Grand Unified Theory of Autism-Social and language problems

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Possibly...wait for it... autism. XD (Or, using your phrasing, let's call it... "it", except it's not "your it", it's "my it".)

Martha Stewart is the leading "Miss Manners" that teaches everyone how to set their dining room table with her own special brand of table cloths and dinnerware, and she's known for being socially graceful. I thought she might've had some kind of international renown with her stock scandal, but I guess not.

Your "it", no my "it", huh. I think that just officially established you're somewhere on the spectrum.

(Thanks for the information about Martha Stewart, I had never heard of her before. And I shall head off to bed now so I can't continue to argue with you over your autism for the moment.)

In one post, you referred to your combination of adhd + autism and whatever relevant personality characteristics as "it" and I was referring to that and I thought you might remember. If that was far from a "neurotypical expectation", then I guess so!

[Actually, I do believe I've read of this symptom in the book Different Minds. The author mentions that someone with aspergers would have a tendency to reference conversations that happened "a long time ago" expecting that the listener would understand the reference. Oh, jeez, did I really just prove I'm somewhere on the spectrum? FML.]

No need to feel like you're arguing over something like this as it's quite silly, really. Or, well, I didn't mean it as a "serious argument", anyways.

Last edited by swbluto on 30 Oct 2011, 10:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.

She raised her hand: "Here I am."

I intuitively believe one (Sora) can estimate if it is really 'gotten' by an intuition/ vibe. The expectation that would follow would be predictions/or social imaginations... the full scope of "ToM." The real prima facie would be to find someone married with all the checks to gauge it.

Of course the argument laid against it would be "misdiagnoses."

But if such a condition exists, then ToM is a symptom of an ASD. Otherwise a partial expression is incomplete, however much, and ToM *incompleteness* would be "central" in an ASD.

Central to people who emphasize being social over so many other things, perhaps, but this is an emphasis that is constructed by people who tend to focus on autism as something that isolates autistic people from the rest of the world.

I find such claims difficult to accept and they seem nigh-impossible to prove. SBC's research in the 80s certainly didn't prove it, even if that's the conclusion he chose to take from what he found.

From the pragmatic corner:
The social aspect would be centering in on communication, as with a quick understanding to get things moving in a forward direction. Most important in the working world. If you don't get it, as in a dynamic atmosphere on any level, you get one upped or laid off at the drop of a hat when things slow. They need you right now.

This is toughy even for any NT.

Lol.

I created this thread as a theory to explain the "sense of self" oddity in the situation described in this thread: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf178476-0-15.html // The oddity is that *I* wanted to say something as if I were the friend she was talking to, and another NT passing by pointed out this would've been extremely awkward since I wasn't her friend.

However, it seems many people here with autism couldn't relate to this theory AT ALL. Which was interesting.

Anyway, it seems this oddity I noticed is actually quickly explained in this article: http://www.netplaces.com/schizophrenia/ ... otions.htm

"It is not unusual for people with schizophrenia to experience strange sensations concerning the relationship of their bodies — and sometimes their identities — to things and people in their surroundings"

And, various articles explain that schizophrenics have ToM impairments EXCEPT their particular ToM impairments make their social thinking "stranger" and "stranger" as opposed to absent or "weakly formed" in the case of autism. That is, schizophrenics still retain ToM abilities, but it's altered such that social cognition becomes rather weird/distorted as their sense of self becomes altered, diminished or the "lines" start to 'blur'.

So, this thread would probably be more aptly titled "Grand Unified Theory of Schizophrenia.". (Well, except it's not, but whatever.)

Last edited by swbluto on 03 Dec 2011, 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

From the personal experience corner:

I've found most workplaces to be overwhelming in terms of light (usually fluorescent) and noise. which is why no matter where I worked I always ended up retreating to the restroom as often as I could (and sometimes getting reprimanded for too many restroom breaks). You seem to approach autism from the assumption that the primary impairment is social, but before the social even starts I'm already impaired by the sensory environment. And this is a problem just about everywhere, working or not.

If you keep focusing on autism as a primarily social disorder you don't get it.

swbluto,

That's really interesting. I mean, sympathies if you've got prodromal schizophrenia. If you think that's a real possibility, it's definitely time to look for help.

Yep, I done not got it.

With these other issues, if possible, how would you believe the workplace should or could be laid out for you personally or others with sensory problems?

(I understood that 80 percent have this.)