mjmooney Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 Doesn't autism have nothing to do with intelligence?Correct. I know there are those better qualified than me to comment, but autistic people seem to have the same range of intelligence as the rest of the community. Mildly autistic academics are not uncommon (I've worked for one). It's more about difficulties in empathising with other people as far as I understand it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 Yep, there was an autitic lad at my school and he was literally a genius in Maths and Physics. He used to write essays that the Physics Professor (and he was a professor) couldn't even get his head around because they were so advanced. But he couldn't cross the road. He didn't seem to be able to comprehend that the cars woudl run him over. He'd just run into the road. Scary, his mom used to have to get the bus with him to school because he had to cross the road when he got there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 Yes, autism is largely seperate from intelligence, although it can effect it. The spectrum of autism is so wide that it includes people who would be considered mentally challenged, to people who are just fairly 'socially awkward', which in turn are sometimes categorised into differing levels of 'functioning'. In the Theroux documentary, he more or less looked at the span of the autism I think. He spent time with a family whose eldest son was severely autistic - he was largely unable to communicate, capable of a few garbled phrases it seems and more or less understood that sometimes he needed to tell people to do things but was not able to communicate that effectively, and was also prone to violent outbursts. At one point in the documentary he visited the school these children go to and they had this boy doing simple maths and then some basic office-y tasks (stapling documents mostly), which they explained he was very thorough with and would start and complete entirely. Then gave him a break, where he drew a few things using crayons, then carefully packed away everything, before suddenly attacking the teacher. At the other end of the scale he saw an older guy, late teens, who seemed largely able to get along but clearly still autistic. He had difficulties socially - he as prone to anger and seemingly unable to deal with frustration. Another student annoyed him and he apparently grew angry enough to casually threaten to stab him, he didn't really have the grasp of social norms most people have knowing when to talk and when not to, what to say and what not to say. He also appeared to have the stereotypical limited interest field, keen to show Louis homemade foreign language dictionaries he'd put together. He claimed to be able to speak Japanese, and seemingly proved it but you could tell that he understood the words but not really how to use them. The R5L interview Theroux have had him say as much - he might understand some of Japanese but put him in Tokyo and he'd be unable to buy a Coke let alone anything else. The school he was at decided that he had progressed enough that he could step up a little, though. His family, however, was clear he could never be independent. Autism is quite interesting. At primary school one of my friends had a younger brother who was from what I remember severely autistic, a couple of years younger than us but more like a toddler. They eventually started sending him to a residential place during the week, I guess it made sense to as he got older. There appears to be common belief that if someones got autism they must be exceptional at something. Reality appears to be rather different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 In more HBO related goodness, I just watched last nights Game of Thrones and well... stuff happened that was good, it's still slowly building, and at the end it went mental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 She is exactley the same as the character in the books, what she says, how she acts etc. Apart from in the books she's attractive and curvy with a great rack. Whereas Jennifer Carpenter isn't exactly the prettiest and has the body of a ten year old boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amsterdam_Neil_D Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 She is exactley the same as the character in the books, what she says, how she acts etc. Apart from in the books she's attractive and curvy with a great rack. Whereas Jennifer Carpenter isn't exactly the prettiest and has the body of a ten year old boy. There are so many things wrong with that sentance I cannot begin to fix with the time allocated. Let's just say I disagree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted April 23, 2012 Moderator Share Posted April 23, 2012 Bloke around the corner from me growing up was autistic. I never once saw him draw a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted April 23, 2012 Moderator Share Posted April 23, 2012 She is exactley the same as the character in the books, what she says, how she acts etc. Apart from in the books she's attractive and curvy with a great rack. Whereas Jennifer Carpenter isn't exactly the prettiest and has the body of a ten year old boy. There are so many things wrong with that sentance I cannot begin to fix with the time allocated. Let's just say I disagree Uhh yeah, work it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 Bloke around the corner from me growing up was autistic. I never once saw him draw a picture. Wahey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amsterdam_Neil_D Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Bloke around the corner from me growing up was autistic. I never once saw him draw a picture. I have it a bit with a few other things mixed in. Luckily I don't have it that it's noticable, very mild is what they said. Anyway, gotto go write some number plates down and that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Doesn't autism have nothing to do with intelligence?Correct. I know there are those better qualified than me to comment, but autistic people seem to have the same range of intelligence as the rest of the community. Mildly autistic academics are not uncommon (I've worked for one). It's more about difficulties in empathising with other people as far as I understand it. Yeah I probably didn't word that very well. He has autism and it's quite severe in that he's ten years old now and still like a toddler, so he does have learning difficulties. As has been said though, autism covers a wide spectrum. My real point was about how good the documentary was and how it should be watched, especially since in my time I have met a lot of insensitive and offensive people towards people who are mentally handicapped and it's not right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Doesn't autism have nothing to do with intelligence?Correct. I know there are those better qualified than me to comment, but autistic people seem to have the same range of intelligence as the rest of the community. Mildly autistic academics are not uncommon (I've worked for one). It's more about difficulties in empathising with other people as far as I understand it. Yeah I probably didn't word that very well. He has autism and it's quite severe in that he's ten years old now and still like a toddler, so he does have learning difficulties. As has been said though, autism covers a wide spectrum. My real point was about how good the documentary was and how it should be watched, especially since in my time I have met a lot of insensitive and offensive people towards people who are mentally handicapped and it's not right. Fair enough, but I think it's fair enough to say as well that autism does have, in layman circles, connotations suggesting limited intelligence. Another pattern that comes to mind is the hijacking of the word "antisocial" by the general population to mean "unhealthily introverted." IINM, in psychiatry and psychology circles ASPD is used to refer to sociopathy which is really very different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted April 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2012 Another pattern that comes to mind is the hijacking of the word "antisocial" by the general population to mean "unhealthily introverted." What they mean is probably "unsociable", rather than "antisocial", which has connotations of semi-criminal behaviour, hence ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 :nod: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Anyone remember this from the late nineties it was one of my fave shows at the time and i think it is a crime against humanity that it was cancelled after 2 seasons... Great show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walesavfc Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Game of thrones was a good episode this week, i found last week (S2 ep3) a drag tbh like it was wasting time to prolong the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 They don't need to prolong the series, the books have so much going on in them that in fact the TV show has to do quite the opposite and cut a lot of stuff out. I assume that it's incredibly tricky to write the TV show however, having to skip so much out but try to write it so that it all flows together and makes sense. In this season more than last they've written scenes that didn't actually happen in the books however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Just watched the plot to bring down Britains planes Interesting show , typical that the yanks nearly fu&%ed things up Worth catching on demand etc I you can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Just bought Breaking Bad, watched the first episode and I think I might enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I just haggled with my cable provider and got 6 months free HBO Just got caught up with the latest Game of Thrones..... I **** LOVE THIS SHOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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