Artist discovers his vocation after Asperger's diagnosis.

Thanx to andrewducker

Passing Aspies

Thanx to andrewducker

Boyfriends with Asperger's

Thanx to andrewducker

I am not now and never have been an Aspie. When I first read about Asperger's, I thought I might have it (but then I often try on mental illnesses I read about). nellorat, however, pointed out ways in which the label does not apply to me, and now that I am having my head examined on a weekly basis, I am even surer that I am not one.

But I sympathize. I am in favor of neurodiversity for the same reasons I favor sexual diversity: It makes the world more interesting, suppressing it leads to gratuitous pain, and I myself do not have an acceptable niche in the present system.

What I have in common with those labeled with Asperger's is something that is approximated by terms such as introversion and inner direction: I live in my mind and deal with consensus reality from there, rather than directly living in it. I believe that a lot of what is labeled autism, ADD/ADHD, social anxiety disorder, ODD, hypersensitivity, etc. has its roots in that orientation. I hope science will get better at mapping this area, and that I myself will get better at operating from it.

The sf/fannish community has always seemed particularly hospitable to my kind. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to subsume too much under the Asperger heading. Here is an excellent discussion of what Asperger's is and is not.

Thanx to truepenny

Aspergirl

Thanx to andrewducker

As may be obvious from my lj, I was very much influenced by Esquire's Dubious Achievements. Here's a serious version of one of their gag lines: Hire the handicapped; they'll work it out.

Thanx to andrewducker

Neurodiversity 101

Thanx to Geek Feminism

maiac's ever-useful This Day in History has informed me that today is Autistic Pride Day. I don't think Autism or even Asperger's is a particularly useful label for me, but I am sure I am somewhere on the spectrum, and that's a place I'm happy to be.

ETA: Useful resource for dealing with the problem