Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

writingruxandrabio.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 505 posts

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#491

Post by me_me_me »

outworlder wrote: post #457
me_me_me wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem is that they rolled up the asperger syndrome up with autistic spectrum. So any psychologist is forced classify functional and non-functional together. Its a disservice to both worlds and I am not sure why was it done. People with asperger syndrome need guidance to navigate the world, while traditionally autistic people need to be taken care of, why lump both together with a single term

> People with asperger syndrome need guidance to navigate the world, while traditionally autistic people need to be taken care of, why lump both together with a single term One of the reasons is that autism was recognized to belong to a spectrum. It is not a boolean (you have aspergers or you have not, you have autism or not). It is, to keep with the metaphor, a bunch of stats expressed in floats. To what degree are…

I am fully aware that is a spectrum.

But I believe that if you make criminal umbrella term for anyone who jaywalks to hitler and everything in-between then its quite useless term.

Because using it doesn't tell you much and you have to make multiple qualifiers.

You can have a spectrum of autism with rough labels that give you an idea of state of the person.

Like in the example, umbrella term criminal has all sub category as theft, murderer, teenager :)

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#492

Post by fl0ki »

If you read this and think it doesn't apply in corporate technology jobs, either you're already doing so well at it that you take it for granted, or you are so unaware of the relationship dynamics going on around you that you don't even know what opportunities you've missed.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#493

Post by makeitdouble »

faeriechangling wrote: post #298
makeitdouble wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At some point we have to define at what point these spectrums become clinical Thing is, I'm not a psychiatrist, the author probably isn't, most of us aren't. The question of whether it becomes clinical is IMHO irrelevant to most of us. We won't be standing in front of someone pondering whether they can apply for disability, the better question will be how comfortable they are at keeping eye contact for instance.

It's a philosophical question not a psychological question, so I see no reason to appeal to the authority of psychologists here, who are pretty throughly unqualified to determine this.

The term "clinical" implies qualified medical professional to me.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#494

Post by [deleted] »

auno wrote: post #391
rustyboy wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, given it is a spectrum, what's at the other end of "really" autisitc (if that's even the right word) or does that just go from 0 being "normal" to 1 being that "really"?

It sounds like what you are thinking of is a spectrum more in the sense of a range, where one end is "least" and the other "most". There was an interesting article[0] making the rounds a few years ago arguing that it's more like the color spectrum. While there is an underlying linear value to the color spectrum in the wavelength, you don't really talk about red being "more" of a color than blue just because it has lo…

[deleted]

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#495

Post by joquarky »

normie3000 wrote: post #400
ModernMech wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people who post here meet the diagnostic criteria, and maybe they aren't ready to confront something new and scary about themselves. That's fine, it's something one needs to do when ready. Easier to say "That doesn't apply to me" if you're not ready to do the work; confronting an ASD diagnosis late in life is not an easy task.

What is "the work"?

Carl Jung would suggest "shadow work" to integrate the parts of yourself that you have ignored / suppressed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#496

Post by [deleted] »

pantalaimon wrote: post #388
jacobolus wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "diva" stereotype, starting with opera prima donnas, has plenty of real-world examples. These are people who were constantly pampered by support staff who treated them as royalty, and then ended up being huge jerks to anyone who even looked at them the wrong way. Lack of empathy and basic respect is not just about iconoclasm or compartmentalizing criticism or whatever.

I don’t think Klaus Kinski was particularly pampered, he was still a legendary jerk and actor.

[deleted]

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#497

Post by hnbad »

naruhodo wrote: post #331
hnbad wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can help reframe personal experiences and past struggles for one, but it can also help gain access to support that isn't available if you're just a "weird nerd". It can also serve to legitimize your struggles to people who think you just need to "stop being so lazy" at whatever you genuinely struggle with by being able to point at a diagnosis. Yeah, the benefits are a mixed bag and subjective but that's why we sho…

As of recently[1], in Australia, an ASD diagnosis is a reportable condition that may affect your driving ability and therefore comes with an AU$9000 fine if you don't disclose it to the authorities. Though I suspect I might be ASD 1, there is now no way I would seek a diagnosis. [1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-26/national-fitness-to-d...

That is fair and personally I would argue that you should not comply with an unjust law like that (how's that for a "strong sense of justice" in autistic people?) but of course it's safer to avoid the legal risk of non-compliance by simply avoiding the diagnosis if it doesn't benefit you.

Frankly, the law doesn't make sense given that ASD is not a "medical condition" in the sense of being temporary or avoidable and the act of passing driver's ed and attaining a driver's license demonstrates your driving ability. If you were undiagnosed prior to attaining a driver's license, it clearly did not impact your ability. If you were diagnosed and attained a driver's license without disclosing your "condition" it clearly did not impact you either. It feels more like ASD is being used as a proxy for some other condition (learning disability?) that is not usually diagnosed directly.

IMO anyone fined for non-disclosure should try to take the case to whatever the Australian equivalent of the Supreme Court is. Surely some NGO must be willing to foot the bill.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#498

Post by lazyasciiart »

randomdata wrote: post #465
lazyasciiart wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been in a meeting where the weird nerd is saying "our company should completely ditch customer support phone lines and only use a chat service because I don't know anyone who wants to make a phone call". This company was a utility that had customers with every level of literacy and internet access. He was mindbogglingly wrong, because he had no idea there was information in the world that he hadn't come across…

> He was mindbogglingly wrong How do you know? Studies already suggest that 9 out of 10 people prefer text communication with businesses. Of the remaining 10%, we have to establish that they: 1. Prefer the phone over other alternatives. Some may want face-to-face communication, for example. 2. Want to phone a utility in the first place. Preferring phone communication over other means does not imply that they want to…

No, we don’t have to establish that he knows them. It doesn’t matter if he is right about the people he knows: he is wrong about the customer base and the business decision.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#499

Post by normie3000 »

ModernMech wrote: post #410
normie3000 wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is "the work"?

Reframing your entire life. It’s like a book where the main character who thought he was a doctor in the asylum finds out he was actually a patient the whole time. A mental health diagnosis forces you to go back and relive every moment with a different perspective. Many people go through a prolonged period of skill loss/regression. I lost the ability to code for over a year. Took a long time to get to a mental place…

Wow, this is fascinating! What stopped you coding? My assumption is that the reframing would mostly be positive. I can see how it would help to reframe some bad experiences with more understanding for both yourself and the other parties.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#500

Post by hyperadvanced »

rustyboy wrote: post #481
esskay wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a similar pattern with ADHD, it feels like its almost been turned into a trend. Although that being said we've had a number of people at our place been diagnosed with ADHD, Autism and in some cases both, all developers, all within the last 3-5 years, and you know what, they're absolutely correct diagnosis. It's a mix of romanticization and a change in acceptance and understanding of the two, and they do oft…

as someone who spent a few years really addicted to stims but eventually got clean, when I started having problems at work with focus and attention, I decided that I didn't want to get diagnosed because - at some fundamental level - stims honestly feel like everyone should be on them. Like everything is better: studying, talking, moving... I've spent a lot of time trying to avoid things that challenge my attention sp…

In this case stimming refers to repetitive movements used as self-soothing, not stimulants
Post reply on HN