Aspergia, the dark side of Autism.

Before you start telling me I have no right to discriminate against people with this condition, I am diagnosed with it myself, and I this is not a discriminatory thread, so please don't turn it into one. I posted something about this on BTS, and someone suggested it might be of interest on ATS, so I thought I'd give it a bash, it's quite off the wall, so you'll have to bear with me.

I have met and talked to lots of others with it, and 99% of them are just the same as anyone else, with a few querky bits of course! I've heard the good old ass-burger joke so many times I seldom even hear it when it's said anymore, so lets get that bit over with, no fries with that please!

Anyway, over the past 5 or so years, a group of 'aspies' helped by the internet have formed a group known as 'aspergia' and 'aspergians'. Aspergia is first and formost a fictional place, a utopia simlar to Atlantis, where people with Aspergers came from and can live free from 'neurotypicals' (anyone not diagnosed with AS). This group, who rose from the ashes of this site: www.aspergia.com... which is now dead par some weird, rune like symbols (translation welcome if anyone knows what that says).

The main topic of discussion on this site was a 'island' utopia called 'Aspergia' where life would be fitted to suit those with Aspergers, completly cut off from the outside world. It was a mix between creating such a place, and ailing from one.


Some of the content of 'Aspergian' sites and writings, takes a very negative slant on 'neurotypicals', my husband to be is one, and that is like a mortal sin in 'Aspergia'! So I ceased to be a part of such talk, and left this site:www.aspiesforfreedom.com...
Which is pretty much the child of the Aspergia site.
One post I read once on another Autism site, stated that a place populated by NTs would be used as a place to send those banished from Aspergia.

What worries me is you have some of these people have become almost obsessed with the idea of a perfect 'aspergian' world, where 'aspies' are better than 'NT's' (what they call Neurotypicals).

They are starting to form a movement that believes people with Aspergers are a seperate nation, with their own rights & rules. Leading others to believe that having the diagnosis is a get out of jail free card, in more ways than one. It has the potential to become a very dangerous movement, consisting of socialy inept people believing they are a 'race' a nation, a seperate item from humanity.

How long will it be before they are setting off bombs on 'NT' people in the name of 'Aspergia'?

Another thing that scares me is they have cooked up a fantasy about how they came from an isolationist world, and they are aliens, that they are not like other humans etc. Another is that they came from Aspergia, a place simlar to Atlantis. The aspergia site was all about such a place, before it got closed down.

Doesn't this all sound a tad cult-like? The best part of it is, if someone wanted to create a cult, some people with Aspergers would be the PERFECT deciples. Some of them are so easily lead, right to the point if you played a few mind games with them, put a gun in their hand & told them to murder NTs, they probably would.

They think it is their right if they don't want to be a part of society, talk to people, interact etc, and to a point I suppose it is, but to them, it will be extreme.
People with Aspergers are NOT stupid, or dumb, or thick, or whatever some might think they are, a lot of us are highly intelligent people.

I have a few links just to show you what I'm getting at here:

www.wrongplanet.net... -talk on an Asperger's site about this 'Aspergia' and how it would be governed. Contains the statement about an 'NT' country being used as a place of banishment, thats their idea of a punishment for MANSLAUGHTER!

www.aspiesforfreedom.com... -more talk of this 'island'.

www.aspiesforfreedom.com...

I'm sorry if this is not considered serious enough for ATS, and I'm 99.9% sure nobody has posted about this issue/possible conspiracy before.

The aspies for freedom site also includes talk of something called ' The Autfinity Project' which is about creating an island for Autistics. A thread about it can be found here: www.aspiesforfreedom.com...

Also, can anyone shed any light on what the figure of 8 on it's side symbol means, something in the back of my head tells me it's something to do with infinity, but I'm probably wrong.

I hope you find it of some interest, otherwise I'll try better next time



[edit on 28-6-2010 by The Chez]

[edit on 28-6-2010 by The Chez]

Thanks good and informative.


I was pointed to Asperger just recently. I learned that some even say it is a gift.

Giving some savant like talents.
Even if it doesn't really take a look at yourself and then imagine someone with a normal defect like hate, anger or envy to the max. Would you trade ?

I really don't want to offend anyone and I do realize it must be, for some, terrible to have it, But would you feel the same if the people around you knew it and treated you normal, instead of maybe bullying or something.

So, if you consider this, people would act normal to you and you are given the respect everyone is supposed to get and give. Would Asperger make you so different from me.

Ask this to one of those Aspergia dwellers.

I was interested after someone told me it existed and I found in it a lot of trades common to aperger in myself. I do not have it but I don't think that I would be bothered having it.

The whole deal is IMO that "the outside world" treads them different. If this didn't happen... POOF... There goes Aspergia.

Have I explained myself clearly ? Cause I often fail to be clear.





[edit on 6/28/2010 by Sinter Klaas]

Thank you for the post.

You are correct that the figure 8 on its side is the mathematical symbol for infinity - which seems to be, in most cases, math shorthand for "I haven't a freakin' CLUE!"

Beyond that, my familiarity with the autism spectrum is almost non-existant, but I'm looking into it.

Thanks again.

I'll be honest with you.

I think it might be a giant hoax site made by people to make a joke of asspies (sorry, can't resist).

Reason being, you have two kinds of people with Asperger's; people with diagnosed Asperger's from a credible source, and people who read about Asperger's and as an attempt to justify and legitimize their failure in social settings, diagnose themselves.

The latter of those kinds of asspies are a hoot to mess with, I'll tell you what.

And honestly, this sounds so convoluted that I think it's set up to troll people. Call it my troll intuition. It's never failed me before and it's finally crafted.

Another possibility, if this isn't a troll...well it's some messed up people with Asperger's going insane online. Trust me, EVERY IMAGINABLE DEMOGRAPHIC has some nitwit making their demographic look bat# insane. This is going from fans of a specific sports team, to people with a certain sexual fetish, to well...asspies.


But either way, I think it is safe to say that you don't need to think too much about these sites. It's either a trap to troll people or it's the creation of people with more problems than just having Asperger's. Which really isn't a problem to begin with anyways.

Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
Thanks good and informative.


I was pointed to Asperger just recently. I learned that some even say it is a gift.

Giving some savant like talents.
Even if it doesn't really take a look at yourself and then imagine someone with a normal defect like hate, anger or envy to the max. Would you trade ?

I really don't want to offend anyone and I do realize it must be, for some, terrible to have it, But would you feel the same if the people around you knew it and treated you normal, instead of maybe bullying or something.

So, if you consider this, people would act normal to you and you are given the respect everyone is supposed to get and give. Would Asperger make you so different from me.

Ask this to one of those Aspergia dwellers.

I was interested after someone told me it existed and I found in it a lot of trades common to aperger in myself. I do not have it but I don't think that I would be bothered having it.

The whole deal is IMO that "the outside world" treads them different. If this didn't happen... POOF... There goes Aspergia.

Have I explained myself clearly ? Cause I often fail to be clear.





[edit on 6/28/2010 by Sinter Klaas]

I understand you, and I agree with these things too.

Originally posted by SpectreDC
I'll be honest with you.

I think it might be a giant hoax site made by people to make a joke of asspies (sorry, can't resist).

Reason being, you have two kinds of people with Asperger's; people with diagnosed Asperger's from a credible source, and people who read about Asperger's and as an attempt to justify and legitimize their failure in social settings, diagnose themselves.

The latter of those kinds of asspies are a hoot to mess with, I'll tell you what.

And honestly, this sounds so convoluted that I think it's set up to troll people. Call it my troll intuition. It's never failed me before and it's finally crafted.

Another possibility, if this isn't a troll...well it's some messed up people with Asperger's going insane online. Trust me, EVERY IMAGINABLE DEMOGRAPHIC has some nitwit making their demographic look bat# insane. This is going from fans of a specific sports team, to people with a certain sexual fetish, to well...asspies.


But either way, I think it is safe to say that you don't need to think too much about these sites. It's either a trap to troll people or it's the creation of people with more problems than just having Asperger's. Which really isn't a problem to begin with anyways.

While you could be right with the hoax, I have spent years in the company of people with Autusm, and I know how damn serious and obsessive they can be. Once they start on something, not even god could stop them finishing it.

It could also be they have comorbid bipolor disorder, which could account for these type of fantastical thoughts too.

Anyways, better drag my ass-burger to bed, I shall be back tomorrow to read more thoughts on this. Please don't hesitate to say if you need me to clarify something.

[edit on 28-6-2010 by The Chez]

Very interesting thread! My stepson has Aspergers - I raised him since age 9 (he's 19 now) I did the best I could, even being a mental health professional I have to admit Cody often had me just stumped! It was like trying to relate with an alien. Although not a behavior problem, his obsessing, rigid thinking and rituals were very hard to live with. I have a much easier time dealing with schizophrenics and bipolars at my job!

I could very easily see Cody getting sucked into this type of cult-like thinking, whether it's phony or not. He doesn't live with us anymore but I sure hope he doesn't run across those sites.

Originally posted by Rockerchic4God
Very interesting thread! My stepson has Aspergers - I raised him since age 9 (he's 19 now) I did the best I could, even being a mental health professional I have to admit Cody often had me just stumped! It was like trying to relate with an alien. Although not a behavior problem, his obsessing, rigid thinking and rituals were very hard to live with. I have a much easier time dealing with schizophrenics and bipolars at my job!

I could very easily see Cody getting sucked into this type of cult-like thinking, whether it's phony or not. He doesn't live with us anymore but I sure hope he doesn't run across those sites.

The Aspergia stuff somewhat reminds me of Scientology. The stuff about aliens and utopias etc. It would be so easy for someone WITHOUT Autism to jump on this bandwagon and start luring in the more impressionable people with it to join a cult like organisation, if you want to control the masses, then a mass of Autistic people would be your best bet. Once they are obsessed with it, then you have them. You wouldn't even need to spend time brainwashing them!

Getting them to commit a crime, commit suicide or hurt others would be very easy if you had them hooked on a 'cause'.

The Exeter bomber is a good example of such a phenomenon. He was a guy with Autism who was taken in my radical Islamists and blew up a resturaunt.

Info on him can be found here: news.bbc.co.uk...

news.bbc.co.uk...

I'm sorry but this is highly misinformed and very very wrong. The Aspergia thing ended a while ago. As for Aspiesforfreedom being its child incorrect they discussed asufinity for intellectual purpose they don't believe it some of the members are actually married or dating NT's the site is based around expectancy. It used to for a bit in years past have NT bashing but not regularly they changed and all your doing is providing false information about a good site. Also I am aspergers as well and probably the most paranoid in the world but I don't take kindly to BS mixed with truth. Aspergia was weird but Aspies for freedom is simple to combat the Eugenics organization Autism Speaks. How come you didn't do you research. Or did you just get kicked of Aspies for freedom and decided to toss it into the same group as Aspergia?

Making a claim like this requires sources of which you have none. You have a site that is defunct and a site that is actually trying to stop an Autism cure from killing us off. WHERE ARE YOUR SOURCES

Just found this thread whilst searching for the one where the guy was treating himself with zeolites...not sure why that got trashed but i guess it had it's reasons....

All i can say is good luck to any group of aspies that want to have their own island.

As my girlfriend says (mother of two kids with Asperger's), aspies can be totaly different in their ways, these will often conflict with other aspies.

One may like noise, one may find it very distressing. I know my girlfriends daughter finds the ways of another aspie annoying, despite being one herself.

So hows that going to work when you have an island filled with them?

When you have someone who has difficulty with empathy, and seeing things from other peoples point of view, you're going to have difficulty keeping the peace.

People with Aspergers can be the most lovable, endearing people on earth, but they can also be the most stubborn, self centred critters too. Thats talking from years of experience of sorting out the many difficulties an aspie can get into on a daily basis.

CX.

reply to post by CX


Aspies do not lack empathy at all, they just don't show ot as openly as others. Sorry, just had to throw that in.

I gotta say....WOW.

Who in their right mind hasn't wanted to be special and only surrounded by like minded individuals at some point in their life?

I have to agree that having different hardwiring for one's thought processes from the rest of "normal" society can make it difficult Out There.

( personal rant to follow - )

For instance:

I just came back from the local cafe. Every Thursday, the local mental health center will treat some of the higher functioning groups to a trip up there and coffee and I had totally forgotten today was Thursday.

All the associates up there complain about Thursdays, because the cafe is so full of "weird" people.

The barista on duty (who I've known for three years) jokingly asked if I had "just gotten off the bus". Some patrons not associated with the visiting group overheard this comment and the next thing I know, I'm being looked at in a whole new light - a combination of fear and disdain. As if I were contagious!

Being sized up and stared down by the Groups Caretaker as if I was some sort of basket-case runaway who needed to be rounded up, put in check and hauled off wasn't much fun either.

So it doesn't surprise me that these suffers of Aspergers/Autism are picking up on that type of treatment and just want to get the hell away from prejudiced "Normals".

Hell, I'd love an Island of Solitude myself.
More power to them!

reply to post by The Chez


My wife has said forever that I have Aspergers. . .. .
I just consider myself an excellent multi-tasker that doesn't like to be touched.

Peace my brother.

reply to post by The Chez


I am a diagnosed aspie. I think you have been fair in your assessment and critique of that aspect of those within the 'aspie' or 'on the spectrum' community that are angry and alienated to the point of creating a weird sort of mythos that validates them as better-than neurotypicals.

As far as a cult... Well... Until and unless they come up with a charismatic leader that everyone rallies around it's not (technically) a cult. However, there do seem to be some of the building blocks there in what you describe.

Having said that, I haven't been to this site, I will have to look into it; however, I have seen the same phenomenon on other 'On The Spectrum' oriented sites, although not to the same extent as what you are describing. It is disturbing even then though, but it tends to get shot down pretty quickly, and with alacrity. For this reason, I don't know if it will ever have quite the teeth as a social phenomenon as you fear, but it is possible.

I have certainly seen this manifest, but it does not seem to be the standard for the community in general. I do fear that people reading this may begin to categorize all people on the spectrum as angry, disillusioned and spouting the 'screw the human race' rhetoric. It isn't true, and I will repeat that what you are highlighting is definitely there, but it is (currently) a minority of the community in my experience.

Originally posted by bluemirage5
reply to post by CX

 

Aspies do not lack empathy at all, they just don't show ot as openly as others. Sorry, just had to throw that in.

Ok, they lack the ability to show it as openly as others. Some lack the ability to show it at all and will put themselves before others in even the most extreme situations.

Just one personal experience off the top of my head....

Mum: Just come home from the hospital, i have cancer. Will need to have chemo and radiotherapy.

Aspie daughter: Can we still go camping though?

Mum: Well, i'll be in the middle of my treatment then, i'll have no hair and i'll probably feel the cold pretty bad.

Aspie: That's ok, Argos are doing a sale on duvets!!!

So no empathy, or little or no ability to show it...same difference really when you think about it.

As "some" people with Asperger's grow up, they may learn to say the right thing, but it will be very much learnt behaviour, and they can still struggle to understand why they should be saying the right thing.

There are so many different types of Aspie though, and you can't stick them all in one group....or on one island.

A couple of years ago my girlfriend, her daughter and i were invited to attend the launch party of the National Autistic Awareness week that was going on nationaly (daughter was the cover photograph on the brochures for it). I've never met such a large and diverse group of Aspie's and their parents in my life. Every one was different in so many ways, yet so similar at the same time.

CX.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome when I was in Grade 5, I was told I would never play music, get a college degree, a high paying career, or move out of home. I am now 21 (will be 22 in feb.) and I play piano, guitar and sing all very well and have been a member of many prestigous choirs as a youth, I have a college degree in Agricultural Business as well as my first level of firefighting, ground search and rescue, pump operations and incident command, I have a successful career in Sales, and am engaged to the most wonderful woman in the world as well as I have not lived at home since graduating highschool 4 years ago. To those who say people that are effected by autism will never do anything great, shove it. JFK, Einstein, Mozart, and Bill Gates all are thought to have had, or do have Aspergers. And please, dont feel sorry for us, many of us on the lower end of the scale will do much greater things in life than the average person.