For Brightly Burn: What is Asparagus?

[sincerely_helene]

I didn't want to hi jack your thread, but I am sincerely curious now... If you have posted the information already, could you please toss me a link?

 

[carsonshepherd]

Asparagus is a disgusting vegetable. Never speak of it again.



(and yeah bright, we are still waiting on your info thread.)

 

[BlackShanglan]

Asparagus is a disgusting vegetable. Never speak of it again.

Proof that Carson is right about nearly everything

 

[cantdog]

Right up there with artichokes.

And it's pronounced ass-burgers.

 

[Liar]

Aspargus vs Aspergers

 

[sincerely_helene]

Right up there with artichokes.

And it's pronounced ass-burgers.

Ass-burgers have nice buns.

 

[rgraham666]

If steamed nicely and served with melted butter, they are quite palatable.

Of course I like Brussel sprouts and spinach as well, so what do I know?

 

[Liar]

Right up there with artichokes.

And it's pronounced ass-burgers.

Don't make me hungry, man. It's almost bedtime over here.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Aspargus vs Aspergers

The post required an eye catching title.

How come people never roll their eyes at Shereads when she does it ?

 

[carsonshepherd]

If steamed nicely and served with melted butter, they are quite palatable.

Of course I like Brussel sprouts and spinach as well, so what do I know?

A lot, except for the thing about asparagus being palatable.

 

[impressive]

In spite of the funny name, it's a serious neurological condition that impairs one's ability to interact socially. People with Asperger's syndrome (which is part of the autism spectrum) also often have "splinter skills" -- areas in which they excel. These are sometimes practical, marketable skills and other times less useful sideshow type of stuff.

It is a very real disability, in spite of the fact that people may appear totally "normal."

Related, and often overlapping, disorders include ADHD, OCD, and bipolar.

 

[Liar]

How come people never roll their eyes at Shereads when she does it ?

Fear of her dog.

 

[cantdog]

Thank you, Liar. Now that we have hijacked this thing, The group has returned from Honduras, So I sent them a query. (Three of the addresses I had from a fortnight before the journey were no longer valid. The coolest was Doctito_Gomez-- what a great handle! But it has passed away, now, into oblivion.)

Lyell(not his name) wrote back, and I've redacted his reply. It seems the Honduras thing was a rouser. I'm gratified. It was a good team.

Hello, cantdog,


Honduras went so well, that I was sorry I didn't fly Continental out of San
Pedro Sula(even though the net cost would have been $220 more), rather than
returning to Belize City. The contrast was striking. The smiles that
greeted us at the airport by Gustavo, the Honduran MMI director and his
cousin Jorge, who is the health educator, were worth the trip.

We stayed in a large guest house, and were fed sumptuously, fine restaurant
style (I'm not kidding!). The Honduran coffee was great. The community
where we worked was peaceful, and the people who came down from the hills
were very poor. We worked hard in the clinic facility that we staffed, We
started at 8-8:30 and didn't finish until around 7 PM with about a 30 min
break for lunch. We saw some pretty ill people.


Given the opportunity, I'd love to go back to Honduras. Spending my last
night in Belize City before returning home, I was reminded that although
there are some fascinating things around the country of Belize, I think it
will be a while before I drum up the desire to go to experience them.

The Belize side of our trip was a litany of all the things not to do.
There seemed to be competing agendas in addition to the fact the somehow
MMI approved and listed the project knowing it did not have approval for
the project. I'm certain it will be taken up by the MMI board when it has
its annual meeting later this week. This whole thing
was clearly not the MMI style that I had known in my 13 previous projects.
There is obviously stuff that needs tidying up.

I'm glad you were on the trip, for the group's sake. I'm sorry that you
experienced only the frustration side of the trip. One can say it was a
learning experience, which I think it clearly was. I would have wished
that the learning could have been from 3rd world difficulties rather that
"first world" leadership foibles.

Lyell

 

[sincerely_helene]

In spite of the funny name, it's a serious neurological condition that impairs one's ability to interact socially. People with Asperger's syndrome (which is part of the autism spectrum) also often have "splinter skills" -- areas in which they excel. These are sometimes practical, marketable skills and other times less useful sideshow type of stuff.

It is a very real disability, in spite of the fact that people may appear totally "normal."

Related, and often overlapping, disorders include ADHD, OCD, and bipolar.

Thank you much, Impressive.
Upon reflection, I probably could have just googled.

 

[brightlyiburn]

Asparagus is a vegetable.

Aspergers (and yes, it is a horrible word to try to spell if you haven't been doing it for a lot of years. It's German, I believe) is a high functioning form of autism.
Autism itself has a spectrum, from people who struggle to put their clothes on themselves, to people with Aspergers or something similar, who you probably would not think are autistic until you've known them awhile.
It's basically this: at a young age, advanced brain growth kills off the cells meant to develop social skills. A child with Aspergers is likely very intelligent, but not very social. Sometimes it barely shows until something traumatic brings it out. For me, the problem was not too bad until my father commited suicide, but then it got worse.
Basic instinctual social abilities such as understanding body language, facial expression, and tone of voice are poor or even non-existent. Not only is it difficult for someone with Aspergers to understand those things, but also to express them.
To give you an example, I had the middle school experience from hell. I tried very hard to get along with the other kids, even though most of them struck me as immature and shallow. I wanted to get along. I figured that I wouldn't feel that they were immature or shallow if I got to know them better. What I didn't know is that, despite trying to hide it, what I really thought was coming through. For all I know, when I tried to speak with a friendly tone of voice, it could well have come out sounding nasty. At the time, I was not very good at recognizing it when something didn't come out of my mouth right. I didn't realize that the expression on my face was probably telling them far more than my words ever could. I had no ability to adopt a "social mask" as it were.
Out loud, I've gotten better at understanding tone of voice. I don't often mistake a genuine compliment as sarcasm anymore, but it's taken a lot of years and a lot of learning. I still have worlds of trouble with body language and facial expression.
My ex used to get annoyed at me if I wouldn't leave him alone when he was angry. He would say "Can't you tell by the look on my face that I'm angry?". The answer was no. The expression of anger should be pretty obvious, but it wasn't to me. I get myself into a lot of trouble, poking at people because I can't tell that they're annoyed at me and they won't come right out and say it.
I also have some odd ticks from it. There are days where I totally cease to function simply because breakfast didn't go the way I planned. I know it sounds ridiculous, but interruptions in my routine or sudden changes of plans can really freak me out. That is something seen on the lower functioning scale of autism. I'm not completely adverse to suprises or spontaneity, but feeling like I have the rug pulled out from underneath me can send me into fits.
Folks with Aspergers feel a distinct sensation of isolation. Recently, I've come to an understanding of this feeling that I didn't have before. When I say isolation, I don't mean that I feel lonely. In fact, much of the time I don't feel lonely. When I'm in my room alone, unaware of the rest of the world, I'm not lonely. I simply forget others exist. It's not intentional, it just sort of happens. That's a very scary feeling, knowing you completely forget that you're not alone in the universe.
It cuts off all emotions. On my own, I don't feel much of anything. If someone was to observe me by myself, they'd probably think I was a sociopath. However, when I interact with other people, I do get emotions. Lots of them, and on levels I find hard to deal with, because they don't come up naturally. It's sort of like that time when I was little, and I got pulled under by a wave. It happens so suddenly and it was absolutely terrifying. One moment, air, the next, water. And it's exhausting, too. I come home from school, from trying to keep myself in check when I interact with others, and most of my patience is already gone.
I'm sure a lot of people have gotten that feeling of being emotionally drained after dealing with a lot of people. I get that even if I was only around two or three people. Understanding my problem has made me ultra-aware of it, and I'm so busy being vigilant, making sure I don't mess up, that I wear myself out.
Which is why I can fly off the handle so easily or get upset. It isn't very hard to convince me of something. I've been in relationships with people who have treated me like shit. Logically, I know they were in the wrong, but it takes very little to send me into emotional confusion, wondering if it was me who was wrong. It's very easy to make me start questioning myself, and I think some of that is compounded by the fact that I struggle so much with social things. Having people blow up at me because they have a problem with me and don't tell me about it has made me unfortunately paranoid.
You see, it's usually a problem that can be easily fixed. But I don't always realize my behaviors. If I don't think my tone sounded offensive of whatever, I'm not going to think someone else does. But of course, I'm not a good judge of what sounds bad and what doesn't. Even in the written word, I can miss a good deal of the point simply because I have so little ability to pick up on social clues.
The thing is, I'm female. Now, before anyone gets offended, understand that I have never met nor heard of another female with Aspergers. So I can tell you what I feel and experience, but it's only one perception. Some things are relative. All Aspergers people have problems with social clues. How it effects them can differ widely.

I had not intended to say quite so much on the matter...

 

[brightlyiburn]

In spite of the funny name, it's a serious neurological condition that impairs one's ability to interact socially. People with Asperger's syndrome (which is part of the autism spectrum) also often have "splinter skills" -- areas in which they excel. These are sometimes practical, marketable skills and other times less useful sideshow type of stuff.

It is a very real disability, in spite of the fact that people may appear totally "normal."

Related, and often overlapping, disorders include ADHD, OCD, and bipolar.

You know, that summed it up much more nicely than all of my blathering.

 

[cloudy]

Related, and often overlapping, disorders include ADHD, OCD, and bipolar.

Despite having ADHD, I didn't know this....wow. So, is ADHD considered part of the spectrum of autism as well? It wouldn't seem like it would be, but then, I'm not a health professional, either.

 

[impressive]

You know, that summed it up much more nicely than all of my blathering.

Perhaps, but I learned a great deal from your post. There is nothing like the voice of experience. My experience is "only" from the perspective of a disability rights advocate.

 

[minsue]

You know, that summed it up much more nicely than all of my blathering.

I prefer blathering, though I usually call it babbling. Sounds nicer, somehow.

 

[impressive]

Despite having ADHD, I didn't know this....wow. So, is ADHD considered part of the spectrum of autism as well?

No, I don't believe it is. It is just a commonly co-occurring condition.

 

[rgraham666]

Hmm. That sounds a great deal like many of my problems.

I've often referred to myself as 'socially dyslexic'. Not only do i not understand what other people just 'know' but when the behaviour is explained to me, my reaction is .

I also have great difficulty with sudden changes of plans. And I often find myself overloaded when I'm around people. I have to run and hide.

I had better look into this.

 

[brightlyiburn]

Despite having ADHD, I didn't know this....wow. So, is ADHD considered part of the spectrum of autism as well? It wouldn't seem like it would be, but then, I'm not a health professional, either.

ADHD isn't on the autistic spectrum, but it's often a symptom of higher functioning forms of autism, including Aspergers.

Edited to add: I would not be in the least surprised to find that some of you can strongly relate to a lot of what I said. Many of you who are older were born in the age when you were either stupid or a troublemaker if you had a problem. So it's likely there are some undiagnosed cases of Aspergers here. If you don't know you have it, you do learn to adapt some, but if you, say, experienced a failed marriage and can't seem to get back into relationships, you may want to do some research.

 

[moonlight elf]

ADHD isn't on the autistic spectrum, but it's often a symptom of higher functioning forms of autism, including Aspergers.

Edited to add: I would not be in the least surprised to find that some of you can strongly relate to a lot of what I said. Many of you who are older were born in the age when you were either stupid or a troublemaker if you had a problem. So it's likely there are some undiagnosed cases of Aspergers here. If you don't know you have it, you do learn to adapt some, but if you, say, experienced a failed marriage and can't seem to get back into relationships, you may want to do some research.

Yes, that about right. I have to add that research is still not complete on any one of the disorders but today we have come a long way to understanding them better.

I'm a clinical psychology major and am currently doing an internship at the mental health hospital. I see many people came in who have had problems functioning socially and never knew why.

That said here is anoth bit of info differenciating Asperger's Disorder and 'High Functioning' (i.e. IQ > 70) Autism

In Asperger's it is believed(based on current data no proof yet so it is subject to change)
# onset is usually later
# outcome is usually more positive
# social and communication deficits are less severe
# circumscribed interests are more prominent
# verbal IQ is usually higher than performance IQ (in autism, the case is usually the reverse)
# clumsiness is more frequently seen
# family history is more frequently positive
# neurological disorders are less common

moonlight

 

[carsonshepherd]

How do you reconcile your Asbergers' with the emotional nuance you're able to put into your stories?

 

[cloudy]

ADHD isn't on the autistic spectrum, but it's often a symptom of higher functioning forms of autism, including Aspergers.

Edited to add: I would not be in the least surprised to find that some of you can strongly relate to a lot of what I said. Many of you who are older were born in the age when you were either stupid or a troublemaker if you had a problem. So it's likely there are some undiagnosed cases of Aspergers here. If you don't know you have it, you do learn to adapt some, but if you, say, experienced a failed marriage and can't seem to get back into relationships, you may want to do some research.

Most of the problems I've run into from ADHD have been job related. If I don't have a very good staff, that is aware of the way I function, projects won't get finished. I start things, but have a horrible time finishing them, simply because I can't. It's not being irresponsible, as some seem to think, it's simply that my mind is physically unable to focus on one thing for very long. Being aware of it helps, but only to a certain extent.

In relationships, the only thing I run into is folks bewildered from the conversational leaps I make from topic to topic (Ask Mat, she's seen it ).