OT: Aspergers link

[Chris Gonnerman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Banks" <imbosol-1047882725 at aerojockey.com>


> Chris Gonnerman wrote:
> > There are probably a lot of us on this list who suffer from
> > Asperger's... it pretty much defines nerdiness.
> 
> Blegh.
> 
> I think people with Asperger's "syndrome" just violated someone's
> arbitrary and very narrow idea of what they think is normal.

I never knew how I was different, only that I was; until I was
married to someone with "normal" social instincts for over ten
years (still am, thankfully).  My wife has shown me a lot that
I could never see on my own.

> Here's my advice: forget all this crap about Asperger's syndrome.
> Instead, go read about Myers-Briggs personality typing.  _Please
> Understand Me_, by David Kiersey, is a good reference.  Kiersey would
> probably dismiss Asperger's "syndrome" as nothing but a strong
> introverted and thinking personality.

It is real.  The primary reason to understand this is that, if
two people who both have Asperger's Syndrome have children, there
is a statistically higher rate of autism.

The highest rate of new autism diagnosis is in the Silicon Valley,
and if you think you can dismiss this severe disorder as easily
as Asperger's you are a fool.

Note also that Microsoft (the evil empire) has a special program
for their employees with autistic children.  (Read that in the 
newspaper where I first heard of Asperger's.)  They wouldn't waste
the money on it if it weren't a real problem.

> Frankly, it sickens me that there are people out there who consider
> traits such as introversion, and reliance on thought instead of
> feeling, to be "diseases."

Asperger's doesn't make you introverted.  Usually quite the 
opposite; I am a bull in the china shop of other people's feelings,
and I have never liked it.  I am aware of a great many adaptations
I have made cognitively that other people don't have to think about
at all; adaptations that are often incorrect due to my incomplete
understanding.

Don't blow me off, Carl Banks.  This is real, and it sucks.

You can't imagine what a relief it was to learn that there is a
reason I don't fit in.  "Personality typing" is too wimpy to 
cover the gaps in my understanding, gaps I will never be able 
to properly fill.  I am also slightly hearing impaired, and it
was a similar relief to understand that... are you going to
blow off my hearing problem too?

One of the less well understood symptoms of Asperger's is 
delayed emotional response.  I have to synthesize a visible 
response in many cases, trying to imagine how I will feel
later when the emotional response sets in; otherwise the more
or less normal people I am interacting with think me cold and
unfeeling.

Unfortunately, anger is rarely delayed, and I am pretty well
mad right now.

My apologies to the list for this off-topic rant; I would have
replied by private mail but I didn't want Carl's rudeness to
be unchallenged in public.

Chris Gonnerman -- chris.gonnerman at newcenturycomputers.net
http://newcenturycomputers.net