On the spectrum

[adventurernumber1]

I have my share of digestive and bowel issues (which I didn't have until the past few years, and they don't look like they're going away anytime soon). My acid reflux (aside from a few sporadic incidents previously) started in Summer 2016, and has been mildly successful to manage (with over-the-counter meds and more), but impossible to completely get rid of (at least in my case). My bowels have given me problems for the past 5 years, with a particular increase in severity for the past 2 years. I attribute my bowel issues to my Depression (which can cause both bowel and digestive issues), which had started not long before it did. I attribute my acid reflux to likely being caused by four things: 1) Depression, 2) medication to treat such (antidepressants), which can also cause acid reflux (with both depression and its medication possibly causing heartburn, I might as well be on the meds to help treat depression since I'm at risk either way), 3) genetics, and 4) weight (I was slightly overweight at the time I started having acid reflux). I never really considered that my autism could also be another potential cause and/or risk factor for digestive and bowel issues, since I never had these problems until my teen years when I developed depression and et al., but perhaps that is indeed worth thinking about. From personal experience, I'd say anxiety can definitely make acid reflux worse. With increased anxiety, my acid reflux is phenomenally exacerbated, and it can become a very debilitating combo. And my anxiety is also heightened in social situations, and my awkwardness in such situations can make it worse.

IMHO, autism, et al, is not a noun, rather it is an adjective. It is not something that one has, it cannot be 'caught' nor 'cured' nor transmitted to anyone else, instead it is what one 'is'.  One 'is autistic', not 'has autism.  It is part of the base programming of the brain, a certain set of several combinations of one's personality traits, set at the instant of conception and as such, cannot be changed.

+ 1

With the absurd myths running around that "vaccines cause autism,"  which has produced a developing public health crisis, and a cloud of utter stupidity, this knowledge needs to be known and accepted now more than ever.

[hbelkins]

It's actually Assburgers Syndrome.

I'm now recalling the meltdown that occurred on MTR when someone there called it that years ago.

IMHO, autism, et al, is not a noun, rather it is an adjective. It is not something that one has, it cannot be 'caught' nor 'cured' nor transmitted to anyone else, instead it is what one 'is'.  One 'is autistic', not 'has autism.  It is part of the base programming of the brain, a certain set of several combinations of one's personality traits, set at the instant of conception and as such, cannot be changed.

One can learn coping mechanisms, how to work to fit in as best as he or she can with the knowledge of what makes him or her 'tick' and ways of how that can mesh with his or her surroundings.

It cannot be 'cured' such that the subject can be forced to fit in with any perceived notions of normality.

Mike

I'm now recalling the meltdown that occurred on the "There is NO way that is MUTCD-compliant" Facebook group when this subject was broached recently.

[TXtoNJ]

I'd guess the forum is 95% neurodivergent, with approximately 60% on the spectrum.

[thspfc]

I'd guess the forum is 95% neurodivergent, with approximately 60% on the spectrum.

I'm neither, and most of our members don't seem like they are, at least from what I see.

[SectorZ]

IMHO, autism, et al, is not a noun, rather it is an adjective. It is not something that one has, it cannot be 'caught' nor 'cured' nor transmitted to anyone else, instead it is what one 'is'.  One 'is autistic', not 'has autism.  It is part of the base programming of the brain, a certain set of several combinations of one's personality traits, set at the instant of conception and as such, cannot be changed.

One can learn coping mechanisms, how to work to fit in as best as he or she can with the knowledge of what makes him or her 'tick' and ways of how that can mesh with his or her surroundings.

It cannot be 'cured' such that the subject can be forced to fit in with any perceived notions of normality.

Mike

I'm now recalling the meltdown that occurred on the "There is NO way that is MUTCD-compliant" Facebook group when this subject was broached recently.

I saw that, too, and it was strangely awesome to watch. I could say more about that group...

[hbelkins]

IMHO, autism, et al, is not a noun, rather it is an adjective. It is not something that one has, it cannot be 'caught' nor 'cured' nor transmitted to anyone else, instead it is what one 'is'.  One 'is autistic', not 'has autism.  It is part of the base programming of the brain, a certain set of several combinations of one's personality traits, set at the instant of conception and as such, cannot be changed.

One can learn coping mechanisms, how to work to fit in as best as he or she can with the knowledge of what makes him or her 'tick' and ways of how that can mesh with his or her surroundings.

It cannot be 'cured' such that the subject can be forced to fit in with any perceived notions of normality.

Mike

I'm now recalling the meltdown that occurred on the "There is NO way that is MUTCD-compliant" Facebook group when this subject was broached recently.

I saw that, too, and it was strangely awesome to watch. I could say more about that group...

That group is an odd place. I don't think the administrator is really a road-oriented person -- at least not like us, or not as into roads as this forum is. I'm not sure what her interest is; her other interests seem to be more social activist in nature. And they're really sensitive about some of the comments that get raised on controversial subjects, like one earlier this week about FHWA requesting the removal of yet another non-compliant crosswalk. (Guess the subject, I won't raise it here and start a war.)

I think that digital food fight I referenced earlier was over a sign that said "Autistic Child Area" and someone vandalized it, modifying it to say "Child With Autism."

[wolfiefrick]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I really want to tell my story.

When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This was not an entirely surprising development – my dad's pretty certain he has Asperger's although he was never formally diagnosed, and I displayed many of the telltale signs (prolonged and intense interest in relatively abnormal topics, natural social anxiety, precocious intellectual development, etc).

I'm actually a lot like you, index – when I was younger I struggled with violent outbursts, social anxiety (I still struggle with that), and I share your interests in geography and politics! I developed my interest in roadgeekery when I was 2, sitting in the car seat in the back of my parents' car. I started to read aloud billboards I saw along the highway, and then started to do the same with highway signs (I'd read all the numbers and text I saw from top to bottom as best I could) and street signs. Later, when I was 4 or 5, I'd start to picture what the signs looked like in my head and then make replicas of them on construction paper. I'd even construct street sign assemblies with wooden dowels and tape – I'll have to see if my mom has saved any of them. That innate ability to perceive things visually has contributed to my graphic design career – my work in the Road-Related Illustrations board and as the design editor for my school newsmagazine speak for themselves.

My mom has been the saving grace for me. When I was diagnosed, my neurologist recommended a pretty heavy prescription of ritalin for me, a psychostimulant designed to alleviate symptoms of ADHD. Not only did my parents believe Asperger's, being a relatively mild form of autism with the benefit of being very high-functioning, could be overcome through cognitive behavioral therapy (a position more and more psychologists are adopting), but ritalin is some harsh shit and has been linked to gynecomastia in males (the development of breast tissue), for example. Because of my mom's unwillingness to allow my Asperger's to be medicated out of me, she was derided by pretty much every psychiatrist or neurologist with whom she spoke, especially because the therapeutic approach takes a longer amount of time and I was being ruthlessly bullied at school for my social ineptitude in the meantime. In third grade, the bullying became so severe that my parents pulled me from school for the rest of that year as well as my fourth grade year and my mom homeschooled me.

Fortunately, after years of hard work with help from my parents, I look the part of suburban high school society. I still have some social anxiety especially around huge crowds (you won't find me at football games, pep rallies or homecoming), but I have a small group of friends and I love to meet new people, two claims I certainly couldn't make a decade ago. And of course I'm always thankful for this forum's existence to provide a social network for my niche interest in roads.

[index]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I really want to tell my story.

When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This was not an entirely surprising development — my dad's pretty certain he has Asperger's although he was never formally diagnosed, and I displayed many of the telltale signs (prolonged and intense interest in relatively abnormal topics, natural social anxiety, precocious intellectual development, etc).

I'm actually a lot like you, index — when I was younger I struggled with violent outbursts, social anxiety (I still struggle with that), and I share your interests in geography and politics! I developed my interest in roadgeekery when I was 2, sitting in the car seat in the back of my parents' car. I started to read aloud billboards I saw along the highway, and then started to do the same with highway signs (I'd read all the numbers and text I saw from top to bottom as best I could) and street signs. Later, when I was 4 or 5, I'd start to picture what the signs looked like in my head and then make replicas of them on construction paper. I'd even construct street sign assemblies with wooden dowels and tape — I'll have to see if my mom has saved any of them. That innate ability to perceive things visually has contributed to my graphic design career — my work in the Road-Related Illustrations board and as the design editor for my school newsmagazine speak for themselves.

My mom has been the saving grace for me. When I was diagnosed, my neurologist recommended a pretty heavy prescription of ritalin for me, a psychostimulant designed to alleviate symptoms of ADHD. Not only did my parents believe Asperger's, being a relatively mild form of autism with the benefit of being very high-functioning, could be overcome through cognitive behavioral therapy (a position more and more psychologists are adopting), but ritalin is some harsh shit and has been linked to gynecomastia in males (the development of breast tissue), for example. Because of my mom's unwillingness to allow my Asperger's to be medicated out of me, she was derided by pretty much every psychiatrist or neurologist with whom she spoke, especially because the therapeutic approach takes a longer amount of time and I was being ruthlessly bullied at school for my social ineptitude in the meantime. In third grade, the bullying became so severe that my parents pulled me from school for the rest of that year as well as my fourth grade year and my mom homeschooled me.

Fortunately, after years of hard work with help from my parents, I look the part of suburban high school society. I still have some social anxiety especially around huge crowds (you won't find me at football games, pep rallies or homecoming), but I have a small group of friends and I love to meet new people, two claims I certainly couldn't make a decade ago. And of course I'm always thankful for this forum's existence to provide a social network for my niche interest in roads.

Huh. Yeah, my behavior was pretty miserable in elementary school. I had uncontrollably violent outbursts, made my teachers cry, and even injured them...I was the type of kid that people thought would grow up to become a serial killer or something. According to my mother they were seriously considering hopping me up on some sort of medication for crazy people or sending me to an alternate school. My mother, however, refused those options. Thankfully I'm not that stupid anymore. I ended up never needing therapy or meds and ended up growing out of it myself. Kind of hard to explain how I did that. I don't really know either. All the crappy behavior just kind of slowly died out, although I was having violent outbursts up until I was 11 or so.


On the downside, I became incredibly reserved. I'd like to not be...but...oh well. I only have like, two friends now... I can get along with most anyone and carry on a normal conversation about normal things with random people all the time, so I don't come off as very isolated, but god forbid I actually bond with anybody. I have no idea how people manage to do that.

[kphoger]

I still have some social anxiety especially around huge crowds (you won't find me at football games, pep rallies or homecoming), but I have a small group of friends and I love to meet new people, two claims I certainly couldn't make a decade ago.

That right there sounds like a normal existence.

[wolfiefrick]

I still have some social anxiety especially around huge crowds (you won't find me at football games, pep rallies or homecoming), but I have a small group of friends and I love to meet new people, two claims I certainly couldn't make a decade ago.

That right there sounds like a normal existence.

Exactly. While Asperger's can't necessarily be cured because it's a difference in one's though processes, it may certainly be suppressed through hard work.

[mgk920]

The coping mechanism that I developed for handling large crowds (ie the throng who always shows up at local civic festivals, which I do like attending) is simple - the small circle of people who surround me, two to three deep max, is it. Everything beyond that is little more than 'wallpaper'.

How did I learn that? For as long as I have been alive, my family has had a season ticket subscription with the NFL's Green Bay Packers - and I LOVE going to the games.  It does help that nobody ever sits in front of us (we're in the front row of the south end zone), so it's almost like a small private party about 3-4 people on either side and 1-2 rows behind us.  Beyond that is essentially 80K pieces of wallpaper.



Mike

[TheGrassGuy]

I have autism and it has caused me to be obsessed with GSV from day one. 

[mgk920]

I still have some social anxiety especially around huge crowds (you won't find me at football games, pep rallies or homecoming), but I have a small group of friends and I love to meet new people, two claims I certainly couldn't make a decade ago.

That right there sounds like a normal existence.

Exactly. While Asperger's can't necessarily be cured because it's a difference in one's though processes, it may certainly be suppressed through hard work.

It *cannot* be 'cured', nor should it ever be.  Many of society's greatest advances would likely never have happened if not for history's eccentric 'Aspies'.  It is the base programming of the brain, done at the instant of conception.  It would be like trying to make a Windows computer think like a Macintosh.  It is not something that one 'has', rather it is something that one 'is'.

The correct tack is to develop and practice coping mechanisms to best fit in with the 'neurotypical' aspects of society while celebrating one's uniqueness in it.

Mike

[TheGrassGuy]

^

[wolfiefrick]

Exactly. While Asperger's can't necessarily be cured because it's a difference in one's though processes, it may certainly be suppressed through hard work.

It *cannot* be 'cured', nor should it ever be.  Many of society's greatest advances would likely never have happened if not for history's eccentric 'Aspies'.  It is the base programming of the brain, done at the instant of conception.  It would be like trying to make a Windows computer think like a Macintosh.  It is not something that one 'has', rather it is something that one 'is'.

The correct tack is to develop and practice coping mechanisms to best fit in with the 'neurotypical' aspects of society while celebrating one's uniqueness in it.

Mike

Yeah, in hindsight I probably should've left out the "necessarily"  – sometimes my autism has had effects on the people around me, especially when I was younger, but it no longer does. So, to me, it seems almost as though the tangible symptoms of Aspergers that have negative effects on my social and personal life are "cured,"  but of course I'd never want to have Asperger's cured out of existence.

It takes a lot of work to cope with the fact that you're different. It was really hard for me to understand why I wasn't like everyone else I knew as I grew up, and even still, once I understood, it was hard to overcome my challenges. I had a steeper hill to climb than my neurotypical peers, but climb that hill I did. But I certainly didn't want it medicated away or magically cured, and I especially don't today – given my relative maturity compared to a decade ago, I have a profound appreciation for my difference because it no longer causes as many problems for me as it did then.

[ce929wax]

I couldn't tell you if autism is linked to the stomach.  I can tell you that I haven't suffered from major stomach issues, besides being slightly anemic.  I suspect the stomach linkage is much the same vein as those who want to link autism to vaccines.  I'll spare you my thoughts on those people, because I would probably get moderated if I did and my comments are non pc 

I do have autism and a witches brew of other mental health disorders that renders me with a lot of anxiety of the outside world, although I am able to do basic day to day tasks like shopping, cooking, and paying my bills.  Noise bothers me in small locations, but places like Wal-Mart (or any other big box store) doesn't bother me because the noise is spread out over a large area.  I do attending sporting events, but that is more because it is in a larger open area (typically) and my desire to do it overwhelms my anxiety about doing it, although I do not do it often.  I hate large cities and downtown areas (especially at night) and I have issues at night in general (which is one of the reasons I stay up until the wee hours of the morning, unless I need to do something the next day).  I also have issues with auditory processing, sometimes I will hear a different word than what was said, or I will hear a sentence out of order.  I will also have trouble picking which conversation I should listen to if I am within hearing range of multiple conversations.  Sometimes I combine words when I talk, and I start to combine words when I type, but normally I catch it and correct it before hitting send.

I do make myself go out and socialize on a few occasions each month, but sometimes I leave those occasions lethargic and drained and need a nap afterwards.

[tolbs17]

I am.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

I'm an Aspie. I'm also a trans lesbian. Guess that makes me a Twainbow. 

[sernum]

hey spectrum buddies

[logan230]

I've never been diagnosed with any ASD but I'm fairly certain I land somewhere on the spectrum (Aspergers maybe). I've always had a lot of social issues since I was a kid, and I have a decent amount of special interests (most notably roads)

[Desert Man]

I was 4 years old when I was diagnosed with (a mild or high-functioning form, but don't use these labels) autism and now I'm 40, I've managed to have a job, own a home and get married. I'm able to follow social graces like manners, morals, ethics and the law, recently I was told to be careful discussing the COVID pandemic with others (My half-sis had a mild case back in July with her BF, they traced their case from the time they went to a reopened restaurant before CA closed indoor dining again). Then there are people in the world who are NTs (or "neurotypicals") who are rude, corrupt and abusive towards others, and they have no excuse ("I don't care" doesn't cut it) for their actions, but I'm capable to learn proper socialization in my life.

[Ned Weasel]

proper socialization

That's an ever-moving goalpost, my friend!  As soon as you think you've gotten it down, society changes it.  It's like having to change your password every month.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I was unofficially diagnosed. My parents decided not to let them "stamp the passport"  because they thought it would follow me around in life.

My dad was never accepting of it and actively worked to get me to suppress it. Around 20 I decided I couldn't live like that anymore and I needed to learn how to integrate autism into my life, but the long-term damage was done. I still often feel like I don't have any sense of who or what I really am. I've kind of soured on it because of what it's cost me in my social life. I just turned 30 and am realizing all these "young and dumb"  things I will never get to experience and that has been very difficult on my mental health.

[kphoger]

I've kind of soured on it because of what it's cost me in my social life. I just turned 30 and am realizing all these "young and dumb"  things I will never get to experience and that has been very difficult on my mental health.

And see, from my perspective, that doesn't seem like much of a loss.  Perhaps even a blessing.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Sometimes I worry that I can't be trans because I'm autistic. I feel like that's how my parents, at least, would think of it.