THE PACK Message Boards

(Therianthropy was brought into the discusion on October 28, and I don't mind.)

I do, why?

High Functioning Autism

I mentioned this a few times before but it affects different people differently and there are different levels of it.
I have said that it makes it hard for me to communicate with others socially.

I may not have brought up how I often tend to take things such as sarcasm or teasing literally.
I may not even realize I am doing this.

Short Tail wrote:I do, why?

In the abduction thread people made a few comments that I took as being cruel. Nobody said they were just teasing or kidding around. They may not have known that I have aspergers and would more easily misinterpret harmless teasing with bullying than most people.


It may not be made obvious that this is what I am doing...

Yes, I know what asperger is. I think its a shame people don't know s*** about this even though people do tend to make fun of autism all the time.

I've got PDD-NOS myself. Also a form of autism. Look it up on Wikipedia for more information (and the usual overexagerated examples, etc.).

PDD-NOS stands for 'Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified'.

I have a Psychology degree, yes I know.

I know.

and I see what you mean.

My brother has autism so I know what you mean. I know that it can be hard to explain it to people.

Son of a psycologist, I know. I see your point.

I've stopped parading my autism since 2004.

I know a couple people that have it. So yes, I know what it is.

Nope! Don't really care either. Someone says "I have this condition", ok, now I know that's how you deal. Doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on ya.

I can adapt to people's quirks just fine. I don't need to know the huge technical description of their medical conditions for that.

You're not the only person I know who has it. Yet you are the only one who gets on my nerves this badly. It's your personality, not your health.

I happens to have aspergers, so i know what you mean. I have also hard to communicate with people socialy. That may be the reason why i dont post very much.

I also have hard with patiance. I HATE long lines in the supermarket. I wanna be finished..right.. now.

Luckily i have a car so i dont need to wait for buses or such. (Even if the car is ugly and not-so-good)

I dont always understand sarcasm everytime either.

Hey Set. be easy on Culumusprotagonist.

Yes, I know what it is.

We all have our own little quirks.

I have that thing where when your doing stuff you say to yourself "if i dont get this done by_______then ______wont happen" or "if I dont do _______by _______then a certain person will get hurt." And I end up rushing to make sure it gets done perfectly so the resulting thing does or does not happen.

I heard people with turrets have that. Im getting better at just relaxing and not listening to that though!

So, really, we're all weird.

I know it too now....Aspergers sounded strange to me...i only knew the term autism for that subject...but now after i read something about it in different books i have, i know it....and i see what you mean too...

MoonKit wrote:We all have our own little quirks.

I have that thing where when your doing stuff you say to yourself "if i dont get this done by_______then ______wont happen" or "if I dont do _______by _______then a certain person will get hurt." And I end up rushing to make sure it gets done perfectly so the resulting thing does or does not happen.

Haha, I had that when I was a kid. I never 'fell for it' though, so to say.

Many psychological disorders seem to manifest as personality traits taken to a certain extreme. This can lead to the philosophical query of how one goes about defining a disorder, as opposed to being just different. The general consensus is, if it causes duress or interferes, it's a disorder. This is an important point, because in the case of autism, there's often considerable distress and social difficulties.

I've recognized introverted tendencies both in my parents and in myself, but I'm OK with them. I'm socially pretty well adapted--dare I say, better than most, since I have an excellent marriage and above average living standards. I do find that my introversion causes me to want to withdraw when under stress, but it does not appear to inhibit my ability to handle stress; I am holding and maintaining a career as an ER physician, so my stress management skills appear to be working. I may have less interest than other people in mainstream social venues, preferring to spend more time alone, working on stories and artwork, but I still enjoy company. I have therefore established by direct example that an introvert can be very functional in the world, and therefore introversion alone is not a disorder. It just makes me a bit of a geek--which in the twenty-first century is an adaptive advantage, actually. Introversion is a fairly common personality trait, though more people are extroverted than introverted--that is, more people enjoy socializing and talking to each other than do not. But, we introverts are finally having the last laugh, as we take over the world.

At the far end of the spectrum is the savant, the person who is so introverted as to be unable to develop significant language skills. The person would appear to be mentally retarded until approached with a particular task, at which point the person exhibits genius-level knowledge or computer-like precision.

Alternatively, there are those who appear of normal or above-average intelligence who exhibit savant-like specialized abilities. These are the people who can help give insight into autism, to help the rest of us understand it better. One person describes his ability to perform instantaneous calculator-like math without actually running the numbers by seeing them in his mind as shapes and colors. Other similar autists describe a perceptual realm equally bizarre, with experiences of synesthesia--overlapping sensual perceptions, such as "hearing colors" or "smelling sounds."

One person with autism and high level of function, a Temple Grandin, is working with animal welfare and helping to ensure humane environments for livestock, because she has recognized the autistic mindset as a biological norm for most mammals. She's proposed that non-autistic "normal" human thinking and perception emerged on top of a more autistic naturally occurring mindset. This caught my attention, because I noticed how many people involved in movements like the furries or therianthropy, myself being part of the latter, are introverted geeks. Suddenly, there's a plausible hypothesis that there actually could afterall be a basis for therianthropy being biologically meaningful, rather than just an Internet trend. Maybe therians do indeed have a bit more proximity to the rest of phylum chordata than other people. Just a hypothesis and probably not a significant enough distinction to amount to an evolutionary hill of beans, but it got me to stop and blink, kinking my ears forward.

Mork- what about people who are transgendered? The only proof they have of what they are is how they feel. Does that negate their experience too?

Morkulv wrote:
Yes, but what do you do with that 'knowledge'? Nothing, indeed.

Live.

Never heard of it until you guys brought it up.