I have Autism, and while it has made life difficult for me, I've learned to love it, and do you know what? If someone could get rid of it, I wouldn't want them to.
Calling all Autistics of the Escapist
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HO got a new one for ya, i gotz the Dyslexia next to autistic. no really. that first sentence. you don even know how much you could not read this post if not for spell check o.o diagnosed by my parents which are M.D.s at 4/5, and for all you fellows let me save you some thinking, the school, didn't do a thing, said my parents couldn't possibly know that, scheduled me for testing, lost my name, elementary all the way to high school didn't do a freakin thing, and i got officially tested at 17, and came out positive for Dyslexia. It may be a joke to some of you, and it may be fake or "blown out of proportion(<--- had to Google that one)", but to me and my family and my wife, its painfully real. I would not hug my sisters or parents, i rebelled against everyone trying to talk to me and get close. I've never had many friends, never been good at talking, never good at writing. do you know how hard that makes life? take your life and times by ten. in today's world you need to able to talk to people and write and i can't do that! (i can type due to spell check). I get pretty heated over this because i have become a Psychologist, because i did get help, now i try and help parents understand their child, and children to cope with their gifts. Yeah, gifts. Its made my life harder, but i like being autistic. Makes life more interesting, and clearer.
try explaining to him, tell him what you are feeling and why you think feel that way. its what me and my wife do when she wants to change something or has something going on, she explains to me why and gives reasons, basically puts into a picture/ easily understood way. You see because artistic thinks in pictures and In a 3D sense, so you need to put it in terms of a picture and reason. BUT even if this doesn't work, just remember, number one rule: be patient, cause you can not ask an autistic so sit down.
On the opposite side here, cause my darling wife is normal and I'm autistic. Thing is to be patient with him, emotions are concepts (as in more pictures) not easily understood to autism.Detective Prince said:
try explaining to him, tell him what you are feeling and why you think feel that way. its what me and my wife do when she wants to change something or has something going on, she explains to me why and gives reasons, basically puts into a picture/ easily understood way. You see because artistic thinks in pictures and In a 3D sense, so you need to put it in terms of a picture and reason. BUT even if this doesn't work, just remember, number one rule: be patient, cause you can not ask an autistic so sit down.
Yeah, god knows what they'd tag me with if I let pyschologists anywhere near me nowadays. Hell, at one point, I actually seeked psychiatric help, but this is the UK, when it comes to mental health they love their labels, and they hate actually giving treatment. Now I know I'm not completely okay, and I get the feeling I never will be, but I'm damn better than I've ever been, and who knows what kind of damage they'll cause if I let them look me over again. People can call you crazy all they like, but they don't really mean it until there's a name for it.Binnsyboy said:
If you're going to go the "People need to learn to laugh at themselves" route, you should take a little more responsibility for what's coming out of your mouth. (or in this case, what you're writing) You are fully aware that this is a sensitive issue. If you're going to go there, you better make a real effort to try to show people that its fun to laugh at themselves, or just keep your jokes to yourself.Lumber Barber said:
Also, think about where you're doing this. I'd be pretty pissed if there was a thread in which people were sharing their stories about coping with, say, their parents having divorced when they were a child and someone without any apparent investment or empathy on the issue just waltzed in and started making bad jokes at our expense.
At the very least, if you're going to pull something like this and you wind up insulting people, you could try apologizing and being friendly instead of insulting the users of this website.
Yeah, I know. I was close to being diagnosed with schizophrenia because a therapist mistook my weird obsessive thoughts for psychosis. I'm sure the medications would have been terrible.Erana said:
Pretty much sums it up.Doclector said:
I was never actually diagnosed with any mental disorder (or if I was my parents never told me), but reading about it, looking back at how I thought and acted -- how I still think and act in some ways -- I could make a strong case for high function autism. I don't see much point in being tested, I've had the last thirty years to figure out on my own just how far off the median I am, I don't need a doctor to tell me. Don't want to contemplate pills, either. My friends have taken them, there's always a laundry list of side effects. Pills don't actually fix the problem, they just move the problem into some other area of your life.
Certainly my physical ineptitude, facility with numbers and patterns, and difficulty with social interaction have caused me far more grief than good. I was thrown into a "gifted and talented" program that very nearly turned me off from learning altogether. And the other kids, they don't understand why you're not exactly like them, they only understand they must punish you for your differences. Basic law of human interaction.
I am currently in the process of seeing a psychiatrist under the possibility that I may be schizophrenic. The reason I wanted to share that is because I have some idea of the medication that is commonly used and to say that they're actually quite reluctant to give medication to you unless it's a last resort or there is personal or social danger involved.MammothBlade said:
Also you'd need to display more than one symptom for an extended period of time (assuming in this case 'obsessive thoughts' is roughly its own thing).
Fair enough, I was probably overreacting with worst case scenarios at the time.Cavan said:
I heard a theory (imprinted brain theory) that schizophrenia and autism may well be the opposite things - autism featuring underdeveloped, underactive theory of mind, whereas schizophrenia involves an overdeveloped, overactive theory of mind which goes paranoid and delusional. Those with autistic spectrum conditions have more mechanistic, systematic thinking, whereas those on the schizotypal spectrum have tendencies towards empathising or mentalising - to the point that they can hear other peoples' voices loudly in their head. Yet I've heard of several people with autistic spectrum conditions who have schizophrenia too, which either puts their diagnosis or that theory into serious doubt. Also, there are quite a few people - think John Nash - who are scientifically and mathematically gifted yet have full-blown paranoia. It's an oversimplistic explanation, but it's worth a look.
Well, I've looked at it objectively, and I admit I probably am something of a sociopath, but my point is they were wrong before. And that damage is permanent.Doclector said:
Aspergers here! Must have been diagnosed at about 16, possibly 17 - I honestly can't remember the exact date, but hey. Funny thing is, it all kind of started with Christian Western Chandler - I decided to research Autism just to prove to myself that he didn't have it, and after looking at the symptoms, I thought "Haaaang on a minute..."
Obviously, I wasn't going to be happy with a self diagnosis, so I mulled the idea over, told a teacher in about the last year of secondary school, got sent to a mind-doctor (Not sure if he was an actual physiologist or not, so I'm using that for now.) And, well, long story short, they diagnosed me with Aspergers.
... And Mild ADHD.
... And Mild dispraxia.
... And something else I've forgotten, despite hearing it not 3 days ago.
Yeah, given the lateness of the diagnosis, plus how mild everything turned out, I actually don't think it's disabled me that much. In fact, I personally consider myself pretty damn lucky, if only because my personality seems to work so well with my disabilities - I mean, I'm self confidant without being too arrogant (Most of the time, anyway. I think so, at least.) Self-critical when I need to be, logical, not afraid to try new things, a very quick learner, scientific (In that I feel the need to experiment a lot when I come up with a theory.) ... In fact, it feels like, if our life was but a game, I've been created by a guy who wanted to min-max the SHIT out of me.'
Now all I have to do is go back to the mind doctor and see if my self-diagnosis of paranoia is justified...
Obviously, I wasn't going to be happy with a self diagnosis, so I mulled the idea over, told a teacher in about the last year of secondary school, got sent to a mind-doctor (Not sure if he was an actual physiologist or not, so I'm using that for now.) And, well, long story short, they diagnosed me with Aspergers.
... And Mild ADHD.
... And Mild dispraxia.
... And something else I've forgotten, despite hearing it not 3 days ago.
Yeah, given the lateness of the diagnosis, plus how mild everything turned out, I actually don't think it's disabled me that much. In fact, I personally consider myself pretty damn lucky, if only because my personality seems to work so well with my disabilities - I mean, I'm self confidant without being too arrogant (Most of the time, anyway. I think so, at least.) Self-critical when I need to be, logical, not afraid to try new things, a very quick learner, scientific (In that I feel the need to experiment a lot when I come up with a theory.) ... In fact, it feels like, if our life was but a game, I've been created by a guy who wanted to min-max the SHIT out of me.'
Now all I have to do is go back to the mind doctor and see if my self-diagnosis of paranoia is justified...
I am touched and happy with the response that I have gotten from this thread, trolls notwithstanding (its the internet, what can you do?)
Still, I think there are a few things I've seen that popped up in this thread.
The original purpose of this thread was to see if the "self-diagnosed man-child getting out of self-improvement" stereotype was true. I mean, it gets trumpeted a lot in these discussions, and while part of it lies in ones misunderstanding in what it means to be sick (ie if your sick you get treatment to get well again) it also rests with the fact that there are autistics out there who are, sadly, stupid! We have associated intellect to autism and aspergers, but they are not traits that are looked for when a diagnosis is made.
This socially-awkward Pokemon fan is someone I have never ran into. However, it might be just the company I keep, but I haven't even ran into one online.
I've ran into the "I have a feeling that I might be this" person, which I usually laugh off as they all have been higher-functioning people making it on their own and therefore a formal diagnosis would be a waste of time. But these people never would claim to have autism, nor use it to excuse rotten behaviour.
Now,I have heard of the occasional case of a rape defendant making an insanity plea on the grounds that they were autistic and honestly thought the victim wanted it. As sick as it makes me, I had to wonder if there are autistics who are so bad at reading social cues and body language that they would unknowingly rape someone, or if they are just using it as an excuse to get out of a heavy prison sentence and being listed on a sex offender registry? Much of that depends on how good of a get out of jail free card screaming autism is, regardless of whether or not the defendant actually has autism.
In my humble opinion, its only good for wriggling money out of the government. I'm using my disorder to help financing my education after all. I could go on ODSP if I wanted to. However, I am not interested in a variant of welfare, and I know I could make more money if I actually worked. Outside of that, it isn't very useful for deals unless you are lower-functioning. Lower-functioning as in can barely talk.
Now, most of the thread responds claim to have been diagnosed by a professional. Not scientific, but at least we aren't seeing any Chris-chens (or at least ones who aren't just trolls acting like assholes). Many of you still want to thrive independantly and aren't using the disorder as a trump card.
So, unless you think their faking for a free pass, if they say their autistic, their probably autistic.
Actually, that isn't much better.
Though, it is possible that you could go your day-to-day life and not know an autistic person. Throughout my life I've only had one gay friend despite 1/10 of the population being gay/lesbian/bi.
It isn't helped that, like other groups, they tend to congregate in certain places. Like the internet.
Are you in denial? Are you scared that the treatment options will destroy what makes you you? That so much of your personality, and what makes you unique and special, hinge on this, that without it you cease to be? I've read that schizophrenics have similar misgivings about treatment. If you have hallucinations, some of which can be scary, you would want something done about it? If you are missing the ability to connect with others, don't you want something done about it?
I'm autistic myself, so I get it. However, autism is something that I have that hinders me, and while what hinders you is as just a part of you as what helps you, I can say straight-facedly that autism is not core to who I am. I'll say it to you: it is not the core of who you are.
I can prove it in a way.
Think of all the things you love in your life: people, places, things, franchises, and so forth. Ask yourself, if you were not autistic, would you love any of these less?
Now, you may, no question, love some of these things less. I mean, in my own case, I may not have entered gaming without the autism. Some of the obsessive behaviour needed for early games played into this, and much of my functionality as a human being is owed to The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening for placing me in worlds where I could roam around with a higher purpose while learning the basics of reading and problem solving.
However, in my case, without the autism, would I have any less malplaced love for David Tennant? I mean, I'm 24, female, and straight. I'm also fat - this plays a role in the preferred body-type you want. My parents were in their thirties when I was born, which means I don't mind my 'hotties' (subjective, I know) to be older than myself. I live in North America, where people finding the British attractive is commonplace. As for discovering his existence in the first place, well, you don't need autism to be a nerd (though arguably it might help), and my parents (whom are not autistic) are big sci-fi and fantasy fans, and my mom is a big Doctor Who fan, so of course I would have seen episodes of the rebooted series, and later have that sad epiphany while reading on the web one night.
If I wasn't autistic anymore, would I rip up that one poster I have of him and erect one of Robert Pattinson instead? Course I'm not a fan of Twilight, and I think Rob doesn't look that attractive, and I think that if I was a normal human being that wouldn't change.
I could go on, but then this would be creepier than it already is.
Alas, some people want to 'cure' autism because most people with autism are going to be children forever, and this scares parents to death the thought that their kid will never go, move out, and start a family of their own. It isn't the maligned Pokemon fan either: they are my fatass brother who can barely string a sentence, has trouble comprehending spoken language himself, is strictly compulsive... this is someone who can't function in society and never really had a chance.
Though, my humble opinion. I would give pretty much anything to feel like a human being and not like an alien pretending to be human. I believe autism has done that to me. It has made me a stranger to my own self, and a stranger even in my own family. I want to connect with others, but they can't understand me, and I can't understand them.
Still, I think there are a few things I've seen that popped up in this thread.
I have a confession to make.CrazyGirl17 said:
The original purpose of this thread was to see if the "self-diagnosed man-child getting out of self-improvement" stereotype was true. I mean, it gets trumpeted a lot in these discussions, and while part of it lies in ones misunderstanding in what it means to be sick (ie if your sick you get treatment to get well again) it also rests with the fact that there are autistics out there who are, sadly, stupid! We have associated intellect to autism and aspergers, but they are not traits that are looked for when a diagnosis is made.
This socially-awkward Pokemon fan is someone I have never ran into. However, it might be just the company I keep, but I haven't even ran into one online.
I've ran into the "I have a feeling that I might be this" person, which I usually laugh off as they all have been higher-functioning people making it on their own and therefore a formal diagnosis would be a waste of time. But these people never would claim to have autism, nor use it to excuse rotten behaviour.
Now,I have heard of the occasional case of a rape defendant making an insanity plea on the grounds that they were autistic and honestly thought the victim wanted it. As sick as it makes me, I had to wonder if there are autistics who are so bad at reading social cues and body language that they would unknowingly rape someone, or if they are just using it as an excuse to get out of a heavy prison sentence and being listed on a sex offender registry? Much of that depends on how good of a get out of jail free card screaming autism is, regardless of whether or not the defendant actually has autism.
In my humble opinion, its only good for wriggling money out of the government. I'm using my disorder to help financing my education after all. I could go on ODSP if I wanted to. However, I am not interested in a variant of welfare, and I know I could make more money if I actually worked. Outside of that, it isn't very useful for deals unless you are lower-functioning. Lower-functioning as in can barely talk.
Now, most of the thread responds claim to have been diagnosed by a professional. Not scientific, but at least we aren't seeing any Chris-chens (or at least ones who aren't just trolls acting like assholes). Many of you still want to thrive independantly and aren't using the disorder as a trump card.
So, unless you think their faking for a free pass, if they say their autistic, their probably autistic.
Actually that is a treatment option that is advocated by the pros themselves to patients. Part of life is having to deal with other people, whether you like it or not, on a regular bases. No man is an island, right?Athinira said:
Well, Aspergers Syndrome was named after a German psycologist named... Hans Asperger [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger]. Why would someone have the name turd sandwich? Well, actually the word 'asperger' is German for 'asparagus.' So in reality, its named after a vegetable!SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Actually, that isn't much better.
Though, it is possible that you could go your day-to-day life and not know an autistic person. Throughout my life I've only had one gay friend despite 1/10 of the population being gay/lesbian/bi.
It isn't helped that, like other groups, they tend to congregate in certain places. Like the internet.
I'll be honest. This viewpoint creeps me out a little. I mean, its like being proud that your missing toes, or proud that you have a debilitating physical disorder like spina bifida. Sure, they are sever enough to hinder you, and force you to take certain paths, but take pride that there is something wrong with you?BOOM headshot65 said:
Are you in denial? Are you scared that the treatment options will destroy what makes you you? That so much of your personality, and what makes you unique and special, hinge on this, that without it you cease to be? I've read that schizophrenics have similar misgivings about treatment. If you have hallucinations, some of which can be scary, you would want something done about it? If you are missing the ability to connect with others, don't you want something done about it?
I'm autistic myself, so I get it. However, autism is something that I have that hinders me, and while what hinders you is as just a part of you as what helps you, I can say straight-facedly that autism is not core to who I am. I'll say it to you: it is not the core of who you are.
I can prove it in a way.
Think of all the things you love in your life: people, places, things, franchises, and so forth. Ask yourself, if you were not autistic, would you love any of these less?
Now, you may, no question, love some of these things less. I mean, in my own case, I may not have entered gaming without the autism. Some of the obsessive behaviour needed for early games played into this, and much of my functionality as a human being is owed to The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening for placing me in worlds where I could roam around with a higher purpose while learning the basics of reading and problem solving.
However, in my case, without the autism, would I have any less malplaced love for David Tennant? I mean, I'm 24, female, and straight. I'm also fat - this plays a role in the preferred body-type you want. My parents were in their thirties when I was born, which means I don't mind my 'hotties' (subjective, I know) to be older than myself. I live in North America, where people finding the British attractive is commonplace. As for discovering his existence in the first place, well, you don't need autism to be a nerd (though arguably it might help), and my parents (whom are not autistic) are big sci-fi and fantasy fans, and my mom is a big Doctor Who fan, so of course I would have seen episodes of the rebooted series, and later have that sad epiphany while reading on the web one night.
If I wasn't autistic anymore, would I rip up that one poster I have of him and erect one of Robert Pattinson instead? Course I'm not a fan of Twilight, and I think Rob doesn't look that attractive, and I think that if I was a normal human being that wouldn't change.
I could go on, but then this would be creepier than it already is.
Alas, some people want to 'cure' autism because most people with autism are going to be children forever, and this scares parents to death the thought that their kid will never go, move out, and start a family of their own. It isn't the maligned Pokemon fan either: they are my fatass brother who can barely string a sentence, has trouble comprehending spoken language himself, is strictly compulsive... this is someone who can't function in society and never really had a chance.
Though, my humble opinion. I would give pretty much anything to feel like a human being and not like an alien pretending to be human. I believe autism has done that to me. It has made me a stranger to my own self, and a stranger even in my own family. I want to connect with others, but they can't understand me, and I can't understand them.
In grade 6, I took medication that suppressed my Aspergers. And do you know what? Grade 6 was actually the happiest year of my life. I wasn't quite as sharp and my memory was dim, but I made friends and excelled in my classes. The medication later stopped working, so I stopped taking it, and while I still remember 6th Grade fondly, in hindsight... if given the chance to supress my Autism again, I wouldn't take it. Yes that year was the happiest of my life, but it wasn't part of my life... it was someone else living in my body.
I've learned that my Autism is who I am, and to supress it is tantamount to suicide. I would never kill the person I am like that again.
I've learned that my Autism is who I am, and to supress it is tantamount to suicide. I would never kill the person I am like that again.
According to papers I got from the hospital (more on that in a bit), I was diagnosed with Aperger's Syndrome when I was in high school. Thing was, I didn't find this out until last summer, when I was released from the hospital, which I was 19 and done with high school for a year. Glad there were people out there to try to help me deal with this!
I was diagnosed with aspergers during third grade. I would never chose to make my autism go away.Is autism at my core, both yes and no. There are many things that have influenced who I am, but many of the traits that I would use to describe my self are characteristic of autism. This would probably change if I was moved to another country and elements of US culture was what made me stand out, but being around people with similar life experiences as me (middle class, white, American ect) I find traits affiliated with autism what makes me different, and I take pride in that difference. Autistic traits have helped and hurt me at different times. The feeling of isolation that comes from being autistic can at times be invigorating and at other times soul crushing. Typically I am so full of contempt for people that the not being able to connect to them is a source of pride rather than a source of pain. Though there are times when I would give anything for a hand to hold. I have been able to make friends through comptive debate (I competed four years in high school, four years in college and have coached for three years about to start my forth). Many debaters didn't hold my differences agensit me and won't my friends out of pity, instead we formed friendships out of mutual respect. For me therapy never worked because I distrusted anyone who wanted to "cure" me (that included my Mom for quit a while). In the end I only was able to trust the people on my debate team because they weren't the type of people that I was supposed to make friends with. My expernce have taught me to catorgize people. There are friends who you don't need to hide your autisitc traits from, there are idiot people in ahtority for you to minipulate by acting normal, and the hored of people who don't matter and you can ignore.
While I would never chose to be "cured" of autism I find it hard to stand in judgment of others who wish to be. While I was mostly mainstreamed I was around people with lower functioning autism kids who would never be able to go on a forum like this, who would never be able to take care of themselves. I couldn't tell the parent of that child that they shouldn't look for ways to get their child to a point where he could be self suffecent.
While I would never chose to be "cured" of autism I find it hard to stand in judgment of others who wish to be. While I was mostly mainstreamed I was around people with lower functioning autism kids who would never be able to go on a forum like this, who would never be able to take care of themselves. I couldn't tell the parent of that child that they shouldn't look for ways to get their child to a point where he could be self suffecent.
I was diagnosed with it when I was 19, barely a few months ago now. I had been diagnosed with depression prior and this new diagnosis basically helped identify why some treatments hadn't been working, why my social ticks were what they were, why the habits I kept repeating were ones I wasn't learning from and such. It's really helped and has given me a much better outlook on life since, because I know what I have and how to deal with it effectively instead of flailing around confused wondering why I'm having such a hard time, like, meeting new people. I see my very wonderful psychologist about once a month and thanks to the diagnosis I've entered what could be the happiest period of my life so far.
It's strange not growing up with the realization, my parents didn't want to get me diagnosed despite suspicions and so bought me up "normally," if that makes sense, and it gives me a great deal of perspective. I feel I'm better off for it, though certainly there would have been a great deal many advantages to knowing as a child rather than just as I reach adulthood.
It's strange not growing up with the realization, my parents didn't want to get me diagnosed despite suspicions and so bought me up "normally," if that makes sense, and it gives me a great deal of perspective. I feel I'm better off for it, though certainly there would have been a great deal many advantages to knowing as a child rather than just as I reach adulthood.
My two little bros are autistic to varying degrees. Myself, I've no clue - I don't much care, since knowing won't change much.
Also, all the people making fun of & outright insulting autistic people in this thread need to do horrible things to themselves.
Also, all the people making fun of & outright insulting autistic people in this thread need to do horrible things to themselves.