MovieChat Forums > Mozart and the Whale (2006) Discussion > I have Asperger's. I found Isabelle nor...

I have Asperger's. I found Isabelle normal? Anyone else?

posted 15 years ago by don_locco_lobbo
12 replies | jump to latest

I am mildly autistic, most likely Asperger's or Aspy's as we call it here in Australia.

I could almost certainly relate with Donald, I share the same obsessions and have trouble socialising with Neuro-Typicals and also other things...
One thing I don't share with him is his Mathematical Genius, I'm above decent with Maths so nothing special.

Isabelle though, I saw her quite normal except for her outbursts and the tantrum she had at the carnival.
She had no problems with eye contact but I'm pretty sure there are some Aspys who don't as well.
She was very social with both ASDs and Neuro-Typicals.
These were the main things I noticed about her.

Anyone find her normal? Could probably be borderline though, I'm not sure.

[–] ooohhhmmyyyy 15 years ago

I think she was closer to normal than anyone else in the group and she was borderline perhaps. I'm borderline too.

My aunt works with special kids and she thought she was normal too but didn't even doubt my diagnoses. Maybe because she knew me as a little girl and my mother has told her stories about me so it's obvious.

I can be outgoing and can do eye contact when I feel comfortable and I talk excessively. I can talk all the way from Portland to Spokane and make my throat sore. I have talked all the way from Portland to Sacramento. I also have wild mood swings but I don't think they are like Isabelle's. I'm also shy like Donald and I get paranoid about saying things because I am afraid of what if I offend someone and I can be very quiet and not carry on a conversation or engage with others. I doubt my condition off and on and then I also realize I do have it when I think of all my symptoms I have/had.

I also have a problem at night with my bf when we are in bed together, I just can find the off button to stop talking. I try but then I am talking again few minutes later. So sleeping in separate rooms helps.

And some people don't think I'm borderline but they don't know me in the real world.

http://s10.invisionfree.com/Nova_Infinity/

[–] don_locco_lobbo 15 years ago

It's funny how the Symptoms vary from person to person, there's so many combinations out there.
One might be ok with eye contact and yet be anti-social, on the other hand another might not make eye-contact but still be very social.

I tend to get paranoid a lot too, especially what people might think of what I say or do.

I take things literally quite a few times but not as frequent as before. Teachers and Friends helped me heaps with that. One thing I suck at is reading body language.

[–] FireMinstrel 15 years ago

I definitely relate to Isabelle more. I'm a musician/composer like her(though I prefer classic rock over classical), and while the sound of clanging metal doesn't freak me out, I've often gotten angry with people when they don't turn the TV off right(if it's not shut off properly, the high-frequency noise bugs me to no end). Eye contact depends on the person. Sometimes I can make eye contact and completely ignore a person. Most of the time, though, I pull the visor of my hat over my eyes so I can't see a person's face.
I also can't seem to control what I say, but like her, I make it work for me. Though instead of spontaneous and shocking, I'm deadpan and childlike. I guess it'll do until I get older and my youthful looks disappear.
At the moment, I'm looking into getting a diagnosis for Aspergers. But even if I do get diagnosed, I'll let the rest of the world keep thinking I'm just an eccentric musician.

[–] Ryu_Darkwood 15 years ago

Her condition appeared to be closer to bordeline than that it was to Asperger.

It's possible to have both, but they should've said that not all people with Asperger are like her.

[–] johnslegers 13 years ago

Borderline personality disorder and Asperger's Syndrome are exact oposites. People with BPD are extremely emotionally sensitive (empathic, intuitive, ...) and people with Asperger's Syndrome are extremely lacking of emotional sensitivity.

I myself am a male with Asperger's Syndrome very much like Isabelle. My best friends are a lesbian woman with BPD and a man with BPD. While I can relate with people with BPD quite a lot, their emotional life still largely feels alien to me although experiments with empathogenic substances (methylone, mephedrone and MDMA) has definitely helped increasing my understanding of their mental states.

[–] TigerlilyBramble_of_WillowBottom 14 years ago

I completely agree that she didn't seem to have Asperger's, but she didn't quite seem normal. She seemed more bipolar/manic depressive to me.

I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution.

[–] LiveFromNewYawk 14 years ago

She wouldn't have struck me as someone with Aspergers

She did have some quirks suck as taking things too literally (like when they showed the flashback of her breaking the "records"), misreading social cues, making socially inappropriate comments, etc. But she had a more sophisticated sense of humor and the way she went about getting even with Donald was not typical autistc/aspie behavior. She knew exactly how to push his buttons and embarrass him and she planned to humiliate him. I guess I found her more emotionally saavy than one would expect.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ztpt 13 years ago

She struck me as very weird,but in a cute fashion..

[–] johnslegers 13 years ago

Even though I'm male, I'm very much like Isabelle myself and I consider her no less extreme in her Aspie nature than Donald. There are many variations of Asperger's Syndrome and Donald and Isabelle represent two extremes (the loud, anti-conformist extraverted extreme vs the quiet conformist introverted extreme) pretty well.

Borderline people can resemble the loud, non-conformist extraverted extreme among Aspie people in quite a few ways, though, and in fact the woman I relate to most in real life is a lesbian with borderline personality syndrome. Still, there are quite a few differences in behavior and mentality that become very obvious once you get to know them in person. For example, people with BPD tend to be extremely manipulative and extremely intuitive, whereas the Aspies in question are (though very extraverted) socially awkward and ultra-rational.

[–] AlexTheGreyWolf 12 years ago

I have Asperger's, my autism is around Isabelle's level but I'm introverted like Donald. Isabelle was definitely not normal. She was extroverted but had all the social awkwardness of an Aspie. Her autism is very low, even lower than Donald's, which is why I think some of you think she might not have Aspergers. Even so autism is so powerful that it has had a definite dramatic effect on her life.

[–] Shadowkisss 9 years ago

I think it was pretty obvious that Isabelle has Aspergers. Every Aspie is different, just like "neurotypical" people are all different, we all have our own unique personality.