I don’t know whether to laugh, be angry, or alternate between both, when I read such absurd statements about Aspergians as this one:
“Limits one’s self with pursued interests without thinking of other things that can be explored.”
I can just picture a shrink with her/his pen in hand silently writing down this note on a pad while listening to an aspie respond to her/his question, “So Joe, what things do you find interesting?” If I was Joe in that situation, I’d be tempted to say, “I find it interesting that you actually believe you can know what I don’t think about based upon what I tell you I do think about, but you probably can’t realize I’ve already decoded your pattern of analysis a long time ago and I can’t tell you that because then you’ll write down more derogatory notes about me like:
Very verbal, blunt.
Sarcastic, negative, emotionally numb, very criticizing.
Verbalizing strongly on likes and dislikes.
No interest in tasks that doesn’t draw personal interest.
Almost always totally serious.
Quick tempered.
Having a different way of playing games with others, and is sometimes taken the wrong way.
Does things without thinking them out well first, or considering consequences.
Very low assertiveness in topics not interested in.”
Of course the doctor isn’t going to share her/his ‘insights’ with her/his patient, but yet s/he wants everything s/he can pump out from her/his client. The more words s/he hears, the more ammunition s/he can have for milking her/his client’s insurance company. If the client either has no insurance and/or doesn’t own much, then that client gets a shorter ‘to do’ list (like figure out a way to keep the doc financially fed, then call again). God help us if we all have mandatory health insurance! If (or when) that happens, walking into a psych’s office will be like a fly landing on a Dionaea Muscipula (Venus Flytrap)! . . . or like someone with marital problems walking into a lawyer’s office! (Please, those out there who might take offense to what I’m saying — my words here are only meant for those who deserve the truth; you’re excused if you think so.)
Getting back to the limits one’s self with pursued interests without thinking of other things that can be explored . . . there are several factors involved here. For one, everybody has to limit her/him-self because the alternative is impossible. For another thing, it’s impossible for anyone to know what another person has thought about or has not considered. On top of that, it’s no one else’s business to decide how much time and/or energy another person invests into the things that interest him. It’s common knowledge that the length of time and the variety of interests that aspies have among their spectrum change unpredictably.
I can’t think of any person I know who I couldn’t say about her or him that s/he limits her/his-self with pursued interests without thinking of other things that can be explored. I would choose to not say that though because I’d rather live by the Golden Rule rather than the $Green$ Rule.
