4 ms·

Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. Aspie pride is about as d

Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. Aspie pride is about as dumb as people in wheelchairs being "proud" of being born without functioning legs. And to Homo Sapiens the brain functions I lack is almost as important as walking ability. Asperger to me hasn't meant "a little quirky" like Sheldon Cooper. It has meant total inability to "get" other people and their intentions. Asperger may have made me an awesome developer but if there was a pill or treatment to cure it, I'd take it in a heartbeat. People calling Asperger their "superpower" is laughable.

rkk3 5y ago
> Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. So what you want people who aren't average to consider themselves inferior? I don't know why people wouldn't be able to find good things or positives from a disability. > People calling Asperger their "superpower" is laughable. Asperger's looks pretty over-represented in the richest people in the world. Dyslexia is also over-represented. Bill-Clinton, Obama, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison were all not raised by their biological fathers. Plenty of other examples. Adversity can be a super-power.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  Larry Ellison has an ASD diagnosis? TIL. The guy runs and breathes Oracle like a true psychopath. Then again, psychopaths and autistics can get along very well. As for your other point. You need to overcome or work around your weaknesses. Everyone has to do such, but for some it requires more (out of the box thinking) effort. For example, I have ASD and get disgusted by certain foods (smelling or seeing them). I explained this to my employer and colleagues when I got hired (they were aware I am autistic). What they do is they ask if it's OK if they buy/eat X (I don't wanna get into the specifics) and I ACK it (usually). They know if I look weird or go away what's going on.
  - selimthegrim 5y ago
    I think the point was Ellison was adopted, bracketing that with dyslexia, etc as an adversity. No one would ever accuse Bill Clinton of having autism.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    > Larry Ellison has an ASD diagnosis? TIL. Not to my knowledge, just was offering a counterpoint to the GP who seemed to think there are only negatives to adversity, like ASD. In that example "No benefits of [adversity]" Where the adversity of not being raised by your biological father might make you significantly more likely to be a billionaire or POTUS.
    - Fnoord 5y ago
      Thanks, I guess I missed some context. A billionaire, he is. A happy human being? A useful addition to society? I mean, all your examples have controversies but this one seems to stand out. Speaking of outliers: it lacks statistical analysis. I don't think anyone would argue a man not raised by their biological father cannot be successful (if we describe billionaire or POTUS as successful). Rather, what is the % of highly successful compared to men being raised by their biological father highly successful. We can at least apply statistical analysis on that, combined with a definition of successful (cause mine is guaranteed different because mine includes ethics and values it much higher than power or networth); we can't on autism because of undiagnosed people, while diagnosis also denotes some kind of impact or severity (incentive to become true positive). Ie. there are likely loads of people on the spectrum yet functioning (false negative). Then there's those who can't afford a diagnosis (false negative), and then there's the misdiagnosed (false positive/negative).
      - rkk3 5y ago
        > A billionaire, he is. A happy human being? A useful addition to society? haha. personally never really met any of them so can't really touch that : ) > I don't think anyone would argue a man not raised by their biological father cannot be successful Not only successful, but significantly more likely to be meteoriticy successful from the adversity. For other claims, sure the waters get muddy but the lack of ground truth is less relevant for the extreme success case. Aspies are wayyyy over represented in the top 10 richest people.
renewiltord 5y ago
People think “High-functioning Autism” means they’re savants… Some terminology choices can yield comical misinterpretations.
Fnoord 5y ago
Your comment comes across as condescending, full of assumptioms, and plain ignorant but I want to address them. Let me start with an analogy. Imagine the brain as a circle. That's the brain of a normal person (sometimes called normie in quich vocabulary). The brain of someome on the spectrum is oval instead. Society assumes all brains are circles, and is build around that. Does that make ovales useless? Only if you look at it from the myopic point of view of society assuming and requiring circles. You furthermore say 'Asperger to me means X'. Asperger was (DSM-V ditched it) a description of traits and the person with an Asperger's diagnosis checks some of these boxes, but everyone's different [1]. You zoomed in on one specific trait, but ignore the rest. I'll leave it to you to judge on what that says on your capability to assess Asperger traits. My father had MS. He ended up in a wheelchair, but he didn't start in one. MS is a disease, autism is a personality trait. You cannot cure the latter (they can't cure MS either, only stop the progression but that's specific to some diseases and perhaps one day the scientific community overcomes that hurdle). The brain size/shape is what it is which is why some people who are autistic insist in them being called autistic instead of them having autism. I try to be relaxed when it comes to language, but my wife (also diagnosed with) has a different take on matters. Since autism and Asperger's has its pros and cons, calling it solely a disability is myopic and, if extrapolated, outright condescending and flat out ignorant. Back about my wheelchair father, growing up with a father who is chronically ill and who tries to find peace around it gave me compassion and respect for disabled people, or those who are in need. Not only that, the old man was legally blind. His hearing though! He probably had undiagnosed autism, but he could hear details and draw conclusions from such which I could not. Because I was not trained in it as a blind person. People who call Asperger's their super power are just boasting they are able to benefit from their oval more than it harms them, or so they are trying to imply such. There's probably a context to such a situation, and perhaps an other reason it annoys you. [1] In a support group for people with ASD (after properly diagnosed) the diversity, hurdles, and benefits become clear. There's common grounds, but also so many differences! I have this with my wife who is diagnosed as well (^2)
- RivieraKid 5y ago
  Let's be honest, all of this is really motivated by empathy, the goal is to avoid thinking of people with ASD as "worse" than other people. The reality is that nobody would want their child be autistic. People with autism have an extremely high unemployment rate. So clearly, it's not a neutral personality trait. You don't get diagnosed with a personality trait. I say this despite suspecting that I could be on the spectrum. But I'm annoyed by the trend of bending reality just because it makes people feel better.
pxc 5y ago
> Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. I don't really like the whole 'ADHD is my superpower' line either. There are issues with the medicalization of neurodivergence, too, but nobody is obligated to feel like being neurodivergent is 'really a blessing' in their own case.

rkk3 5y ago

> Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. So what you want people who aren't average to consider themselves inferior? I don't know why people wouldn't be able to find good things or positives from a disability. > People calling Asperger their "superpower" is laughable. Asperger's looks pretty over-represented in the richest people in the world. Dyslexia is also over-represented. Bill-Clinton, Obama, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison were all not raised by their biological fathers. Plenty of other examples. Adversity can be a super-power.

Fnoord 5y ago
Larry Ellison has an ASD diagnosis? TIL. The guy runs and breathes Oracle like a true psychopath. Then again, psychopaths and autistics can get along very well. As for your other point. You need to overcome or work around your weaknesses. Everyone has to do such, but for some it requires more (out of the box thinking) effort. For example, I have ASD and get disgusted by certain foods (smelling or seeing them). I explained this to my employer and colleagues when I got hired (they were aware I am autistic). What they do is they ask if it's OK if they buy/eat X (I don't wanna get into the specifics) and I ACK it (usually). They know if I look weird or go away what's going on.
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  I think the point was Ellison was adopted, bracketing that with dyslexia, etc as an adversity. No one would ever accuse Bill Clinton of having autism.
- rkk3 5y ago
  > Larry Ellison has an ASD diagnosis? TIL. Not to my knowledge, just was offering a counterpoint to the GP who seemed to think there are only negatives to adversity, like ASD. In that example "No benefits of [adversity]" Where the adversity of not being raised by your biological father might make you significantly more likely to be a billionaire or POTUS.
  - Fnoord 5y ago
    Thanks, I guess I missed some context. A billionaire, he is. A happy human being? A useful addition to society? I mean, all your examples have controversies but this one seems to stand out. Speaking of outliers: it lacks statistical analysis. I don't think anyone would argue a man not raised by their biological father cannot be successful (if we describe billionaire or POTUS as successful). Rather, what is the % of highly successful compared to men being raised by their biological father highly successful. We can at least apply statistical analysis on that, combined with a definition of successful (cause mine is guaranteed different because mine includes ethics and values it much higher than power or networth); we can't on autism because of undiagnosed people, while diagnosis also denotes some kind of impact or severity (incentive to become true positive). Ie. there are likely loads of people on the spectrum yet functioning (false negative). Then there's those who can't afford a diagnosis (false negative), and then there's the misdiagnosed (false positive/negative).
    - rkk3 5y ago
      > A billionaire, he is. A happy human being? A useful addition to society? haha. personally never really met any of them so can't really touch that : ) > I don't think anyone would argue a man not raised by their biological father cannot be successful Not only successful, but significantly more likely to be meteoriticy successful from the adversity. For other claims, sure the waters get muddy but the lack of ground truth is less relevant for the extreme success case. Aspies are wayyyy over represented in the top 10 richest people.

renewiltord 5y ago

People think “High-functioning Autism” means they’re savants… Some terminology choices can yield comical misinterpretations.

Fnoord 5y ago

Your comment comes across as condescending, full of assumptioms, and plain ignorant but I want to address them. Let me start with an analogy. Imagine the brain as a circle. That's the brain of a normal person (sometimes called normie in quich vocabulary). The brain of someome on the spectrum is oval instead. Society assumes all brains are circles, and is build around that. Does that make ovales useless? Only if you look at it from the myopic point of view of society assuming and requiring circles. You furthermore say 'Asperger to me means X'. Asperger was (DSM-V ditched it) a description of traits and the person with an Asperger's diagnosis checks some of these boxes, but everyone's different [1]. You zoomed in on one specific trait, but ignore the rest. I'll leave it to you to judge on what that says on your capability to assess Asperger traits. My father had MS. He ended up in a wheelchair, but he didn't start in one. MS is a disease, autism is a personality trait. You cannot cure the latter (they can't cure MS either, only stop the progression but that's specific to some diseases and perhaps one day the scientific community overcomes that hurdle). The brain size/shape is what it is which is why some people who are autistic insist in them being called autistic instead of them having autism. I try to be relaxed when it comes to language, but my wife (also diagnosed with) has a different take on matters. Since autism and Asperger's has its pros and cons, calling it solely a disability is myopic and, if extrapolated, outright condescending and flat out ignorant. Back about my wheelchair father, growing up with a father who is chronically ill and who tries to find peace around it gave me compassion and respect for disabled people, or those who are in need. Not only that, the old man was legally blind. His hearing though! He probably had undiagnosed autism, but he could hear details and draw conclusions from such which I could not. Because I was not trained in it as a blind person. People who call Asperger's their super power are just boasting they are able to benefit from their oval more than it harms them, or so they are trying to imply such. There's probably a context to such a situation, and perhaps an other reason it annoys you. [1] In a support group for people with ASD (after properly diagnosed) the diversity, hurdles, and benefits become clear. There's common grounds, but also so many differences! I have this with my wife who is diagnosed as well (^2)

RivieraKid 5y ago
Let's be honest, all of this is really motivated by empathy, the goal is to avoid thinking of people with ASD as "worse" than other people. The reality is that nobody would want their child be autistic. People with autism have an extremely high unemployment rate. So clearly, it's not a neutral personality trait. You don't get diagnosed with a personality trait. I say this despite suspecting that I could be on the spectrum. But I'm annoyed by the trend of bending reality just because it makes people feel better.

pxc 5y ago

> Maybe it's different for people with AD(H)D than Asperger's, but I don't get it. There is nothing good with having a brain disability. I don't really like the whole 'ADHD is my superpower' line either. There are issues with the medicalization of neurodivergence, too, but nobody is obligated to feel like being neurodivergent is 'really a blessing' in their own case.