09-28-2016, 09:25 PM
(09-27-2016, 05:04 PM)taramarie Wrote:(09-27-2016, 04:41 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:(09-27-2016, 07:48 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Undiagnosed Asperger's messed up my personal life about as badly as alcoholism or drug addiction except for making me excessively cautious and perhaps self-righteous. I would have lived very differently and enjoyed a far richer life had I known about it. I might have made different choices in education and vocation.
I could have been a role model and not an example of how badly someone could waste talent. Today I am lonely, nearly broke, and stranded in a hick town in the rural Midwest. What I thought was individual eccentricity is simply expressions of a syndrome. I am now old enough that I have little to which to look forward except for an Afterlife or reincarnation in one of the most merciless of economic orders. I have cursed God for my plight instead of bad luck and the incompetence of others.
I have a conscience; I am not lazy; I have enough self-control to avoid problems that many 'healthy' people get into. I can be trusted with promises, with assets, with legitimate secrets, with the welfare of vulnerable people, and with safe use of hazardous equipment. I could have found life precious instead of nasty.
Yes, American capitalism since about 1980 has been perverse... but it still allows some opportunities for talented people who apply themselves well. I could have found a satisfying niche had I known that I had a problem, for I had the means of dealing with something that I understand all too late.
In my case Asperger's was no doubt diagnosed but not available until 1994. It was just considered autism, and the response was getting sent to two different boarding schools, the first of which I came to hate mightily toward the end. I was quite girl crazy for much of my formative years, and through adult life, although I did try to live as normally as I possibly could, very often women tended to be suspicious of me for reasons I found totally bewildering. Employment for folks with AS today is probably more dire than ever with all the penchant for political correctness. I did have some dating success during the freer, more swinging times I reached my formative years in, but dating itself is more problematic these days. More on this in later posts.
"very often women tended to be suspicious of me for reasons I found totally bewildering." With the culture that assumes all men want is sex ad nice guys are rare I am not surprised.
I don't think it's just that. Women tend to think we are creepy. I suspect it has to do with not being able to hide ogling the way neurotypical men are able to do.
(09-27-2016, 05:04 PM)taramarie Wrote: "Employment for folks with AS today is probably more dire than ever with all the penchant for political correctness." What has AS got to do with political correctness in the work force?
If he means office politics, it's just inability to interact with people the way neurotypicals expect, for example not saying things that are indirectly insulting to your boss. However, I've also been in plenty of workplaces where one will be ostracized for conservative political views.
Fortunately I'm a software engineer, and aspies seem to excel at that.