[BLOG] John Elder Robison
Towse
author of look me in the eye: an aspergian book author writes about
books, Asperger's, autism, and life.
--
Sal
Ye olde swarm of links: thousands of links for writers, researchers and
the terminally curious <http://writers.internet-resources.com>
Alan Hope
><http://www.jerobison.blogspot.com/>
>author of look me in the eye: an aspergian book author writes about
>books, Asperger's, autism, and life.
I'm a little bothered by his triumphalism, where he claims society
would be nowhere without Asperger's peeps. Or Aspergians, as he
awkwardly calls them.
It seems to me he's merely the other side of the coin from those who
claim autism is a plague sweeping across America -- a claim that can
only be justified by the increasing numbers of high-functioning or
Asperger's people being diagnosed.
The number of autistic children who correspond, let us say, to the
Rain Man model, has not increased by any measure. The prevalence of
autism, however, can be deemed to have increased because there is an
increasing tendency to diagnose children as autistic-spectrum-disorder
so long as they are placed within the Asperger's limits.
It's worth looking at the putative list of Asperger's candidates from
history to see how worthless the diagnosis has become in the popular
tongue. Few if any of those people could be said to be disordered,
with hindsight. We don't hear about all those who were similarly
affected, but didn't turn out to be Einstein. Who struggled with the
problems it brings, and didn't really make worldwide-waves with the
advantages.
I'll be honest, and state that I have serious misgivings about whether
Mr. Robison is Asperger's at all, based on what I've read so far. I'll
obviously look into it further, but I get a funny feeling from these
people. The fact that his brother has written a book on a quite
different subject within the family-abuse genre is a red flag. Some
other details suggest a scam here.
For anyone who thinks: why would a writer do such a thing, I have only
two words: James Frey.
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
boots
>It seems to me he's merely the other side of the coin from those who
>claim autism is a plague sweeping across America -- a claim that can
>only be justified by the increasing numbers of high-functioning or
>Asperger's people being diagnosed.
It could be that there actually is increasing autism sweeping across
America, the society is one that promotes giving your young children
computers (that'll bring out the genius in 'em!) thus encouraging
their withdrawl from the world of people instead of sending them out
to collect tadpoles (or whatever, relatively few tadpole collection
zones remain unpaved) and learn to enjoy life. It's unclear to me
that autism is purely genetic as opposed to environmental, I suspect
that both play a part.
--
The sane answer, to madness, is insanity.
Alan Hope
>Alan Hope <usenet....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>It seems to me he's merely the other side of the coin from those who
>>claim autism is a plague sweeping across America -- a claim that can
>>only be justified by the increasing numbers of high-functioning or
>>Asperger's people being diagnosed.
>
>It could be that there actually is increasing autism sweeping across
>America, the society is one that promotes giving your young children
>computers (that'll bring out the genius in 'em!) thus encouraging
>their withdrawl from the world of people instead of sending them out
>to collect tadpoles (or whatever, relatively few tadpole collection
>zones remain unpaved) and learn to enjoy life.
Thanks for setting yourself up as an example of the kind of person who
sounds off about autism without knowing a fucking thing about it. Very
selfless of you, I'm sure.
>It's unclear to me
>that autism is purely genetic as opposed to environmental, I suspect
>that both play a part.
Really.
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
Josh Hill
Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
--
Josh
"You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ By
1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ -- that hurts you. Backfires. So
you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff.
You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes,
and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things,
and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites."
- GOP Strategist Lee Atwater on the Republican Southern Strategy
Towse
"Asperger's" not "autistic." Different end of the spectrum.
Say, haven't we already had this discussion?
<http://google.com/group/misc.writing/browse_frm/thread/bd6d8fab05a6e894>
Towse
> Towse goes:
>
>> <http://www.jerobison.blogspot.com/>
>
>> author of look me in the eye: an aspergian book author writes about
>> books, Asperger's, autism, and life.
8<-------------------------- SNIP!
> I'll be honest, and state that I have serious misgivings about whether
> Mr. Robison is Asperger's at all, based on what I've read so far. I'll
> obviously look into it further, but I get a funny feeling from these
> people. The fact that his brother has written a book on a quite
> different subject within the family-abuse genre is a red flag. Some
> other details suggest a scam here.
>
> For anyone who thinks: why would a writer do such a thing, I have only
> two words: James Frey.
Interesting observation.
Kurt Ullman
Towse <se...@towse.com> wrote:
> "Asperger's" not "autistic." Different end of the spectrum.
>
> Say, haven't we already had this discussion?
>
> <http://google.com/group/misc.writing/browse_frm/thread/bd6d8fab05a6e894>
It is officially an autism-spectrum disorder, so as much as I hate to
say it, Alan is correct.
From the NI Mental Health.
"Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder, a group of conditions
that include autism and other disorders with similar symptoms, such as
problems with language and communication, and repetitive or restrictive
patterns of thoughts and behavior.
People with Asperger syndrome have autism-like problems in areas of
social interaction and communication, but have normal intelligence and
verbal skills. Asperger syndrome is usually thought to be the mildest
of the autism spectrum disorders.
Alan Hope
>Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
>Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
An offhand diagnosis will get you the offhand dismissal it deserves.
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
Josh Hill
>Josh Hill wrote:
>> Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
>> Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
>
>"Asperger's" not "autistic." Different end of the spectrum.
>
>Say, haven't we already had this discussion?
>
><http://google.com/group/misc.writing/browse_frm/thread/bd6d8fab05a6e894>
So we did, before I contracted Alzheimer's.
Say, whatever happened to Marg? And what were we talking about,
anyway?
Josh Hill
<usenet....@gmail.com> wrote:
>Josh Hill goes:
>
>>Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
>>Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
>
>An offhand diagnosis will get you the offhand dismissal it deserves.
Dude, you should know by now that my offhand is most people's MA.
Consider this description of Asperberger's:
"Persons with AS show marked deficiencies in social skills, have
difficulties with transitions or changes and prefer sameness. They
often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular
subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading
nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS
has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive
to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer
soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no
one else seems to hear or see. . . . "
If we use the list above as a template, we find that while by
preference a loner, Einstein was remarkably skilled socially, that he
displayed no fear whatsoever of transitions or changes, and that he
enjoyed variety and was delighted by travel to exotic locales. He had
no obsessive routines of which I'm aware: in fact, unworldly slob that
he was, he was the very antithesis of an Asperger's patient in that
regard.
Einstein was, of course, preoccupied with a particular subject,
physics, but he was interested in other fields as well: we know for
example that he considered becoming a mathematician, that he often
invoked the great philosophers, that he was concerned with politics
and advocated pacifism, and that he was an avid and gifted amateur
violinist. I've seen no evidence that Einstein had difficulty reading
nonverbal cues or determining proper body space, or that he was overly
sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights -- in fact, he was the
opposite, in that he was apt to tune out everything around him while
he focused on his work.
Einstein did like comfortable and presumably soft clothing (amen to
that), but I've read nothing about an unusual preference for certain
foods, and if he was bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to
hear or see I'm a monkey's uncle.
I could go on, but, dude, this is just plain stupid: Einstein no more
had Asperberger's than he had two heads. Indeed, apart from his
fondness for physics, he seems the very antithesis of every
descriptions of Asperberger's I've read.
It's perhaps harder to categorize Newton, but I recall nothing from
the biography or anecdotes I've read that is suggestive of
Asperberger's, as opposed to shyness and social inhibition.
Towse
> On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:44:23 -0700, Towse <se...@towse.com> wrote:
>
>> Josh Hill wrote:
>
>>> Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
>>> Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
>> "Asperger's" not "autistic." Different end of the spectrum.
>>
>> Say, haven't we already had this discussion?
>>
>> <http://google.com/group/misc.writing/browse_frm/thread/bd6d8fab05a6e894>
>
> So we did, before I contracted Alzheimer's.
>
> Say, whatever happened to Marg? And what were we talking about,
> anyway?
Marg is posting elsewhere.
What a weird world is out there in Usenut land. 'scuse me while I
shampoo my brain.
boots
Nah, I know dickall about anything, Hope. If I was stupid enough to
prance my ass into a shrink's office, he'd be scratching his head
trying to figure out whether to diagnose me as autistic or
schizophrenic and how much to charge me, and I'd be poking him with a
stick for grins because he's not really alive. Fucksake.
boots
It's much less distressing to just consider yourself nuts and get on
with what can be gotten on with.
boots
Josh Hill
Oh, the diagnosis doesn't matter: they've managed to come up with so
many conditions, each with an insurance code conveniently attached,
that they can be reimbursed for seeing anybody.
Knee jerk Republican who believes the Democrat is knee jerk disorder
Intoxicated parrot mimicry disease
Fishwife who doesn't know he's a fishwife disorder
Silly moustache beady eyes disorder
Wingnut named after peanut butter disease
YMCA "negro" insulting disease
Malicious hacker unicornian creative genius syndrome
Hypocritical lizard disease
Josh Hill
>Josh Hill wrote:
>> On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:44:23 -0700, Towse <se...@towse.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Josh Hill wrote:
>>
>>>> Offhand, I'd say that the appropriate diagnosis for someone who thinks
>>>> Newton and Einstein were autistic is fucking dumb.
>>> "Asperger's" not "autistic." Different end of the spectrum.
>>>
>>> Say, haven't we already had this discussion?
>>>
>>> <http://google.com/group/misc.writing/browse_frm/thread/bd6d8fab05a6e894>
>>
>> So we did, before I contracted Alzheimer's.
>>
>> Say, whatever happened to Marg? And what were we talking about,
>> anyway?
>
>Marg is posting elsewhere.
>
>What a weird world is out there in Usenut land. 'scuse me while I
>shampoo my brain.
Make sure to use the dandruff kind: wouldn't want little memories
landing on your shoulders.