--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > Well, in my understanding the main criterion of > Asperger's is poor social skills. That's also > the most frustrating feature of my character, > for myself at least. For instance when I listen > to e.g. four or five people conversing during > a family celebration, I feel totally outsider, > because I can't follow the conversation. > Almost like listening to a totally foreign > language. People are laughing at what someone just said, I have > no idea whatsoever what they are laughing at. > And stuff like that.
I'm not sure this is a problem of "poor social skills," though. Is it possible that it's social *anxiety* that interferes with your ability to focus on what people are saying? > One might think that's weird, but my possible linguistic > talent is IMO confined primarily to analyzing linguistic > structures. My ability to understand spoken language > seems to be way below average. Again, though, I'm not sure that has anything to do with Asperger's per se. It sounds more like a sort of audio-dyslexia. Goodness knows your ability with *written* language is way above average! In any case, since I know you only via how and what you write, I don't really have anything useful to offer. All I can say is, over the years I've gotten the distinct impression that you worry about yourself too much--and I should think that anxiety could very well interfere with your "live" social interactions. You do just fine when you interact with others in written form on this kind of forum, so it isn't that you're lacking in the ability to interact. <snip> > But that (understanding spoken language) might have improved a bit > lately. Namely, when I listen to the lyrics of some favourite songs > from my youth, I notice I now understand the contents > of those lyrics somewhat better than I used to. :0 I have *always* had great difficulty understanding sung lyrics. Even when the lyrics are very clear, I have trouble paying attention to them. Oddly enough, I'll find that I've automatically memorized the lyrics to songs with which I'm very familiar, but unless I make a great effort to divorce them from the music and contemplate them on their own terms, in my mind the lyrics are just sounds--like scat-singing--not meaningful words.
