Chris from an autistic perspective

[TopperHay]

My brother has Aspergers Syndrome (which I know isn't exactly the same as Autism but there are some similarities, despite what Chris believes) and there are some things he does which remind me of CWC. I hate to compare him to Chris of all people, but they can be eerily similar sometimes. For example, my brother is terrible with money and doesn't often think about how his behaviour can effect other people. He tends to buy a lot of expensive things for himself (vidya games, of course) and wonders why our mother is mad at him for not getting her a present or even a card for her birthday. Though I can't say mum really helps with this matter and even tried defending him until I pointed out the fact that he's 24 years old and should really remember his own mother's birthday by now. At one point even had his own ED page "dedicated" to him and had his YT account banned at least 4 times just because he didn't know when to stop arguing with trolls.

That being said, even though he's a slow learner, he's not as slow as Chris. He eventually stopped making response videos to trolls and hate videos (mostly because I went mental with him after hearing him screaming at his computer at 1am) and when he's not getting angry over something stupid, he's a decent guy. He's just a bit coddled and sheltered and really needs to get his arse kicked into gear...just like a certain somebody we all know.

 

[RagtimeRoastBeefy]

while i do not doubt your autism in particular, nor do i think i'm qualified to diagnose it, I do feel that autism is over-diagnosed today. This skepticism comes from previous cases of over-diagnosis. The ADHD overdiagnosis of the late 90s into the early 2000s and the bipolar/BPD overdiagnosis of the late 2000s is the source of this skeptecism. I think a lot of biological psychiatry tends to over-ignore the spirit of the times, which is only natural when your position in psychological understanding is nature over nurture. I feel the over-diagnosis of ADHD during the late 90s and early 2000s utterly ignores the advent of video games, mass consumed cable television and absolutely aggressive marketing towards children, it further ignores the internet and the idea that the ammount of advertisements seen per day, already absurdly high, probably doubled or tripled(to underestimate). To make matters worse, the late 90s and early 2000s were the beggining of cuts towards creative outlets for children and implication of the current school model, where things that generally dont interest children, are stressed more and more in order to figure out which schools "deserve" funding.

Likewise I think in some senses chris' rant about social media and the internet making us more "autistic-like" is absolutely true. As technology changes and our opportunities to connect with new people in new ways are more and more diminished, i think the world itself becomes very alienated from itself. american cities are interesting to europeans because all the conviniences of a city are separated. where as a town in europe is a place where people both work and live, the standard suburban town in america is divided into two sectors, business and residential. People who live near their work or near places that people work have to intermingle more, as the buying and selling of goods encourages it. Suburbia isn't like this. you live miles from the business district, you get around by car rather than foot, everything is very individualized. Most people in america outside of large citiy areas live very isolated lives, and i feel it only gets worse with time. with the advent of facebook and social media, a person could essentially feel satisfaction in doing nothing actually social all day, but still doing the bare minimum it requires to keep a relationship alive

it's peculiar to me that all our friends come from school or work, that my neighbors next door to me might as well be on another planet, that the man on the train is the last person i'm going to understand even though he sits right accross from me. I think, social media, and its half assed relationships being satisfying to many people, further prevents us from gaining the social practice that we need to maintain our social grace. that the more we are satisfied in the internet relationship, the less we are pressed to practice social interaction. Then with there being less incentive to practice our social skillset, we are free to develop complex after complex till it appears that maybe we have pathological interaction problems.

One can only see that the effect on growing up in this clime will produce children who do not have biological autism, but many behaviors similar to autism. The same can be said of the children of the 90s and 00s. It can be said that the various interests violently competing for these childrens attentions at all times of their waking life could produce a clime of attenutive imposibility. Thus giving the sense that ADHD is rampant



that being said, the matter of chris' parents and crhis pulling himself out of his own misery comes into play. on his parents i often wonder if it was possible for them to improve his life. one can imagine when someone does undeniably have autism like chris, that the current clime of the world only could make it worse and worse for him. that in a world where autism seems epidemic, the autistic individual can only do worse. His parents would indefinitely have to take a very active role in helping him establish normalcy, a task that is formidable for even the best and most capable parents. I don't think I am quick to condemn them.

as for chris himself over-coming it, its simple, go to a psychologist. His poor understanding of autism comes from his parents, he should be framiliar with a psychologist. It's his only way out.

 

[Picklepower]

Chris is pretty greedy, He spends his Tugboat like its nothing and literally doesn't give a fuck, he steals from his mommy's purse, and credit cards, and his only "regret" is that he got caught cuz "I need da new Skylanders downloads dang it!"

A lot of people here seem to think that Chris could hold a job, but I don't buy it because, Chris would weird out his coworkers, and the customers. He would look for "da single ladies" to try to get with, and would probably be annoyed by his "Jerk Male" co workers. And I know people will say it doesn't matter but, there is a possibility that the people hiring him might Google his name, just googling Christian Chandler gives you the crazy results.

 

[Silver]

I feel the over-diagnosis of ADHD during the late 90s and early 2000s utterly ignores the advent of video games, mass consumed cable television and absolutely aggressive marketing towards children, it further ignores the internet and the idea that the ammount of advertisements seen per day, already absurdly high, probably doubled or tripled(to underestimate). To make matters worse, the late 90s and early 2000s were the beggining of cuts towards creative outlets for children and implication of the current school model, where things that generally dont interest children, are stressed more and more in order to figure out which schools "deserve" funding.

I'd just like to throw out there that I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD around the same time I was diagnosed with Asperger's, which was when I was in third or fourth grade, or 2003/2004. I stopped taking my ADHD meds sometime this spring (because I ran out) and I've experienced absolutely no ADHD "relapse", leading my parents to think that the reason I was thought to have AD(H)D when I was in school was not because I actually had it, but because I was such a quick learner and so ahead of my age in quite a few academic fields (vocabulary, English, math) that I was just bored out of my mind sitting in class when I already "knew everything" and started acting up because of it.

That being said, while I do feel that ADHD is being over-diagnosed (my own case suggests as much), there is more, much more, to autism than the lack of social skills. While lack of social interaction can lead to a social affect that presents itself similarly to autism - I don't think any non-physical force would be able to actually induce autism, because autism also includes symptoms like unnatural flapping of the hands (something I still do on a regular basis, despite most of my other symptoms having all but vanished), complete and utter aversion to changes in routine, and trouble with abstract concepts. So I'm not really sure autism can be over-diagnosed based solely on the advent of social media, since autism is a multifaceted disorder and, above all, a neurological disorder that presents itself primarily in social communication issues, but not exclusively.

 

[RagtimeRoastBeefy]

Oh I definitely think a lot of people have autism! I just think self diagnosis and miss diagnosis are up. As you were saying about hand flapping and the likes, I think it takes a bit more than socially awkward to make someone autistic in this clime, something that's decades in the making. And thats coming from me Being a child of the 90s prescribed ADHD medication and diagnosed bipolar only later to have a psychologist tell me after a dozen or so visits that I shouldn't be on antipsychotics for bipolar because I probably didn't have it. The psychologist Also said was all my problems of the time were me dealing with adult things for the first time and being unable to cope in a positive way, so normal late teens bullshit.

 

[That Chris Guy]

I was diagnosed with Asperger's at an early age, and I get the feeling I exhibited all of its symptoms: social ineptitude and naivete, gullible, stereotypical gravitas, fixation on video games, anime and card games. But I got better on my own accord across high school; for me, in a somewhat corny way, autistic people understanding other people is like trying to pick up a language - you watch a lot of movies to get the most exaggerated forms of emotional expression, and then you apply those in real life and repeatedly refine them until you start making the mental connection. You also have to pay a great deal of attention to what people say and continuously evaluate yourself. That's second nature to normal people, but it's harder for autistics to pick up.

To cut the rambling life stry short, I look at Chris and figure that I could have become like him if I had enabling parents, won a competition, or felt the desire to Youtube an unoriginal idea, but at the same time my own luck tells me he could turn it all around.

As it stands however, his environment will permanently restrict him from doing so. Call it extreme, but he needs to be taken away from Barb, his FB and asspatters, and his life upgrades for a year without him knowing the end of it and being monitored and talked to. Then you introduce him to the concept of a true friend (one who tells the ugly truth rather than asspats) and rebuild from there. It's all about breaking down his ego in order to properly understand others.

 

[Marvin]

To cut the rambling life stry short, I look at Chris and figure that I could have become like him if I had enabling parents, won a competition, or felt the desire to Youtube an unoriginal idea, but at the same time my own luck tells me he could turn it all around.

As it stands however, his environment will permanently restrict him from doing so. Call it extreme, but he needs to be taken away from Barb, his FB and asspatters, and his life upgrades for a year without him knowing the end of it and being monitored and talked to. Then you introduce him to the concept of a true friend (one who tells the ugly truth rather than asspats) and rebuild from there. It's all about breaking down his ego in order to properly understand others.

Yep. Chris' life could suck a lot less if he had someone who isn't a retard controlling it.

 

[IceBeam]

while i do not doubt your autism in particular, nor do i think i'm qualified to diagnose it, I do feel that autism is over-diagnosed today. This skepticism comes from previous cases of over-diagnosis. The ADHD overdiagnosis of the late 90s into the early 2000s and the bipolar/BPD overdiagnosis of the late 2000s is the source of this skeptecism. I think a lot of biological psychiatry tends to over-ignore the spirit of the times, which is only natural when your position in psychological understanding is nature over nurture. I feel the over-diagnosis of ADHD during the late 90s and early 2000s utterly ignores the advent of video games, mass consumed cable television and absolutely aggressive marketing towards children, it further ignores the internet and the idea that the ammount of advertisements seen per day, already absurdly high, probably doubled or tripled(to underestimate). To make matters worse, the late 90s and early 2000s were the beggining of cuts towards creative outlets for children and implication of the current school model, where things that generally dont interest children, are stressed more and more in order to figure out which schools "deserve" funding.

Likewise I think in some senses chris' rant about social media and the internet making us more "autistic-like" is absolutely true. As technology changes and our opportunities to connect with new people in new ways are more and more diminished, i think the world itself becomes very alienated from itself. american cities are interesting to europeans because all the conviniences of a city are separated. where as a town in europe is a place where people both work and live, the standard suburban town in america is divided into two sectors, business and residential. People who live near their work or near places that people work have to intermingle more, as the buying and selling of goods encourages it. Suburbia isn't like this. you live miles from the business district, you get around by car rather than foot, everything is very individualized. Most people in america outside of large citiy areas live very isolated lives, and i feel it only gets worse with time. with the advent of facebook and social media, a person could essentially feel satisfaction in doing nothing actually social all day, but still doing the bare minimum it requires to keep a relationship alive

it's peculiar to me that all our friends come from school or work, that my neighbors next door to me might as well be on another planet, that the man on the train is the last person i'm going to understand even though he sits right accross from me. I think, social media, and its half assed relationships being satisfying to many people, further prevents us from gaining the social practice that we need to maintain our social grace. that the more we are satisfied in the internet relationship, the less we are pressed to practice social interaction. Then with there being less incentive to practice our social skillset, we are free to develop complex after complex till it appears that maybe we have pathological interaction problems.

One can only see that the effect on growing up in this clime will produce children who do not have biological autism, but many behaviors similar to autism. The same can be said of the children of the 90s and 00s. It can be said that the various interests violently competing for these childrens attentions at all times of their waking life could produce a clime of attenutive imposibility. Thus giving the sense that ADHD is rampant



that being said, the matter of chris' parents and crhis pulling himself out of his own misery comes into play. on his parents i often wonder if it was possible for them to improve his life. one can imagine when someone does undeniably have autism like chris, that the current clime of the world only could make it worse and worse for him. that in a world where autism seems epidemic, the autistic individual can only do worse. His parents would indefinitely have to take a very active role in helping him establish normalcy, a task that is formidable for even the best and most capable parents. I don't think I am quick to condemn them.

as for chris himself over-coming it, its simple, go to a psychologist. His poor understanding of autism comes from his parents, he should be framiliar with a psychologist. It's his only way out.

I'm totally with you on this. My autism diagnosis came before the autism trend, but I agree that it now is over-diagnosed. I was one of those kids who was "diagnosed" with ADD/ADHD in the late 90s. It's funny, because my autism may have been the cause of that. In school (a small, private school), I always performed and behaved well.
Until middle school, I was always an A/B student, without exception. My teacher one year seriously said to my mom, "Austin seems to know the material, but he just doesn't look like he's paying attention." It was symptoms of autism- aversion to eye contact, strange body language, poor nonverbal communication skills- that caused this. Long story short, I was put on ritalin without ever seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist. It fucked me up badly.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I myself was diagnosed with Aspergers when I was 2-3, and I grew up having to learn that I wasn't the center of the Earth.

This is something Chris doesn't seem to have learned, and that's my main issue with him - The lack of tough love and discipline from Borb (or at least Barb). Yeah there's more problems with him than that (lack of money smarts, his ego, stupidity, crap eating choices and poor social skills), but being the product of a strict household at a young age (limited computer time, doing daily chores, etc). I had to learn it then as opposed to later.

Then again, my stepdad had problems, and I didn't grow the fuck up until I was eighteen due to that. So take the last few sentences with a grain of salt.