I have been avoiding this subject for a while, not in a blog sense, more from a personal perspective. However, I received the first edition of a new magazine produced by a ‘group’ I’m a member of and it had an article in it about Asperger’s and realised I needed to talk about it……and me.
First of all a couple of definitions (from an online dictionary)
As·per·ger syn·drome
/ [as-per-ger]
noun, Psychiatry.
a developmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social skills, repetitive behaviours, and often, a narrow set of interests, but not involving delayed development of linguistic and cognitive abilities: now considered one of the autism spectrum disorders.
Wanker
/[wang-ker]
noun, Chiefly British and Australian Slang: Vulgar.
1. a contemptible person; jerk.
2. a male masturbator.
I guess in place of wanker you could use; twat, tosspot, arse, knob, dick, dickhead, etc., etc, etc………..The list is almost endless.
So which is it and which am I?
I’ve been told I have Asperger’s syndrome….not by a medical person and it wasn’t in a caring or considered way despite coming from someone who you might think would say stuff in a caring and considered way. When I was first told ‘you’ve got fucking aspergers’ I thought (and said as much) ‘have I bollocks’, but then again I didn’t know what that term Asperger’s really meant, it sounded like a mental problem mental people have, not people like me (like me?).
So, maybe I was a wanker then? The second definition of wanker is fair comment; I am a bloke after all!
So, what’s this Asperger’s thing all about, lots of people know these days but then again lots of people don’t.
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger’s syndrome or Asperger disorder is named after an Austrian pediatrician (Hans Asperger), who in 1944 (I can imagine Austria in 1944 was not a good time to have ‘Mental problems’), studied and described children in his practice who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy and were physically clumsy (U oh!).
The exact cause is unknown; research suggests the likelihood of a genetic basis. There is no single treatment, and the effectiveness of particular interventions is supported by only limited data. The mainstay of management is behavioral therapy, focusing on specific deficits to address poor communication skills, obsessive or repetitive routines, and physical clumsiness. Most children improve as they mature to adulthood, but social and communication difficulties may persist (tell me about it!)
Characteristics
AS is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. Although not required for diagnosis, physical clumsiness and atypical (peculiar/odd) use of language are frequently reported.
Social interaction
The lack of demonstrated empathy (yep) is possibly the most dysfunctional aspect of Asperger syndrome. Individuals with AS experience difficulties in basic elements of social interaction (yep – thank fuck for blogs or I’d never get to say anything meaningful), which may include a failure to develop friendships (I have a few – but thinking about it they’re are a bit odd too) or to seek shared enjoyments or achievements with others, (I tend to prefer to do stuff on my own), a lack of social or emotional reciprocity- social “games” give-and-take mechanic, (I don’t even understand what this means?), and impaired nonverbal behaviors in areas such as eye contact (I don’t do eye contact much and when I do I know I am forcing myself to do it), facial expression (I’m a bit deadpan – like my sense of humour…..or is that dry, ummmm?), posture, and gesture (a V sign is a good gesture….I think that might not be the right answer?).
People with AS may not be as withdrawn around others compared to those with other, more debilitating, forms of autism; they approach others, even if awkwardly (best to start with the weather as an ice-breaker). For example, a person with AS may engage in a one-sided, long-winded speech about a favorite topic (oh fuck, that’s me, I’m a bit of a boring bastard about a particular subject and am more than capable of speaking about it for hours given the chance), while misunderstanding or not recognizing the listener’s feelings or reactions (I don’t read faces or body language and I’m a crap judge of character and my first impressions are usually way off), such as a need for privacy (like I said I’m happy in my own company) or haste to leave (I have left social situation at random points and people have found me sometime later at a different location, if an event is cheesy enough I have gotten up and left, leaving the people I arrived with there – a Christmas ice skating show several years back springs to mind. I just could not force myself to stay for the sake of the other people I was with [which included children]. I’m getting better at staying now, went to something on Saturday and I was sitting there thinking that I would rather be stoned to death than have to sit through it again next year). This social awkwardness has been called “active but odd” (I’ve been called odd). This failure to react appropriately to social interaction may appear as disregard for other people’s feelings, and may come across as insensitive (I feel terrible about doing the things I have done and thinking what I think, yes it is insensitive but I just can’t help it – I think?) However, not all individuals with AS will approach others. Some of them may even display selective mutism, speaking not at all to most people and excessively to specific people. Some may choose to talk only to people they like (yep).
People with AS may analyze and distill their observations of social interaction into rigid behavioral guidelines, and apply these rules in awkward ways, such as forced eye contact (told you), resulting in a demeanor that appears rigid or socially naïve (aye). Childhood desire for companionship can become numbed through a history of failed social encounters (I’ll have to think on this one but I have never had lots of friends, this is making me feel really shit now).
Restricted and repetitive interests and behavior
People with Asperger syndrome often display behavior, interests, and activities that are restricted and repetitive and are sometimes abnormally intense or focused (I play a lot of PC games but it’s not my only interest… I have another one, she is 7 but that’s about it). They may stick to inflexible routines, move in stereotyped repetitive ways, or preoccupy themselves with parts of objects (nope).
Pursuit of specific and narrow areas of interest is one of the most striking features of AS (I’m currently hung up about keeping chickens and egg production). Individuals with AS may collect volumes of detailed information on a relatively narrow topic such as weather data or star names, without necessarily having a genuine understanding of the broader topic (sounds like a different type of nutter – not me, obviously there are flavours of AS – weather data is not on my map – although I once made my mum type up a massive list of punk band names I had collected – that perfectly normal yes?) For example, a child might memorize camera model numbers while caring little about photography. This behavior is usually apparent by age 5 or 6 (when I was little [<10] I collected nuts and bolts and bits of scrap metal and odds and sods – I mean a lot of it. Of course this wasn’t because I was AS, it was because I knew sub-consciously that when I grew up I was going to become an engineer [or did the AS lead me to become an engineer – did the egg come before the chicken?]
Stereotyped and repetitive motor behaviors are a core part of the diagnosis of AS and other ASDs. They include hand movements such as flapping or twisting, and complex whole-body movements. These are typically repeated in longer bursts and look more voluntary or ritualistic than tics which are usually faster, less rhythmical and less often symmetrical (nope…………but I’m a tapper, [not a rapper], mostly feet against the chair at the dinner table).
According to the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA) diagnostic test, a lack of interest in fiction and a positive preference towards non-fiction is common among adults with AS (nope, I enjoy fiction……fantasy stuff only).
Speech and language
Although individuals with Asperger syndrome acquire language skills without significant general delay and their speech typically lacks significant abnormalities, language acquisition and use is often atypical (yep, I think I have a wide vocabulary and I use it but many time I realise people don’t understand the words I’m using because they aren’t every day – one of my favorites is spartan and I love the look of the word train. Abnormalities include verbosity (yep, am prattling on like a good ‘un here), abrupt transitions, literal interpretations (yep, if that isn’t what you meant why did you say it!!!! I DO NOT DO INFLECTION OR INTIMATION) and miscomprehension of nuance, use of metaphor meaningful only to the speaker (aye), perception deficit, unusually pedantic (hell yeah), formal or idiosyncratic speech, and oddities in loudness, pitch, intonation, (what is that all about?) and rhythm (Tell me something I don’t know for fucks sake!!)
Children with AS may have an unusually sophisticated vocabulary at a young age and have been colloquially called “little professors” (yep, my nipper). Children with AS appear to have particular weaknesses in areas of nonliteral language that include humor, irony, and teasing (she gets well upset, need to be very, very careful there). Although individuals with AS usually understand the cognitive basis of humour they seem to lack understanding of the intent of humor to share enjoyment with others (I’m a sarcastic humour type person and it isn’t always very popular). Despite strong evidence of impaired humor appreciation, anecdotal reports of humor in individuals with AS seem to challenge some psychological theories of AS and autism (yeah, that’s right, we’re funny as fuck really, ho, ho ho).
Hans Asperger’s initial accounts and other diagnostic schemes include descriptions of physical clumsiness. Children with AS may be delayed in acquiring skills requiring motor dexterity, such as riding a bicycle or opening a jar, and may seem to move awkwardly or feel “uncomfortable in their own skin”. They may be poorly coordinated, or have an odd or bouncy gait or posture (no, I’m just a cool dude), poor handwriting, or problems with visual-motor integration (I was always told I was clumsy because I am left-handed).
And I didn’t mention I line things up, i.e. by sight. And, I love the concept of a tangential line. I like process, straight lines and order, I like the concept of chaos theory but only because it is so un-chaotic.
Causes
If you’ve got it who gives a fuck how you got it it’s too late to do jack shit.
In conclusion
So, I wish I could say I’m a wanker but it looks like I may have AS…which is making me look like a wanker…..bollocks! I’ve shit out twice…I’d rather be a wanker only please!!
Donkey Bollocks 