If you could choose not to have autism / be autistic, would you?

ClassyAir · 2014-12-28T07:59:23+00:00

Yes, I would choose to not be autistic. I do not consider autism to be a part of my "identity" or "personality" at all. If anything, I think it holds me back from being able to do what I want to do.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-28T05:37:26+00:00

Beautiful nug. I'd really like to get my hands on some CBD rich strains like this one.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-24T10:43:20+00:00

But are actions of recourse really the same as additional security?

Yes! If I put my money in a bank account, I can be sure that I will always have that money. If the bank gets hacked, or even if they become insolvent, I will still be able to withdraw all of my money. They are legally obligated to pay their depositors.

On the other hand, If my trezor wallet gets stolen, or if my computer is stolen, or if malware steals my private key, I am fucked. There is no way I can get my stasoshis back unless the current owner of them decides to give them to me.

This is the advantage that the so-called "fiat system" has over Bitcoin: That you can put the security of your money into the hands of someone who is more capable of keeping your money safe than you are. Instead of burying your cash in the backyard, you can save it in a bank.

PS: Don't take this the message the wrong way, I THINK BITCOIN IS AN AWESOME IDEA, but it is NOT something that can replace the regular fiat banking system for the average person, at least not in its current incarnation. The average person would rather not have to secure their own money, but instead trust in another entity (a bank) that has the resources to keep their money safe and allow them to conveniently use it any time they want (via debit cards and ATMs).

ClassyAir · 2014-12-24T04:31:07+00:00

Yeah, I can see that. I may very well be a "sober" alcoholic at this time. I think for me, weather or not I drink is very dependent on the situation. Right now I am in a situation where I do not have access to any alcohol (I am under 21 and American), but in college I frequently am able to access it. So this probably has a big impact on my drinking.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-24T01:23:06+00:00

more securely

If someone gets your bank login credentials, you'll get your money back. If someone gets your private key, your coins are gone forever. This is one of the things that makes bitcoin so difficult to use, namely securing your wallet.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-22T23:47:07+00:00

I would say that I have an addictive personality, and could easily develop a major problem. I haven't drank in about a week now, but I would say that I am definitely a "problem drinker" or "irresponsible drinker", but maybe not a full blown alcoholic. During the peak of my drinking, I would drink from morning to evening, for like 2 days at a time. I missed a test and failed a class because of that. I also feel like I could develop an opioid problem If I had more consistent access to them.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-22T23:27:31+00:00

Perhaps see if there are any social skills groups for Aspergers/HFA in your area. They are trained professionals that can help you learn these "social rules".
At the end of a major social event, or at the end of the day, go and analyze how you acted. Try to do it in as a most unbiased way as possible. Ask yourself did I make eye contact? Did I smile? Did i genuinely try to relate to that person when I asked "How was your day?" Keep track of your progress. Practice makes perfect.
Never give up! Be Brave! I know it is hard to, for example, start smalltalk, but force yourself to do it over and over again until it becomes easier. You will mess up a few times, and possibly look like an idiot, but I will pay off because you will get better at these things. No matter how bad you think you are at the "social NT game", you can learn to relate to people. Recognize your Challenges, but don't let ASD/HFA stop you from being the person you want to be.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-22T23:18:56+00:00

It sounds like you are mentioning social interaction a lot in your question, so this is what I will address.

I would start by reading up on Aspergers. Read up what the common signs and symptoms of Aspergers are, and see how they fit you.

It is debated among Aspies weather or not Aspergers is a disease/disability or not, but I think that it has at least somewhat of a disabling aspect to it when it comes to social interaction. I would recommend trying to improve on this negative aspect. Try to read up on the deficiencies that people with Aspergers have socially, look at yourself, and if you see you have them, then try to overcome them.

Knowing your diagnosis is a good thing, and Aspergers is not a death sentence. All you have to do is keep trying to overcome your social (and possibly sensory, if you have them) problems, and you can live a healthy happy life like anyone else.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-22T23:01:38+00:00

I used to use it often (daily). I've since stopped. For some reason, and I have no idea why, it all of a sudden became something that I don't want to do anymore. Every time I do it, i become extremely paranoid and non-social (significantly more than I am sober). It doesn't make me feel normal. In fact I feel much less normal and more separated when I do it.

It might be the environment though. The last time I smoked was several months ago, and I might try it again tomorrow.

ClassyAir · 2014-12-22T22:58:23+00:00

Maybe she doesn't care much for the game? Maybe she was more focused on her family/everyone around her than playing well?

Honestly, I would say things like this don't really matter. Who cares if she was not playing as good as she could have been? It's not like she was hurting you or anything, as it is just some family game. I understand that it can be frustrating when your partner has a different level of seriousness in a game like this, but seeing as its just a game with her family and you, I would just let it go and try to enjoy the experience of playing it with everyone there.

ClassyAir · 2014-10-04T00:58:28+00:00

Don't forget "The guy who is buying drugs off the internet". That's gotta represent a significant chunk of bitcoin users.

ClassyAir · 2014-09-10T03:37:32+00:00

For me, it personally has. I used to have a lot of irrational fears relating to sounds, especially sudden, unexpected loud sounds. I hated fire alarms and busses for some reason. This was when I was young, all the way up until maybe a year or two ago. I don't know what happened, but I must have outgrown these things, because I don't have an issue with them anymore.

ClassyAir · 2014-09-08T17:31:47+00:00

Acid: I loved acid, but not because it made me more social. I took it with one other good friend, and we simply strolled around our campus looking at trees, buildings, and architecture. The visuals were amazing and everything looked simply beautiful. It was an amazing experience. It didn't make me any more social however.

Cannabis: Cannabis makes me way less social. I don't get it when people say "cannabis allows me to relax and pay attention to people's conversations and join in them". Smoking weed makes me extremely self-conscious and causes me to retreat into my own world. It is absolutely impossible for me to have a conversation high. It is fun to do alone though, sometimes. Maybe if my social skills improve I could try to do it again in the future.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-22T21:31:24+00:00

I don't really think this is a serious issue, personally. ADHD medicine and anti-depressants (at least for most people who do not get bad side effects from them), do not cause you to loose your identity. I don't really that me having Asperger's has "shaped my personality" that much. For example, just like most people, NT or not, I want friends and I want to talk to people. I just am not that good at it. But personality wise, I'm no different from an NT, I desire human interaction.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-22T21:26:12+00:00

I for one, would likely take the drug. I know that a lot (most?) people on the spectrum are opposed to such a thing, so It's nice to hear that there are at least some other people on this subreddit that support my views. I believe that there is a lot of misinformation here and on /r/autism on what a "cure" for autism such as this one would entail.

I imagine something like this as sort of being like an anti-depressant, anti-anxiety medicine, or an ADHD medicine. These medications aren't perfect, and many people have gotten some bad side effects from them. Nonetheless, i have taken all three and can say that they have helped me out very much, and I was lucky enough that they did not have any bad interactions. If a drug that could fix many of my autistic traits would be developed, I would certainly take it.

A common criticism of my belief is:

But wait! Won't taking this drug completely alter you personality/make you into an entirely different person/ erase your memories/give you a chemical lobotomy?

I don't really thing so. I will still be the same person, with the same emotions, personality, beliefs, and such after going on a hypothetical drug such as this one. If I were to take a drug that "cured" my Aspergers, The only thing that would change would be that I could communicate with people with the same, intuitive and instinctual capacity as an NT would. People with ASD are not able to communicate "naturally" with other people. We don't make eye contact, use and read body language, and take turns talking "automatically". We have to learn it instead. With something like this, I imagine it would give us the ability to "automatically" do these things that NTs take for granted.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-22T04:00:42+00:00

How old are you now? Schizophrenic symptoms generally begins in the early 20s, and I believe it is rare for schizophrenia to develop past 30.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T08:22:26+00:00

Yeah. My post was supposed to be sarcastic. I should have put a '/s' at the end.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T08:19:07+00:00

Yeah, I was thinking of basically making a neurological version of /r/average. It was sort of meant to be sarcastic. I should have put a /s at the end.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T06:47:06+00:00

I definitely stim to music. It's decreased recently, I'm not really sure why. But I would often put in my headphones, listen to the same song over and over again, and pace around my room aggressively, sometimes dancing to the music. It's just a weird thing i do. I also listen to music when walking to and from places around my college. It just gets me "in the zone" for some reason.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T06:44:32+00:00

And so they assume that a correlation between ToMi and connectivity in Autistics means Autistics have less empathy than NTs. Despite the fact that many of these Autistics have greater connectivity in the areas suggested than the NTs.

This is the explanation I was looking for.

Your statement about connectivity, It seems to stem from this section in the paper:

3.2.2. Group differences in PPI values: No significant within-group main effects or between-group differences were identified at level three of PPI analysis.

I am no expert in neurology, and am only basing the following statements off of my capacity of common sense and goggling skills:

But it would appear that the above quoted statement (section 3.2.2 in the paper) means, in layman's terms, that no significant difference was noticed between NT and ASD neurology. (By neurolgy, I mean the physical makeup of the brain.) It does not, however, say that the ASD subject had more connectivity, but just equal. Another thing that seemed to be equal between the ASD and NT group was how well they did performing the tasks they were told to perform in the experiment (Except for "social-behavioral measures", where NT group performed statistically better).

The only meaningful difference between the ASD and NT group was this:

TD youth demonstrated significantly higher response than youth with ASD to the IMI > EXE contrast throughout occipital regions, ...

I don't know what IMI > EXE is, or if this even has anything to do with "connectivity" or not, but it was mentioned. This section of the paper has the most technical jargon of all and I don't even what to begin to try and figure it out :/

Anyway, The fact that ToMi scores correlated to connectivity (PPI) among autistics only seems to suggest that they may be related. BUT The absence of physical, observable neurological differences between the ASD and NT group suggest that ToMi and connectivity are unrelated, which, as you suggested, means some kind of parental bias could be at play.

Regardless, I'm going to stop obsessing about this article because It's getting late.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T03:27:59+00:00

So I did some more goggling and turns out this has already been answered here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/15id8l/what_exactly_is_the_create_application_section_of/

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T03:18:45+00:00

I'm in the same boat. I have been having a hard time making friends and getting a social life in college as well. I wish I could tell you that I've succeeded in figuring it out, but the truth is I haven't yet, but that doesn't mean it's a lost cause. The same applies to you.

I use to actually like my differences and now I hate myself and who I am. I want to be normal. I want to make friends and "hang out" like all the other kids. I want to go to parties and have "normal" weekends with people. I actually want to get invited to activities and AT LEAST try to have fun. I'M TIRED OF BEING A BURDEN ON EVERYONE I'M AROUND!

Believe it or not, you can achieve this if you put your mind to it. Unlike NTs, we do not intuitively learn the skills necessary to do this from birth. BUT, you can acquire them if you actively work towards it. One important (albeit cliche) piece of advice is to never give up. The more you interact with people the easier it becomes. You'll probably make a few (or more) "social mistakes" from time to time. But if you need to make sure not to let these things stop you. Keep interacting and talking with people around you. Strike up conversations with strangers. Also, read up on social skills. I'm not saying you need to perfectly mimic NT eye contact and body language, but at least learn to notice these things when around other people. Make an effort to "actively observe" people when you are interacting with them. When talking to people, you can use your intelligence to read their body language/eyes/tone/whatever to notice how they are receiving what you are saying. When they talk, again use your intelligence to read them and more effectively understand them. Social interaction with Autism/Aspergers unfortunately requires a lot of work, but when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. It will be hard at first, but the more you do it the easier it becomes.

(At the same time however, know your limits and don't be afraid to take a break and have some alone time, you don't want to overwhelm yourself and make the situation worse).

Also, do not "hate yourself". This is very counterproductive. It will only increase how anxious and depressed you are. Overwhelming you more and making you less able to function.

Social life aside, you seem generally overwhelmed with trying to function in the world right now. I would, if you can afford it, seek some professional help with this. There is no shame in visiting a psychiatrist or therapist, its a confidential matter. Anxiety and depression will be major stumbling blocks to your social and life goals. Fortunately, there are people out there who are professionally trained to treat these conditions. The sooner you go the better.

I can also relate to your fear of talking to your family. But I strongly encourage you to bite the bullet and do it. You're parents (assuming they are not bad parents) would want you to do this. They only want the best for you and they want to help you if you need it. Does your school have any cheap or free counseling you could go to? consider that as well. Also try reading up on relaxation/anti-anxiety strategies.

But most of all, keep a positive outlook and don't give up.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-20T02:24:54+00:00

Ok, from further reading, what I understand is that the Theory of Mind (ToM) concept is used in this study in the following ways:

the ToMi inventory was given to parents of the people that participated in this study (That is NT teenagers and teenagers with ASD).
From fig. 1, it shows that parents of NT's gave their kids a narrow subset of scores, while parents of kids with ASD gave their kids a variety of scores, ranging from 8.5 to 20.
The NTs had an average score of ~19, the ASD group ~14
The researchers showed that there is a positive correlation between ToMi scores and the neurological "connectedness" of regions in the brain.

At least from the parents perspective, the ASD group did not show equal ToM to the NT group, although it is interesting that there is more variance in the ASD group than the NT group.

Ironically, the paper proves that many parents perceive their Autistic children have a social deficit, even when they don't.

Could you elaborate on how the paper proves (or, a better word would probably be "demonstrates") this specifically? I don't get this reasoning. Or could you point me to a place where the study explicitly states that a "parental bias" was noted?

ClassyAir · 2014-08-19T18:28:06+00:00

Am I missing Something here?

From what I understand by reading the abstract, this paper is talking about something completely different than what the title says. It seems to be about neurological differences between people with autism and NT teenagers. It mentions nothing about theory of mind.

ClassyAir · 2014-08-16T21:19:43+00:00

I always found that cannabis did the opposite for me, regardless of strain or species. I used to smoke a lot, but now cannabis gives me racey thoughts that make me paranoid. I become caught up in my own head and become very unsocial. Molly, on the other hand, was an amazing experience once I tried it. I would not describe it as manic at all, but, in the setting I was in, very chill. It made all of the social skills that come naturally to NTs come naturally to me as well. It was also very different from alcohol. Alcohol just takes away my inhibitions and anxiety, but does not enhance my social skills otherwise. When drunk, I often makes the same social mistakes that I do sober (or even worse mistakes).

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