First, a brief summary of the symptoms from wrongdiagnosis.com
- Impaired social interaction
- Clumsiness
- Uncoordinated motor movements
- Limited interests
- Unusual preoccupations
- Repetitive routines or rituals
- Speech and language peculiarities
- Non-verbal communication problems
- Word repetition
- Few facial expressions – apart from anger or misery
- Excellent rote memory
- Musical ability
- Intense focus on one or two subjects
- Being “in their own world”
- Preoccupied with their own agenda
- Lack of empathy
- Deviant verbal communication
- Deviant nonverbal communication
- Idiosyncratic attachment to inanimate objects
- Eccentric personality
- Socially unadapted personality
- Particular aptitude e.g. arithmetic
- Flat, cheerless demeanor
- Single-mindedness
- Social withdrawal
- Lack of interest in other people
- Poor coordination
There may be a reason why I’m so obsessed with technology, computers, and internet. I have Asperger’s Syndrome. I’ve been diagnosed with some form of it since I was about 6 years old. First diagnosis was PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) Later in my life – when I was 15 I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Let me tell you, It’s not fun for me to be around people, face to face, unless I know you. If I’m around people I don’t know, I get anxious, I stare at the floor, the ceiling or the wall. I move to a place that is secluded as possible. If you talk to me, I may not respond, either because I didn’t notice you talked to me or the fact I don’t like to respond. It feels “bad” that’s about the only way I can describe it. Eye contact can be described as “hell on earth”. Even if I know you, I still have trouble making eye contact with anyone. I have trouble following conversations, I’m overly sensitive to noise. I don’t “freak out” over noise, like some people with worse autism, but I think I’m annoyed by it more than others. I can never sleep if I’m on a schedule, I average 4-5 hours of sleep per night when I have to be on a schedule. I have no idea if that’s even related, because Asperger’s Syndrome says you stick to a schedule. Well, that’s true in a lot of ways. I don’t like doing anything out of routine, except for sleep. I “stim” more than others probably, everyone stims, but I do more most likely. I have obsessive compulsive problems, mainly when I’m working on something difficult.
Now, do I hate AS and want it removed? No. I don’t really look at it as a disorder. I look at it more as a personality trait. I don’t blame AS for me not being able to talk, I can talk if I want. All I need to do is work on it. All of these so called problems can be remedied by work. I never ever dwell on AS being my problem, that’s stupid. Been there, done that, all it does is lead to depression.
If I didn’t have AS I probably wouldn’t be the same person I am today. So, I NEVER EVER want a *cure*. Those with worse Autism could probably use a cure. Me, it’s very light and most people do not notice it.
There are quite a few variances in AS, not everyone is the same at all. I want to make that clear. Some have worse symptoms than others. Asperger’s Syndrome, in my opinion has been portrayed POORLY by the media.
Anyway, just felt like posting that today.. Little more background about me I suppose 
Wired made an article on it here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html It’s an interesting read, but I think it does a lot of generalizing about AS..
On a side note, I did some more optimization on the server – I noticed it was lagging still. I’m still playing with the config, so don’t be alarmed
