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Post by Vene on Sept 19, 2010 12:10:21 GMT -5
Yeah, I kinda got irritated by the " something to be overcome" thing as well. I would pick having Aspergers over being a neurotypical any day, as I consider it a gift. I've dated Aspies before, and I agree with this statement. :3 I think dating normals would be more of an obstacle to overcome than dating aspies.
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Post by Dragon Zachski on Sept 19, 2010 12:37:02 GMT -5
Heh, even without factoring in Asperger's, I'm nowhere close to neurotypical. I've got OCD, ADHD, And Tourrette's Syndrome, and many of the lovely additional disorders that come along with those.
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Post by Napoleon the Clown on Sept 19, 2010 14:02:14 GMT -5
Don't go around saying you do have it without an actual diagnosis... Self-diagnosing is bad form, no matter what it is. Saying that you feel like you display symptoms is fine, put proclaiming yourself to be Aspie without a diagnosis can make a lot of people who have actually been diagnosed feel like you're cheapening the disorder. And it annoys people who are in the field, since it's basically a big ol' middle finger to all the schooling it takes to actually make a diagnosis. In any event, if you think you do have it and there's nothing that makes having a formal diagnosis worthwhile, just look at it as "This explains 'x', so I'm going to overcome that. Approach it from the perspective of "It makes certain things harder, so I should strive to overcome them." So yeah, don't bother with a diagnosis unless there's something going on where you need one. It's extra money to get diagnosed, and it can mess with stuff with regards to insurance. And either way, don't think of it as a disability, but something to overcome. I'm going to have to disagree with you, Nap. Now, I obviously can't speak for anybody who works in the field, but as someone who actually has an official diagnosis of Asperger's, I really don't feel self-diagnoses cheapen my Asperger's any. Now, it would be one thing if zachski thought, "Hey, Aspies are shy nerds. I'm a shy nerd, too." That's just basing something on a half-baked stereotype. However, I really don't think he's doing that, here. As far as accommodations go, not even an official diagnosis in and of itself is enough to get them in a lot of cases, let alone a self-diagnosis, so I'm not concerned about any resources I could potentially use going to someone who might not be disabled. And as far as discussions related to disability go, a self-diagnosis or no diagnosis at all is basically equal to an official diagnosis, in the sense that diagnosis or lack thereof doesn't make an experience more or less valid. For instance, in the case of that fire drill I bitched about, my ears wouldn't have hurt any less if I didn't have an official Asperger's diagnosis. And as I said, if you had reading comprehension (which isn't affected by Asperger's), you'd know I said that the issue is with claiming the disorder, not saying you display symptoms of it. Hi, I'm bipolar and it's a hell of a lot more severe than Asperger's. Unless the group has a terrifyingly high suicide rate, tendency to have psychotic episodes (and I'm not talking throwing an angry fit, look up the psychiatric definition here), and just a few other things that make bipolar disorder fall under the "severe" category rather than what is, essentially, considered high-functioning autism. Yes, Asperger's is real and yes it does mean an entirely different thought-process in many aspects, particularly social aspects. But there's this funny thing about those things... You can learn to read expressions and the like. I have no patience with people who go "I'm disabled, so I shouldn't try to overcome the limitations I have." Saying "I'm Aspie and that's a disability, so I shouldn't bother with learning how to cope with those aspects that can't be overcome through taking the effort to learn (sound sensitivity vs social cues, for example)." is much like saying "I wasn't born literate, so I shouldn't bother to learn to read." Real life doesn't work like that. I'm perfectly willing to accept that Asperger's is real and that it is incredibly frustrating for people with it. Hell, I had a psychiatrist say that if he were to categorize me, he'd put me as having Asperger's. And it's the damndest thing. I've learned to deal with loud noises to the extent that it's more a case of it being something that annoys me, rather than causing anxiety. Or the learning to better recognize social cues. If a person who has had a stroke is able to relearn to do things they lost from the stroke (not as well as before, of course) then an Aspie should at least make the effort to learn to overcome their hurdles as much as possible. Unless, of course, Asperger's is more powerful than having part of your brain fucking die on you, forcing a part of your brain that was dedicated to a different activity learn to do something it was never meant to do. Now, to be clear, are you saying it's ok to go "I have Asperger's, so it's ok for me to make mistakes socially and not try to learn from it, because I'm disabled." rather than saying to oneself "Okay, I shouldn't beat myself up, but I can still take the opportunity to learn from this." Life, especially adult life, is about learning to deal with your limitations and overcome them as much as possible.
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Post by impatiens on Sept 19, 2010 15:42:44 GMT -5
I'm going to have to disagree with you, Nap. Now, I obviously can't speak for anybody who works in the field, but as someone who actually has an official diagnosis of Asperger's, I really don't feel self-diagnoses cheapen my Asperger's any. Now, it would be one thing if zachski thought, "Hey, Aspies are shy nerds. I'm a shy nerd, too." That's just basing something on a half-baked stereotype. However, I really don't think he's doing that, here. As far as accommodations go, not even an official diagnosis in and of itself is enough to get them in a lot of cases, let alone a self-diagnosis, so I'm not concerned about any resources I could potentially use going to someone who might not be disabled. And as far as discussions related to disability go, a self-diagnosis or no diagnosis at all is basically equal to an official diagnosis, in the sense that diagnosis or lack thereof doesn't make an experience more or less valid. For instance, in the case of that fire drill I bitched about, my ears wouldn't have hurt any less if I didn't have an official Asperger's diagnosis. And as I said, if you had reading comprehension (which isn't affected by Asperger's), you'd know I said that the issue is with claiming the disorder, not saying you display symptoms of it. Hi, I'm bipolar and it's a hell of a lot more severe than Asperger's. Unless the group has a terrifyingly high suicide rate, tendency to have psychotic episodes (and I'm not talking throwing an angry fit, look up the psychiatric definition here), and just a few other things that make bipolar disorder fall under the "severe" category rather than what is, essentially, considered high-functioning autism. Yes, Asperger's is real and yes it does mean an entirely different thought-process in many aspects, particularly social aspects. But there's this funny thing about those things... You can learn to read expressions and the like. I have no patience with people who go "I'm disabled, so I shouldn't try to overcome the limitations I have." Saying "I'm Aspie and that's a disability, so I shouldn't bother with learning how to cope with those aspects that can't be overcome through taking the effort to learn (sound sensitivity vs social cues, for example)." is much like saying "I wasn't born literate, so I shouldn't bother to learn to read." Real life doesn't work like that. I'm perfectly willing to accept that Asperger's is real and that it is incredibly frustrating for people with it. Hell, I had a psychiatrist say that if he were to categorize me, he'd put me as having Asperger's. And it's the damndest thing. I've learned to deal with loud noises to the extent that it's more a case of it being something that annoys me, rather than causing anxiety. Or the learning to better recognize social cues. If a person who has had a stroke is able to relearn to do things they lost from the stroke (not as well as before, of course) then an Aspie should at least make the effort to learn to overcome their hurdles as much as possible. Unless, of course, Asperger's is more powerful than having part of your brain fucking die on you, forcing a part of your brain that was dedicated to a different activity learn to do something it was never meant to do. Now, to be clear, are you saying it's ok to go "I have Asperger's, so it's ok for me to make mistakes socially and not try to learn from it, because I'm disabled." rather than saying to oneself "Okay, I shouldn't beat myself up, but I can still take the opportunity to learn from this." Life, especially adult life, is about learning to deal with your limitations and overcome them as much as possible. There really isn't that big a leap from "I display symptoms of X" to "I probably have X." It really isn't that unusual in the autistic blogosphere to see someone in the comments section say that they're a self-identified Aspie/autistic. And as I've already said, there's a major difference between adapting to a disability and overcoming it. For instance, I've adapted well enough to survive in a large gathering with minimal sensory overload. That doesn't mean it would be a good idea for me to go to a bunch of parties in a day like a neurotypical might. It often takes more energy for an autistic to exercise a certain social skill well than it does for a neurotypical. When I have sufficient energy I can follow a conversation, speak clearly, and figure out the right things to say. That all goes out the window when I don't have the energy. Hell, when I'm tired enough, I can't really speak much at all. Really, the best advice to give to any disabled person is "know your limits." As far as the stroke analogy, if a person loses their ability to walk after a stroke, they don't necessarily need to relearn how to walk, even when they are able to. A wheelchair could potentially be a better option than walking, especially if it allows the stroke patient to be more functional in other areas of life.
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