My nerd thing and Asperger's Syndrome

Whenever I hear the symptoms associated with Asperger's, they feel uncomfortably familiar. However, psychologist friends berate me when I indulge my (mostly suppressed) hypochondria in this area. Maybe there's a spectrum, from nerdish unsocial behavior to Asperger's to autism, I sure don't know. For more, check here on Wikipedia.

A friend tells me one symptom is "the inability to accurately assess her own feelings and the feelings of others" and perhaps that's part of my problem.

In my case, let's say my capacity for social behavior is a bit limited, and it's a good thing my work is mostly in front of a screen.

However, the eye contact symptom is a real problem for me. Maybe I just live in my head too much, or it could be related to vision problems. (I have double vision, and if you're in conversational distance, I have to work so I don't see you as having two noses.) It's quite possible it's a symptom of some deep issue that I don't get. In any case, I work on it, but it's part of the real me, whatever it is.

Comments

[techhelpnerd]

Thanks for the information this site is good and i suggest my friend to visit this site.
=========Alex

[Martha]

Thank you, Craig
I anticipate WWDYM to be published about August of this year.
I'll be happy to send you a copy if you email me with the shipping info.
Martha

[Craig Newmark]

Martha, I dont know copyright law re blogs, but okay with me!

Craig

[Martha]

Hi. I am seeking permission to quote from Charles Pierce's comment of Jan. 2010, for a new book on Asperger's Syndrome, "Wait, What Do You Mean?" The quote is:
"I was interested to find this blog. I am 64 years old, and at the age of 60 was told by two qualified people who have known me for decades, that I have Asperger's syndrome. This information was a revelation and a liberation. The course of my life was explained, not excused, but explained, and a clear road to future progress opened up."
With your permission, please indicate how you would like to be listed in the bibliography. Thank you, Martha Schmidtmann Dunne

[Craig Newmark]

Sean, in any case, appreciated!

Craig

[Sean Conner]

Craig,

I know exactly what you mean when you say "uncomfortably familiar." Last summer I randomly took this AS self test in a Wired magazine of all things ( http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html ). "It's just a silly test in a magazine" I told myself. Then over the course of the next few months the idea rattled around in my head and I started asking my friends the questions on the test (about me)... to my surprise the collective score was significantly higher than I had self tested. It was at that point I decided to learn more about AS, which eventually led me to this TED talk by Temple Grandin ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_9f5x0f1Q ) I think you might enjoy the talk.

(I also read "Look Me In The Eyes" by John Elder Robison)

I've now self-tested and community tested myself with just about every test I can find- including the pretty unsophisticated DSM V test for Autism Spectrum, and I've decided to OWN my Aspie-ness and become as much an advocate as I can to educate my neuro-typical friends, family and professional partners about the advantages of having an AS as a co-worker, friend, etc and simple accommodations that make everything much smoother.

... I'm rambling, my apologies I could go on for ever about topics I'm passionate about.

Good luck,
Sean Conner

[Glen]

No doubt about it, Craig — you have Asperger's Syndrome.

I just read the 8/24/09 article in Wired entitled, "Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess." Between the bit about the Charlie Rose interview, and your willingness (né, love) of plowing through thousands of emails and posting... yep, that's Asperger's.

Welcome to your world. It's not like most everyone else's, which might be why you see so many things to be someone else's problem.

Think about it. Your ideas about social organization and self-governance are likely the result of Asperger's, too. Not that there's anything wrong with that — except that they represent the view of a pretty specific and very small minority.

[FE]

I think "the inability to accurately assess her own feelings and the feelings of others" and being "incredibly thoughtful about the needs/wants of others" are not contrary to each other. I have a family member who always attempts to be really thoughtful of other people, but it causes him a lot of stress and practical difficulties because he can only guess at the feelings of others. Mostly he looks totally out of his depth, which is very sad to see, but he's never been thoughtless in his life. Another family member (now deceased) was regularly both thoughtless and had no idea how others were feeling - and was not stressed at all!

[JD]

This is my first time on this site. I read a recent article on Craig and immediately googled 'Craig Newmark aspergers'. My aspie radar is pretty good and I'm rarely wrong.

Many of us aspies have difficulty in assessing other people's feelings from non-verbal cues, but the vast majority of us CAN assess the feelings of others through other means.

[tracy]

I see my son in you. Both my husband and I noticed it (saw the Charlie Rose interview).

he has not been dx with Aspie but as we say there 'is a toe in that water' a bit. you have the internet--he has airplanes.

curiously i hear there are hot spots in NJ for autism/aspie ---