I would like to help everyone who engages with Jimmy in conversation within this topic, or any other future topic to bear the following in mind: Jimmy is a special person, and this kind of person needs a lot of patience to deal with. I regret being so mean to Jimmy, now that I have discovered an explanation for his behaviors.
What is Asperger’s ?
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a neurodevelopmental disorder
characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication (such as writing), along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.
AS is a form of Autism, and no longer classified as its own disease; rather it has become part of the ASD or Autism Disorder Spectrum of mental disorders. It is normally diagnosed early in life, but it is possible although unlikely for an adult to be living with the condition without knowing that they are suffering from it.
Asperger’s Syndrome is distinguished by the inability to understand other people’s feelings or gestures, leading to the inability to make friends.
Characteristics:
As a pervasive developmental disorder,
Asperger syndrome is distinguished by a pattern of symptoms rather than a single symptom. It is characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction, by stereotyped and restricted patterns of behavior, activities, and interests, and by no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or general delay in language. Intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, one-sided verbosity, restricted prosody, and physical clumsiness are typical of the condition.
Are these symptoms obvious in Jimmy? Yes
Social Interactions:
A
dearth of demonstrated empathy affects aspects of communal living for persons with Asperger syndrome. They just simply lack empathy in their beings and as a result individuals with Asperger syndrome experience difficulties in basic elements of social interaction, which may include a failure to develop friendships or to seek shared enjoyments or achievements with others (e.g., showing others objects of interest); a lack of social or emotional reciprocity (social "games" give-and-take mechanic); and impaired nonverbal behaviors in areas such as eye contact, facial expression, posture, and gesture.
This inability to tap into empathy makes it impossible to make the Asperger's sufferer see a topic or situation in any way different than the way he has formed in his head.
They are not shy, as they can still approach others, even if awkwardly. For example, a person with Asperger syndrome may engage in a one-sided, long-winded speech about a favorite topic, while misunderstanding or not recognizing the listener's feelings or reactions, such as a wish to change the topic of talk or end the interaction. This social awkwardness has been called "active but odd." Such failures to react appropriately to social interaction may appear as disregard for other people's feelings and may come across as rude or insensitive.
The cognitive ability of children with AS often allows them to articulate social norms in a laboratory context, where they may be able to show a theoretical understanding of other people's emotions; however, they typically have difficulty acting on this knowledge in fluid, real-life situations.
People with AS may analyze and distill their observations of social interaction into rigid behavioral guidelines and apply these rules in awkward ways, such as forced eye contact, resulting in a demeanor that appears rigid or socially naïve. Childhood desire for companionship can become numbed through a history of failed social encounters.
Restricted and repetitive interests and behavior:
People with Asperger syndrome can display behavior, interests, and activities that are restricted and repetitive and are sometimes
abnormally intense or focused. They may stick to inflexible routines or norms, move in stereotyped and repetitive ways, preoccupy themselves with parts of objects, or
engage in pedantic interpretations of language in a literal manner.
The pursuit of specific and narrow areas of interest is one of the most striking among possible features of AS. Individuals with AS may collect volumes of detailed information on a relatively narrow topic such as weather data or star names
without necessarily having a genuine understanding of the broader topic. For example, a child might memorize camera model numbers while caring little about photography. Although these special interests may change from time to time, they typically become more unusual and narrowly focused and often dominate social interaction so much that the entire family may become immersed.
This is obvious in the obsession that Jimmy has with presenting antivaxx propaganda, collecting screenshots and memorizing "stats" about an issue that he has no big picture understanding and a complete inability to discuss.
According to the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA) diagnostic test, a lack of interest in fiction and a positive preference towards non-fiction is common among adults with AS. Jimmy is obsessed with the dictionary and its literal explanations of the world around him.
Speech and language:
Although individuals with Asperger syndrome acquire language skills without significant general delay and their speech typically lacks significant abnormalities, language acquisition and use is often atypical.
Abnormalities include (1) verbosity; (2) abrupt transitions; (3) literal interpretations and miscomprehension of nuance; use of metaphor meaningful only to the speaker; (4) auditory perception deficits; (5) unusually pedantic, formal, or idiosyncratic speech; and oddities in loudness, pitch, intonation, prosody, and rhythm. Echolalia (the meaningless repetition of another person’s words) has also been observed in individuals with AS.
Three aspects of communication patterns are of clinical interest: poor prosody, tangential and circumstantial speech, and marked verbosity. Although inflection and intonation may be less rigid or monotonic than in classic autism, people with AS often have a limited range of intonation: speech may be unusually fast, jerky, or loud. Speech may convey a sense of incoherence; the conversational style often includes monologues about topics that bore the listener, fails to provide context for comments, or fails to suppress internal thoughts. Individuals with AS may fail to detect whether the listener is interested or engaged in the conversation.
The speaker's conclusion or point may never be made and attempts by the listener to elaborate on the speech's content or logic, or to shift to related topics, are often unsuccessful.
Children with AS may have a sophisticated vocabulary at a young age and such children have often been colloquially called "little professors" but have difficulty understanding figurative language and
tend to use language literally. Children with AS appear to have particular weaknesses in areas of nonliteral language that include humor, irony, teasing, and sarcasm. Although individuals with AS usually understand the cognitive basis of humor, they seem to lack understanding of the intent of humor to share the enjoyment with others. Despite strong evidence of impaired humor appreciation, anecdotal reports of humor in individuals with AS seem to challenge some psychological theories of AS and autism.
Jimmy:
Having interacted with Jimmy for more than 20 pages in this thread, I started off thinking that JImmy was just a troll that liked to piss people off by arguing with everyone. Now it has become evident to me that he is legitimately afflicted by this Autism called Asperger's Disease. I regret having called JImmy a retard now that I understand that he does have a social learning disability. JImmy, you are a brave person the way you navigate your life. Keep it up champ!
en.wikipedia.org
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Discover the symptoms, causes, and treatment options for Asperger’s Syndrome in this comprehensive guide. Gain a better understanding of this condition today!
www.webmd.com
Asperger's symptoms in adults include symptoms of other autism spectrum disorders, such as limited eye contact, difficulty functioning in social situations, having a hard time reading and understanding nonverbal communication, anxiety, and perseverance or obsession with specific items or subjects.
www.healthline.com
@Hornet