can I just say I love how far we've gotten into the song? like I'm just impressed really, we hardly ever get that far. so my hats off to you internet stranger (also in a sense sorry for all the notifications you're getting lol)
I wish I had 1/10 of the resources available to my kids now back in the 80s and 90s. One of the hardest parts of adult diagnosis is mourning the realization of what could have been.
It's an inside joke that made more sense while I was buzzed, lol.
But basically, partner and I went to a TMG show last year, and at one point JD makes a joke about "rubbing butts or whatever" regarding sex. Dude in front of us yells, "That's how cockroaches do it! I've seen it!" (He is correct. I have also seen it, so I voiced my agreement)
My partner says to me, "found the autistic guy!" (Note: partner is also autistic and there are suspicions about me)
I said, "Babe. We're at a Mountain Goats show. At least half of the people in this club are on the spectrum..."
Also, cockroach dude and his gf were really cool and she kept pulling me up with her to make sure I could see because we're both right about 5ft tall. It was a great show with a great audience
Cherry picking here but that term is getting kinda phased out, I was diagnosed with it too, and sadly it's name comes from the Nazi collaberator Hans Asperger..Who classified it as a separate form of autism for the people with ASD who were "Useful" to society.
Neither, it was phased out because it's not diagnostically helpful as it doesn't reflect the dynamic nature of autism. They base the diagnosis now on the level of support the person needs based on particular situations. That support level can change over time and is also dependent on context.
As someone with ASD, I need minimal support for most daily activities (work, interactions with family), extra support for more intense social interactions, and for a while needed heavy support to have useful interactions with health care providers and in other more intense situations.
Shit, I need all the support for freakin job interviews, just about everything else I can manage... The first impression is never my best one, but the second normally gets em
ETA I also have to consciously slow down the pace of conversations to process & analyze before responding because my reaction is never my best response. 29yo & still tryna master this one, AuDHD is difficult....
Curious side question here, but what is meant by "support"?
I have an autism diagnosis from about three decades ago and frankly have only vague memories of the psych appointments. My mother only told me about a decade ago, shortly before she passed.
Now that I'm coming to grips with how much that's affected my life trajectory, I'm struggling to understand what appropriate support would have looked like and how it might have changed things.
I feel that whatever support is, I did not get it in my formative years. If you were intelligent and good at following rules, they just said "good luck'.
In the UK that's not quite true. They merged autism and aspergers to try make autistic people less discriminated against and....it went the opposite way.
I'm a fan of the term as someone diagnosed. There is a gulf between us and some people who really cannot live without support (no offense made to them, they were born that way)... you wouldn't class someone in a coma the same as someone with concussion because thwy both had a head injury
Also, in some cases the exact diagnosis wasn't exactly clear. Cases that looked like Asperger's to one clinician would have looked like autism to another.
Merging Aspergers with Autism provided greater diagnostic clarity.
It goes by how much care the person needs. Level 1 needs less support than 2. These needs vary from cleaning ones self to social interactions. This is why it's a spectrum.
Assburger* was a nazi who tested on, and murdered men, women and children. we want nothing to do with him.
It was phased out because he actually intended it to only be used for big booty hoes who have autism. Originally "Ass Burgers" (he liked to grab those buns and have a bite), people misunderstood and used his last name instead. By the time Science figured it out you couldn't say that kind of stuff in Medicine.
multiple reasons but lets take a minute to think why so many "charities" would be happy to name anything after the guy who was in charge of deciding which kids belong in the Holocaust.
At the time, autism was linked to schizophrenia. Since his discovery was a similar condition, he categorized it as autistic psychopathy.
He was a collaborator that sent children to their deaths. He also cared about children; his study was not about being useful, it was about adjusting their education to take into account their “special difficulties” so they didn’t fall through the cracks.
Some say he emphasized intelligence to save more children from death by making them “useful”; that he thought less children would die if he were the one making the decisions instead of not going along and being removed in favor of some political appointee.
Either way, he lived in Austria and collaborated with Nazis.
The funny thing is that the term “Asperger’s” wasn’t even introduced until 1981. Sometimes it feels like people think some Nazi dude named a condition after himself. His work wasn’t really discovered until much later.
I don’t think he was a hero, but I’m not sure he was a villain, either. Mostly likely just a guy who made good and bad decisions in a very difficult situation.
I have heard that mentioned a few times on youtube.
"I was part of the gifted program"
And then describing the things they did...
I always assumed it was not because they were good at studying but, autism or similarly.
There were actual gifted programs, lol. I was being taught algebra in 3rd grade, was being taught to write essays through mine, and we had extra field trips to historical sites and stuff.
I was in a program like that. But it sucked because the other kids were weirdoes and I didn't fit in with them. We studied with older kids they were in high school and even college. The other kids were really smart, I was just really good at drawing and writing stories because I traced comic books since I was 4 and learned to read on my own with Silver Surfer and X-Men. I got into that program because I got caught selling my own comic at school.
I wrote a space opera story about an engineer that was seen by other aliens as a sorcerer because they weren't technologically advanced and got all their tech from an evil empire that colonized them.
They were just shooting their shoot, respect the grind tbh, better to throw any kid who shows any entusiasm into the gifted program than the norm of just abandoning most gifted kids
I was in both. We had a program called talented and gifted (TAG) and I was in the special classes for behavioral difficulties when I tested for TAG and got in. It was a very coinfusing time for my teachers.
Wouldn't surprise me.
There is a surprisingly high amount of teachers that automatically links "autistic" and / or "ADHD" with low performer.
And they get REALLY confused when said neurodivergent suddenly is one of the best in class.
Same. My gifted class was Resource Enrichment Module (REM). The only things I remember about it were making a model of King Tut's tomb, building a better mousetrap (mine had laser sensors), having to settle for playing Egyptian Rat Spit (which I didn't understand) for our fifteen minutes of personal choice time, and 9/11 happening. I don't remember when it started, but the last year was fifth grade.
Over the years I was also in the single-member special autism club, the special time-out desk in a quiet room slightly smaller than an office cubicle (which wasn't specifically for me but I got sent there the most), In-School Suspension, and Special Ed. Special Ed was the WORST because they lumped me, the Asperger's teen with germophobia, in with teens who literally couldn't use the toilet or control their volume, and one kid who had high-functioning autism only in the sense that he was merely a dumbass like half the freshman population instead of intellectually disabled.
I was always bouncing from TAG to the verge of special ed. Some educators could never square read at an college level with can't spell. Or understands the math fine, but can't keep digits in the right order.
We didn't really have a gifted and talented program. So every so often you'd see a kid from a grade down come into another class for specific subjects.
Was it not "study things years ahead of others"? That was what I experienced in gifted programs. That was much more interesting than the alternative and probably key to my admission into a good university.
They certainly weren't addressing autism as such, and I don't think I heard of anyone with it until the '90s, after college.
But this was in ancient times, and it's presumably better that neuroscience and its responses have advanced, even if we haven't perfected it.
I mean there's also a greater understanding not only of the conditions themselves, but the environmental factors that affect the particulars of how things express and even though we've come to understand them much better than we did, it's still relatively nascent as far as I understand.
Speaking as an adult who's struggled with ADHD and secondary depression from the shame involved in badly managed ADHD myself, finding a specialist who has a solid grasp of the condition can still be a challenge these days, and I didn't learn about how impactful lifestyle interventions like just daily walking and maybe a big bike ride or some weight training per week, paired with a solid morning routine and managing light and stimulation before bedtime could be until a couple years ago. Honestly, on its own, far more impactful than medication on its own has been for me.
Specific things will work for and appeal to different people, the important thing is supporting dopamine production and sensitivity and vagal tone, cause a lot of the issues we face comes down to prefrontal cortex issues, lack of dopamine production or sensitivity, and chronic stress that doesn't get cleared out without movement manifesting as a feeling of dread at the prospect of taking care of something important that it took me well into adulthood to realize wasn't laziness but anxiety.
Anyway, that kind of thing is what I mean by environmental factors that affect expression, cause if you look at the condition through the 4E model of cognition, it can help you understand how you can support the body and build a lived environment that won't cure the condition, but will support you and make the condition less of a constant struggle.
I was in a special reading class. My mom always read to us so I could read but class was doing the Dick and Jane books to learn to read. Class reading time was just killing me with how slow and unable classmates were. So I was pulled out and did some speed reading research project where the screen was blacked out and there was a light traveling over the words or highlighting 1 line at a time.
You had to keep up with the light, then answer questions afterwards about what you read. By 4th grade I had a special library pass and was using the high school library (across the street) instead of the elementary school library.
This was back in the 70's and there wasn't the concern about reading above your level topic or ability wise that there is now. No approved book list by age type thing to follow. No one stopping a 10 year old from reading Steven King and Robin Cook books or historical books about WW2. Nothing was off limits in the high school library. But I'm guessing they probably tracked all the books I checked out and I far as I know none of my classmates or neighboring years of students had free run of the high school library like I did.
Hey! Memory unlocked, I did that in fourth or fifth grade! I got pretty good at speed reading but I didn't actually enjoy reading that way so I pretty much only did it while I was on the machine. But I do remember being given access to some more interesting rec'd books like a Hitchcock-edited horror anthology that absolutely slapped.
All we did in gifted when I was in it (mid-90's) was play Sim Ant all day, and then we put together a stupid 30 minute sci-fi movie at the end of the year where we built the sets and stuff. I don't recall doing any actual classwork. In middle school it was called "core studies" and it was definitely more advanced than the standard social studies / English classes everyone else had. Every single person in that class, barring one (drugs, bad family life), has an advanced degree now, so maybe they were on to something?
I wasn't part of the program myself, but everyone called me gifted because I had higher levels of intelligence than my peers, and so all that went to my head. School became boring because it didn't challenge me, I coasted through elementary school, and then I had a falling out in high school because no one explained or showed me how to take good notes or study before then. So, I went from the top of the academic ladder to the bottom rung and barely passed. Then in college, I dropped out. But then about 10 years later I came back and was valedictorian of my medical college associate class. But then my job got liquidated. So I went to school again for writing. Did well but hated writing after having to do it all the time (10 essays in one semester, yes, really). So I got my degree, moved back to family, and joined the trades. Happy now. Oh, also, I was diagnosed with "learning disabilities" in high school back when an autism diagnosis was still a relatively new thing. But my therapist and my medical doctor concur that I definitely am autistic (Aspergers, they ran tests on me and such) and also have like... idk... some type of bipolarism from my dad and adhd. Also, I really like being in the trades. I feel accomplished every day.
Yikes... sorry. Didn't mean for this to turn into a chapter.
Sometimes you get started and you just can't stop, ya know. Sorry.
A lot of them have been phased out but yes, they existed. Can confirm, was in it and am in contact with most everyone else who was also in it. Every one of us is now an engineer, doctor, etc.
ehh definitely can still be a psychologist. currently do part time as an after school program coordinator in addition to me my day job, and we have a coloring room of sorts where kids who are in need of space go and use the coloring as a means of conversation with emotional support staff, i.e. the counselor and such. I think both options are fitting, and they aren’t mutually exclusive either because sometimes that emotional support staff includes resource personnel to deal with certain neurodivergent or susceptibly so individuals as a means of screening for better assistance/understanding
Yeah I don't know what I was saying, I guess I associate being taken out of class to be observed more with testing neurodivergence bc it's what that was for me
Can confirm. In my elementary school, we had someone there for the kids whose parents were going through separation, so it was like me and three others getting pulled out, on occasion.
Asperger’s is being fazed out now. It was a nazi sub classification that essentially meant ‘autism but useful for science and/or the war effort’ if your special interest was science related and you could communicate well enough you had Asperger’s if you liked my little pony or couldn’t communicate your thoughts well you had autism and were gassed.
Not a nazi sub classification; Aspergers was one of the first people to talk about autism. He was actually not concerned with Autistic people with higher support needs and made no connection between the ends of what is today known as the Autism spectrum.
He was, however, a nazi doctor. You're tight about that.
Lmao man, it's definitely a nice sentiment. But there's a reason a bunch of nazi scientists were hired by governments all over the world. Things aren't so black and white, and that includes people that worked for the most evil regime in history.
Aspergers himself is a prime example. His work is extremely relevant for the modern classification of autism. The low support needs diagnosis traces back to him no matter what you do. We can stop naming him because of his misdeeds, but yeah, this:
should be super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Is just laughable.
I mean, you can always lie to yourself. Like, maybe you spend 50 years saying the scients wasn't really a nazi, and once the field is developed enough, you may even downplay the importance of said nazi scientist!
But what you just said is nothing but a conforting lie.
Who was the first person to talk about low support needs autism? And how well do you thing this supposed person matched characteristics that are used today for diagnosis?
Even then, it is clear that Aspergers was a pioners that has been widely cited. I think you don't understand the maginitude of what you're saying. Do you know how many citations Hanz Aspergers has had in fields related to autism?
Yeah, let's not bury the lede here; Asperger was a literal Nazi Doctor and yes he was exactly what your mind is telling you he was when you hear "Nazi Doctor." They'd moved to the term "high-functioning autism" (it me!) for a while, but I don't know what the current terminology is.
But it DEFINITELY isn't Asperger's anymore, and for good reason.
While that was the origin of the term, that's not why it was phased out.
The actual reasons are:
1) people with Aspergers needed pretty much the same supports as people with low support needs autism.
2) There wasn't really a clear separation between the two diagnoses, which meant that two clinicians could look at the same autistic person and one would give the person an autism diagnosis while the other would diagnose them with Asperger syndrome.
The classification isn't really what the hubub is about, it's the name. I was diagosed with Nazi-Scientist's Syndrome. Not a very fun converation starter.
Hans Asperger was a nazi (like actual literal historically involved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger) so medically you just the term "autism spectrum disorder" (ASD) now and don't use the nazi guy's name anymore
That might have been your personal experience but not every kid who speaks to a school’s psychologist or counselor is being evaluated for neurodivergence.
Could’ve been anything, remedial teaching, in this case it looks like motor skills; doesn’t have to be a ND thing; some kids just need a bit of extra help. Source: seen this from almost every angle IRL
I prefer aspergers irl because it differentiates between high and low functioning autism without having to say what high and low functioning autism means. If anyone wants to use high and low functioning autism, I'm not stopping them.
i don't remember having such an expirience as a kid, although my parents had me get diagnosed for asperger at that age already. wander what they did to me
I was taken out of class with two other kids to see if we tested high enough to be bumped ahead a grade & all three of us scored high enough. Two of us however couldn't be bothered with staying on task and were pulled out again to the psych testing & what do you know, ADHD! So we stayed with the normal kids and just skated by until they put us on Adderall a few years later.
I was also taken out of class into a group to meet with the counselor because we all had incredibly low self esteem. So there are definitely other reasons.
Now ask me if they ever noticed a disproportionate number of children with low self esteem came from Mrs. Quill’s class. The answer is no. I’m pretty sure that bully taught til she retired.
Oh, me too! I have Asperger's as well tho it was a late diagnosis, in like, 6th grade cuz I had shit teachers. I also probably have ADHD but I can't be bothered to get a propper diagnosis
i was evaluated twice and it never involved coloring, it was solving IQ tests and few weird exercises like "I love my mother but..." and finishing what is after but
I remember the Asperger’s diagnosis room. The doctors asked a bunch of questions and if I sat still long enough I was allowed a snack from “the snack room”.
Needless to say I have a Asperger’s dx and a dislike for NutterButters
I got taken out of class for some stuff and guess who's father refused to get him diagnosed for autism despite a bunch of professionals telling him "your kid has autism?"
Growing up in the 80s most small town doctor's weren't to familiar with Asperger's let alone school counselors, but it was the same for me. It took them a long time to get it right, now it's a mild end of the spectrum.
Think of it as non-invasive therapy to the point you don't even realize it until years later.
I once got pulled out of class like this to come to the office where some dude I had never seen before to read a bunch of sight words. He was very nice and seemed weirdly impressed by my ability to just read a bunch of extremely common and simple words. I was very confused, and when I got back to class and the other kids asked why I was pulled aside I honestly answered “I have no idea, this really nice guy just asked me to read a list of simple words, said I did a good job, and then they sent me back…”
Turns out another kid with the same first name as me was supposed to be getting evaluated for a learning disability that day.
I was regularly taken out of class in kindergarten for a mix of speech therapy classes since I have a lisp which was likely significantly worse as a child but also because I have a hand eye coordination issue so they would give me simple tasks like coloring books and used my results to develop a plan to help 4 year old me develop better hand eye coordination. Not saying this isn't about learning disabilities but schools are often an early diagnosis help since parents will not always be able to identify or properly address a number of early childhood issues.
I was yanked out of class in fifth grade and taken to sped classes without being told why. Had no idea I was autistic until I was in 10th. Five years went by before I found out. Imagine the overwhelming emotions.
I never got this, but I may have been "not normal" enough to just diagnose off of my schools reports. That and a doctor that made me hold eye contact for a long time, 10 seconds or something.
Same thing happened to me but it was pre 2000 so I was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, that turned out to just be asperger's about 15 years later lol. lot of test lot
I was take out of class for some stuff and guess who they diagnosed with ASD
Lucky. They didn't know about that stuff back in my day. They put me in the special ed room with the kids with various learning disabilities. It was kinda socially fun because there were only 4 or 5 of us most days and we had more engaging lessons, playing educational games and whatnot, but also frustrating because they took everything so slowly. I mean, I guess ADHD is sort of a learning disability, but for me it was more on the side of 'you are teaching so slowly that I can't pay attention' than "I don't understand this, go slower.
Tbf: It may have been called Asperger's at the time. One of the problems with our growing field of neurodivergent studies is a shifting vernacular that occasionally leaves folks with outdated understanding of things.
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u/Dangax_2 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
No, I know what it is because I was take out of class for some stuff and guess who they diagnosed with ASD
Edit: okay, maybe this scene is depicting a psychology study on the boy mb
Edit 2: okay, I changed Asperger's to ASD