http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4661402.stm

Ok.. This isn't really political news, but it doesn't really fit under any other topic, and well - it is an interesting article..

I don't know.. I consider myself as a highly analytical person.. I don't really have autism in my family, but I would recognize some 'extraordinary' traits in myself and in my near relatives..

I don't know, if this is the right place to open up, but I had some difficulties with the social interaction with people when I was young.. I have typically had difficulties in the fast social interactions and I'm typically terrible in just speaking 'stuff' ~ so with the small talk.. Also, normal human behaviour has remained a little mysterious in some occasions.. Also the love for details and the inability to distuinguish the normal chatting from the absolute claims of reality were all present..

These were all small flaws - but something the children of the same age weren't most forgiving about.. It left a slight trauma

But anyway.. About my family, my brother learned (or started) to talk after he was like 4 years old.. Otherwise he grew fine - popular, tall, athletic & stuff.. Also my father is slightly obsessed with details..

- BtD

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"Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
[George Orwell, 1984]
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
[George Orwell, 1984]

This would not be surprising. Autism is just an extreme end of the behavior spectrum, and us geeks are closer to that end than the other.

I was shy growing up, still am in some circumstances. I'm capable of tuning out *everything* around me and focusing on some interesting task for hours and hours -- forgetting to eat, sleep, whatever. My wife often complains that I live inside my head. Take those behaviors to an extreme, and you have autism.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

Another good reason why my fiancee and I should not have kids.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

A question for any of the people that feel that they are somewhat approaching the autistic behaviors:
Do you get irritated when you have to explain yourself?

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Tiger got to hunt, Bird got to fly, Man got to sit and wonder 'Why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, Bird got to land, Man got to tell himself he understand.
~Bokonon

Depends what you mean by "have to explain yourself." I used to get irritated when I was interrupted in the middle of a project. Now that I'm married with two small kids, such interruptions are par for the course. But it can still take a long time for my brain to fully disengage from the project, even if my body is doing something else.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

I know I can get pretty mean when someone disrupts me from what I'm doing. That's why I really hate working retail and hope to be able to escape it forever. There is nothing more irritating than working on a project and then having customers come in (despite the fact that I actually get more money dealing with customers).
I do get irritated explaining myself, but I think it has more to do with my memory getting flustered when under pressure than anything. But actually it is already known that people do not think rationally when irritated or under pressure and it is best to wait a bit before doing something under those conditions.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

He is extremely intelligent (though not very social) and his sons both had brain disorders. The youngest is a high functioning autistic, while the older boy had recurring brain tumors (and sadly died last year). This fellow, his brothers and their father are all very bright, yet none of them are overly social. One brother seldom speaks. He seems to exist in his own little world most of the time.

That's an interesting link. Thanks for posting it.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

There's a big difference between being autistic and just being an average sociopath, ya know.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."