Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: JDC on June 16, 2011, 05:09:38 PM
-
So I had a dyslexia test a few months ago and the woman was talking about autism and I just found an online autism test by accident so I tried it. I got a score that is "much higher than average" :(
I might look a bit more into it; has anyone here got any experiences of autism they would be willing to share?
-
i have worked with many mild autistics - mostly asperger's kids.
the symptoms always vary massively, but when you are familiar with them you do start to notice how many people would probably get diagnosed with asperger's if they went through school again and i reckon many men who regularly frequent online forums about specific topics would score highly ;)
including myself in that, i sometimes take things too literally, misread social situations and get obsessed with certain topic's (a useful symptom for people like Einstein)
some say they lack a sense of humour, but i have often found its just different. May not understand when people are taking the piss out of them, but when they learn to recognise their literal translation of situations is different to other peoples it can lead to great observational comedy (usually in their teenage years)... ever had a laugh out loud moment from a comedian pointing out something so obvious you take for granted everyday... its that kind of humour. only funny when they start to realise what's going no, which is why it pays to speak to them about their condition and interpretations - but we could all do with that sometimes
the key is to remember is that its a scale we are all on - severe autism at one end and 'normal behaviour' the other - very few people are at either extreme,
...
i am also dyspraxic - which actually was picked up when i was at school, they were on the ball with that one. most of these things are relatively new, and possibly over diagnosed because of it
-
i reckon many men who regularly frequent online forums about specific topics would score highly ;)
I'm sure that would apply to me. :lol:
But I'm not going to find out, I'm quite happy to remain in ignorance.
-
Autistic people make good guitar players.
There's nobody on this planet that's a full shilling, we all have something wrong with our personalities, if we took the boffins seriously we would all be inmates in asylums by now.
Half these quacks would't know normal from the rear end of their backsides.
One day it's safe and healthy to eat Broccoli the next day it's not, waffle waffle, on and on ect.
Variety is part of our human condition, it's Good.
EDIT: Somehow I don't think I've phrased something correctly in the above paragraphs.
But who gives a sh1t
-
My mate works in a music college with kids with Aspergers. I met a few of them at gigs and they have all seemed pretty normal, certainly much more normal than many of my own mates. But I think in certain situations they just struggle to cope where most non AS folks would brush things aside. It's certainly not an inteligence thing but just some social situations are too much. Perhaps they don't know when to laugh if somebody is taking the p!ss, taking things too literal and possibly not being able to empathise with other people.
If you think of all the aspects that make up a personality like a big graphic equaliser, somebody with Asperger's may have the sliders up in 9 of the bands making them very capable and clever but one of the bands is completely off; and when that frequency is required the wheels fall off.....
-
I got a 39 on this one. The internet says I'm weird. Damn. Well, now that my whole life has changed.......
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html
-
It's worth bearing in mind that Autism and Aspergers are different - it's not like Aspergers is just a milder form of Autism - its on what's referred to as the Autistic Spectrum, but the two are quite distinct.
-
JcksonRR, so the net says your weird, welcome to the rest of the world.
Went on that site you mentioned didn't do the test, for it reminded me of a very similar looking test that I did for the Church of Scientology.
I only agreed to do the test because the woman conducting it was drop dead fit. Anyway I do's this test, and this young dark haired beauty starts going on that I should join up with their cult, because in her opinion I was in mortal danger of committing suicide within the next year or so, well I could't coax a shag out of her so I refused her kind offer of membership. And here I still am.
Now if she would have dropped her trollies lay down spread em and said to me " If you join us you can take it " That would have been a totally different story.
-
I think I will still take this new found information and add it to a list of excuses for not being as conversational as others would like. Just hope my girl doesn't see this commercial and call me out. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxC9-PJfyKo&feature=related
-
Er, I scored 36 :o (no real surprise though)
Mebbe not as crazy as Jackson, but still... :lol:
EDIT: My missus scored 9 :roll:
-
I've got both of you beat... I got 40 :oops:
-
Anyone else thought it strange there was no middle option on the questions? Quite a few a I was "neither agree nor disagree". I assume they tried it and it didn't give them the results they wanted... :lol:
-
OK, I gave it a go.... 26.
I'm not as weird as I thought. Thank $%&# for that. One less thing to worry about.
I agree with Andy about the "neither agree nor disagree" option - most of my answers hovered around "slightly agree" or "slightly disagree", so the results might've been quite different if I'd swung one way rather than the other.
-
I got 16 - I must be part of the control group!
-
27
-
Do I sound like I need a test to ascertain I'm potty.
-
Do I sound like I need a test to ascertain I'm potty.
:lol:
Didn't score high enough to qualify as a true "troubled artist" then shob? :lol: :wink:
-
36... only one short of a 6pack :lol:
-
Not sure if this is good or bad but I scored 6.....
-
Well, I got 14.
-
Not sure whether I ought to post this...
...oh wot the hell! :lol:
Not sure if this is good or bad but I scored 6.....
When me and my missus did the test at the weekend, we came to the conclusion (roughly at the same time I posted our scores) that it was the difference between a musician or not. This was based more on her musical ability and trying to make me feel better rather than anything else...
But we reckoned the nominal "musician pass mark" must be about 25. Of course, after that, the posts coming in had a certain amusement factor that I now feel honour-bound to share with my good friends on here...
So (not that it's a competition or anything) Philly, you just squeak in there, old chap - we want to hear a lot less of this "I'm not very good" whining from you in future.
And some of you seem to be even better than me! :o Er, well done, I think... (b@stards!) :shock:
But the rest of you, with your pitiable low numbers...
PDT_038
L-O-S-E-R-S!!!
:lol: :wink:
-
But we reckoned the nominal "musician pass mark" must be about 25. Of course, after that, the posts coming in had a certain amusement factor that I now feel honour-bound to share with my good friends on here...
So (not that it's a competition or anything) Philly, you just squeak in there, old chap - we want to hear a lot less of this "I'm not very good" whining from you in future.
I was about to chirp up as soon as I saw your "pass mark" - then I saw my name in the next line! :lol:
Oh well, I guess just scr@ping it is the best way to pass an exam - you haven't wasted energy getting excess marks you didn't really need. :wink:
-
But the rest of you, with your pitiable low numbers...
PDT_038
L-O-S-E-R-S!!!
:lol: :wink:
I already know that I am sh!t. It's just not helpful to have someone ram it down your throat in such a manner!
-
I already know that I am sh!t. It's just not helpful to have someone ram it down your throat in such a manner!
At least you're obviously a better musician than my missus!
"The numbers cannot lie..." :lol:
-
Cheers guys, that test is same as the one I did but on a different site, I got 36 although I think a younger me would have done much worse
-
Ah, if that's the very test - you're in good company, I got 36 as well. (Ken got 40! bless him)
I dunno, it worried me momentarily, so I got my missus to do it. She got 9, and then wanted to know what I'd got. I was a bit sheepish, but she just fell about laughing saying "I thought you would, I took a bit longer because I was imagining how you'd answer at the same time..."
-
Actually, are you still worried? If so - sorry if I was being a bit too light hearted.
I don't think I'd actual trust any self-diagnosis using the internet myself. Eg, when the bird-flu scare was on, I felt a bit ill, so I did the NHS online test - it said "Call an ambulance"! (I had a bad cold).
Maybe ask your doc about it..
Even before I scored 36 on this test, I wouldn't be surprised if I had vague autistic traits if I was checked out properly - I also suspect I might score quite high on bi-polar stuff - but on the other hand I'm nearly 50 and I've survived so far (as have those around me, or most of them have!).
I don't know a great deal about it, but from what I do know and what Wez has said, I think it's something you have rather than something that develops suddenly out of nowehere.
-
I dunno, it worried me momentarily, so I got my missus to do it. She got 9, and then wanted to know what I'd got. I was a bit sheepish, but she just fell about laughing saying "I thought you would, I took a bit longer because I was imagining how you'd answer at the same time..."
Look at it another way, Andy, at least you've got a missus. That must be a positive sign that you're capable of interacting with (some of) humanity. :lol:
-
I got 13, so I don't think I'm mental (not in that way anyway)
-
I dunno, it worried me momentarily, so I got my missus to do it. She got 9, and then wanted to know what I'd got. I was a bit sheepish, but she just fell about laughing saying "I thought you would, I took a bit longer because I was imagining how you'd answer at the same time..."
Look at it another way, Andy, at least you've got a missus. That must be a positive sign that you're capable of interacting with (some of) humanity. :lol:
There is another side to it when I come across something like a 36 on this test, though - I find myself wondering "exactly how much is she putting up with without complaining?"
The last one suddenly cracked and left with the kids - and it came as a bit of a surprise. So it is just conceivable that I have issues that manifest themselves as issues for others rather than me!
:lol:
-
Talkin of nutters, there was this guy at a place I used to work at, if you whistled a tune or any uttered sort of whistle,
he'd walk straight up to your face and go "You takin the piss eh? Wanna step outside and sort it out" Apart from that he was a really good bloke to get along with.
In my opinion he was either a right proper fruit n nut job or normal with an evil distorted sense of humor, nobody ever took him up on the offer of stepping out side for as well as being mad he was also built like a barn door n ugly with it.
Talk about NOT whistling while you work.
-
I dunno, it worried me momentarily, so I got my missus to do it. She got 9, and then wanted to know what I'd got. I was a bit sheepish, but she just fell about laughing saying "I thought you would, I took a bit longer because I was imagining how you'd answer at the same time..."
Look at it another way, Andy, at least you've got a missus. That must be a positive sign that you're capable of interacting with (some of) humanity. :lol:
Having a missus also increases his life expectancy by 5 years which is about the same increase as my health obsessive way of living.
When I originally did the test I was rather worried at first, I also want every advantage possible when I start my degree as part of my super duper life plan of awesomely awesome awesomeness
-
Having a missus also increases his life expectancy by 5 years
My ex tried to put a machete through my head, bless her. She was well into her weapons.
And I'm not talking about a petite dainty woman here she was the sort that knocks blokes out.
Took after her dad who was a local hardman and sort of unofficial bouncer at the pub where he drank. If you want pay
your dues and learn to play the blues for real shack up with ball breaking Redhead one way of becoming a better
guitar player, if you survive.
-
I got 14. I'd put very little faith in it, I'd imagine Baron-Cohen who devised it would say himself it's only really meaningful if conducted with a psychologist and under the correct conditions.
A good friend of mine is autistic and my cousin has asbergers. The former gets on well enough, studying a PhD and is managing to do the lectures he has to give. Does have some anxiety problems as a result of his discomfort with large groups of people and stuff, but manages to go to the occasional gig and festival provided he can get home easily and has a good friend with him. Often has to ask if he's offended you if you don't respond to an email or text or whatever for a while but just needs reassuring. Good lad.
My little cousin is still a bit young to really know how he'll get on later in life, but going to a special school made a world of difference. He's not keen on big groups and doesn't like people laughing but so long as he can sit and read or watch pixar films he's perfectly cheerful. Just prefers to do it in the company of one person rather than a group.
-
I gave in finally did the test 25.
A better way of assessment would be to do the test 3 times and take the average ( then again it may not :roll: )
Ether way that test has just got to be fake or to be done for amusement only
-
Well it's been compiled by Simon Baron-Cohen who's one of the worlds foremost psychologists regarding the autistic spectrum.
If you score much differently over time it simply means the test doesn't work, however, taking an average is meaningless. For it to be considered reliable you should score the same (or very nearly the same) when retaking the test even over large periods of time.
-
OK, now you're worrying me nfe - this could be me:
Does have some anxiety problems as a result of his discomfort with large groups of people and stuff, but manages to go to the occasional gig and festival provided he can get home easily and has a good friend with him. Often has to ask if he's offended you if you don't respond to an email or text or whatever for a while but just needs reassuring. Good lad.
Apart from the "Good lad" bit mebbe :lol:
But it didn't kick in until I was in my early thirties. Or at least I don't remember having problems of this nature before then. But I didn't think autism was something you "developed" later on? Thinking about it though, for the front-man of a band, I was always regarded as strangely anti-social when not on stage or focused on creating music (or whatever hobby happens to be taking up all my attention or effort at the time).
Still, I don't regard it as much of problem - I just do anything I can to a) get out of large gatherings, eg family occasions of more than 5 or 6 (Christmas can be a real trial), or b) having to travel too far to something, without looking too much of a nob! :lol: If I can't get out of it, I can manage it, but I'm usually fairly depressed leading up to it.
Having someone else there (usually my missus) who knows I might have a panic attack is usually a big help. And I think most of her family now know it's not that I don't like them! :roll:
Some of you have met me at two BKP meets - for both of them, even though I'd wanted to go originally, when the day dawned it was my missus that talked me into actually setting out. But I've been through enough things like this over the years that I can say "I know I'll enjoy it if I do go" and almost believe it... still doesn't get rid of the "Oh sh1t! Why did I agree to doing this??!"
Mebbe I'll look into this a bit more - a lot of this stuff I've just got used to and found my own way of dealing with things (the biggest one was learning "I'm me... you can blather on as much as you like about "you think too much" or wotever... you aren't me, I am, and what I am is normal for me..."). But if there are some other helpful ways of looking at things and I can learn some easier paths to tread it might brighten up my old age... (and that of those around me! :lol:)
I just read this before posting - and it might sound a bit depressing, don't know, but I'm actually smiling away while typing. I started with "now you're worrying me", but I'm not actually worried at all :D - just rather interested now that there might be some answers/theories that I hadn't considered and that could possibly apply to my experiences ...
-
Well Andy, you and I are in the same boat. Started around the last year of High School for me. Really made that last year horrible. I did have friends and did things, mainly the band I was playing bass for, but the classroom was a nightmare. I didn't sit in the back because I was a cut up or a clown, it was because I couldn't stand anyone being behind me in addition to the amount of people and the size of the room. When asked to do math on the front board, I about cr@pped myself. Sweating and shaky. I did the math correctly, but the experience has been engrained. I retreated majorly after graduating. Barely left the house at all. This is why I'm 27 and just now going through College. Took that long to realize I just need to breathe and everything would be fine. I'm not doing anything too much more differently than anyone else. I shower, brush teeth and all that, put on clean clothes and go to class or work. Same as everyone else. Not everyone is going to be your friend or think you're cool and that's fine too. The major difference between us and them isn't the thoughts that cross our minds, it's how deeply we care to torture ourselves with them. I still hate getting haircuts because of the small space, the proximity issue and the fact that most of everyone in the place is behind me. I have learned to manage and develop somewhat of an emotional skin and try to trust that people are mainly not concerned with me. They have enough cr@p to deal with and are most likely a fairly good person with normal, predictable emotions (in a public setting).
-
" Excusez-moi " Ian Price, AndyR, and Telerocker there's a post for yer's to look at in, Tech/Buzzing tele.
-
" Excusez-moi " Ian Price, AndyR, and Telerocker there's a post for yer's to look at in, Tech/Buzzing tele.
Seen it :D
JacksonRR - actually sounds like you've had a harder time than me. Mine, whatever it is, feels more like a mild annoyance nowadays. There have been huge panic attacks in the past, usually in crowded situations, sometimes leading to me losing my temper :roll:. But I can count them on the fingers of one or maybe two hands, and I haven't had one for a long time (the missus might have a different tale to tell, though - but I'd put that down to my increasing "grumpy old man" syndrome, I have to acknowledge that I'm becoming more like Victor Meldrew as I get older, but I do think that's probably a natural thing for most blokes :lol:).
-
I can relate to your comments, Andy - I get a bit panicky in crowded pubs and tube trains, especially if people are milling around in lots of different directions and I have to keep trying to get out of their way (thereby putting myself in someone else's way...). It doesn't bother me so much at something like a gig, because everybody tends to be focused on the same thing (i.e. the stage!) and even though I don't like being in the crowd leaving the venue, at least everyone is going in the same direction.
I get uncomfortable in social situations, too - especially hate noisy pubs where everyone is "supposed" to be having a good time, but it's impossible to have a normal conversation; I tend to just clam up as the evening goes on. And I'm terrible with parties where there'll be people I don't know - I can think of at least two occasions where I took long train journies to go to parties, got as far as walking to the house/venue but then chickened out and went all the way home again! :roll: :lol:
I was apprehensive about the BKP meets, too, but they were fine as it turned out... I don't think I'd have turned up if it was 20 years ago.
-
Another 36 here - but I can't say it's a big surprise :mgreen:
-
Andy- It just goes to show that even very bad situations can make a turn around towards normality or at least functionality. I did have to start slowly and I did have help when I decided I'd rather have different life experience. There are studies that have been done with a medication for tuberculosis. It's called D-cycloserine and it has psychological side effects. Helps ingrain new memories and emotional ties to experiences. Had a much higher improvement with patients with the fear of heights than a similarly administered placebo. Helps the brain create a faster link between a situation and safety. I suppose it's all a matter of suppressing the fight or flight response or altering the triggers.
Ah, fukk. We're a bunch of messed up monkeys, huh? I think we are still having remnants of cave days when these fast reactions to potential dangers kept us alive and able to mate.
-
I got 17! ....
So you can be f**kin' well sure I mean to be offensive to all you mentalists when I post on this board... PDT_008 PDT_002
-
I have been thinking on and off a lot recently and one thing that really confuses me is some of the behaviour mentioned I can easily relate to from old memories. Less so now as before I wasn't a social person and now I am but I don't know how I went from one to another other than obsessive researching self help rubbish trying to filtering out the good stuff. I got so much stuff going in my head I dunno what I'm trying to say, trying to avoid going off on random fluff incase it doesn't relate.
First BKP meet up I was slightly on edge but second one I was fine due to expecting familiar faces but whenever I do something completely new I do over plan every detail but not as much now.
-
yeah, like i tried to highlight earlier... a lot of behaviour associated with mild autism is pretty normal to most of us
the distinction does need making between 'autism' and 'aspergers' as many of us do sit on the cusp of aspergers but i am going to make the assumption none of us would fall into the 'autistic' label. The term for it is ASD, autistic spectrum disorder, although i do think the word disorder is a bit unfair as it really does just boil down to a different way of looking at the world and in now way a disability.
I got called "shy" by someone the other day, i actually found it a bit offensive as a 31 year old man but i could see where they were coming from. I would have preferred anti-social as it does fit better and seems less pathetic
i am rather focused, often blunt even and i dont waste words (in the words of my mother). but 'shy' seems like such a negative label!! i dont lack confidence in myself. I may lack confidence in the people around me. i do avoid eye contact, took me a log time to realise i was doing it till i had been accused of staring at chests once too often and i think i could be accused of being overly focused on a small amount of subjects .
having been someone who identifies these things in secondary school children and has attended many training sessions on the subject i know for a fact i wouldnt get through school now without an ASD label. but $%&# it, its not a bad thing in any way. it is not "full blown" autism with all that implies! it is seeing the world a bit differently, being confused by that on occasion, responding to people a bit differently, being just a bit different (some of the time)! i was raised to believe that being a bit different is all right, maybe because i was, maybe because my parents used to make some kind of sense. (i do also have a mild physical issue called diplegic cerebral palsy which was often blamed for my reluctance to engage in 'normal' behaviour, but i am rather lucky in that it only makes me a bit clumsy and rubbish at sports - so yeah, i did avoid all sporting activity as a child)
I still dont think i am a social person, but i am happily married with a lot of friends so i kind of start to assume my difference is ok with others, or my wife is cool enough that they put up with me ;)
-
I think your day-to-day activities and your job make a big difference as well. I'm not particularily confident in social situations but my job has forced me to be business like and communicate a lot more. It's a skill at the end of the day.
What I'm saying is I don't think self confidence is fixed. The less social activity you have, the harder it will be to face those social occations. You practice, you get better.
Being very anti social does not make you autistic.
I got 13 so on Andy's scale I'm a sh!t musician. So it's a good job that I think it's got FA to do with musical ability!
-
hmm well I didn't take the test but after reading the thread I thought I'd do a bit of reading. Seems like I meet a lot of what comes under the wikipedia heading "repetitive behavior" and also the social problems. Dunno if it's anything worth worrying about as it doesn't seem to be getting any worse and if anything the social things are gradually improving.
-
I like this thread. It's certainly made me think a bit about stuff I just regard as part of me and, I have to admit, "normal" :lol:
Hasn't really changed my viewpoint, but I think it's healthy for me to assess the assumptions I'm living by occasionally. And it's good hearing other people's experiences, it helps us all realise that we're not actually "different in being a bit different".
I used to worry about being "normal" when I was younger. I like really like "different", but you kinda don't want to find you don't fit into "normal"... I suspect everyone worries about this to some extent but, as far as I'm aware, I very rarely give it a second thought nowadays. The conscious thoughts of the last week for me have actually been more along the lines of "what effect do I have on the general well-being of the woman I live with" :lol: (anyone seen "As Good As It Gets" with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt? There's a glorious line in there "you make me want to be a better person" - I've been feeling that a bit this week!). There's also been a touch of "if I can type a little bit about what I've felt sometimes, it might help someone else reading it who, like me a few years back, might not realise that most of us are floundering around at least some of the time..."
I was talking to a woman at work about it yesterday. She's the same sort of age as me, and she went "to be honest Andy, most of the men I know are like what you're describing - get home from work or whatever and they don't want to go out and do a bunch of stuff, get stuck in a crowd of people, or anything else out of the normal routine... they just want to put the feet up, do what they always do, and recover... when they were younger, before getting settled maybe, they were just as likely to be the ones going hey let's get out and do such-and such...".
It came about because I was wondering how to get out of going to someone's leaving drinks without looking like a completely anti-social b@stard!
There's something I've thought of while making several of the posts I've added here, I think it's relevant, but I've not managed to fit it in so far. I think I read it somewhere, I don't think I worked it out on my own, but I have successfully applied it to myself and it seems to have helped one or two others I know who've had various issues coping with their lot in life over the years:
"the only thing wrong with you now is that you don't know you're OK..."
Realising and accepting that you're actually OK seems to take a hell of a weight off your shoulders sometimes.
I got 13 so on Andy's scale I'm a sh!t musician. So it's a good job that I think it's got FA to do with musical ability!
Yeah, I sort of regret posting that, it doesn't quite fit in to how I regard this thread now. It still makes me chuckle, though, and for me personally it's what led on to the more thoughtful stuff.
It's weird, isn't it, we're a bunch of gearheads "sharing feelings" on an internet forum... who sez that men can't be sensitive!!
So when's the next meet? I've been to a "social-only" one, and a "beer and gear" one, how-about if we have "chairs in a circle" support-group meet, and we take it in turns to "share our feelings"? For example, "Hi, my name's Dave, you all know me as Afghan, and I only managed to score 17 on the ASD test, so I'm not sure I should be here, but let me tell you about this one time I was with this girl..." :lol:
-
"the only thing wrong with you now is that you don't know you're OK..."
Yep, that's about all there is to it at times. Have to realize it's time to put the shovel down and come on out of the hole.
"Hi, my name's Dave, you all know me as Afghan, and I only managed to score 17 on the ASD test, so I'm not sure I should be here, but let me tell you about this one time I was with this inflatable Miley Cyrus doll and shite got weird..." :lol:
-
I got 16, which is less than I expected considering my teenage years when I really liked to follow the lines that shadows made on the floor :? (At night I cycled perpendicularly across the shadows of streetlamps, which made me wobble across the street like a drunk :lol:)
Also I used to feel quite socially awkward and solitary but I made the effort in social situations and it's paid off. I think it's true of almost everyone to some extent though.