Anyone here have one, and what's your general opinion on the public's thought of it? I have PDD-NOS myself, and I definitely think the public could do better. Just look at all these schools and how they treat people with it or other disorders, I remember one incident from my local school district where a non-verbal autistic kid was throwing a fit, and you know what they did? They called the police. The police eventually tased the kid, almost to his death (his heart stopped), and I believe the parents are in the middle of suing the city police and the school district. So yeah, stuff like that needs to stop and we need to find more humane ways to treat people with things like that.
I have the high functioning variety like you. Some people can't get it through the empty void in their skulls that it means i act and think different. Namely my dad.... My brother has the medium functioning type. He moves and interacts. Not as well as a "normal" kid of his age. He's also semi-verbal.
Definitely. I'm homeschooled myself, not only cause of that incident I posted, but the local high school is huge (5,000 students) and, well, I don't work well in huge classes. I went there for a while and they treated me like everyone else, even trying to get out of my IEP, which stated I needed break times for anxiety, and extra test time, which they were subtle-y saying how I didn't need that. The last straw with me was when the resource director told my mom I needed to be on Xanax, which neither I or my mom wanted me to be on. I do go to classes on Tuesday and Thursday at a church, and they are WONDERFUL. My entrepeneurship teacher even commented on how well I do despite having this disorder. I think some people understand it better, definitely. EDIT: That classes thing is very understanding too, cause they had that campaign where you'd sign to stop using the word "retarded" as an insult, which in my book, any school that does that is good to me.
I have Aspergers syndrome. So while I am pretty clever and act more mature for my age compared to other 15 year olds; I am rubbish socially. The only time I am quite social around people is if I can talk to other people with shared interests (such as MLP and Doctor who). I also can't stand immaturity, disruptive behaviour, loud noises and stuff like that. On the subject of school the one I go to actually deals with this sort of thing quite well. When I told them that some 'friends' (note the air marks) think what they're doing is just playful teasing and how I feel it's much more than that. They supported me and dealt with it quite quickly. Although it's probably due to our schools being in different countries and our school having pupil support staff to help those in need.
ASD in general: I believe that the real issue with the public's impression of stuff on the autistic spectrum is due surprisingly often to poor descriptions of the condition. A lot of people seem to believe that autism is a single disorder, but has varying degrees of severity. From my own observations, this couldn't be further from the truth. It's sort of like the common cold. There are actually about a dozen different viruses that cause the cold, and some of those varieties have hundreds of different strains, but they all fall under the heading of "the common cold" merely because they have similar symptoms and similar treatments. In much the same way, I believe that there are so many different disorders that could manifest the symptoms of "autism" that it's completely impractical to try to differentiate each variation, much less catalog them, so they are all grouped onto a spectrum. In other words, if you've met one person on the autistic spectrum, then you've met one person on the autistic spectrum. No two people on the spectrum are alike. Personal: I was clinically diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (not self-diagnosed) about 18 years ago, and have been doing therapy groups ever since, so I feel I've coped with it really well. Also, I believe that I've figured out how my particular variation can be best described. It has been shown in various studies that infants are much better than adults at being able to subconsciously assimilate spoken language. It's a skill that babies need in order to first learn to talk, but this innate ability fades after a year or two, preventing it from aiding you in foreign language classes. I believe that on a more subtle level during infancy, that same ability is being used to also learn basic social skills and nonverbal communication, things like eye contact, tone of voice, body language, and so on. From my self-observations, I would describe my form of Aspergers/autism to mean that I had a reduced ability to acquire these skills at the unconscious level when everyone else did, and that's the ONLY thing my particular variation did directly. All my other so-called "symptoms" (introversion, intense preoccupation with narrow subjects, insistence on routine and control over surroundings, etc.) are simply a result of the poor outcomes of many of my first attempts at social interaction which were indirectly caused by my condition. I certainly desire social interaction as much as anyone else, but I didn't learn how to make it work when everyone else did. Fortunately, I've found that my language analogy carries quite far into practicality. I've found that those basic social skills and nonverbal expressions can be seen as a very subtle language, and it's entirely possible for me to learn that language...so long as others are willing to help teach me. I've become quite fluent in this "language" of social interaction, enough that many people are surprised when I tell them I have Aspergers, but I doubt I will ever be a "native" speaker of it. I've also found that, even without all the quirky behaviors resulting indirectly from my condition, I'm still a pretty weird guy, and I have chosen to embrace this fact wholeheartedly. Even without my Aspergers, I'm weird, and I'm proud of it!
I have a moderate to severe case of Asperger's. It gets in my way with a lot of things and cause I am semi-anti social, it becomes pretty hard to make tangible (IRL) friends. My Asperger's bothers me, but I refuse to let me stop me forever. My mom is a School Psychologist and has a mild case of Asperger's, so a lot of what I learn when it comes to Asperger's and how to cope with it. It is not a death sentence and many successful and well-lived people have it and have great lives. So I can no longer use it as a crutch.
I've never been diagnosed with anything officially, but I've often wondered if I fell within ASD somewhere ... I find that I see the world in such a different way than others around me. Sometimes it's a strength, seeing in perfect detail very complicated things, usually spacial in nature - I have an uncanny sense of direction and size and can picture in my head full three dimensional memories of places and events ... this is all great and I have made the best of these abilities I think, using them in technical jobs I've gotten. Now on the other side of things though, I have the most impossibly difficult time understanding other people sometimes in social settings. I've only gotten better in the sense that I have to consciously remember what is the socially correct way to respond to things or what people really mean when they say things that I used to interpret more literally. So, yea... like I said, I haven't been officially diagnosed but I fit a bunch of the symptoms, the way my brain seems to process things so strangely. I don't see it as a bad thing though, if someone is (or I am); but rather it is a unique opportunity to see and interact with the world in a unique way that someone without ASD could never have imagined. As for the society question; honestly I think it's kind of crappy how it's treated right now - although it's better than it used to be at least. Most people seem to be either completely disgusted by anyone with any mental conditions... or on the opposite side, try to be so affirmative about it that they end up being really condescending and awful. I wish people would just see each other as people first, and having different points of view or states of mind second.
I have aspergers (diagnosed when I was 14 and I'm 29 now) and it has it's pros and cons. On the pro side, I pride myself on being able to cut through the bull and see the world as it really is. On the con side, that means I have to put up with a lot of stupid people thinking I'm stuck up because I actually use my brain and think about things. Like on this one video game forum I post on, every time I point out the shameless greed and blatant overpricing in the current retrogaming market (we're not dealing in gold bullion after all, they're just games, not worth that much in the grand scheme of things), all I get is a bunch of people lecturing me about "economics" and telling me I "don't understand how things work" because they want to justify overpaying (or overcharging in the case of resellers). Another pro is that I'm naturally honest and friendly to a fault, but the down side is that I had to learn to recognize when someone was taking advantage of me and I got burned a lot before I finally learned that lesson. I wouldn't change a thing, though. If someone handed me a pill and said "take this and you won't be autistic anymore", I'd throw it away.
I have a form of ASD, the asperger syndrome (AS), or more specifically, HFA (High-Functioning Autism). (Wiki-link) And while it is true that I have difficulties with communication, I don't really see myself other than any other person. Yet, my parents think I'm mentally ill, and blame almost everything that I say or do to my autism. Example: I've outed myself as bisexual last year. My dad's reaction: "That's because of your autism." Yes, I might be easily obsessed about stuff because of my autism, but don't blame everything on it! I mean, it's still me! It's not that the mere fact that I have AS that I can't enjoy things or be myself, right? Same thing with My Little Pony and Vocaloid, which I'm really fond of. And chocolate. You can't forget chocolate :3 Spoiler: little rant I've read a few things, and now I'm really doubting if I really have autism. Example AS: Lower verbal IQ, yet I speak three languages fluently, Restricted and repetitive interests and behaviour, where the interests are fairly narrow. I must say that I do have a repetitive behaviour, but my interests are more like a spectrum too. And whilst others only know a little about that interest (narrowed), I know a lot of my interests. For example, I can recall any episode of MLP and what they've said, yet I also know what happens in the fandom. Social interaction, that might not be my strongest point, but I still have made friends - real friends - who don't know that I have autism, and will probably never know. Speech and language,I speak multiple languages fluently. Yes, it is true that I sometimes can't find the words, but that's because of my lack of vitamin B12 and iron (I am a vegetarian, and I don't eat enough nuts or beans.) Motor and sensory perception, Okay, it is true that I'm quite good in finding details and stuff, but I can't say that I'm extraordinary. I've met a photographer who has a much better visual perception than I have, and he's just your ordinary person. HFA People with HFA more often have problems functioning independently, I eat, sleep, go to school, lead a social life and even an asocial life all on my own. Curiosity and interest for many different things, in contrast to people with Asperger syndrome, Caught me. Both articles also say that I should be very bad at feeling empathy. Because that's really why I can comfort people sometimes better than others. /sarcasm So yeah, I actually think that the doctors just say too fast that someone has Autism. Just as they say every kid who is a little bit hyperactive to have ADHD.
I find it strange that people think its weird that I try to understand and respect people like that. they just retort " I don't understand and they just need to learn." ITS A DISABILITY!!!! YOU CAN'T UNLEARN A DISABILITY!!! I MIGHT JERK SOMETIMES BUT AT LEAST I FULLY RESPECT SOMEONES FLAWS.
