The most interesting thing about Asperger's syndrome is that its "discoverer" decided he had it and named it after himself, which he might have done even if not "suffering" from this "disorder." Maybe.
Asperger's, like too many other mental illnesses, is in effect an almost whimsical diagnosis of exclusion: If someone is really smart, arrogant beyond measure, and tends to be an asshole or otherwise impossible to converse with in a normal way, then he must have a form of autism. It's not treatable, but hey, labels are always fun and interesting.
So take this test to determine your inclination toward Asperger's. If you disagree with the results, well, what makes you think you know so much? And what does that say about
Comments
I scored a 25, comfortably in a no-man's-land between "Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism" and "Average math contest winner."
Posted by: Kevin Beck | August 1, 2007 4:19 PM
Ghah. A 31.
What am I doing running a theatre company????
Posted by: gwangung | August 1, 2007 4:42 PM
Huh. I scored 16, between average female scientist and average woman/male or female biologist.
I'm really not sure what to make of that result.
Posted by: Warren | August 1, 2007 4:51 PM
42. Life, the Universe, and everything, indeed.
Posted by: MartinM | August 1, 2007 5:10 PM
I got 41. The diplomacy question was easiest for me--my normal reactions to someone asking me a question in games is "^*%%* youre lucky I wasted all my bullets on the other people."
Posted by: Baratos | August 1, 2007 5:16 PM
Only 11!? Do I have to relinquish my geek badge and uniform?
BTW, I know someone who was diagnosed with Aspbergers and also someone else who maybe should be. Not being able to read facial expressions would make navigating social situations like meandering through a minefield.
Posted by: pough | August 1, 2007 6:02 PM
I hate these self tests. This test and the many variations that all seem to based on the original Wired article are about as useful as the Myers Briggs tests. Meaning not very. For some bizarre reason, Asperger's has become a trendy thing to claim to have. Everybody and their brother is coming out of the woodwork claiming they have Asperger's. Just because you are awkward in social situations and are good with numbers, which this test focuses on, doesn't mean you have it. My son has Asperger's (evaluated by a real psychiatrist) and believe me, Asperger's is a lot more than not enjoying social chit chat.
Posted by: Todd | August 1, 2007 6:06 PM
Malignant phallomegaly is like that. I have it, and it sounds like a fun disorder, ha ha ha, until you realize you can't get laid except by an aquatic mammal, unless you're a sexual sadist who meets a true sexual masochist.
Posted by: Lint | August 1, 2007 6:30 PM
I got an 8. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad.
Posted by: Shelley | August 1, 2007 7:20 PM
I got an 8. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad.
Posted by: Shelley | August 1, 2007 7:21 PM
Well now you have a 16. Keep going, I dare you!
Posted by: Kevin Beck | August 1, 2007 7:23 PM
This statement is egregiously false; the "discoverer" of the syndrome was an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician named Dr. Hans Asperger, who referred to the symptoms he observed in several children, which he described in 1944, as "autistic psychopathy"; the name "Asperger's syndrome" was first used in 1981 by English psychiatrist Lorna Wing, in honor of Dr. Asperger who had previously published on the syndrome she was describing, but his works had only been published in German. Dr. Wing's paper is available online here; Dr. Asperger's work was apparently published as "Asperger, H. (1944), Die 'Autistischen Psychopathen' im Kindesalter, Archiv fur Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten."
Just out of curiosity, where in the hell did you get that bit about the discoverer "self-diagnosing" and naming it after himself?! A claim like that almost sounds like you're treating SomethingAwful.com as a reputable source for medical history!
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 7:25 PM
Azykroth -- yeah, I was riffing on what I assume is a popular urban AS legend, although I'm not sure where I first saw it. It seemed funnier when I was writing it. Lame, but it was either that or make jokes about Simon Baron-Cohen and "Asperger's: The Borat Exclusive."
Anyone see this?
Posted by: Kevin Beck | August 1, 2007 7:33 PM
...ah. Errm...never mind then. *coughs*
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 7:39 PM
That test has too many questions; I lost interest and didn't finish. The ones on OKCupid are much better.
Posted by: PhysioProf | August 1, 2007 8:26 PM
I scored 25.
Posted by: Shalini | August 1, 2007 8:58 PM
Azkyroth, don't feel too bad. I got 15 on the AQ test, and I missed the joke too. ;-) (Oh, I was puzzled by the formulation - but I still missed that it was a joke.)
Apparently I'm your average woman - or I should have gone into biology which was my best scoring subject in high school. So why do I feel like Aspberger's every time I fail socially, as above? Hmm, maybe the geekification factor favor that "explanation" know - making us feel good about feeling bad.
PhysioProf:
It is safe to assume that if you found the test boring, you score very low on the scale. :-P
Posted by: Torbjörn Larsson, OM | August 1, 2007 9:13 PM
Yeah, well, I should have scored a lot higher than I did, but I'm one of these arrogant obsessives who can blend in socially and fake diplomacy, making my me and my ilk probably the most dangerous douchebags around.
And Azkyroth, Torbjörn, don't feel bad. It clearly wasn't obvious that I was joking about Asperger so fittingly naming the syndrome after himself, although I wis he had. For some reason I figured everyone would just know what I was thinking, which is probably a disorder of some sort in itself.
Shalini -- hey, we got the same score! You free tomorrow night? Wait -- am I thinking of the wrong quiz?
Posted by: Kevin Beck | August 1, 2007 9:21 PM
44 - not a surprise considering that I am diagnosed with AS. It generally sucks having to live with this neurological disorder.
Posted by: Jeff Knapp | August 1, 2007 9:59 PM
11 - not a surprise since I am extremely empathetic.
Posted by: Loc | August 1, 2007 11:26 PM
#8,
Have you looked into penis reduction surgery?
In my case I got a score of 38. I rather suspect that I can credit that to my clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder. I mean, it's hard to soicalize and follow conversations when you're down and feeling skittish.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 2, 2007 12:41 AM
I scored 20. don't really know what that means. I noticed that a lot of the questions appeared to be the same question reworded. (The one about how you do in social situations)
Posted by: Susan | August 2, 2007 12:57 AM
I also don't want anyone to think I'm trivializing autism. It's more a matter of being scornful of those wannabe aspies Todd mentions, people who seem to be trying to brag about being really smart under the aegis of being "disordered."
The one person I have met with known Asperger's is indeed brilliant, and, though seemingly oblivious to certain social niceties, is anything but comfortable with himself. Parents caring for autistic kids, I think, face some of the biggest challenges imaginable.
Posted by: Kevin Beck | August 2, 2007 1:15 AM
48, but heck, what is new..... I fit the criteria perfect!
Posted by: Kim | August 2, 2007 1:44 AM
The one person I have met with known Asperger's is indeed brilliant, and ... is anything but comfortable with himself.
People with Asperger's are usually quite comfortable with themselves -- it's other people that they're not comfortable with. ;-)
Here are Baron-Cohen's actual Asperger's tests from the Autism Research Centre @ Cambridge -- the SQ (Systemising Quotient) and the EQ (Empathy Quotient) -- on which the AQ was based:
http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/research/project.asp?id=8
See also here: "How male or female is your brain?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html
My AQ = 32. No surprise.
SQ = 61 (51-80 = "You have a very high ability for analysing and exploring a system. Three times as many people with Asperger Syndrome score in this range, compared to typical men, and almost no women score this high.")
EQ = 43 (Avg ability for understanding others -- most women score around 47 -- most men 42 -- so on empathy I'm more like a guy even though I'm a girl!)
Posted by: Jun | August 2, 2007 3:39 AM
I've been meaning to write up some specific points on my experience with what I'm fairly certain is Asperger's (a bit of detail: For insurance and work reasons, I haven't been to see a psychiatrist for anything other than rubber-stamping a medicine refill in quite a few years, and the psychiatrists I saw as a child summarily refused to even consider the possibility. However, the articles I've read on Asperger's strongly match many of the specific symptoms (not just the general tone of "smart and socially awkward"), and my (diagnosed autistic) daughter's psychiatrist, in exploring her family history, strongly agreed that my reported symptoms match). Kevin, would you be interested in reading it if I ever do so?
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 2, 2007 7:15 AM
Just today (private email) I learned that Kevin and I have something in common besides our take on the malicious ineptitude of George W. Bush. It leads me to ask this question (and you can be sure Kevin knows what I'm talking about). Is it Aspergers that causes our other problems, or our other problems that produce behaviors that mimic Aspergers?
(BTW, the rest of you can remain mystified by what Kevirn and I have in common. :) )
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 2, 2007 10:01 PM
34, just on the borderline of "extreme". yet i don't think i have asperger's; i just think i'm an unusually nerdy type.
(interestingly, when my parents first heard of asperger's several years ago, the first person they thought of was me. i still think i'm too socially adaptable for it, though. just because i don't like to socialize doesn't mean i can't do it, even if i have to do it by rote mechanics sometimes.)
Posted by: Nomen Nescio | August 3, 2007 8:46 AM
The etiology of Asperger's and the other autism spectrum disorders is a very strong research interest of mine. I scored a 35. I am self-diagnosed with Asperger's after it started getting better due to increasing my NO level via the technique I discovered. I didn't know I had Asperger's before it started getting better, so a placebo effect is unlikely.
I see Asperger's as a completely normal human trait, just like being tall or short, but a lot more complicated.
http://daedalus2u.blogspot.com/2007/05/evolution-of-asds-as-invoking-tool.html
I see it as being invoked in utero due to maternal stress, so as to invoke the "tool making" and "tool using" phenotype. I see it as perhaps the defining human characteristic. I think that all humans necessarily have ASD characteristics, it is only the degree that is different.
In utero is the only time that a brain can be reprogrammed. Every other organ is programmed in utero by maternal stress, it would be surprising if the most important organ, the brain, were not.
The most important positive trait of the ASDs is the disruption of mirror neurons. It is the disconnection from cultural and sociatal norms and "peer pressure" that allow people with ASDs to abandon the "conventional wisdom" and do something new. It was Einstein's Asperger's that allowed him to abandon Newtonian mechanics and come up with special relativity. Many scientific peers of the day couldn't.
This is a problem in scientific peer review. Peer review is good for what Thomas Kuhn calls "normal science", but doesn't work well for paradigm breaking science, such as relativity. One could put together a group of excellent scientific peers of the time, who never accepted relativity and if they had been the gatekeepers never would have allowed it to be published.
Is every scientific paradigm we have now correct? Very likely not. Will paradigm breaking research ever get funded? Very likely not.
Posted by: daedalus2u | August 3, 2007 10:06 AM
19. 'Average' scientist.
Hah.
Posted by: Black Knight | August 4, 2007 9:39 PM
33. I'm not suprised by this result.
Posted by: lurker | August 6, 2007 9:46 AM