I have an acute case of Asperger's

[NSGUITAR]

This BLEW my mind..

 

[MarkG]

I beg to differ on that man..

Once I was diagnosed, my life made so much more sense and I KNEW what was going on in my head.. I, and everybody I've talked to, have known that something's weird up there in my head. And dude, not knowing what it is for your entire life, always being confused, not knowing what direction you're headed, it just begins to eat away at you and your sanity, in all reality..


When I was diagnosed with Asperger's my life turned in a 180 degree fashion.. Only because I then could learn about it, and learn about myself.. It's SIGNIFICIENTLY helped my social life. My friends/family/lovely girlfriend all now know how to 'deal' with me, if you will.. It is just all around better that the close ones in my life finally know, including myself..

So I figured, if it has helped me by knowing and being aware with loved ones, perhaps if my clients knew, that'd help as well?

I guess I shouldn't have labeled it as "acute".. I really have asperger's syndrom.. Nothing mild about it.. I feel fortunate that I learned about it a little later on, because it allowed my parents to raise me as a normal child, so I can at least put on a face.. And after conversing with people like that for years, it sort of becomes how you communicate.. I'm really glad to have at least that much!

Sorry perhaps I wasn't clear enough. That comment was only meant for very mild cases, not for someone who's daily life is clearly affected. It was directed at Vezpiz, who (to me seems to be) is very much on the fence if he actually has anything.

 

[TravisW]

My brother-in-law has Asperger's, although he's probably considerably worse off than you are in a few ways.

What others have mentioned about having hard-and-fast policies about things like payment in order to avoid uncomfortable situations. If you want to let people know up front about a few things, that's entirely your decision. Frankly, after dealing with fellow musicians over the past 15 years or so, I think Asperger's is probably not the biggest social issue that anybody will run across. But, if you know that you have a certain socially undesirable tendency, it might be okay to let people know up front what it's about. Some people with Asperger's tend to say some things in a very blunt manner, which can come across as rude or condescending. Others might go on and on and on and on and on and on and on about something that the other person in the conversation doesn't find very interesting, but they don't pick up that the other person really doesn't want to talk about whatever the topic is. If this is the sort of thing you're talking about, then it can't hurt to let people know up front. But if it's simply based on work habits that don't effect your clientele, then I don't know that I'd bother mentioning it.

 

[Notuern]

I have assburger syndrome as well(Sorry.. i'm kinda stoned. ).
I got my diagnose when i was ~16, and even though it explained allot i didn't really care much about it.
Most people that know me was shocked, because they thought that i'm like everybody else.

To me i'm just a person who don't bullshit, meaning that i tell people what i really think even if it may hurt them(Yeah, i tell white lies.. "No, those pant doesnt make your ass look big, i promise babe!), i don't talk about shit i don't know, but when i do know something i can hammer out facts for hours.
Even though all of the above, most people really seem to appreciate how straight forward i am.. sure, some people lash out at me but i dont respond to that stuff.. most of the time they come to apologize afterwards because they knew that i was just being honest, and they actually appreciated it once it sinked in.. then there are the other ones that won't talk to me(But i don't want to talk to them either so..).

At early age i developed a huge interest for computers, i built my own system when i was like 8 or something like that.
When i was about 13 i inherited a Kurzweil K2000 synthesizer/sampler, and after 2 months i played Toccata & Fugue flawlessy.. and that was about the time my parents started suspecting that something was odd about me.
At age 16 i started playing in a black metal band with a few friends, but our first gig was too early so we decided to run covers and needed a second guitarist.. so even though i never had played guitar before i jumped in since my dad had given me both a guitar and an amplifier.
2 weeks later i was on stage playing our songs.. and i have to say, after listening to the recordings afterwards im pretty damned impressed by what i actually managed to pull of there.

BUT here comes a big issue in my asperger: I can't read tabs, i won't ever think of playing music i don't like(No matter how much money i might get from it.), i never learned how to sweep or tap properly(Because it doesn't fit the style that i'm playing anyways.).. all of these are limitations i wish i didn't have, but so far thats the only real downside i've found in it.

I'm happy with who i am, and i wont ever try to change.

 

[Notuern]

By ''repetitive behavior being difficult to maintain'' IE: Guitar Tracking ;
I suggest you get a grip on yourself and just go through it, because whatever happens you'll have to anyway.

The thing is that allot aspies can't push them selves through it.
Like me with learning various techniques on guitar for instance.. i've decided several times that "now im going to learn how to sweep", and i sit down and practice for 15 minutes then i just go "fuck it" and revert to just playing like i always do.
Personally though, this only seems to affect me as a person.. professionally i do allot more things i really don't care about.

It has pros and cons, however, for it to have a name, I find this quite strange, I'm sure lots of people here are having this kind of issues, even non-AE,

Well.. hard cases of asperger is more or less autism.
I met a guy with asperger that constantly looked at the floor and jabbed his hands together like the rain man.
He couldn't tie his own shoes or write by hand, but he knew pretty much everything about programming in the most commonly used languages.

I'm not sure if knowing one way or the other would affect my life in any way. I'd still be me, right?

This is pretty typical of people with asperger syndrome.
Thats why the term "aspies" came to be, because people with asperger tend to feel somewhat different or "outside of the group"(Can't remember the right word for it.), but they're still happy with them selves and have a "fuck everyone who don't like me" kind of attitude.

 

[BrettT]

The more I learn about this disease, the more I think I have it. I have a lot of the symptoms.

 

[NSGUITAR]

The more I learn about this disease, the more I think I have it. I have a lot of the symptoms.

Careful, you may talk yourself into it 0_o

 

[Ermz]

I don't get why you'd tell anyone it unless required to or asked?


That said, there is a very famous metal engineer who is FAR more autistic than you who produced some of the best metal albums and best sounding metal albums of the last 15 years, and very few people know about it.

I wouldn't worry about yours.

If it's who I'm thinking, it would go some way toward explaining why that individual's mixes of the last few years may or may not sound entirely interchangeable.

NS, I'm glad you're taking the positives from the situation. There's definitely a lot of benefits to be derived from the syndrome which apply in a recording context. You may have even caught a lucky break, to be honest. Our work is mostly insular, and the only interaction we need to have socially is with small isolated groups, or single people. As long as you're able to work your way into being able to handle those situations well, you should be fine.

Perhaps just try to distance yourself from any band personal dramas (they all have them) and avoid drawing attention to the fact that certain social situations make you uncomfortable. As someone mentioned before, maybe just let them know 'yeah, I get carried away a bit sometimes' or 'that's cool guys, but I'd rather let you sort it out amongst yourselves'.

 

[NSGUITAR]

If it's who I'm thinking, it would go some way toward explaining why that individual's mixes of the last few years may or may not sound entirely interchangeable.

NS, I'm glad you're taking the positives from the situation. There's definitely a lot of benefits to be derived from the syndrome which apply in a recording context. You may have even caught a lucky break, to be honest. Our work is mostly insular, and the only interaction we need to have socially is with small isolated groups, or single people. As long as you're able to work your way into being able to handle those situations well, you should be fine.

Perhaps just try to distance yourself from any band personal dramas (they all have them) and avoid drawing attention to the fact that certain social situations make you uncomfortable. As someone mentioned before, maybe just let them know 'yeah, I get carried away a bit sometimes' or 'that's cool guys, but I'd rather let you sort it out amongst yourselves'.

Thank you Ermz.. I really appreciate it. Yeah I'm glad that I only have to deal with <5 people at a time.. It makes things a bit easier, but you're right, when bands go through drama in a studio (which always happens), I get a bit flustered. Maybe I'll tell them to take it outside.

 

[Mago]

Perhaps just try to distance yourself from any band personal dramas (they all have them)

I think everyone of us is trying to do so, if the drama is not related to the production (i.E. one guitarplayer beeing butthurt because the other one tracks tighter) haha

Glad I could help Nick, good luck!

 

[AgentX]

It might not be what you want to hear but my advice to you would be to not brand yourself with this, get on with life and forget about it.

Take this as an example. I studied computer science, if you where to look at everyone in a lecture hall you could probably diagnose 90% of the people with Aspergers. They are introverted, intelligent, intensely focused on a subject & socially awkward.

For me, Aspergers is a symptom of pseudoquack "doctors" needing a profession.

 

[AD Chaos]

This TV character purportedly has Asperger syndrome as well:

Shocked to hear how many have (or maybe think they have?) this problem. As I'm reading, the correct diagnosis of it is a very difficult task... Such a shame psychology is still such an underdeveloped field.

I too am extremely awkward in social situations.. never looked up a name for it; always have thought it had just been my upbringing/sorroundings.

 

[Loki Laufeyiarson]

Basically everything has been said allready. Don't start labelling yourself in advance towards clients with the term "asperger", it might actually scare them off, because they don't know exactly what it means. A lot of musicians I know are socially awkward (including me), so they probably won't notice a thing anyway.

And this is also a great movie to watch (even for non-aspies):

 

[StefTD]

+1 on everything Ermz said.

I am pretty sure my brother has Asperger, too...a few friends of mine, too (one actually is a psychologist and my girl
is going to be a therapist and worked with a few autistic children) but I think he would be emberassed with that dia-
gnosis due to the massive impact my mother had on him.
He was able to tell the names of 50 different fish when he was 2 1/2 years old only by seeing the pictures and knows
almost every animal you can think of (including latin name, height, weight and so on) started reading with 4 years and
so on-and he wasn't able to go shopping alone until he was 16, but I have the feeling he thinks that he's "normal".

Long story short, I think it's great that you "accept" it and that you can adapt to it.

 

[xFkx]

wierd, never heard of this syndrome before and now i think i have it

though it seems more like a personality type, then a syndrome or disorder.

anywho +1 to not telling about it, people are easily scared by this type of stuff, and there's no real need for some random ass musicians to know about you that much

 

[LeSedna]

I'm pretty sure I have those symptoms, I discovered this syndrome some years ago and was impressed at how i relate to that. However, it's not very strong in my case, and I'm not even sure I could be diagnosed, I just feel really related, just like if I was "30% aspie". I am also the kind of guys who are pretty good about what feels passionate to them, but doo not care too much about the rest, and are able to be totally indepedent. Hopefully, it's never been too extreme in my case, and I was more a "shy" guy with a lot of geeky/artistic interests than anything else, and I managed to control it over the years, so I feel pretty comfortable about my personality now, and I have a hella lot of friends and a busy social life, so life is good. I feel like these traits of character are more positive than negative as long as they are not too extreme, and I believe this added to the fact I'm a pretty cartesian person is the reason why it was a benefit in my case cause it's the kind of characteristics that suit the job of my dreams which I am currently close to turn into real.

In a nutshell : you're fine as long as you are able to analyze and understand yourself, consider it more as a trait of character than a "syndrom" because there is no reason to consider yourself too different and using a "clinical" word for it is not gonna help that, we are all different from each other and no one is "normal" (I like to say that everyone has some kind of mental issue a way or another, cause it's so fucking true), and if you want, work on it slowly over the years if you feel the desire to change. Definitely not something too terrible for an AE, it can even be an advantage, and not worth mentioning unless it has proven a cause of problems with previous bands.

I only slept 2 hours this night cause I switched to a morning shift (when I say morning I mean waking up at 3 or 4 am) so disregard spelling errors or mistakes, I already have troubles making any decent english sentence !

 

[Folkrav]

For me, Aspergers is a symptom of pseudoquack "doctors" needing a profession.

Not sure what you mean here. I hope you're not trying to speculate on the existence of the syndrome cause you would make your comment totally invalid... To have worked with different severity levels of Asperger's syndrome, it totally is real, and in some cases, it's not even close to be funny/bearable in everyday life.

I hope what I understood from your sentence was because of my slight lack of English comprehension...

 

[ruonitb]

Being "different" and "weird" doesn't make someone an "Aspi".


The fact that NSguitar was diagnosed with it only two years ago supports the statement that he has a very mild case of AS.

Usually, the symptoms will be pretty obvious at a very young age.

If you met me, you wouldn't notice it either even though my case is quite different to NSguitars.

I was diagnosed with AS at the age of five. I learned to read at the age of two and started to do mental calculations shortly after that. When I had to go to kindergarten, the problems really started, because that's when I had to cope with social situations everyday and my parents fortunately realised that there was something wrong. I was allowed to skip a few school years which helped a lot since the time in school was horrible for me.
I hardly had any interest in social activities and I didn't know what to do in any social situation.
I had to learn how to interpret facial expressions and how to behave in certain social situations. And I still have problems detecting sarcasm and interpreting the behaviour of other people.
I'm lucky that my parents and my girlfriend support me. Especially my girlfriend, since I assume it's very hard to live together with someone who hardly ever shows feelings and talks like a robot most of the time.

I'm 24 now but social situations are still horrible for me. I learned to cope with daily situations like driving to the university or shopping but whenever a new situation comes up, I'm stressed out and don't know what to do. Everytime I leave my appartement I have to fear that something like that happens.
Just imagine that every situation that involves other people is so scary and stressing for you that you would like to run away. That's what it's like.

It's certainly not "funny" or "cool" to have AS. And if you think that you have AS after skimming through the wiki-article, then, well...you most likely don't have AS.

And to be on topic: I wouldn't tell my clients. Your case doesn't sound that bad and even I learned to act normally. If you only got diagnosed with it two years ago, then the symptoms shouldn't be that obvious. And you never know what your clients are like...some people might be cool with it, some people might think that you are completely retarded as soon as they hear the word "syndrome".

 

[Pardi]

Many consider me to be highly intellectual, brutally honest, obsessed with mastering a hand full of things and socially awkward. But even if a psychologist were to diagnose me with Aspbergers that wouldn't change my opinion or behaviors. What I don't quite understand is how Aspergers is viewed as something negative, Sure some cases come with horrible ticks and other detrimental effects; But that far better than being normal. Normal to me is boring, why would I ever want social norms to dictate who I am?

If you have Aspergers and feel bad because of that label, DON'T!!!! You wouldn't say no to a Lamborghini just because it had a dent in the side.

 

[Harry Hughes]

ruonitb is right on.
Lol @ all the people saying "I have a few of the symptoms and the more I read about it, the more I think I have it!".
I have displayed some of the symptoms of Asperger's throughout my lifetime, but let's not get carried away here.
No, chances are you probably just have social anxiety disorder like me and are also a naturally introverted (can easily be entertained on your own without needing others around)
Until fairly recently (start of last year), I had trouble looking most people in the eye when they spoke. I'd fidget a lot and look really nervous, giving the impression I'm not 'normal' to people. List goes on.

I've managed to improve on most of the things that social anxiety has held me back from doing and I've stopped being so awkward.
I may be an introvert at heart. I love spending heaps of time reading, learning about stuff and your average bimbo would probably consider me fairly intellectual, but I'm not really all that shy anymore and actually quite love social interaction too.
If anything I'm probably half introvert/half extrovert than a true introvert.
Anyway, I digress.

If any of you guys feel lacking in the social skills department/feel scared of many social situations, go get a diagnosis and and see a psychologist. There's no shame in it and it can only help improve your quality of life.