Who here doesn't have Asperger's?

[Dr Frankenstein]

I haven't been diagnosed with it, but I am quite socially awkward and can survive long solo road trips.

[agentsteel53]

I don't think I have it. In the past I have been mildly awkward in social situations but it's gotten better with practice, so I'm inclined to chalk it up to mere inexperience.

from my in-person interaction experience with you, I'd say we're approximately at the same level of having it.  I might have it slightly more than you.

(whee!  webAARoadsMD.com!)

[Duke87]

I wouldn't call most of the people I've met in this hobby Aspies. Many of us are slightly more along the spectrum than average, but it's just that - a spectrum.

And your position on it is not static. I am far more "normal" now as an adult than I was in middle or high school, or even college. But the key in my case is that I have expressed continual interest in developing and normalizing my social skiils since high school or so because at some point I realized that I had to in order to realize my full potential in life. And so I've put a lot more effort into "figuring it out" than a lot of people with Asperger's do.

[Alps]

I haven't been diagnosed with it, but I am quite socially awkward and can survive long solo road trips.

You're fine. Asperger's/autism probably isn't the only scale with social awkwardness.

[Roadgeek Adam]

I was never officially diagnosed with it, but my psychiatrist has said I do have it. (Nothing but notes mentions it.)


I do consider myself with Asperger's (or as I call it "defunct form of Autism")

[Duke87]

I haven't been diagnosed with it, but I am quite socially awkward and can survive long solo road trips.

You're fine. Asperger's/autism probably isn't the only scale with social awkwardness.

In most cases I would say being socially awkward means that you are introverted and/or geeky. Which just means you have a tendency to not socialize often or well purely on account of personality. Whereas with Asperger's it's an actual handicap at being able to comprehend the subtleties of human interaction. Our brains function differently and this is observable through EEG and whatnot.

Some indicators that you may have Asperger's instead of just ordinary social awkwardness:
Do you tend to want to take everything literally and at face value, and have trouble with the concept of implications?
Does it feel perfectly natural for you to talk to someone without ever looking at them (i.e., eye contact seems irrelevant)?
Do other people's emotions not influence yours?
Do you have a tendency to do inappropriate things to get someone's attention because you can't figure out how to get it properly?
Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

[nyratk1]

I was diagnosed with it a few years ago when I was getting treated for severe depression and anxiety attacks...makes sense based on my childhood.

[vtk]

I'm too old to have been formally diagnosed with Asperger's as a kid.  Affordable diagnosis for adults doesn't seem to exist.  I'd say it's more likely than not that I have it, but is it really a yes/no question to begin with?

[mgk920]

I haven't been diagnosed with it, but I am quite socially awkward and can survive long solo road trips.

You're fine. Asperger's/autism probably isn't the only scale with social awkwardness.

In most cases I would say being socially awkward means that you are introverted and/or geeky. Which just means you have a tendency to not socialize often or well purely on account of personality. Whereas with Asperger's it's an actual handicap at being able to comprehend the subtleties of human interaction. Our brains function differently and this is observable through EEG and whatnot.

Some indicators that you may have Asperger's instead of just ordinary social awkwardness:
Do you tend to want to take everything literally and at face value, and have trouble with the concept of implications?
Does it feel perfectly natural for you to talk to someone without ever looking at them (i.e., eye contact seems irrelevant)?
Do other people's emotions not influence yours?
Do you have a tendency to do inappropriate things to get someone's attention because you can't figure out how to get it properly?
Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

And for those who trend on that list, it can be absolutely debilitating - especially in a World that puts a premium on being outgoing and gregarious.



AND - besides the last item (strong visual thinking) and being extremely uncomfortable with making eye contact with others, I can especially see myself in this:

Do you tend to want to take everything literally and at face value, and have trouble with the concept of implications?

(male Aspie) "Is there anything wrong?"
(female NT) "Oh, nothing."
(male Aspie) "OK." (Goes back to what he was doing.)

Yepper.

<sigh...>

Mike

[vdeane]

Do you have a tendency to do inappropriate things to get someone's attention because you can't figure out how to get it properly?

No, but only because I'm very self conscious and I'd rather stand around awkwardly silently getting frustrated and not being able to get a person's attention than risk potential embarrassment.

Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

That's not normal?

[Darkchylde]

In most cases I would say being socially awkward means that you are introverted and/or geeky. Which just means you have a tendency to not socialize often or well purely on account of personality. Whereas with Asperger's it's an actual handicap at being able to comprehend the subtleties of human interaction. Our brains function differently and this is observable through EEG and whatnot.

Some indicators that you may have Asperger's instead of just ordinary social awkwardness:
Do you tend to want to take everything literally and at face value, and have trouble with the concept of implications?
Does it feel perfectly natural for you to talk to someone without ever looking at them (i.e., eye contact seems irrelevant)?
Do other people's emotions not influence yours?
Do you have a tendency to do inappropriate things to get someone's attention because you can't figure out how to get it properly?
Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

All of those. Straight up, everything on that list.

[Duke87]

I'm too old to have been formally diagnosed with Asperger's as a kid.

Interesting point. I am a few years younger than you, and I was on the head end. When I was diagnosed, it was this newfangled concept. My ordinary psychiatrist was skeptical of it, but when a team of doctors at Yale evaluated me and concluded I had it, he didn't argue with them.

Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

That's not normal?

Nope, "thinking in pictures" (as Temple Grandin put it) is a classic trait of autism. People with all forms of autism have a very photographic and visual memory, beyond what you'd expect to see from anyone not on the spectrum. Think of it this way: if you witnessed someone rob a bank, would you be able to describe the guy effectively to a police sketch artist? Any normal person would. An autistic person might not. I know I certainly would not.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I really wonder whether there is a continuum of behavior, on one side of which is a definitive diagnosis. Now, I'm probably older than Asberger himself, but I know that I'm introverted; and anyone who enjoys dissecting a road map for numbering patterns probably is well on one side of the extrovert/introvert line.

For a good behavioral example, anyone who enjoys "Big Bang Theory" knows the Sheldon Cooper character. That sure isn't me. 

[vtk]

For a good behavioral example, anyone who enjoys "Big Bang Theory" knows the Sheldon Cooper character.

The creative team for that show insists Sheldon does not have AS or any autism spectrum disorder.  That's probably because they don't want to get on the bad side of any autism advocacy groups by potentially misrepresenting any real disorder.

[Dr Frankenstein]

On the other hand, Sheldon Cooper is an extreme (or more appropriately, caricatural) aspie, with OCD thrown into that.

"That's MY spot!"

[Alps]

On the other hand, Sheldon Cooper is an extreme (or more appropriately, caricatural) aspie, with OCD thrown into that.

"That's MY spot!"

The word you seek is "stereotypical." That show pisses me off tremendously because it portrays nerds in such a stereotypical light. Having spent five years among them, I can vouch that the show is completely inaccurate. Also, it makes fun of someone with a speech impediment for no reason at all.

[vdeane]

On the other hand, the Boston Legal portrayal of AS (with Jerry Espenson) featured characters that kept their hands glued to their thighs all the time; I don't think I've met ANYONE in RL that does that.

[ctsignguy]

I haven't been diagnosed with it, but I am quite socially awkward and can survive long solo road trips.

You're fine. Asperger's/autism probably isn't the only scale with social awkwardness.

In most cases I would say being socially awkward means that you are introverted and/or geeky. Which just means you have a tendency to not socialize often or well purely on account of personality. Whereas with Asperger's it's an actual handicap at being able to comprehend the subtleties of human interaction. Our brains function differently and this is observable through EEG and whatnot.

Some indicators that you may have Asperger's instead of just ordinary social awkwardness:
Do you tend to want to take everything literally and at face value, and have trouble with the concept of implications?
Does it feel perfectly natural for you to talk to someone without ever looking at them (i.e., eye contact seems irrelevant)?
Do other people's emotions not influence yours?
Do you have a tendency to do inappropriate things to get someone's attention because you can't figure out how to get it properly?
Do you think very visually, and have trouble describing the appearance of people or things with just words?

In my second job, i do work with a man who has been diagnosed with Asperger's....allow me to add that he not only meets the above criteria, but i can add a few more, based upon 8 years of working with him....

> refusal to do personal care tasks such as bathing and brushing his teeth.....he has taken only 4 showers/baths in the last 3 years.....and refuses daily, no matter how many prompts, or what might be happening (he refused to go on an outing with his family because i told him he had to shower FIRST before i would take him anywhere in my car!)

>Requires continuous prompting to even get out of bed and get ready for work...

> Often refuses to go out of the home, and dislikes crowds....fights against social relationships because it exhausts him.  Needs excessive sleep, and can be very compulsive

[Brian556]

I have it.
Self diagnosed when we first found out about it in 2008.

My symptoms:

Not a social person. Have no real desire to be. Have no friends. Don't need any.

Obsessed w/ roads, maps and signs since I was a little kid.

Don't like sports. Don't like to watch them, couldn't play them even if I wanted to. I think they are a boring waste of time, i don't understand why so         many people like them.

I was really f-ed up as a kid. i could not behave "properly".

When i was a kid, i would not wear proper "cool" / "in fashion" clothing. That has changed. Also, my haircut was awful. it was a "Beatles" cut. Tha has also changed.

I was alot pickier about clothing than other children. i would not wear jeans until high school because they were "too stiff and uncomfortable"

When younger, i would call people "dumbasses" to their face if they did something stupid or didn't know something that I thought they should know. nowdays I just think it to myself.

Always prepared for weather conditions or emergencies. Always have carried raincoat or flashlight if it might be needed.

Have always been a picky eater. My list of foods i like has actually narrowed in recent years. I don't even like pizza anymore.

I have IBS, which is appearently common w/ asperger's. I get "the runs" very easily. I used to fart very frequently, which upset my co-workers at the DOT; and they are not exactly known for good manners.

I don't listen to the same music that other people my age do. Even during school years, always perfered older music.

I don't drink. I don't like drinking. i don't understand why people drink. It just causes alot of problems. Just think how many of society's problems would disappear if alchol disappeared.

I am not a "sheep" . i don't like or do things just because everybody else does.

The only thing that differintiates me from other aspies/ nerds is that I do not like video games.

[deathtopumpkins]

This is probably going to open a can of worms but...


why does it matter? I feel that all these things like Aspergers that everyone seems to have these days (in my generation at least) are irrelevant. Some people are "people person"s, some are not. Why do we need to consider it a disease? And why do we need to let it govern our interactions and the way we think about people even if it is a disease? I feel that we should judge people as individual and not label them for anything like having Aspergers.

If I meet any of you and you say you have Aspergers I will consider it entirely irrelevant. Based on the number of people I've met who have it, I think that it shouldn't have any impact on how you interact with anyone you meet.

And for the record I have never been diagnosed with anything by any mental health professional and I never intend to give one the opportunity to.

[vtk]

Some people are just curious about this kind of thing.  The knowledge is sought for the sake of seeking knowledge.  The information may be irrelevant in the context of how we treat one another, but it some find it interesting anyway.  I don't think it's too terribly different from studying the roads of a place one doesn't expect to visit anytime soon.

[Alps]

Some people among us have taken an interest in the demographics of roadgeeks. I would be intrigued by an unbiased study of contributors with over 100 posts to find:
* Percentage with Aspergers
* Percentage with autism
* Percentage gay
* Percentage bi
* Percentage MTF trans

It can seem like all of these categories are more heavily represented in roadgeekdom than in general population. Then again, I could add
* IQ

because I think overall we average well above 100. And there's a general correlation (no causation implied) between higher IQ and reported rates in the previous categories. Whatever societal or other factors weigh into that... there's a lot of sociology that could be done on our population to glean defining characteristics. I'm not sure that's necessarily the intent of the question being asked in this thread - it may have been at least a little sarcastic - but.

(I'm not sure how I want to end that thought.)

[kphoger]

My wife says I'm a "goober".
Is that kinda like Asperger's?

[Alps]

My wife says I'm a "goober".
Is that kinda like Asperger's?

I think that's slang for Mexican.

[kphoger]

My wife says I'm a "goober".
Is that kinda like Asperger's?

I think that's slang for Mexican.

Wow, I never knew...
Although I could see goober and ass burger being synonymous.