Aspergers/autism

[Thy Geekdom Come]

So there have been some developments. First, my list of symptoms has grown as I continue to identify things I did at various stages in my life. For instance, autism is associated with poor coordination. I was always terrible at hand-eye coordination and I didn't learn to swing until I was 7! I remember I couldn't figure out how to swing my legs a the right time. It was around the same time or later that I finally had enough balance to ride a bike. That's 2-3 years later than average, and it wasn't for lack of trying or opportunity. We had a playground next door and a trail behind our house. I sucked at sports. The one time - one. time. - I ever caught a football, I felt like a pro, lol. Oddly, though, I do remember obnoxiously scaring some classmates once in gym class. I couldn't play basketball worth a darn (partly because I'm short), but I did understand math. There were some kids sitting against the gym wall and I was throwing a basketball directly above their heads. They kept thinking it was going to fall on them, but I knew it wouldn't because the equal and opposite reaction would make it bounce back out in a parabolic arc away from them. I tried explaining the math, but they didn't get it. They just kept telling me to leave them alone. My experience of aspie students tells me that was a total aspie thing to do. It was also a jerky thing to do, but I was trying to show how cool it was, not trying to be a jerk.

 

Second, I talked to my parents about my suspicions. My dad was not surprised. He says he thinks he's probably an aspie, as well as ADD, OCD, and anxiety disorder. He routinely interrupted class as a child and was social awkward, his brain never shuts off, and he does have neurological problems. He has famial/essential tremors, which I've long thought I also have. My hands often tremble when I'm eating or writing, which is the key symptom. I don't know whether perhaps those tremors are related to the seizures some autistics describe.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Raphael

[SilentJoy]

I do remember obnoxiously scaring some classmates once in gym class. I couldn't play basketball worth a darn (partly because I'm short), but I did understand math. There were some kids sitting against the gym wall and I was throwing a basketball directly above their heads. They kept thinking it was going to fall on them, but I knew it wouldn't because the equal and opposite reaction would make it bounce back out in a parabolic arc away from them. I tried explaining the math, but they didn't get it.

 

I laughed...:smile3:

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I laughed... :smile3:

 

With me or at me? :unsure:

 

:p

 

Anyway, while I'm even more certain I'm an aspie now, I think for the sake of my kids (and my father), I'll probably go through with getting a diagnosis. I want to make sure that, if my kids start showing signs, there's an established family history.

[SilentJoy]

With me or at me? :unsure:

 

 

 

Yes. :evil:

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Yes. :evil:

 

I can't understand that facial expression! ARGH!

 

I'm going to assume you mean to convey benevolence. Here, take my wallet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I'm not THAT bad with facial expressions.)

[Thy Geekdom Come]

"Honey, do I have any tics."

 

"Clearing your throat."

 

"Right! Forgot that one..."

Edited October 10, 2014 by Raphael

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Just in case anyone is wondering, it is apparently not appropriate to blurt out something about Michael Vick when two dogs start fighting at the Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St. Francis.

[ithinkjesusiscool]

Let me ask an Asperger question: what kind of relationship should one have with a Priest? What kind of relationship do you have with the Priest(s)? Is it just the Sacrament of confession and nothing more? Please explain! Relationships are difficult!

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Let me ask an Asperger question: what kind of relationship should one have with a Priest? What kind of relationship do you have with the Priest(s)? Is it just the Sacrament of confession and nothing more? Please explain! Relationships are difficult!

I went to seminary and worked for the Church, so I more or less "get" priests, inasmuch as they have something common as priests that one can "get." That said, on a personal level, I have different experiences with different ones. I used to work with a very good priest who was nonetheless very choleric. I could tell after a while that he hated being around me. My long-windedness drove him nuts, I think. He began to grow impatient with me in Confession. Or I could be misreading him. I also once worked with a priest who watered down everything in the faith. He drove ME nuts in Confession, because he never took any sins truly seriously. Priests are people, and your experiences of them will vary just as much as with other people.

If you want to have a good relationship with your priest, I recommend finding a patient priest who will be a good confessor/director and establishing a relationship around that.

If you want a friendship with your priest as a person, I can only encourage you to discern why. Priests must be discerning in their friendships. Unfortunately, there are many people in a parish who want to be friends with the priest in order to win some influence or feel that the shepherd is all theirs or form a relationship with "a nice man" or worse. I won't presume to know your intention, of course, but any parishioner would do well to remember that in their personal relationships, priests must be selective, and to discern whether their intentions are in the right place. I could see, as an aspie, thinking that a priest could be a friend who wouldn't be likely to reject me, and perhaps getting clingy about the friendship from there. That may not be best for the priest. It could even become a hindrance to his ministry. But if you discern you can be a good, supportive friend to a priest as a person, and that you can remain detached enough to let them do their ministry, then befriend them. They need friends.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Oh, and as for relationships being different, my problems mostly extend to creating some awkward conversations. I don't have many friendships, but that might be from a life-time of being rejected when I was younger. I've learned a lot the hard way about social interaction, so in most conversations, I'm not too offensive, though I'm sure there are "friends" who avoid me. I just don't look to make friends because a lifetime of rejection has put me in the pattern of having few of them, but most of the friendships I have aren't hard to maintain.

All I can say is: be yourself. Be honest about your condition, if you're comfortable with that. If someone doesn't want to be your friend because you're an aspie, whether or not they know it, it's their loss. Let them go and be happy. God has given you a gift. You have a condition that repels shallow, impatient, disloyal people. The people who stick around will be likely to be more true friends. ;-)

[Paddington]

What's the best reality show about people with Asperger's living together?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

What's the best reality show about people with Asperger's living together?

 

Phatmass, apparently.

[ithinkjesusiscool]

Pax!
People with asperger have problem with seeing life from another person's perspective. Seeing life from your friend's perspective is really hard. Can we also apply this to Jesus? We sometimes meditate on the life of Jesus (and Mary). This is hard for people with asperger?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Pax!
People with asperger have problem with seeing life from another person's perspective. Seeing life from your friend's perspective is really hard. Can we also apply this to Jesus? We sometimes meditate on the life of Jesus (and Mary). This is hard for people with asperger?

I find meditation difficult for 2 reasons: 1) It's hard to appreciate what a person may have felt. 2) It's very hard to get my one-track mind off whatever obsession I have at the time.

I've recently discovered that asking myself questions about the situation I'm meditating on, and then answering those questions, is helpful. It gets me to focus on the details of the mystery I'm meditating on, and details can help pull us away from own interests. So, third sorrowful mystery might be approached this way: "How heavy might the crown of thorns have been? Probably light, but the soldiers would have pushed it down on His scalp. That would have hurt if it had a lot of thorns. How many thorns might it have had? 144 would be a good symbolic number, but we'll never know. Maybe a few dozen? Okay. What would that have done to Him? It would have made Him bleed in multiple spots. His blood itself becomes a crown. He is crowned by His sacrifice."

Also, while I can't appreciate what another - as another - is going through, but I can imagine from life experience how I would feel in that situation. That's limiting, of course. I have no experience being the Messiah. I can't do it too well for Mary because I have no experience being a mother, but I know that mother's love their kids, I know from experience what a father's love is like, and I can extrapolate somewhat.

We can't rely on social intuition. We don't have any. We can, however, rely on our intellect. We have that in spades.

[tinytherese]

What also may help, in some situations at least, is to ponder if someone else acted like that around you, how you would feel and think about their behavior. What if someone talked about nothing but a subject that you had no interest in? More likely than not, you'd find that annoying and want to talk about other things.