Written very late last nght... I've edited this version a bit because I realized I had a couple of paragraphs in the wrong order, whoops. It was in response to a comment in a mainstream techie discussion forum; the subject was the idea of mental hospitals hiring people that can speak Klingon in order to communicate with patients that for one reason or another are refusing to interact in English. The quoted text is what I was responding to.
"Sounds like they're stooping to the (crazy) patients' level rather than helping them."
I think it's very sad that on a site dedicated to "nerds" the people are this intolerant. My guess is that the majority of Trek fans in mental hospitals actually have Asperger's Syndrome -- also known as Geek Syndrome -- which in its more autistic forms is responded to inappropriately as a psychiatric disorder rather than an alternate beneficial neurology. I know a lot of genius-IQ, totally rational Aspies that have been locked up over things totally common to people with the syndrome. :^P
Either way, what I have to say is:
I've had long term relationships with two guys as an adult. The Trekkie sysadmin with Asperger's Syndrome has never been able to get a girlfriend but is the kindest, most intelligent, ethical human being I've ever met. He has had to hide what he's really like (he *does* look insane if he is not faking normalcy) around everyone else, but he is very rational and I love him as he is. Most of the others I know with Asperger's are the same -- kind geniuses that just function very differently from "average" people.
My best friend is also an Asperger's Trekkie with a genius IQ and is extremely kind/ethical. Not coincidentally, he's also a top PhD. candidate in history at one of the toughest universities in the world. The guy might not make eye contact, he might be high-anxiety and need to constantly be moving, but he's a wonderful human being.
My "average" boyfriend, on the other hand, was a rabid anime fan that viewed women as slaves and sex objects. He had no tolerance for my preferences whenever they deviated from what he saw as "normal" and in general was a creep.
Being kind, ethical, honest, and extremely intelligent are all characteristics common to people with Asperger's. They're NOT ones that we tend to find as "common" to neurotypicals.
I'll choose an Asperger's Trekkie as a partner or best friend over a "normal" guy any day of the week. Anyone that assumes "normal" people are inherently better and that "abnormal" means that a person needs to be abused into conformity ought to read this essay:
http://www.autistics.org/library/want.html
The last laugh is on the mainstream techie discussion forum for swallowing an urban legend.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/5/11/7032/18347
Posted by: Sparrow on May 22, 2003 05:50 PMhello, i am an asperger's syndrome affected guy.
I do not fully understand what you meet by "average anime guy". I love anime. I have also made many good friend through something considered deeply antisocial. Antisocial people often join cliques with other antisocial people. I view my distance from the world like a virgin wait to lose virginity. Instead of laying all of my cards on the table, i wait for my fantasies to come true, crazy but perhaps i am ready for a fantasy world to envelope me and take me under it's wing. impossible and a dilema, but it is who i am. I would rather be view as a mysterious savant wait for an answer from some far off plane that just another freak geek.
er..... i haven't read that post in a while.
dang it was kind of hen(weird). gomen(sorry about that). I rambled on for no reason. geez...... oh well bye. hope no one reads this stuff. (>.<)
