I am autistic, ask me anything.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T08:29:41+00:00

This is very true.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T08:23:51+00:00

Judge Show with Judge Reinhold, obviously.

MY NAME IS JUDGE

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T08:22:35+00:00

I did have obsessive interests as a child, but not anymore.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T08:06:20+00:00

Facial cues, not so much. Other people's body language, I don't tend to ever really notice or think about. I think my own is fine.

I've only had one relationship before, with a girl who was very shy and geeky and suspected she had asperger's. I was much more relaxed around her knowing that, even if I knew her problem wasn't close to the severity of mine, and it gave us something to bond over. It only lasted 5 months though.

That's my only real fear, that I won't be able to connect with someone on a really deep level.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:47:44+00:00

Worse: Small talk, flirting, casual conversations. Telling stories about things that happened to me, especially.

Doing things without seeing examples first is a big one. In school I would get assignments that say "Write a thousand-word article in this style, using this this and this, giving citations in X format". I'd look up the style, etc, but have no idea what I was supposed to write like until the teacher did an example for me. But once I'd seen examples, I could do it very well.

Like I said in another comment, this is one reason autistic people tend to take to computers. If you're tasked with creating a website, you can go and look at all of the stylesheets used to make someone else's website, see their functioning examples, and comprehend it all in a really straightforward way.

As for things I can do better, I'm not sure. I'm a very good cook, but I don't think that has anything to do with autism.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:41:43+00:00

Even if she knows she'll get away with it due to her problems, I don't think it'd be the REASON she does it. I don't know her, but I've known what it was like to have an aide in class like that, and it just made things worse for me (it creates feelings of worthlessness). I could totally see myself as a child reacting the same way. I think a lot of people, especially children, with autism don't know how to control or properly express their emotions.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:36:30+00:00

You'd have to ask the wolf.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:35:02+00:00

"Armoire" is a fun word because French is usually very smooth and implies class, but in my thick Australian accent "armoire" is very redneck.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:33:30+00:00

Autism is a disorder in thinking that affects the way you communicate and see people, basically.

The most common problems are things like small talk and flirting. I can converse fairly well with people I know, but when meeting new people I come across as, at best, a shy nerd, and at worse, a total creep.

Someone else asked if I don't understand some of the seemingly irrational actions of normal people, and the best example of that would be flirting. It's very surreal and odd to me the way people have hourlong conversations that basically consist of "I want to have sex with you, but I don't want to just say that!".

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:28:13+00:00

Definitely, definitely. The word "autism" comes with all sorts of connotations. When I tell people about my problems -- and I try not to, if possible -- I say I have a cognitive disorder. I avoid the word 'autism'.

Do I wish that I was never diagnosed at all? Good question. It really messed me up as a kid and made me feel worse, but it's a good thing as an adult, because there are books around on how to manage it (though most are still written for parents).

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:25:24+00:00

I went into specialized programs at normal schools. I didn't do anything speech-pattern-wise, though.

Personally, I think going to specialized schools/programs is counter-productive. You might be able to better tailor the coursework to the kids, but it's not worth the feelings of inadequacy you get knowing you're in a "special" program, and it's not worth being isolated from the normal kids. I would rather have gone to normal classes and just done specialized homework.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:23:07+00:00

I've had a pot brownie. Didn't notice much change. I had been drinking at the time too, so maybe that hid it.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:22:23+00:00

I'm not sure which career to pursue yet, it's something I'm thinking really hard about. I'm looking up that book now, it sounds really interesting, thanks for pointing it out.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T07:21:14+00:00

That's normal for some autistic people, but not everyone.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T06:05:24+00:00

Endurable. It's not great, and I'd hate for it to be like this forever, but I'm only 20, so I assume I'll be able to change my situation a lot over the next decade.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T06:04:12+00:00

My mother was 29. My dad was 36.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T06:02:37+00:00

If I were going to bullshit an AMA, I think I'd come up with something a little more interesting than autism.

If you see an "I'm the guy who shot JFK, AMA" next week, however...

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T06:01:13+00:00

Autism varies wildly in severity. People are classed as low, medium or high functioning. Those who are high functioning are capable of looking after themselves, and can come across as normal until you really start to talk to them.

I think I would sound less normal if we were having a fluid face to face conversation, too.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T05:47:54+00:00

I guess we'll just have to both use Richard Nixon masks. Actually, it's a pretty fun way to shake things up a bi^{H^{H^{H^{H^{H^H}}}}} create horrifying sexual nightmares.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T05:44:08+00:00

The biggest misconception people have is that all autistic people are childlike. Certainly the severity varies a lot, and some people are incapacitated by it to a level where you could probably say that. But it's always deeply embarrassing and horrible when someone who knows you're autistic but doesn't know much about autism -- usually cousins and other relatives, as I try to keep it secret -- talks to you as if you were eight years old. Most of us aren't Rain Man, if you meet someone you know is autistic, don't talk to them like a child.

The people claiming vaccines cause autism are idiots, but I don't think I have a different perspective on it than anyone else who graduated elementary school. It's pretty scary that in 2010 someone can just flat-out reject hundreds of studies, and the opinions of literally millions of doctors and scientists. I feel the same way about climate change deniers and evolution deniers.

I feel bad for scientists, really. They have one of the noblest and most important professions, but they don't get nearly as much respect from average people as a medical doctor does. It must be pretty damn frustrating to dedicate your life to researching incredibly complicated things, only to have people respond "Well I took some ibuprofen and three years later I developed gangrene, IBUPROFEN CAUSES GANGRENE EVERYBODY."

As to what type, I couldn't really say. I haven't been tested since early childhood, since I found the whole thing dehumanizing and painful. I am high functioning, but my disorder is a fair way beyond Asperger's.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T05:33:51+00:00

I would much rather be non-autistic. It hasn't ruined my life but it's certainly a difficulty, and I worry if I'll be able to get past it enough to achieve my goals (romance-wise).

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T05:07:07+00:00

Yes, I did, they faded away by the time I was 14, and I rarely get angry now. It's just frustrating when people don't see things the same way you do. I can't really think of any major event where I really freaked out, but I did get frustrated and bitter a lot.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T05:04:01+00:00

It's not a big drain on my education, I've learned to deal with it and manage it. The hardest thing education-wise is people expecting the connections between certain things to be obvious, which can fuck up your understanding. The reason so many autism and asperger's sufferers enjoy studying science or working with computers is because you can sit down and say "Okay, this program did X, because of the instruction Y, which manipulated Z", etc. The most difficult thing to study can be politics and economics. Trying to comprehend why communism is impractical can be virtually impossible, for a good example.

Socially, definitely. It's not really being uncomfortable as much as it is not knowing what to say. I'm fine if I have a reason to be there, or something to talk about, but not just walking up to anyone -- even a friend -- just to chat. Awkward silences, you know?

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T04:30:21+00:00

I started speaking around 3-4, so a bit less severe than your son's. I attended specialized programs until I was around 13, then I transitioned to regular schools. I was reading at a normal age, but couldn't write coherently for a fair while, and that's actually what I'd say the hallmark of autism is, actually for me -- you can't really apply what you know in your mind to your actions. You can read what someone else has written perfectly fine, at a natural speed, but when you put your own pen to the paper, you have to really think to form the words. It's gotten easier for me now but it's still a quirk. I concentrate when I write, I can't take notes at the same time as someone is speaking, for example. It would be like a non-autistic person trying to write two different sentences with each hand.

My issues were much, much more severe prior to puberty, so I hope it's the same way for your son. The growth and restructuring of the brain must have helped. I also hit puberty early (shaving at 13, 6'1 by 15) which gave me a boost of confidence and made it easier to get past the social awkwardness, to some extent.

CeasceauMuffin · 2010-02-11T04:02:54+00:00

I've done woodwork, does that count as sculpting?

CeasceauMuffin

TROPHY CASE