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So, well I was sitting in a meeting the other night, and one of the "experts" said that many GID folks are some form of Aspergers. This was a meeting put on my some political, and marketing people who thought themselves to be pretty highly, um smart. For some reason, I saw them to be self serving, snobbish, obnoxious prigs.
So, anyhow today I started thinking about what they said about GID and aspergers. Gee, I was never diagnosed with it, though I seem to have some of the same troubles that they do. This is a lot to think about.
Gwendolyn
Comments
OK, I'll bite.
Yes, I was more physically clumsy than most of my peers growing up, but not by very much - and given I went to all boys schools, I suspect this was more because I wasn't spending all my time practising playing boy games, instead doing things more traditonally female but socially acceptable in rural communities for boys in the '70s - like spinning, weaving, knitting, playing with lego as a substitute for playing with dolls & doll houses (making houses and having people play inside), that sort of thing.
However, I'd point out regarding the social issues that TG folks may have trouble with social issues because they want to relate as their true gender rather than their physical sex. Males and females typically use English in different ways. This promotes social awkwardness in two ways - uncomfortableness presenting as their physical sex, and unconscious recognition by those a person is interacting with that the TG individual is "different" from language use more typical of their true gender.
This of course is going to lead to similarities with Aspergers, but I don't think that necessarily means I have Aspergers. I think it's more like convergent symptoms.
From what I could glean from several sites...
...the connection is dubious at best. And I tend to strongly agree with you about convergent symptoms. The anticipated lack of acceptance or support by others may mitigate and/or determine our 'symptoms,' (i.e. low self-esteem, lack of peer support/family support, etc) which in turn determine our behavior, whereas the AS individual may often fail to anticipate any particular response. In the years I worked with children, only one child who had been diagnosed within the autism spectrum might have been seen as gender dysphoric, and even then, the boy never gave any hint of having any gender issues.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
well what do you know
I have been diagnosed with aspergers and GID and never really put the two together!
Huh, Interesting. I too have
Huh, Interesting. I too have been diagnosed with asperges and consider myself transgenderd. Never even considered that there may be a link.
there are some of us with Aspergers
that's for sure, but if there is a connection, I've haven't heard of any studies showing it. I sometimes wonder if I have it, though.
Dorothycolleen
Not a plug.
But there's been some very interesting links in the comments section of my Encrypted series. It fits right in with all of this.
Bailey Summers
Seems to have been the subject of speculation before...
Comorbidity of Asperger syndrome and gender identity disorder (2005)
Asperger's Syndrome and Sexuality: From Adolescence Through Adulthood from Tony Atwood's site: http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
I wouldn't worry...
I wouldn't worry...
If you look through the "catalog" of mental "disorders" (Or take "Abnormal Psychology 101" in college)... You'll see LOTS of things that might apply to you.
For example, you might find yourself alphabetizing things, or organizing a drawer or lining things up on a display or some such... Someone with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - or CDO as the joke would have it) would do that ALL the time, and be disturbed by signs of disorder... SO much so that it becomes a central part of their life... Many people organize - just not to extreme. Most don't have OCD.
If you were to take that class - you'd see a significant portion of the students walking out thinking they have the "disorder" of the day - after each lecture.
So, it IS possible you may have some flavor of Aspergers, but don't bet on it. Odds are, you don't. I have two friends with Aspergers, and their issues are not the same as those most have. Oh - they get along (mostly) in society (unlike many others in the Autism spectrum).
I'd not be surprised to hear that many TS people grew up with and have varying degrees of difficulty relating to society. But, I WOULD be surprised to find out they all have Aspergers, or even many do. Those of us who are transgender in one way or another may have issues - but, I believe that's more likely from the fact that we have a miss-match (or have a history of a miss-match) between assigned and actual gender or some of the other issues under the umbrella and society doesn't want to deal with us.
Anne
Difficult society.
I had a horrible time relating to my step father and older brothers. They all thought I was a sissy, and unbeknownst to them, they were right. Dummasses. My stepfather swore he would kill me if I did not "man up". Many stories here have such a father in them.
I worked in Industry and Construction most of my working life, and it was just awful communicating with men. It was always about their ego, or sex, always. I was just about doing the job and making the work pretty. I can relate story after story where it was obvious to me that if it were not for their two little brains, they'd have none at all.
Even now, since I have dropped Islam, and become an Investigator; reading for another belief, getting used to being in the presence of men just feels really odd. A couple of the women have approached me about not wearing my wedding ring; making myself available to marry. Wow, AS IF.
Much peace
Gwendolyn
Lack of a ring does not make
Lack of a ring does not make one available for marriage... If I left the house with out my wedding band on, (it only comes off when I play with it, and I still do that after three and a half years,) then I would feel naked as it's something that I usually have on me...
Samantha
I'm not married.
It's approaching 7 years since the bitch and my children threw me out. I had never done anything wrong at all. Since, I have heard more than one rumbling that she had been in at least one affair. Hmmmm I guess it is OK to believe that I am no longer married. And, who knows, maybe I will meet a nice old gentleman who just needs a companion and can't do the thing any more.
Would I marry him? Do I care what the laws are? Maybe he would be gentle enough to hold me and let the trembling stop. Who knows, maybe for the first time in my life, I would be really loved? If there is justice under heaven, I deserve it.
Gwendolyn
I understand...
I understand that ... But, that doesn't sound like Aspergers - as my friends have shown it to me. It sounds like a someone trying to "fit in" (mostly) in a world they don't fit.
IMO - the presence or absence of a wedding ring/band doesn't seem to make much difference to many in this day/age... There hasn't been much time my wedding band's been off my hand (except to play with it as another mentioned) in thirty years... I don't have any plans to change that. Just so you know... Some guys (*sighs*) don't see a wedding ring/band as any reason to not chase. I recall some saying "It just makes it more challenging, and you don't have to worry about her wanting to marry you." *sighs* (Note - this was not a lot of people saying this - just that there were some.)
Anne
GID and Aspergers
Snobs are blind to facts of reality.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
As an Adult Baby, I have
As an Adult Baby, I have heard the same sort of claims about a link between Aspergers and being an AB. I think what is happening is that someone sees several people diagnosed with Aspergers that admit to being TG or AB or Furry or having a foot fetish or whatever and all of the sudden there is a link between Aspergers and blah. Then someone else goes there must be a link between blah and Aspergers.
The other half of the problem is that Psychos (psychiatrists and psychologists and counselors etc.) seem to want to diagnose everyone as having some sort of disorder. If no one had a disorder, then they would be out of jobs.
Valentine, you are so right.
I helped a friend paint the office of a couple of shrinks the other day, and now that I am not under care any more, it was hard. As soon as one of the partners walked into the room, I felt myself bristle like a pissed off kitty. This was real hostility! I tried to keep it hidden and I don't know if I was successful.
They were painting their offices a really awful baby shit yellow, and though I could not see it, one of the partners insisted there were two shades of it.
I felt like she was trying to manipulate me into saying the colors were pretty, and calming, and the spirit of rebellion was so strong in me I just would not do it. Instead, I told her that colors were the client's choice, and that I was color blind; only partly true.
Not satisfied, she later came back, seeming to want to chit chat, and asked me who I worked for. I told her that I didn't work for anyone, that I was retired. I further explained that my friend needed help and that was why I was there. I think that Mental Health folk have screwed up so many lives, and they can't see it.
Gwendolyn