thing too. Whether it's good, or bad can be debated, and researched (though science does have a history of seeing others as inferior, and treating groups unlike the majority as lower, just look at the eugenics movement in the U.S. or Nazi Germany).

@Blah

As I've said before, I'm a proponent of the Root Race version of evolution. In that version, evolution is NOT simply change in a species (not a population, there's a difference) over time. It is not only biological but also spiritual and mental and though I believe that much "Transhumanism" content is absolute BS, that's only because such content has no logical - hard or soft - basis and doesn't explain itself, which is why I prefer New Age which DOES explain things - even all of the things in Transhumanism, while Transhumanism itself just smashes random things together.

That's sort of the point I'm trying to make here - ideas like this one that claim that Spectrum may be a next step or even that it is a sign of "mental evolution", they all DO have logical bases. People often associate things like this with Transhumanism, and they just call it ridiculous and idiotic as a result, when the ideas in the OP actually DO have validity under New Age.

So, before you discredit the idea that Spectrum may become a major part of humanity simply because it doesn't work under Darwinist evolution, please give the ideas some thought for their own merit.

--

I don't think Spectrum will be mainstream in evolution of its own right; rather, like with the ability to see auras (which is seeing the EMF with just its Odyle content rather than Odyle, Magnetism, and Electricity - see? EXPLANATIONS :D), I believe it is only one part of the major ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) chain which will eventually become dormant in the majority of humanity, mixing until all ESP is norm.

So, Spectrum would be a part of it but not the entirety. Also, if you really think Spectrum is that big a deal in concerns to evolution, go look up "Crystal Children" and "Indigo Children". The type of Spectrum people you're talking about would be Crystal, while those like me are Indigo. In other words, traits like yours WILL become popular as time goes on, just not right now, as far as that concept states.

I speculate myself to have it, though I don't think a diagnosis would really do me anything at this point in my life. I would like to know for sure, but I'm fine not knowing right now. But I'm able to identify with the disorder regardless.

I mainly came to this thread because of the name change, honestly. I don't really like it. It seems so...umbrella term-ish, because ASD is used to reference all spectrum disorders, so to rename Asperger's Syndrome to Spectrum Disorder seems rather strange and redundant to me. Like, okay, it's already a Spectrum Disorder...why did you change the name to the umbrella term for those types of disorders and get rid of its unique, identifiable name? I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around a reason for that. Or is the syndrome as a whole gone and those with it are now just classified with a generic spectrum disorder? Is that it? I'm just like...confused right now, sorry.

O07_eleven said:

Ever heard the phrase "Variety is the spice of life"? Well that applies here. If we were all the same our existence would be very boring without a doubt. Thankfully we are not all the same, and people with Autism Spectrum Disorders are just another pathway that leads to differences in human beings. I'm rather happy that i've been neurologically hardwired to see the world differently from others, if having an ASD is rare in terms of population percentages then i'm very priviliged to be very different from the main grouping of people. Being different gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling and confidence in my sense of identity :)

Some factors are seen as inhibiting, communication skills are vital for success and acceptance in any society, performing poorly at this means we're at increased risks of not fitting in and suffering because of it. I feel that even if you do have an ASD, humans are still social creatures at their core and even the most anti-social individual still craves some level of interaction. It's a challenge when social ques aren't intuitive like they are to some, but as long as that basic level is being fulfilled then Spectrum Disorder people have a unique perspective on life. It's sort of hard to describe but being detached from the group means you can see so much more of what is really going on around you.

Even in lower functioning cases where you might have difficulty performing basic skills that may be seen as automatic to mainstream society there's still some benefit offset elsewhere, even if you might see it as a tremendous disadvantage i'm sure there's somewhere that person can be valuable and happy with with who they are, regardless of shortcomings.

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Is this a typical view of people with ASD? Alex's talk of evolution almost makes it seem like a person with ASD might even feel that they see the world better than us typical people, though I'd never have wondered that before this thread.

O07_eleven said:

Even in lower functioning cases where you might have difficulty performing basic skills that may be seen as automatic to mainstream society there's still some benefit offset elsewhere, even if you might see it as a tremendous disadvantage i'm sure there's somewhere that person can be valuable and happy with with who they are, regardless of shortcomings.

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Within ASD is a sort-of spectrum-within-a-spectrum, so to speak. There are some who are lower-functioning and those who have less of the intelligent rewiring at work. Spectrum Disorder is essentially a complete recoding and rewiring of the brain, thus where terms such as "neurotypical" come from. For me, I'm one of the higher-functioning people with the already high-functioning Autism, so I personally don't have as many social problems. Others with Spectrum Disorder may be more challenged, though.

I'm pretty sure I have it too. I'm glad I wasn't diagnosed during my formative years because I think it would've messed me up big time. Being diagnosed as a child or teenager would've made me feel so much more alienated. And for what? Some self awareness and maybe some medication in exchange for my self esteem? There really should be an age limit when it comes to psycho analyzing and diagnosing people with psychological disorders/conditions.

Anyways it has both it's positives and negatives. More negatives in my opinion but I do love some of the things about me that I believe are related to my apergers. I'll get to the pros and cons another time though because it's something I don't want to rush.

As a sperg it annoys the crap out of me how people get so obsessive over it. It's honestly really scary since being a sperg is a part of who you are, really, but honestly, 90% of the time, it's not that which gives you problems. Like OP said my problems usually are induced by depression, anxiety and other issues, which may stem from ASD but more often are just because I'm susceptible to those things.

What's scarier is how I've seen parents treat their mildly autistic children. I believe I've already given the scary story of one of my friends (I don't talk to him anymore). He was an abusive piece of **** who would use autism as an excuse for his laziness, but it pales in comparison to how bat**** insane his mother was. Fun fact: Apparently since aspies hate being put out of their comfort zone, you should NEVER EVER do so and if you try to help an aspie try something that makes them nervous you're just an *******. Aspies should be dependent on everyone else for things they don't want to venture out and, do, right?

As crazy as that sounds I HAVE MET PEOPLE WHO TREAT THEIR 20 YEAR OLD CHILDREN LIKE THIS BECAUSE THEY HAVE ASPERGERS WHAT THE ****.

The really scary thing is that I see it treated like that in small children too. There was one time I was taking photos of a family (I was a photographer for a while) and the son and I were bros, talking about space and stuff, but mom and dad were like, "oh, well jimmy's autistic, he just says weird stuff like that all the time". Personally, I was offended, not just because I'm autistic, but because Jimmy was smart and they were ignoring their kid because of a stigma. Like, let your mind wrap around that for two seconds, that's the world we live in today.

What about prenatal testing for autism? Like, holy crap. Your mom can have an abortion just because she's afraid that you *might* develop autism based on your genes. What's the cutoff point for that? How can you predict how serious it will be? How do you know that you're not removing someone from this world who could be amazing and change the way we do things?

In short, people need to stop worrying bout it. Instead of being afraid of something that most people understand, we should try to understand it. But people like being afraid of a scandalous thing, I've noticed that parents like those I mentioned above use it to get attention (again, I have witnessed this first hand). The former parent (with the 20 year old) used to tell me to my face how disabled he is, even though I'm dating a blind guy.

Like.

wow.

autism, folks

I have a high functioning form of autism. It's better known as Classic autism. Luckily, I received speech services at a young age. I've also noticed that both my parents have autistic traits as well. I was diagnosed when I was twelve years, though I can't really say it's helped me much. It's actually gotten worse as I've gotten older, which is weird because in most cases, I've heard the opposite.

However, I've been gifted with excellent written expression and writing abilities that make up for my lack verbal and emotional expression. There are good days and bad days for me. I'm smart, but I do tend to think at the level of a child between eight and fourteen. I'm a lot worse in real life than what you see online. People have once confirmed that most of our famous scientists and inventors had it, Einstein being one. I do agree that people need to stop treating it like it's some form of cancer. The scare over vaccinations is ridiculous because if it was me, I'd rather protect my child from some deadly disease than worry about autism. I do get it's hard, but it's not like your child has cancer.

I don't really handle it. I like to think I can control it, but my temper tantrums tend to get the best of me. It's really difficult for me to control my emotions and deal with the unpredictability of things around me. It also affects my social skills and anxiety. I can't even leave the house without having a full on panic attack. However, if I go somewhere with my parents, I'm perfectly fine. My parents always get after me because they fail to understand what goes in my brain. They don't get that my brain can't work the way they expect it to work, and that makes it hard.

I hadn't heard about the name change. I was diagnosed with Aspergers when I was ten years old, but I was fortunate in that my parents were supportive in helping me to overcome the hindrances it posed. Now that I'm in my twenties, I occaisionally feel a few of those symptoms from time to time, but most people would never guess I'm diagnosed.

As for the name change, I agree with the sentiment that it sounds redundant. The name "Aspergers" isn't offensive, such as how people diagnosed with Down Syndrome used to be scientifically referred to as mongoloids. I doubt people diagnosed with AS will stop using the name either. Over time, however, as psychologists and pediatricians adapt the terminology as they diagnose children, I have the feeling it will edge out the name "Aspergers".