Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Now I think I might have Aspergers

Not really, I only scored 11 out of 50 on the Austism spectrum, but I do have some traits (I know, don't we all).

  1. I fidget a lot. Moving my foot back and forth is a constant habit when my legs are crossed.
  2. I get completely absorbed in what I am doing and find it difficult and annoying to stop. Mostly this happens when I am reading or watching TV.
  3. When watching TV my head will tilt to the right and then move slightly forward. I am now locked in and hard to distract - even from lame commercials.
  4. It has taken me a long time to learn that everyone feels like me: an outsider with low self-esteem. Sometimes though, I still feel as if I am on the fringe of life, watching others live and interact with seamless ease.
  5. I sometimes have trouble with my expressions. There are times I know I should look sad, interested, etc. but my brain is having trouble getting the message to my muscles. I remember my parent's neighbor yelling at me when she reported a break in at their home. I was simply thinking, "Put on your 'everything is fine at our crazy house' facade" but she thought I was amused at their bad fortune. I do have to admit that sometimes it's just hard to hide the scorn I sometimes feel for people. Faking it is hard.
I just finished the book "Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Asperger's" by John Robinson. It is a good book, so I would highly recommend reading it. His brother is Augsten Burroughs, and if you haven't read any of his books, you are missing out my friend.

2 comments:

Jesse Mullan said...

A coworker is trying to get Asperger's called "the burgers," as in "sounds like that guy's got a case of the burgers."

I imagine that your issues with expressing emotions has more to do with your horrific childhood than any sort of general "condition."

MPLS Mama said...

Sir, I expect you are right.

It would be so much more fun though, to say, "I have a touch of the burgers" vs. "I grew up with crazy people."