Not entirely sure how I ended up on this page but I thought I'd give my two pennies' worth as I drift on by.
I think talking about Asperger's in general terms full stop is very difficult because it's so varied, particularly between the genders but even between individuals. You can very easily fill a room with people with AS and they'll all have very different traits. I think it presents differently as a result of upbringing, personality, IQ and when the person was diagnosed.
That being said, I actually discovered I have AS relatively late in life as a result of watching the BBC Sherlock show. Life's odd like that. Basically I saw a lot of logic in what Sherlock did, although I also saw how inappropriate a lot of his behaviour was. I definitely see some very AS qualities in him. In particular, his demand that people be quiet while he's trying to work through a problem (not something I personally do) and his inability to fit together emotions with situations such as his lack of sensitivity and his rather utilitarian "cost-benefit" style approach to matters that perhaps require a more delicate touch (the Great Game, for example).
Because of the near infinite variations of AS it seems possible for Sherlock to have AS. It's quite possible, for example, that he could be fairly decent with relationships. I think some people with AS don't find interpreting interactions as difficult but rather struggle with how to respond to them, for example. It's rather like being a foreign tourist: you can tell from the inflection that another person is angry or happy but you don't know how best to respond. This can lead to, as Sherlock seems to do, turning cold instead, rather than "risking" getting it wrong.
That being said, because the characteristics of AS are so varied they can very well apply to any number of other conditions or certain personality types. I think it's an interesting way of considering his character but it can threaten to take over in stories at the expense of the plot and characterisation.
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Date: 2011-02-27 12:36 am (UTC)I think talking about Asperger's in general terms full stop is very difficult because it's so varied, particularly between the genders but even between individuals. You can very easily fill a room with people with AS and they'll all have very different traits. I think it presents differently as a result of upbringing, personality, IQ and when the person was diagnosed.
That being said, I actually discovered I have AS relatively late in life as a result of watching the BBC Sherlock show. Life's odd like that. Basically I saw a lot of logic in what Sherlock did, although I also saw how inappropriate a lot of his behaviour was. I definitely see some very AS qualities in him. In particular, his demand that people be quiet while he's trying to work through a problem (not something I personally do) and his inability to fit together emotions with situations such as his lack of sensitivity and his rather utilitarian "cost-benefit" style approach to matters that perhaps require a more delicate touch (the Great Game, for example).
Because of the near infinite variations of AS it seems possible for Sherlock to have AS. It's quite possible, for example, that he could be fairly decent with relationships. I think some people with AS don't find interpreting interactions as difficult but rather struggle with how to respond to them, for example. It's rather like being a foreign tourist: you can tell from the inflection that another person is angry or happy but you don't know how best to respond. This can lead to, as Sherlock seems to do, turning cold instead, rather than "risking" getting it wrong.
That being said, because the characteristics of AS are so varied they can very well apply to any number of other conditions or certain personality types. I think it's an interesting way of considering his character but it can threaten to take over in stories at the expense of the plot and characterisation.
:D So... yeah, just my thoughts on it all.