Asperger's: The Engineer's Disease (PBS)
The PBS show Wired Science has a special on Asperger's
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/st ... sease.html
People with Asperger's generally just seem odd, not obviously impaired - which helps explain why it often goes undiagnosed. Those born with the condition tend not to understand facial expressions, body language and other nonverbal communications, and thus take statements literally, missing implied meanings and subtexts. They often lack empathy, blurting out truthful but unvarnished statements. And they typically fixate on very specific interests-anything from baseball stats to movies to .... (continued by linked page)
Thoughts?
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mmaestro
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Only one: I'll set my DVD-R.
OK, two: it sounds like it may actually be balanced, which would be a nice change, although I wonder if my instinctive dislike of Baron-Cohen's "extreme male brain" hypothesis may spoil it for me, given he's one of their experts.
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http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/st ... sease.html
People with Asperger's generally just seem odd, not obviously impaired - which helps explain why it often goes undiagnosed. Those born with the condition tend not to understand facial expressions, body language and other nonverbal communications, and thus take statements literally, missing implied meanings and subtexts. They often lack empathy, blurting out truthful but unvarnished statements. And they typically fixate on very specific interests-anything from baseball stats to movies to .... (continued by linked page)
Thoughts?
I think if (some) Aspies lived longer they'd see having Aspergers like having super powers. I know I appreciate having a more logical mind and being able to visualize complex systems and systematize things other people can't even begin to understand.
Wish I'd known this story was going to be part of episode beforehand, I didn't watch it.
Tried (2 different times) to use link-loading the PBS page caused my browser (Safari) to crash.
By the way, here's a recent lengthy gov't. report on employment and people with ASD's:
http://www.autism-info.org/2007_employm ... report.pdf
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Interesting comment from an HFA viewer:
True, true.
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I'm not sure. There was episode last Thursday (which was rerun Saturday night-I watched it this time), but I didn't see/hear the above linked story. Instead the episode I saw had feature on emotional-expression-reading software at MIT, with a few students w/ASD's trying out the program. Maybe the Asperger's & engineering profession story will be aired next week ???
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*"I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't."*
I never saw the program (yet), but the title is kinda misleading. And I think Newton is closer to Bipolar, but since he's dead and you don't have his brain there really is no way to verify any claims about the cause of his personality.
In any case, it does seem like its designed to have a positive outlook on the condition.
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Philosophy: A good way to demonstrate our ability to make stuff up.
Religion: A good way to demonstrate our ability to believe things that just aren't so.
My husband is AS and an Engineer.
My focus has been on the science of medicine since a very young age. Family and friends have called me "the walking medical book" for years. I also have AS.
Engineers are hot
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hartzofspace
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I've actually started to wince when reading such words as disorder, affliction, disease, etc. when they are used in connection with AS/HFA. It is only being viewed as such by those who do not have it. Those of us "afflicted" with it, may well see them as the ones with the affliction, when they spend so much time in useless gossip, teaching their autistic child to wave their hand, constantly doing things in herd, etc. It will be a great day when this whole spectrum is viewed as a necessary and important deviation from the "norm", instead of something lamentable that must be fixed, without further delay.
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