ASD and Dressing

[Megan_Renee]

I have an interesting idea. I don't know how many of you can relate, which is why I'm posting this.

Could there possibly be a connection between Autism Spectrum Disorders and Crossdressing?

Obviously most of us do not have severe (or "full-blown") Autism, more likely one would have what is called Aspergers syndrome. If you're over 20 and have Aspergers, it's likely that you were undiagnosed.

People with ASD frequently have difficulty in social situations. You would call yourself shy, but you like people; you just don't necessarily like interacting with them.

People with ASD often feel a need for physical pressure to be exerted. Sometimes this manifests itself in spontaneous movement of limbs, or handflapping. Most adults have learned to control this. Some just like their fingers and hands to be squeezed.

People with ASD often feel a need to lash out if things get out of their control. This isn't just a simply fit of anger, this is more of an uncontrollable rage. You can feel it coming, you know what's going to happen, and when you were young you had no way of dealing with it.

People with ASD often enjoy very specific tasks and find it difficult to become interested in things unrelated to something they already like. For many children this is something like trains, etc.

People with ASD often have what is called a perseveration. An example would be collecting chocolats so as to look at them. Another example would be watching the same video or movie repeatedly, or even a section of a video or movie.

Ok. Now I understand that this is a very basic and not entirely accurate description of Aspergers Autism (I tried to make it comprehensible to all readers who've managed to get this far).

Here is the CD connection. If you have a specific perseveration (ie: women and women's clothing) and you have a physical need to feel certain things (bras, panties, etc). Could then your CD'ing be connected to an undiagnosed Autism?

I have recently come to think that part of my CD'ing is connected to an undiagnosed ASD. I fit many of the criteria of having Aspergers, and the CD'ing fits in as a perseveration / physical stimulation issue. It's not a sexual stimulation by any stretch of the imagination, it's just stimulation. Kind of like what you might feel watching a good movie or riding a roller coaster.

Well, now that I've bored you to tears, you can feel free to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about or that I'm just wierd. I can appreciate that.

Megan

[Marla S]

Hmmm.
Except for the shyness, no other point fits for me.

[alexis GG]

Autism is also linked to left-handed ppl. Not just that I have a son (age 12) who has ADHD and does things in order or preference and cannot be persuaded to change this. When he was a little younger he played with cars in order of make, model, size and colour, all in a straight line! Though only 12 he knows how he wants his things organised. i.e school work and bedroom, and 'god' help ya if ya change this without him knowin!! He will even eat things in a certain order. I don't know if this has any bearin on your way of thinkin, but i don't think that you have said has any status on bein a CD'er or likewise.
alexis35

[Butterfly Bill]

I have a brother who is full blown autistic, and my other brother and I were/are quite possibly milder cases of it. I can spend hours on end all alone just traveling around in my own head. And I can deal with change, but as soon as possible I make a new order and new rituals. And I am very sensitive to physical sensations, that's why I love nylon and rayon and hated my wool Navy dress blues.

This can make me a black sheep in some ways, but on the other hand, during that week I spent in the Austin Municipal Jail to pay off a traffic ticket, I heard thru the walls all these people going crazy while I wasn't. It can be a profound strength as well as a weakness.

[NatalieBliss]

I am a crossdresser, left handed, socially awkward, like people but hate crowds... sure why not add another log to the fire. :)

[Dana]

I am a crossdresser, left handed, socially awkward, like people but hate crowds... sure why not add another log to the fire. :)


I'm left-handed in so far as writing and eating ~ but ambredisterious (spelling?) with most everything else. I like people ~ hate crowds. Socially awkward ~ I wouldn't say so ~ its more of people that I come into contact are more shy, reserve, opioninated, etc ~ Me? I could care less? I speak my mind ~ not that I don't think before I speak ~ and since having re-joined the ranks out here in civilian la~la land ~ I've become more sensistive to others ~ in that they've not been where I've been, done what I've done and seen what I've seen. That is to say ~ in the small Southern town ~ they're less worldly than I. How to say it ~ more inhibited by religious, social, and cultural condintioning.

People that know me describe me as very intelligent ~ (although for some reason I've never learned how to spell properly? Working on it) It seems from my research on the subject that CD's are very intelligent people, and tend to do better financially than others. There seems to be a pre-dispositioin toward liking SiFi ~ which is me. Don't know what that is all about? Just love the stuff.

I'm very methodical in what I do, in most everything that I do ~ I have a rhythm that I natuarally follow in all that I do, and multi-tasking many things at one time comes natural to me. I know that I have an above average tolerance for "certain" types of stress. I keep my head about me when others are running around, screaming and shouting and running in circles. The things that I stress out about ~ are things that most people don't stress out about ~ and don't stress out about things that most people DO stress out about.

Most people that I meet don't know how to take me ~ in that I don't fit any particualar pre-conceived mold ~ and in that I'm un-like anyone they've ever meet. I'm a paradox to them ~ and they can't figure that out ~ and it befuddles them.

It has been often said about me ~ that you could put me in a room by myself, with nothing ~ and I would ~ could find ways to entertain myself. I don't have a problem with being alone ~ nor living alone. I like people ~ and enjoy them, but I like having my own private space.

I find myself at present ~ not so much as considering myself better than anyone else, but because of my life expereinces thus far to date to include a carrer in the miltary, college, reading a LOT of books, etc ~ being on a much different level that of your "common man on the street"

[Eugenie]

Hello Megan,

I'm the father of an adult with Asperger's syndrome. I am a x-dresser myself and can recognize some Aspergerish traits in myself.

I don't know however if there is any relation with being on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and X-dressing. As far as I can tell my son isn't a X-dresser.

However, there may be a thing with very soft materials. Many people on the ASD tend to have peculiar sensory reactions, so that may play a role in the pleasure of X-dressing.

Feel free to contact me via private messages on the subject of ASD.

Yours sincerely.

Eugenie

[Helen MC]

Some of this fits me. I do not lose my temper as over the years I have learned that this achieves very little and is usually counter productive, so I don't get mad (even if I am seething inside) I get even and I DO bear grudges, some for decades!

I have also found via internet self-test questionaires that I am to some extent Schizoid.

However, these matters does not bother me, I do not have to deal with customers in my work and I am left to get on with things by myself in a lot of cases.

I would also mention the old saying, "The man who acts as his own Doctor has a fool for a patient!"

[Megan_Renee]

Seems some of you understood what I was saying... I'm not stating that all ASD people are CD'ers, simply that some CD'ers could be dressers because of ASD. It's the sensory issue a few of you mentioned, as well as the perseveration.

As a side note, something I may not have made clear, you probably *have* developed some counter measures that help you deal with society as a whole. I know that I have certain things that I do so that I will not be a total social clutz. I script a lot of what I say, and I force myself to talk to strangers.

Anyway, it seems a few of you might be in the same boat as me.

Megan

[MarinaTwelve200]

As far as my research indicates. Autisim appears to to be a "programming error" in the brain at one of the more basic levels---not unlike an error in the OS of a computer to use a corrilary.
It may be eithier an as of yet undetectable bio defect--OR a result of inadvertently "bypassing" certian elementry brain functions at a critical young age when one was learning how to use their brain (Just as one has to learn how to use one's hands, etc.)

I would not think that an autistic person would be any more inclined to crossdress than anyone else. Most examples of austic people I know of appear to function generally normally, save for the autistic aspect that tends to isolate them from much of the outside world. As crossdressing is a way SOME of us use to deal with issues of identity , sexuality, or other aspects of life, I would think that a "higher order" Autistic person would choose to Crossdress or not by the same criteria used by those persons of more "Mainstream" mental function.

[Billijo49504]

I am me!!! That's it. Why is some one always trying to further their career, but trying to put labels on other people. But I do have one label. Billi Jo

[Megan_Renee]

I am me!!! That's it. Why is some one always trying to further their career, but trying to put labels on other people. But I do have one label. Billi Jo

Wow... I really don't know what to say about that one... Way to go? Just a few questions:

1) Who is trying to further their career?

2) Who put a label on YOU (or anyone)?

3) (not really a question) Great way to go introspective and have a serious conversation... Ok, so that's sarcasm and not really helpful, but geeze!

[Bridget]

Hmm...everything except the rage and physical pressure (thigmotaxis?) seems to fit. But then again, I have learned to love things, i used to hate, and can get bored of things i love. So probably not...

[LucyTwitch]

Hi

If one looks and reads psycologhy. You would proberly find that many symtoms for many prognosis overlap and there for if you have these symtoms you could fall in anyone of these prognossis. As for ASD Crossdressers do have some of the same symtomes but I blieve if put forward for diagnosies by any Doctor, then we would not be classed as having ASD, but having GD.

Love
Lucy