First of all, thank you so much for reading this fic -- I'm glad to hear you like it!
Secondly... ::cracks fingers:: Discussion time! ♥ The reason I'm such a strong advocate for Asperger's!Holmes and AD(H)D!Holmes is, simply enough, that I have the diagnoses myself, and I recognize far too many of the "traits" for it to just be a coincidence, imho. (Since I wrote this fic, I've thought much about this and come to the conclusion that while book!Holmes has ADD, movie!Holmes is more likely to have ADHD, so I'll refer to it as such from here on.) The Asperger's/ADHD combo isn't an unusual one, actually; there's not an abundance of them, but they're not rare either. Now, I'll try to keep myself cheerful and calm, but if I do come off rude or snappish, please, do forgive me. It's nothing personal, just a jadedness directed to the general public, and definitely not at you in particular. People with high-functioning autism differ greatly. There are those who are borderline "low functioning" autistics, and those who are almost "normal". As for lack of empathy and inability to read people; it varies. Greatly. The empathy thing I know is a "common" trait, but neither me nor my autistic brother have ever identified us with it. On the contrary, we are too emphatic and feel much more than what people consider "normal". As for reading people and not understanding slang and/or sarcasm; again, it varies. I believe that a clever person with Asperger's "learns" how to read via trial-and-error and study. (For an overly-simplistic example, frowning = anger and/or confusion.) Humour is and always will be, I suspect, a great mystery. But just because a person has a form of autism doesn't mean that he/she does not have a sense of humour. I've always suspected Holmes has Asperger's Syndrome, but it was the film that made it obvious to me. The resturant scene is a brilliant example; the inability to shut out all sensory input is a classic "thing". And then there's his monomania, his "eccentric" quirks, his awkwardness with other people, etc. I'm thinking about writing a short essay on this just to explaint his theory in more detail. But suffice to say, I identify far too much with Holmes for it to be a mere coincidence.
Then again, I'm not a typical Aspie; I love sarcasm, I look people in the eye when I talk to them, I'm overly emphatic, I enjoy social interactions. But I'm me, Anna, first and foremost; the diagnoses are just a small part of who I am.
(I do apologise if I jumbled up some of the terms and/or definitions. English is not my first language, so I'm not sure what everything's called. [And I'm also writing this at eight o'clock in the morning, so I apologise for awkward and incorrect grammar!])
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-17 07:56 am (UTC)Secondly... ::cracks fingers:: Discussion time! ♥
The reason I'm such a strong advocate for Asperger's!Holmes and AD(H)D!Holmes is, simply enough, that I have the diagnoses myself, and I recognize far too many of the "traits" for it to just be a coincidence, imho. (Since I wrote this fic, I've thought much about this and come to the conclusion that while book!Holmes has ADD, movie!Holmes is more likely to have ADHD, so I'll refer to it as such from here on.)
The Asperger's/ADHD combo isn't an unusual one, actually; there's not an abundance of them, but they're not rare either.
Now, I'll try to keep myself cheerful and calm, but if I do come off rude or snappish, please, do forgive me. It's nothing personal, just a jadedness directed to the general public, and definitely not at you in particular.
People with high-functioning autism differ greatly. There are those who are borderline "low functioning" autistics, and those who are almost "normal". As for lack of empathy and inability to read people; it varies. Greatly. The empathy thing I know is a "common" trait, but neither me nor my autistic brother have ever identified us with it. On the contrary, we are too emphatic and feel much more than what people consider "normal". As for reading people and not understanding slang and/or sarcasm; again, it varies. I believe that a clever person with Asperger's "learns" how to read via trial-and-error and study. (For an overly-simplistic example, frowning = anger and/or confusion.) Humour is and always will be, I suspect, a great mystery. But just because a person has a form of autism doesn't mean that he/she does not have a sense of humour.
I've always suspected Holmes has Asperger's Syndrome, but it was the film that made it obvious to me. The resturant scene is a brilliant example; the inability to shut out all sensory input is a classic "thing". And then there's his monomania, his "eccentric" quirks, his awkwardness with other people, etc. I'm thinking about writing a short essay on this just to explaint his theory in more detail. But suffice to say, I identify far too much with Holmes for it to be a mere coincidence.
Then again, I'm not a typical Aspie; I love sarcasm, I look people in the eye when I talk to them, I'm overly emphatic, I enjoy social interactions. But I'm me, Anna, first and foremost; the diagnoses are just a small part of who I am.
(I do apologise if I jumbled up some of the terms and/or definitions. English is not my first language, so I'm not sure what everything's called. [And I'm also writing this at eight o'clock in the morning, so I apologise for awkward and incorrect grammar!])