Re: ::scr The Geek Syndrome

[Earle Martin <scr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Dec 08, 2001 at 07:26:40AM -0800, celia romaniuk wrote:
> > http://www.emmbrook.demon.co.uk/dysprax/what.htm
> > 
> > Good grief - I'm dyspraxic!
>   
> Hm. I'm all those things too, but I don't think I'm dyspraxic. I can't
> help thinking here of 'medical studentitis', which is basically where
> people who are hyperaware of conditions start to feel its symptoms.

So what do you call it when someone has some symptoms, looks them up, and
matches them to an existing condition? A diagnosis, surely?

> All I'm saying is that it's easy to identify a bunch of characteristics in
> yourself and give them a handy label.

After some years of wondering exactly what the fuck was wrong with me, awhile
back I idly flipped through a copy of "Driven to Distraction" by Hallowell and
Ratey[0], and when I got to the page about symptoms it was like the Big
Cartoon Bulb turned on over my head, and I had to catch my breath. I'm sure
hypochondria is more of a sneaking sort of thing, not like being hit by a
baseball bat. I felt that way looking at the dyspraxia symptoms as well -
like great chunks of my history suddenly becoming understandable to me.

> People aren't jigsaw puzzles.

I would disagree, because I feel like I just found another piece.

> I think it's important to recognise issues,
> especially with kids, and to help them find ways of dealing with things
> that might be hindering their education, but also accepting aspects of
> their personality.

True, but the school counsellor at my secondary school tried to get me to
believe that I was failing precisely because of my personality - that I
was "lazy", and I almost believed her. If I had known then what I know no,
then maybe I might have been able to understand what was going on within me
and thus have been able to cope with the outside world a little more. As it
was I was essentially whirling in confusion.
 

/me apologises for personal content in post.


[0] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684801280/

-- 
To say that "I will not be free till all humans (or all sentient creatures)
are free" is simply to cave in to a kind of nirvana-stupor, to abdicate out
humanity, to define ourselves as losers. 
                                  - Hakim Bey, "The Temporary Autonomous Zone"