0n (20 Oct 05) Janis Kracht wrote to Cindy Haglund...

 JK> Hi Cindy,


 JK> > Dr. Donahue (an Orlando FL doctor/columnist) answered a question wrt
 JK> a > "Disorder" called Aspager's Disorder......
"DISORDER"??? OR
 JK> > DIFFERENCE?

 JK> > The patient avoids eye contact, has trouble making friends, has
 JK> > difficulty with fine motor skills, is not interested in sports...
 JK> has > select interests....  but can lead a productive and happy life.

 JK> > I get the IMPRESSION the 'disorder' is called a disorder based on
 JK> > social skills. That if you're not a party animal, or you don't like
 JK> > sports you're uh suffering a DISORDER rather than simply being
 JK> > different from the status quo?

 JK> Actually Asperger's Sydrome is sort of a type of autism.  It's not
 JK> based on social skills like a shy person might exhibit.. or that wild
 JK> party animal might exhibit..


Thank you Janis. I was going to look it up (blush).... I suspect the
doctor didnt' want to say 'autisim' to the inquiring person... it can
be a frightening word. It struck me that the child is simply shy ...
I'm not so sure it's right to force people to be what we expect as
long as they're accepting of it themselves and don't want help to
change and are able to function ; take care of themselves...


 JK> From what I've seen of it (just one little boy I know), I can
 JK> sometimes sympathize with him because of some of the symptoms of MS..


 Human behavior is vastly complex. I recall from a course in Human
Behavior Development it is said behvior expresses on a continum. That
implies all behaviors manifest in degrees and overlap with each other.
There's no set and dried set of 'symptoms'.. It's amazing isn't it? I
mean a small dose of shyness is regarded as healthy: it's 'caution'
but too much of it well , can impede our ability to get on in life and
be happy (because society expects us to be sociable- some people are
shy and don't mind it at all....)
                                 
 JK> Lemme try to explain :)   With MS, sometimes you walk into a room
 JK> where everyone is shouting (really, they are probably just talking
 JK> loud ) and you want to get out immediately - it's that sensation
 JK> that the noise and the sound and the people are coming from every

 I'd feel the same way. Even being deaf if I see people's body
language means they're arguing or otherwise being out of control or
potentially so, I want to get awawy from there. Avoidance of conflict
is a flight/flee instinct. If you know how to deal with such a
situation : find out what's going on and if necessary help to get
things back under control: fine. If not the smart thing to do is to
remove yourself from the situation. Nothin' MS about that. :)


BTW. I have a balance problem due to my ear situation. When I'm very
tired or upset it's harder to walk straight. So I try not to stay
rested and stress free. That helps...(and avoid walking when I'm
tired/stressed because people might think I'm drunk. :( ))

JK> direction (though they're really not ).. Loud voices, Loud colors,
 JK> (supermarkets used to drive me nuts when this would hit) it's all just
 JK> too much... too much to take in at once.. visually, aurally, etc.

 It's too much stimulation. That's the key. I don't like crowds for
exmple. But I know many people don't. It's not a 'disorder' at all.
It's just not liking to have to deal with crowds. (especially the kids
darting in and out everywhere and the idiots walking around blissfully
with cell phones glued into their ears...)

 JK> Asperger's is yet another neurological disease, and what I've
 JK> described above is really only a small part of what some with it go
 JK> through.

 But is it really a 'disease' or just a 'difference'? That's what
puzzles me. To what degree does a condition have to be to be
considered "just a difference"? Maybe if the person can function
independantly ?

 JK> They are sometimes obsessed with a certain routine (maybe because they
 JK> know it, there are no surprises, and it's therefore safe).. there's a

 That's something like a seratonin deficiency isn't it? When we don't
 have enough we tend to obesses and it's hard to break the cycle
without one of those drugs that helps keep it in supply (seratonin
reuptake inhibitors.)

 JK> lot more to it than I've described above and hopefully the show you
 JK> watched gave you some references where you can find out more about it.
 JK> If not, just use google to find asperger's syndrome.

 I will look it up. Thanks. :) I've been fascinated by autism in the
past. That there's different levels of it. Remember that book by
Owen... oh (name escaping).. It will coem back. He wrote a book about
autism and his treatment for his son. It involved intense behavior
modification. It worked too; for his son anyway.

One of the 'obessions with routine' as you may know is that with say
spinning a plate on end over and over and over for hours and hours...
Being caught up in the pattern and unable to break away from it.
((I think the book was "Son Rise"...

 JK> > What do you think? Is medical science defining conditions based on
 JK> > status quo?

 JK> > I always thought conditions were 'disorders' if they interfere with
 JK> > being able to function in a way that lends to self support...''
 
 JK> Asperger's certainly can interfere with being able to function "in a
 JK> way that lends to self support" in some  cases.. Autism itself is
 JK> incredibly hard to live with..

 I've read about autism enough, yes to agree. :( It's hard for US to
live with it. The patient is quite happy in his or herown little
world. The only problem is of course depending on the severity of the
autism- they can't function in OUR world. The world they need to learn
to function in if they're going to survive.

 Cindy

--- PPoint 3.01