Eccentric or Autistic, You Decide
bookofjoe ran a story about Eccentrics by David Weeks. His story is really just a listing of the 15 characteristics of eccentrics as quote from the book, but it makes a good game to calculate how eccentric a person is. Try the list on for size:
- Nonconforming
- Creative
- Strongly motivated by curiosity
- Idealistic: wants to make the world a better place and the people in it happier
- Happily obsessed with one or more hobbyhorses (usually five or six)
- Aware from early childhood that he is different
- Intelligent
- Opinionated and outspoken, convinced that he is right and that the rest of the world is out of step
- Noncompetitive, not in need of reassurance or reinforcement from society
- Unusual in his eating habits and living arrangements
- Not particularly interested in the opinions or company of other people, except in order to persuade them to his - the correct - point of view
- Possessed of a mischievous sense of humor
- Single
- Usually the eldest or an only child
- Bad speller
What isn’t so funny or joyful is his later story about autism, accompanied by the iconic diagnoses sheet pictured at right. Problem is, I score about the same on both of these tests.
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[...] This isn’t as funny as it used to be. Every time I read about or hear of somebody talking about autism, I recognize some many of the behaviors as my own. First it was this rather amusing comparison between “eccentric†and autistic behaviors, then it was an interview on Fresh Air, and just this weekend I heard Kamran Nazeer talking about his new book that profiles himself and four other autistic adults. [...]