Thought or Rant of the day!!!

[Rebma]

Lol Thanks Chase! At least someone will share in my joy, instead of trying to kill me for being excited. *glares at Naru*

[TerribleTadpole]

It's all a spectrum. Normal behaviour blends into Asperger's blends into autism. We're all going to identify with some these criteria to a greater or lesser extent. The final criteria has to be the extent to which Seko finds her condition disabling. Most of us find that we can manage just fine, even as social outcasts because of our quirky or insensitive behaviour. But some people find it difficult or impossible to work out in face-to-face situations how to get what they need from other people, or can't understand what it is that other people want from them. Some people find it frightening or unsettling if they aren't able to control and predict when things happen or how things are done. Some people don't signal their feelings to others and find it hard to work out how other people are feeling from their actions and expressions.

And some people have a bunch of these problems all at once, at it must be horribly limiting.

Seko we're on your side, but there's probably not much we can do from where we are. You might need an advocate who can represent you rather than representing the organisations that might have to deliver services to you. If you can find an association in your area you might find it helpful to contact them. Just don't let others dictate what's right for you.

[Dudel]

I couldn't hurt Amber =P

I could!

Nah... tis good Rebma... tis good. Glad things etc. so forth.

Also to TerribleTadpole: 100% agree! *nods* All is well with Seko too. Things will eventually get better that I know is a fact. However I can not give you a time to which this event becomes true.

[Gran]

Oh my, that's so much information about Seko... I'm overloaded. Anyway, I wish the best, since it is all I can do besides talk. And talking isn't quite a good choice since I'm afraid of saying stupidities and making you feel bad and such. Oh my, I'm such a talkative rude bastard. Which reminds me...

Same here. I even loathe having to call somebody on the telefone. Or intrude on someone elses privacy in a different manner. Talking with a stranger sitting at the next table, unthinkable.

You would call me stupid, but I do that sometimes . But only in some rare situations, it is funny that I can easily start some talking and exchange some words but I prefer to just keep quiet. Thus people think I'm closed, but I'm not. I am open to any conversation, with anyone, from everywhere. But I am sentient of my manners and my swearing. I swear as a drunken scottish whose car fell into a hole. Under a freezing storm without any protection nor coats. In England.

And with all this I think I forgot my rant. Still I can talk about phones. I learnt to enjoy them at some extension. I talk pretty much like a partially mute spartan. I realized this when I saw that all my calls had no cost, because they were less than the limit of time in which they start charging (30 seconds, maybe). Still those evil bastards charged for... err... being a costumer, whatsoever. 100 bucks... Hey, now I've got a rant again.

[Dudel]

I got money back from my cell phone... know why?

Because I use it twice a month! Those are 'work' or possible work would more acurate. My friends don't call me... they know better. I'm rude over the phone... wait, I'm just rude!

Dudel doesn't do nice.

[joo]

It's all a spectrum. Normal behaviour blends into Asperger's blends into autism. We're all going to identify with some these criteria to a greater or lesser extent. The final criteria has to be the extent to which Seko finds her condition disabling. Most of us find that we can manage just fine, even as social outcasts because of our quirky or insensitive behaviour. But some people find it difficult or impossible to work out in face-to-face situations how to get what they need from other people, or can't understand what it is that other people want from them. Some people find it frightening or unsettling if they aren't able to control and predict when things happen or how things are done. Some people don't signal their feelings to others and find it hard to work out how other people are feeling from their actions and expressions.

And some people have a bunch of these problems all at once, at it must be horribly limiting.

Seko we're on your side, but there's probably not much we can do from where we are. You might need an advocate who can represent you rather than representing the organisations that might have to deliver services to you. If you can find an association in your area you might find it helpful to contact them. Just don't let others dictate what's right for you.

You pretty much said what I was planning to write, plus or minus a few things. But I drew this graph:



Firstly, I believe that there is no such thing as "Aperger's Syndrome" -- It was made up by some unimaginative and ignorant person who couldn't see anything in humanity besides several groups of people, all exactly the same as each other. A lot of people immediately identify with many of the "symptoms" given for Asperger's, because everybody has at least one of the traits that are associated with it. People who are very severly introverted are usually diagnosed with Autism, because in that case it does impair their ability to live normally, but in most cases, so called "therapy" will do more harm than good, damaging a person's self-confidence by reinforcing the idea that there's something wrong with them. And when they're exactly the same afterwards, it will make them feel even worse because they will think there's no hope for them. I'm not speaking from experience here, so don't take what I say too seriously -- it's just how I see it.

If I was more prone to jumping to conclusions about myself (i.e. a hypochondriac) I could say that I had Asperger's Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. However that would be a gross distortion of the small variations in my personality from others.

In summary, I think that if anybody has an account on this forum they could think of themselves as having Asperger's Syndrome if they interpreted the definition in the right way. However what it roughly translates to in real life is being more intelligent and thoughtful than other "normal" people.

[Andu]

Internet diagnosis is bad. And I count myself as "normal".

[Dudel]

Well I actually know that I'm 'below stable' because thats what I've been told by several psyciatrists. I believe that the ONLY reason a psyciatrist even has a job is because the media dictates what is 'normal'.

BLAH! I say, BLAH! To all of them, psyciatrists and the media. I've seen people whom I enjoyed the company of go to a psyciatrist and then BOOM! Total D-bag or drooling moron, just like everyone else.

Well I'm glad they are happy being average. A-HOLES!

[Piscator]

Well, never completely trust people who earn money by helping you. You may very well end up being helped with problems you did not have before. (A bit like in school )

But earnestly, before trying to fix anything about yourself, you should be damn sure you're fixing the right thing. You may spend years trying to be a more outgoing person just to realize that most people are just dull. (Well, at least to you. ) If Michael Jackson would have thought about what would really make him happier earlier he would perhaps still be black.

I'd really be interested in how the people in your therapy group (or whatever it is) are trying to help you, Seko, and if you noticed any improvements so far.

[Dust Puppy]

Same here. I even loathe having to call somebody on the telefone. Or intrude on someone elses privacy in a different manner. Talking with a stranger sitting at the next table, unthinkable.

Wow, there are other people who hate making telephone calls too? Every time I tell people I hate telephones (even to the extent of putting off really important calls again and again) they just stare at me blankly. Or try to be helpful by writing down some psychiatrist´s telephone number for me.

I also don´t look people in the eye, unless I force myself to do it. Partly because I don´t want to be looked at myself, and partly because it just feels rude. Mostly I look at their mouth instead. I also do this with people in movies, which can be confusing if it´s dubbed, as I´m hearing the dialogue in one language and lip-read it in another one. And if the original language is one I understand then I get upset about badly translated parts and forget to pay attention to the movie. And once I caught myself lip-reading cartoon caracters and wondering why all they seemed to say was "whaa whaa whaa".

[Piscator]

That was me and I left a notice too. Maybe you have to go back more than five pages.

edit: Damn it, you removed your post Leo.

Good to hear there are more people around with phonophobia, Dust Puppy. You know what? I'll give you my number and we'll talk about it some more. (Sorry, couldn't resist ^^)

[Dust Puppy]

[chase02]

Internet diagnosis is bad. And I count myself as "normal".

I concur.

If anything, I think the interwebs (with virtually instant access to virtually anything) has bred very short attention spans into the interwebs-using population, which is often self-diagnosed as some sort of disorder such as ADD.

As a side note, I think role play (especially anonymous text-based role play) is critically important for people to play out aspects of their personality (positive and negative), fears and dreams, and become better people for the experience. I think the value of these worlds has been drastically underestimated, and research misdirected toward purely graphical worlds like Second Life.

[Gran]

Talking about Second Life, did you hear it's code its under free license?

[chase02]

Talking about Second Life, did you hear it's code its under free license?

lol no?

weird fact of the day.. my dentist's son is one of the directors of SL.. found out when my dentist asked why I was reading a book called "Designing virtual worlds".