Aspies For Freedom

I love it!!!

Oh, difference definitely.  (I got into an "definition" argument on another forum the other night on this very question.)

Maybe you could send the cavalry and tell us the site, without the "http://www" would probarbly be the best.

Ah...no, but thanks.  This was a thread that needs to die.  And the perp conceded.

Difference, definitely.  I don't want or need to be 'cured'.

I saw the movie...basically, the nerds (guys) get the attractive girls because they are considerate in bed as contrasted to the jocky guys.

Richard--to answer your question, no...it really is a thread that needed to die.  The aspie part of it was a sidenote to a flame war between two people.

Yeah, I'm curious too.

It's a difference.

I'd say it depends on the individual. A lot of people have great problems that cannot be helped even with a very tolerant environment, but others cope a lot better once they've overcome the gretest difficulties (since it is a developmental issue, a lot is bound to improve anyhow).

I don't think it is fair to generalise either way, personally I don't mind it being called a disorder, as I don't attach any negative associations with the word (I know full well that some things in my brain do not function as they should, and don't see the point in calling it something pretty just to make it sound better). I know a lot of people do find it offensive, even though I can't understand the level of awareness/linguistic communication this seems to work on. I find the use of "disease" offensive because it is the wrong word to describe the syndrome (diseases are usually progressive or transmittable).

Syndrome fits it just fine, IMHO.

I have this really weird 'thing'.  In my personal life, I suffer very, very badly from executive dysfunction.  I can't keep track of my personal affairs, have problems keeping track of and paying bills, I can't make a budget and stick to it, I overspend, get into debt, I can't keep on top of and file paperwork in any logical order, all my bills and bank statements and so on are strewn across the bed in the spare and I keep looking at this ever growing mountain of paper and despairing and getting anxious and stressed out, and I don't even know where to begin sorting my personal affairs out.

But.

And this is the weird thing.

I have worked as an administrator and as a secretary and later as a PA.  And I have been very good at that.  I'm very good at following rules and conforming to systems that are already set up and in place at a place of work.  If there are files labelled, set ways of doing things, I really like that kind of order and I can really fit into it and function.  I can be quite organised, keep a track of appointments and correspondence...

So why can't I do this in my personal life.  I don't have any systems of dealing with things, and because I come across as quite bright and articulate, any time I try to get help from advice and support services, they make a flimsy attempt to support me, have a meeting with me and tell me they'll do something (like to resolve problems over rent or bills), and then they don't follow it up.  I think they feel that because I come across so well, I don't really need the help.  But I do.  I'm drowning in paperwork and bills and can't get any useful help at all.  Sometimes I think that I actually need a PA of my own to sort my life out.  But I can't afford to employ one.

But it's not the same, right? It's something I liked in Donna Williams' writing. Doing something for or as yourself, forget it... do it for or as someone else *Bingo*!

AS far as your own problems are concerned, are there ways you can stop yourself spending, such as giving someone your cards, someone who knows you well, and will ONLY give them to you when they understand you actually need the money?

i'm okay with either.  now call it a disease, then we have problems, as it seems like disease is the most popular connoation of autism today.

It's a subjective question that depends on the degree to which one is affected, the context, and the amount of suffering (if any) caused by the condition.

Do you mean it's a disorder because humans need to cooperate to survive, and not being able to cooperate is a disorder? With that I agree, but if you mean that *needing other people to survive* is a disorder then by that definition being human is a disorder, too.