NOTE:
For preliminary reading, please see:
http://health.allrefer.com/health/Asperger's-syndrome-symptoms.html
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A couple of years ago, a concerned mother contacted me via my web site and asked if I had ever done any research into the connection between Asperger's Syndrome and vacuum cleaners. She has a child who had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and in researching her child's symptoms on-line, which included an intense obsession with vacuum cleaners, she found my vacuum cleaner web site.
I had never heard of this condition and knew nothing about it, so I kinda brushed her off. Especially since I resisted the idea that my fascination to vacuum cleaners may be due to a medical disorder. I wish now, in retrospect, that I hadn't done so -- and I don't have her email address any longer to get back in touch with her. Because from more information on this Syndrome, it appears I may indeed have a mild case of it.
Since the time that that lady contacted me, other references to Asperger's Syndrome have entered my consciousness from time to time, most recently within the ranks of the Vacuumland.org Forum. I won't go into all the details about that most recent reference; suffice it to say that it has come to my attention that at least one of us for sure has an acute manifestation of Asperger's Syndrome. And I suspect many more of us may have a mild form of it. As I said, I am beginning to wonder if indeed I myself may have a low-grade form of it, based on some of the very familiar symptoms.
Here are some of those symptoms -- all of which have been SPECIFICALLY cited in medical surveys of the syndrome -- and how they relate to me:
1 -- Very young children and toddlers with Asperger's Syndrome frequently are intensely fascinated with things that whirl, rotate or spin. For example, I found a specific example on a medical site reporting that these children will sometimes repeatedly spin the wheels of a vacuum cleaner with such persistence and concentration that they will not respond when called to -- they are solely and completely focused on their activity with the wheels.
(I have always been fascinated with things that "whirl, rotate and spin." I used to love to spin the brush of my Mama's Electrolux floor polisher attachment. I would set it on my lap upside down and just spin and spin and spin the revolving brush with my index finger, seeing how fast I could get it to spin. I would become so rapt in this activity that I would sit there doing it for an entire hour doing it while she taught a piano student. She soon learned that the polisher was the ideal baby-sitter for me, and gladly handed it to me before beginning a lesson! I also loved to watch the polisher in action for the same reason - deriving GREAT joy from seeing the spinning brush in action, especially when the lambs-wool pad was attached. I also loved to watch the spinning drum of a washing machine and the spinning brush of an upright vacuum cleaner. A washing machine drum was absolutely hypnotic!)
2 -- They can discern differences between different vacuum cleaner brands based on the motor sounds [another SPECIFIC citation].
(I have always been able to do this, even as a very small child. I can also tell when a vacuum is not functioning properly, e.g., bag is too full with a canister, or the agitator is not working in an upright etc etc etc.)
3 -- They often have a fascination with, or terror of, high-pitched sounds --- such as vacuum cleaners produce [yet another specific citation].
(I was fascinated with the high-pitched warble of Mama's Electrolux polisher, yet terrified of the roar of my Aunt Dabney's Kirby.)
4 -- Idiosyncratic interests are common and are often highly unusual. For example, they are often keenly fascinated with vacuum cleaners [probably relating to the other aspects of sound and motion]. They will often compile elaborate albums of photos and descriptions of vacuum cleaners that they snip from catalogs and brochures; they will know what kind of vacuum cleaner all their friends and neighbors have; and they will be drawn to vacuum cleaner displays in stores [still more SPECIFIC medical citations!]
5 -- Obsession with -- and uncanny ability to recall -- trivial and insignificant or very "old" details while unable to recall current matters.
(I can recall and recite every single design detail -- no matter how minute or insignificant -- for every variation of every model Electrolux from the Model V through the Model G. I can also remember my family's phone number from when we lived in Hampton, Virginia where we moved away in 1960 when I was four years old. At the same time, I sometimes can't recall my parents' current number even though I call them at least weekly and sometimes several times weekly. And I also have trouble remembering current commitments and engagements. If I don't keep a meticulous appointment book I am in deep doo-doo. I had written this poor short-term memory off to too many years of pot smoking in my youth, but now I wonder if it may indeed be that I may have a low-grade case of Asperger's Syndrome.)
6 -- Children with Asperger's Syndrome frequently love music and will spend hours listening to or making music. It is now believed that many of the great musical composers had Asperger's Syndrome.
(This certainly applies to me -- not only music in general, but also being able to spend long periods of time listening to and playing music. Sometimes I have gotten so caught up in playing the organ, piano or theremin that hours will pass by and I won't even be aware of it until something intrudes into my reverie and breaks the spell.)
7 -- Engaging in repetitive or compulsive behaviors such as frequent hand washing, a NEED to always do things in the same exact order every time, and an obsession with counting and numbers. [A related diagnosis of this particular disorder, in and of itself, is called "OCD" - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.]
(I don't do this anymore, but as a child I used to count my footsteps -- I knew exactly how many steps it was from the front door to the roadway; from my house to the mimeograph room in the church [speaking of things that spin!!]; from the front porch to the edge of the back yard; I always counted the number of steps in a stairway, etc. And most of you know of my 'fascination' with the number 137 --- but I will say, that number has manifested itself in so many ways -- woven into my being on so many levels -- that it goes go beyond mere 'obsession' into very deep spiritual and metaphysical realms. [See www.137.com/137])
8 -- Despite averaging a relatively low IQ score of 60, many Asperger's Syndrome sufferers possess a great memory for songs, an uncanny sense of rhythm, and great auditory acuity.
Well, this one doesn't apply to me as I do have an unusually high IQ. Not that it has ever done much for me, haha!
There are many other symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome, but these are some of the ones that relate to vacuum cleaners in general and to me in particular.
I wonder how many other vacuum cleaner collectors, having read this, may now wonder if they might also have Asperger's Syndrome in some form (mild, moderate, extreme, etc.) or another.
Just some food for thought as we all go about our vacuum-cleaner drenched existences.......
a VERY relevant topic, and a condition that is much more common than recognized. everyone should know about this condition, related to autism. one of my favorite coworkers has aspergers, and im sure more than a few here do too, and thats OKAY! *i* certainly fall into the obsessive category! there is no shame in being different. thanks for the thread, CR.
I fit into that profile perfectly as well! Every category, with the exception of OCD, which I'm not aware of suffering from - but all of the others...fascinating really, although as it's not something I've ever been officially diagnosed with, clearly it's not something which has affected my life adversely - unless you count the whole vacuum-obsession and the resulting ridicule from others as being adverse! I've had that since I was little, I'm used to it, and I couldn't care less!
I was interested in that video clip about Stan Kann I posted on here a while back about him saying he had always been fascinated by machines which move air, and the link between vacuum cleaners and the organ etc - as a child I was fascinated by fans, hand-dryers, extractor fans, hairdryers etc - in fact, anything that involved the mechanical movement of air!
I have always wondered if there was something slightly different about myself and this kind of puts things in perspective for me..
Ever since I was an infant, i can remember being facinated by my grandmothers Kirby DS 80 simply because of the size of the bag when inflated (this is something I still find intriguing about Kirbys to this day) I can remember who in my family, and what neighbors had what kind of vacuum. I have always also had an obsession with automatic car washes. There is just something about watching all of those huse brushes twirling around vehicles that facinates me but terrifies me at the same time. I am a very musical person, I played the drums for 6 years in school and I dj part time. I may not be able to memorize the words to a song after one or two listens, but the patterns of the percussions and rhythms I can. I can be in a dance club and know within the first two measures of the song who the artist is, what song it is, who remixed it, etc.. without even hearing any synthesizers or vocals, just percussion. I can virtually move to the rhythms on the dancefloor with people watching in awe because I know every rhythm pattern of that particular song. I can even remember addresses and phone numbers of friends and relatives from YEARS ago, even back when I was in kindergarten... things my parents and family have long forgotten...
It's an interesting subject and was discussed in length also on the Automatic Washer site as well where some of the members came clean about having it.
Post# 4037-11/15/2006-13:40 ||| RobGwisdala(Troy OH USA)
Hello
I have OCD/ADD. I am also very intelligent and have a photographic memory. I have been on meds for my OCD/ADD since 2003 and I am doing much better. I was in Special ED from 7th-12th grades too. I used to be a member of AutomaticWasher.org from 2001-2003 and also a very brief stint in 2006. Some members of AW.org was making fun of me having OCD/ADD and I retaliated by posting religious messages. That is how I got banned from AW.org the 1st time. I have learned my lesson. I also think I might have Asperger's Syndrome.
Rob Gwisdala
I have received an amazing outpouring of responses to my posting about Asperger's Syndrome.
This is an issue that seems to touch nearly all of us "appliance nuts" in one way or another. Here are a few of the more interesting and thought-provoking replies I have received, along with some excerpts from postings on another "appliance obsession" web site, automaticwasher.org. (To the uninitiated, yes, there are people running around who are avidly interested in - and who collect - washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, freezers, automatic dishwashers ... not to mention electric fans, floor polishers, blenders, mixers, toasters, vacuum cleaners.......!!!)
Anyway, here goes.......................
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This is fascinating! One of the "spinning" objects you didn't mention was the street sweeper, and how you used to run along with them when we lived on Leicester Terrace, sometimes causing me a moment of panic when I missed you from the yard. Is there a treatment for it, or is it like Autism, and you have to learn to live with it?
Probably when you were a little boy, this had not even been diagnosed -- not that I would have taken you to a doctor and said you were obsessed with vacuum cleaners or anything that rotated. If this is what it is, and it sure sounds like it, it explains a lot of things.
Love you, Mama
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Interesting. I read a couple of descriptions of this "syndrome" and I find it a very curious kind of thing. First of all it's described in the DSM - a book I find highly dubious in the first place. Inside are descriptions of "abnormal behaviors" collected into a committee-approved encyclopedia of disease. While I am certain that a small percentage of the behaviors therein described might fall into the category of actual disease, the thickness of the book itself and the vicious jihads accompanying each publication of the latest DSM absolutely scream of nasty academic competition for grant money, internecine wars of academic cliques, and of course outright fraud.
Though a "norm" is posited in the very existence of the wretched DSM, there is very dubious evidence that a norm exists outside discrete groups of humans bonded into tight cultural identities. Look at Muslim behavior for example. To us in the West, their fanaticism, their sociopathic bent for murder and adoration of martyrdom and suicide, the anthropomorphic traits of their god, their distorted notion of law, their hatred of anything not themselves would in an individual be accurately described as both degenerate and sociopathic. Describe this behavior in the DSM and you have a disease. Describe it in terms of total percentage of humanity afflicted and you have a religion. Who's nuts, then?
There also doesn't appear to be any actual disorder associated with lists of symptoms described by Asperger. Certainly nothing that seems to require "treatment" to alleviate discomfort of some sort. At worst this thing seems to describing discrete instances of imperfect socialization, minor manifestations of obsessive-compulsive behavior and discrete points on the outer legs of standard bell curves of human behaviors and talents. Nothing so grand as a syndrome. Asperger's "work" is utterly pointless, unless there is some secret thingie going on to screw the rest of us out of privilege and treasure under the guise of further Americans With Disabilities B.S. What is the intrinsic value of a weak confederation of observations made by some minor league academic living in Vienna in the 1940s?
Asperger's work also fails to describe a "disease" if you define disease as something that diminishes the quality of life. I'm missing the whole concept of "pain" here. To perpetrate this man's unsatisfying bit of Germanic taxonomy as something clinically real and worthy of attention seems little more than self-indulgence, an attempt to create yet another boring class of victim, and an anti-humanist attempt to separate oneself from the rest of mankind in order to achieve a status unwarranted by the endurance of genuine suffering. The papers I encountered on the Internet in reseaching this response do little more than demonstrate the desperation found in the ghastly overabundance of modern academics competing to eke out tenures and grants.
However, knowing you as I do, I am presuaded that this obsession with vacuum cleaners might in itself stand very much alone as a single presentation of a unique condition! Though I categorically reject the whole idiotic notion of Asperger Syndrome, I am perfectly content to accept your researches into the subject and therefore your positing of what I think should henceforth be called the Lester Abnormality.
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This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It is both insulting to intelligence and offensive. Another example of the medical establishment inventing another ailment in order to sell a cure. This practice is probably the most detrimental thing going on in society today, and should be stopped.
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What a dull world this would be if we were all "normal"?? - What ever that is!!
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I was unaware of the connection between Asperger's and a fascination with vacuum cleaners, but I do know a couple of people (both highly successful musicians) who have been diagnosed with the syndrome.
The vacuum cleaner obsession notwithstanding, your social skills are great and one of the main indicators that distinguishes Asperger's is an inability to interact with and relate to others. God knows that ain't YOU hunny!
Beware of attempting to diagnose yourself from anecdotal evidence gleaned from the internet. Offhand, knowing a couple of people officially diagnosed with Asperger's, I would say that although you may be eccentric (so is Mommy Dearest) and mildly obsessive (so is Mommy Dearest) you are far from the typical Asperger's case. You have never evidenced the curious detachment and distance that one senses with Asperger's people.
It is a mild form of autism and there is no such thing as an out-going, gregarious, warm, friendly, compassionate, genuinely caring person with Asperger's. Since you seem to possess all these qualities, and considerable social and communications skills as well, I would say that in spite of the fascination with vacuum cleaners, counting, numbers, etc. (which could be the result of a wide variety of things) you do not have Asperger's.
Now hunny, DON'T GET ME WRONG. This does not mean that you're NORMAL. You're not (thank God).
Frankly, I don't think the extraordinarily complex mix of things that make up Charles Richard can be explained by something as relatively simple as a medical diagnosis. It is possible that in order to make some sense of yourself, you may actually WANT to have A.S.
Heaven knows, you have struggled for years with various things in your life, and a label like "Asperger's" may make it easier for you to understand and accept yourself. Personally, I don't think it's quite that simple.
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I fit into that profile perfectly as well! Every category, with the exception of OCD, which I'm not aware of suffering from - but all of the others...fascinating really, although as it's not something I've ever been officially diagnosed with, clearly it's not something which has affected my life adversely - unless you count the whole vacuum-obsession and the resulting ridicule from others as being adverse! I've had that since I was little, I'm used to it, and I couldn't care less!
I was interested in that video clip about Stan Kann I posted on here a while back about him saying he had always been fascinated by machines which move air, and the link between vacuum cleaners and the organ etc - as a child I was fascinated by fans, hand-dryers, extractor fans, hairdryers etc - in fact, anything that involved the mechanical movement of air!
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Makes me wonder too.
I have always wondered if there was something slightly different about myself and this kind of puts things in perspective for me..
Ever since I was an infant, i can remember being facinated by my grandmothers Kirby DS 80 simply because of the size of the bag when inflated (this is something I still find intriguing about Kirbys to this day) I can remember who in my family, and what neighbors had what kind of vacuum. I have always also had an obsession with automatic car washes. There is just something about watching all of those huse brushes twirling around vehicles that facinates me but terrifies me at the same time.
I am a very musical person, I played the drums for 6 years in school and I dj part time. I may not be able to memorize the words to a song after one or two listens, but the patterns of the percussions and rhythms I can. I can be in a dance club and know within the first two measures of the song who the artist is, what song it is, who remixed it, etc.. without even hearing any synthesizers or vocals, just percussion. I can virtually move to the rhythms on the dancefloor with people watching in awe because I know every rhythm pattern of that particular song.
I can even remember addresses and phone numbers of friends and relatives from YEARS ago, even back when I was in kindergarten... things my parents and family have long forgotten...
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Even though I have not been officially diagnosed yet (would love to find out though; I don't view AS as anything negative), I am 99.9% positive I have Asperger's Syndrome as well as OCD, and I'm also sure the appliance obsession I've had since I was born came from this as well. I was extremely shy and had no desire in interacting with kids my age up until 1st grade, instead I played by myself and was perfectly content with it. Luckily I went to private school for the first 9 years of my life (first a Methodist pre-school, then Lutheran through 3rd grade), and while there were some bad times there, I actually had many friends that were a lot like me. I know I would NOT have survived public school for one day (especially in Houston) and would have been picked on/beaten up constantly.
I don't understand the whole "male dominance" thing that revolves around other guys I know, and for that reason I have absolutely NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in sports, not to mention what little sports we played in PE I sucked at. The downfall of that is that I live in a small town where you're not anybody unless you play sports.
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The interesting thing is that most of the symptoms of Asberger's and other syndromes mentioned here occur in the "unafflicted". That is, I can see such behaviors and traits in myself and others. But, I think it probably that it's the degree to which these traits are displayed and acted upon that makes the difference.
Me, I love neckrubs. Never have gotten enough of them. Now I have a couple of cats and they crave neckrubs (and ear massages) also. But they only receive them... never had a cat even try to reciprocate :-)
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We're not crazy.
Here are some useful generalities for mental or psychiatric illness: One or more of the following: Your mental state causes you much distress over a long period of time, for example chronic anxiety or depression. Your ability to take care of yourself is impaired, for example you can't feed or wash yourself regularly. Your behavior is a hazard to yourself or others, for example through substance abuse, recklessness or aggression. You have perceptual experiences that are internally generated but cannot distinguish these from external inputs (e.g. you're hallucinating and don't know it).
So, while AS may be a neurological divergence from the norms expressed in the mainstream culture, to my mind it doesn't qualify as an illness or disability unless it is accompanied by one of the above characteristics. And in those cases, the items above are the things that need treatment. BTW, anxiety and depression are highly treatable these days; and with regard to anxiety and overload, *occasional* *small* doses of a mild tranqulizer such as valium or its herbal equivalent, valerian root, are quite helpful.
Most of the geeks I know have some of the elements of AS. For me these include sensory overload particularly auditory, intense focus of interests, and a low tolerance for "small talk" and other forms of superficial interaction. However in some ways I'm too empathic; can't even handle violence in the media much less in person, and I can read peoples' emotions via subtleties in their tones of voice. Some people I've known in the geek universe have had serious difficulties processing emotional inputs, and other elements that more closely resemble the diagnostic criteria. In all of these cases we're talking about people who are clearly highly intelligent and capable in their fields.
What I find interesting is that many people who qualify for AS, are unusually honest, kind, caring for others, etc. If this particualar forum has an over-representation of AS, it also has much less nastiness and meanness than most of the places I hang out online.
If you're looking for something to worry about, read the criteria for adult antisocial personality disorder (sociopathy), and then read any reasonably objective biographical history of Karl Rove. Scary but true. I'd rather be surrounded by people who qualify for AS, than by people who qualify for what we may as well call Rove Syndrome.
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A final comment from me ...
What it is for me is a still-sometimes-gnawing desire to know why I have felt "different" all my life. From the time I entered the First Grade, I knew that there was something about me that not only made me feel "different," but it also made other people think the same of me. I was teased mercilessly as a child about being a "geek,", a "nerd," a "sissy" and a "fag" (back then, that was a generic term for anyone who is "not normal") and so on because I did not "fit in well" with the other children, and because I had this "weird thing" for vacuum cleaners and floor polishers.
And I certainly felt "different."
While all the other boys were off playing baseball, collecting stamps, talking about cars, and watching shoot-em-up Westerns on TV, I hated all kinds of sports except for the "girlie" ones like hopscotch and jump rope. Early on, I collected pictures and brochures about vacuum cleaners and floor polishers instead of cars and stamps. And my preferred fare on TV was "Dark Shadows" - the gothic soap opera about vampires, werewolves, ghosts and witches.
In the course of my early life, from teenage years until young adulthood, I traveled down some very long and very rocky roads while battling myself and my strange predilections and obsessions.
I ended up in some very dark places, fueled by drug and alcohol addiction, all of which eventually brought me into 12-step recovery groups. There, I was told that this feeling of being "different," "apart from," "different," actually stems from the acutely heightened egos that apparently all alcoholics suffer from --- we are convinced that we are so special and so different that there is no one else in the world like us or who would understand us.
This driving "feeling apart from" sensation, which has been somewhat affectionately termed "terminal uniqueness," coupled with a biological and spiritual "allergy" to alcohol, is apparently what causes some people to become alcoholics.
I have come to believe that there is some truth in this in my case -- certainly I have the propensity to abuse alcohol and cannot drink responsibly -- and I do unhesitatingly acknowledge that I have a very powerful ego.
But I am not completely convinced that the phenomenon of "terminal uniqueness" totally explains away the acute isolationism and self-hatred I felt even as a very little child. And it surely doesn't explain why, at 50 years old, I have a house full of vintage vacuum cleaners and floor polishers.
So, thus, still I search.......
All the while trying to keep some perspective on, and acceptance of, all this very heady stuff.
"God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
Lesters Abnormality sounds so harsh, I think you should just call it Lesters Lament LOL
I can relate to some of your childhood horrors but not all. I always had that feeling I was different and didn't quite fit in but I managed to most of the time. I became quite adept at a very early age to avoid situations that might call me out to everyone else while still being able to fake it. I never cared for sports especially rough ones like football etc. so I made up for that by taking up tennis and gymnastics at a very young age.That excused me many times from other "team sports" If I was cornered into playing softball I absolutely dreaded outfield because I figured I threw like a girl LOL so I would always try for 1st or 3rd base, that sort of thing.
I liked girl stuff but I also liked boy stuff too, especially cars, trains, machinery and appliances. Just had to be careful on the girl stuff LOL
What I have concluded after a good bit of research and reading and discussing Asperger's Syndrome with quite a few people from quite a few different walks of life is that, by and large, I think "Asperger's Syndrome" is a set of personality traits in search of a disease.
This is not to discount those who truly do suffer from the symptoms that comprise the most severe cases of the syndrome, but in too many cases it's simply a matter of people being diagnosed as having an "illness" simply because they are eccentric or a little bit quirky. I myself am quite guilty of rushing to self-diagnose myself along those lines, simply out of a desire to explain and understand my own eccentricities and quirks.
But that can turn into a big problem.
Certain segments of civilized society (quote-unquote) are only too ready to label every sort of "abnormal behavior" (ditto) as some sort of disease which must be diagnosed, treated, drugged and by all means eradicated. This kind of thinking can lead to some very dangerous ends. Have you heard of Eugenics? If not, read up on it and I think you'll be in for quite a shock as to where the kind of thinking can lead to that everyone who does not fit into a certain kind of mold has a "disease."
So just forget about it! Wholeheartedly enjoy your collecting and counting and vacuum cleaners -- and whatever odd little things you do -- and don't give it another thought. That's what I am going to do!
I am kind of with Tom Robbins who had one of his characters say that "...psychiatry has now reached the stage in its development that surgery was at when practiced by barbers."
If you actually buy what the American Psychiatric Association (or whatever it is called) is telling us, several hundred percent of the population is mentally ill. Welcome to the family.
If you want to know more about how psychiatric diagnoses such as Asperger's Syndrome fits into the evil of Eugenics (ethnic cleansing), read up the work of the man who "discovered" Asperger's Syndrome, Hans Asperger. See link below.
Asperger, born in Vienna, Austria, was a pediatrician and most probably (although I haven't found any clear evidence) a Nazi. Certainly he worked during the reign of the Nazis, and, being from Vienna, worked for the Nazi regime. And his discovery of the syndrome that bears his name was a byproduct of the study of mental patients interred in Nazi state hospitals.
If you read some of the postings on the web page appended below, you'll begin to see what I mean here about how Asperer's Syndrome fits into the picture of Eugenics.
Also, consider this excerpt from Wikipedia on the topic of the Holocaust:
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Disabled people
Several hundred thousand mentally and physically disabled people also were executed [during the Holocaust]. Following a eugenics policy, the Nazis believed that the disabled were a burden to society because they needed to be cared for by others, but first and foremost, the mentally and physically handicapped were considered an affront to Nazi notions of a society peopled by a perfect, superhuman Aryan race. Around 400,000 individuals were sterilized against their will for having mental deficiencies or illnesses deemed to be hereditary in nature. People with disabilities were among the first to be killed, and the United States Holocaust Memorial museum notes that the T-4 Euthanasia Program, established in 1939, became the "model" for future exterminations by the Nazi regime. The T-4 Program was established in order to maintain the "purity" of the so-called Aryan race by systematically killing children and adults born with physical deformities or suffering from mental illness. The controversy over the discovery of asperger's syndrome, a mild "high-functioning" form of autism was said to have originated from the neuro-behavioral study of mental patients in Nazi state hospitals, remains sketchy to most experts."
While no one today in the mainline medical community is suggesting euthanasia as a cure for Asperger's Syndrome -- or Autism, retardation or mental illness -- the drive by the psychiatric community to label every single whimsical quirk a person may have as a "syndrome" or "disorder," and thus come up with pharmaceuticals to "treat" these "disorders," makes one wonder what the actual motivation behind these diagnoses really is.
Well, enough of this topic I suppose. Especially since my propensity to obsess is starting to bubble to the surface. Better stop now before someone starts shaking a bottle of "mental pills" at me!!
"This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It is both insulting to intelligence and offensive. Another example of the medical establishment inventing another ailment in order to sell a cure. This practice is probably the most detrimental thing going on in society today, and should be stopped."
when learning about Aspergers, or any mental condition, its best to try not to judge. resist the urge to let your fears or prejudices inhibit your learning. if you close your mind, you cheat yourself.
was not made IN this forum but to me directly in an email. My reason for including it was to show the great variety of responses I received to my initial communication about Asperger's Syndrome.
I do not agree nor disagree with that posting or for that matter with any of them. I do not know enough about the Syndrome -- nor am I a trained mental health professional -- to make any judgment at all about it.
The safest and best way to proceed is this -- if someone thinks that they may have Asperger's Syndrome, or some other type of mental health issue, then they should see a qualified expert about it and not attempt to self-diagnose.
And for those who have an interest in the subject and wish to explore it further, there is a vast storehouse of information available about it. The problem with researching any topic on the Internet is the great amount of crap one has to wade through. Self-appointed experts in every field you can think of do not hesitate to "set up shop" on line and pass off their uninformed opinions (frequently deliberately deceptive) as facts.
...it's not unusual for students to go through a neurotic period of self-over-diagnosing when first confronted with lists of diagnostic criteria in a pathology book or, in this case, the DSM-IV, and recognizing (isolated) examples of fulfillment of multiple items on the list, whereupon s/he panics at the realization of the "diagnosis". This thread is an example of that process. Don't, however, be hasty or sophomoric diagnosticians, lest we have have to change the name of this club to reflect the new diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome on the part of the entire membership on the basis of its (1)keen interest in, and (2)encyclopedic knowledge of, an unusual object that (3)has spinning parts. Uh-oh.
I take marked exception to the statement I quoted above, which insinuates that "medical establishment" confabulated Asperger's syndrome. Ask any parent of such a patient if the condition does not exist. That accusation is ignorant and its originator should hereby consider himself censured.