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Do I have Aspergers or am I just weird?
The Mayo Clinic found that the skyrocketing diagnosis rate of autism wasn’t because
of vaccines or some horrible plague but because many people who would have been called retarded
are now called autistic.
Retarded is considered a bad word.
Yeah, whereas autistic is more acceptable. And you get more money for services in school
than if the child is simply classified as slow.
Autism is defined as being mind-blind. I understand that it means you don’t understand others.
People with autism and Aspergers have trouble understanding others. Aspergers patients usually
have better verbal capacity and a higher IQ.
I don’t think Aspergers is retardation. You just have worse communication skills,
and they’re often clumsy.
Given your verbal skills, why would you even think you have Aspergers?
I’m clumsy. I have niche interests and focus on them to the exclusion of other things.
We used to call that being a nerd. And those with eccentric interests often have trouble
making friends unless they share those weird obsessions.
Like Aspergers?
Like Trekkies, Star Wars nuts, math geeks, train enthusiasts, gamers … a lot of nerds
have niche obsessions.
And poor social skills to boot.
High IQ and niche interests don’t mean you can’t have social skills. But you’re less
likely to develop them if you’re focused on activities that aren’t people-focused.
Like the programmer who is an expert in machine languages but lousy putting a sentence together
when talking to a girl.
A lot of people who are awkward have the Aspergers label slapped on because it gives the school
district extra money and the kid extra time to take tests. Though there are a few people
who are truly mind blind and oblivious to the desires of others.
Bill Gates? President Obama?
Bill Gates is a nerd, but he’s rich enough that his weirdness is classified as eccentric.
Obama is just a narcissist.
So if I get rich, my weirdness becomes acceptable?
If you’re rich, people don’t care about the weirdness.
So if I make enough money, I’m no longer weird. That’s odd.
That’s life.