Crossdressing and Asperger's Syndrome

[Daniel]

Do you think that the incidence of crossdressing among people on the autistic spectrum is higher, lower or the same as people who don't have autism?

[Julie York]

Did you know that the number of vowels in your post is a prime number?



Sorry, what was the question again?


:D


(Sorry, couldn't resist)

[Jonien]

Did you know that the number of vowels in your post is a prime number?



Sorry, what was the question again?


:D


(Sorry, couldn't resist)

You got me counting vowels now:rofl:

now what was the question

[FionaAlexis]

Do you think that the incidence of crossdressing among people on the autistic spectrum is higher, lower or the same as people who don't have autism?

Hi Daniel,

What prompted your question?

There is a GG partner of a TS on another forum who has Asperger's - and wrote quite a bit about it - but I didn't get deeply into it.

I'm not sure what the answer to your question is. I know what autism is but I'm not sure what the autism spectrum is? Does it extend to those who tend to be loners?

Fiona xx

[Daniel]

I believe it does.

And no, I didn't know that the number of vowels in there was a prime number. In fact, I'm surprised you guys know as much as you do about Asperger's!

[FionaAlexis]

I believe it does.



I remember being given a handout at one of those 'managing people' type courses of personality types? which included normal, manic, depressive and others that I have forgotten - and it included 'autistic' as a type. From the description I thought it was the one that was the closest fit to my personality.

Fiona xx

[FionaAlexis]

And no, I didn't know that the number of vowels in there was a prime number. In fact, I'm surprised you guys know as much as you do about Asperger's!

Daniel,

This is actually called 'irritable vowel syndrome' and is a common condition among the more mature members of a forum. It is caused by reading posts over a long period and is sometimes combined with the consumption of copious amounts of red wine........

Fiona xx

[Ibuki_Warpetal]

I have Asperger's Syndrome. Diagnosed nearly 5 years ago. I've met many autists and very few are like me, and I can tell by the posts here I am probably the only one with AS.

Unless the others have become adept at hiding it... =_=

[Khriss]

nope, yer not alone again.. Ibuki theres in increadibly kind..and well versed sister here by name of Stehanie,,aka "Fractl Girl".. that suffers likewize,,, an undertanding..sweet soul eh? ... love/n/hugs eh ..xx"K"

[Ibuki_Warpetal]

nope, yer not alone again.. Ibuki theres in increadibly kind..and well versed sister here by name of Stehanie,,aka "Fractl Girl".. an undertanding..sweet soul eh? ... love/n/hugs eh ..xx"K"
I knew she was smart but I figured she was merely educated.
Er, not so much 'merely' as 'thusly'.
...
My mind's a wanderin'...

[Rachel Morley]

Yes, she's a lovely girl. Here's post where she mentions it.

http://crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14995

[Khriss]

I know its eazy to say,, but I truely do wish You... Peace and Serenity !!!..yer sis..."K"

[Ibuki_Warpetal]

Strange. My autistic nature is the one thing keeping my personality from evolving into a purely feminine state, yet for Steph it seems to be working in tandem.
Or am I being overly imaginative?

[Stephanie Brooks]

Hiya!

My initial reaction to the first post - correction, second post! - was, "Does the 'post' include the title too? Start counting... tedious... go to xterm and type 'man count', 'which count', 'whereis count', could write a quick awk program, parse the bloody message and count the vowels, did this include 'y'?"


[stefanie@mulan ~]$ man count
No manual entry for count
[stefanie@mulan ~]$ which count
[stefanie@mulan ~]$ whereis count
count:

Got me. :p

And thank you too for the kind words. <*blushes and bows*>

Here are a few links on Asperger's Syndrome (AS) for reference:

http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1853027499/104-5095815-1868731?v=glance
http://www.aspie.com/pages/1/index.htm

I don't know if there's any correlation between AS and TG. I personally know of a researcher who has considered studying it, so who knows? I just finished reading a book written by a woman with AS, "Pretending To Be Normal" (2nd & 3rd urls above). If you're thinking women's clothing as we venerate is something an AS woman likes, think again. This bright woman author wants nothing to do with nylon and satin.

For me, I really don't know if the two - AS and TG - are related. I only learned of my AS in July, and am slowly climbing out of a darkly depressed state. (When you survive through the power of your brain, only to discover it may be unreliable, that's not exactly comforting. Extrapolate at will, but understand I'm still here.)

My current sense is that my gender state has nothing to do with AS. Conversely, my views of what is and is not appropriate with regard to my gender state has been guided by AS logic. Maybe however someday someone will find a causal relationship between the two.

Finally, I'm lucky in many ways. I've got lots of horrific social blunders in my past, but I have enough mental capability to engineer solutions around them. Mostly I come off as being "normal", I believe, but inside life's a constant challenge.

[Ibuki_Warpetal]

I only learned of my AS in July, and am slowly climbing out of a darkly depressed state. (When you survive through the power of your brain, only to discover it may be unreliable, that's not exactly comforting. Extrapolate at will, but understand I'm still here.)
Unreliable? Far from it. You have survived on the portion of your brain that has been strengthened by AS.
Our great loss of communication faculty is offset by other characteristics.
In my case AS has made me a spacial savant, making manipulating the physical world easier for me than the average person.
To me, the ability to recognize facial expression is unimportant. My paranoia of whether people are screwing with me, lying when they compliment me, irrellevant. These things are easily overcome, or disguised.
Asperger's is something to be proud of, really. It's the high end of autism and your average "Aspie" has an IQ of 130 (;
Don't be so glum, chum. :D


My current sense is that my gender state has nothing to do with AS. Conversely, my views of what is and is not appropriate with regard to my gender state has been guided by AS logic. Maybe however someday someone will find a causal relationship between the two.
I'll write up a quick survey on another forum. One brimming with both autists and crossdressers.
I'll post the results here. (:

[Stephanie Brooks]

Unreliable? Far from it. You have survived on the portion of your brain that has been strengthened by AS.
At first I didn't know that. I'd suspected AS for over a year, but learning I had it was entirely different. I'd been on a research project for 3 years, and it had just been killed. It really was the situation of, "You did great work! We're cancelling your project." I'd pushed some technology so far that many people couldn't follow it. Maybe I *was* an idiot.

In the first two weeks after I'd learned I had AS, I had to go back over my life. Had I just been generating great sounding things that were actually useless, or was my objective logic at least correct?

I'll break protocols here a bit, and offer a link to a tool I developed a few years back, a little tool called IDAT:

http://www.caasd.org/work/project_details.cfm?item_id=134

You won't see a name attached to the tool, and the writeup wasn't from me, though the lady who did the web page "edited" my words. Suffice it to say that the code for "intersect" and "density" are only about 200 lines of C code sans comments.

In essence what I'd created was a very simple tool that could take air traffic data and make the airspace understandable between an air traffic controller and an executive who had never controlled airspace in his life. I created something that bridged communication between two otherwise separate groups of people.

When I looked back on IDAT, I knew I'd done something good. I knew my brain wasn't a total loss. I could survive this.

[Daniel]

From the extent to which people are talking about AS here, it seems to suggest that the incidence of crossdressing among "Aspies" is a little bit higher than in the general public. Maybe this is because we tend to care less about what is considered masculine and feminine. When I was a kid I liked quite a few "girl's" toys, barely knowing and not caring that it wasn't socially acceptable for boys to play with them.

On a side note, perhaps my own dead giveaway that I have AS is the use of my real name here. May be a bad idea. I'd better come up with a femme name more creative than "Danielle" and ask a moderator to change my name.

[KewTnCurvy GG]

Just wanted to let you grrlz know, I bought the book:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Sounds a little bit Oliver Sack's like:)

[Wenda]

Im mot sure about Aspergers and autism, but I believe there is a correlation between some types of depression and crossdressing. I have experienced it myself, as has one of my sons, and it has surfaced many times in the forum. The big issue is that society treats many mental conditions as though they were leprosy, and the medical industry tends to be understaffed and underfunded in the mental health area, so it can be dismissive of subtle mental conditions. if you are not suicidal, then you shouldnt be depressed. Interesting discussion. thank you. wenda

[Stephanie Brooks]

Kew,

Let us know what you think of the book when you're done.

[RachelDee]

Wow i was supprised to see this, because i have been diagnosed with Asperges too and i have never thought of any link between this and CDing.

[Stephanie Brooks]

Let me float an idea here.

Would it be appropriate to have a forum in this community specific to Asperger's Syndrome (AS)? I could make arguments for it to be one of the Crossdresser Forums, given how an aspie CD views the world. For me, I have expectations as to how the world works, and how I move through the world as someone transgendered. With AS I am learning I really am clueless regarding the world; if my assumptions of the world as Steve are faulty, then they're potentially more dangerously wrong as Stephanie.

Otoh, it could also be one of the Off-Topic Forums. Even assuming the premise of a connection between TGism and AS, not all AS issues would be related to crossdressing. I wouldn't care to see it as a private forum, but having it accessible only to forum members (vs guests) would be fine with me to protect privacy.

I don't even know if there'd be enough traffic to justify having a separate forum. Even with the traffic, is it appropriate to have a separate one for AS?

Thoughts?

[SkiMistressGina]

I have Asperger's Syndrome. Diagnosed nearly 5 years ago. I've met many autists and very few are like me, and I can tell by the posts here I am probably the only one with AS.

Unless the others have become adept at hiding it... =_=
Ibuki Warpetal I have AS also diagnosed not to long ago also

[emmicd]

I have a son who is in second grade diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. He is very bright but has difficulty in social situations. A couple of things I notice about Asperger's aside from above average intelligence and poor social skills is repetitive behavior and need for same routine. My son needs to have a pattern with everything. If that pattern or routine is changed he has a tantrum.

My son loves to write and has been reading since he was 2 years old.

Aspergers has its good qualities as I am learning everyday. Each day interacting with my son provides a unique challenge but when my son smiles and says I love you daddy there is nothing better!


Emmi