Extraordinary abilities
As part of researching ideas for guests on an upcoming series, I came across this, which I thought you might like.
It’s a brief, clear, colourful introduction to some fascinating human capabilities. It goes without saying that I possess all of them.
Forgive these rather brief posts, but as my longer one below hopefully makes clear, I’m up to my evil eyes in it. I will post at more length when I can.
dx
Bally hippy.
Fascinating!
Oddee.com has a few interesting people on it too 🙂
Top 10 people with Unbelievable Medical Conditions:
http://www.oddee.com/item_96473.aspx
Top 10 people with Unbelievable talents:
http://www.oddee.com/item_96488.aspx
And any other weird top 10 you can think of will probably be there too 😉
Hehehe .. bally hippy … brit slang ? or to much booze and trying to say very happy?
Extraordinary abilities … hm, UV … I wonder … a lot of people call UV light the blue/purple light you see here and there (to keep junkies out, money check) ..
I am a not so extraordinarily person … but by changing my brain system I can create a few of those extraordinary systems …. some autistics seem to create some systems in their early childhood (read a couple books written by autists theirselves, quite interesting to see it from their point of view)
You’re a freak of nature Derren … we know .. actually I don’t even need to type … you can beam and read it all the time … BUT still not winning lotery numbers darn!
@Brainer: What systems do you mean? There’s one learned skill (echolocation) and one savant skill (calculation) on there, but most of the abilities on the list seem to be genetic.
Though maybe the sensory ones (taste and, to some extent, pitch) can be kind of ‘mimicked’ by the autistic brain… I have Asperger’s, myself, and people seem to think I have extraordinary senses of smell and hearing. I don’t think I do, though – my brain just doesn’t filter impulses away to the same extent that ‘neurotypical’ brains do, so I notice smells and sounds before others would. Which, by the way, can get annoying sometimes! 😉
Up to your evil eyes in it huh? Hope your getting those tour dates finalised!!! Your too late anyhows, I’ve just booked Girls Aloud over you today.. (sorry, sure your bothered – lol).
Don’t worry yourself though, you’ll still get to see me. ;o)
xx
Synesthesia really interests me as I knew someone for a brief period of time who swore blind they could taste different tastes depending on what words I used. I didn’t believe them and would say a certain word repeatedly that would cause them to vomit as it created a taste of soil. Funnily, I haven’t heard from that person for about 7 years! If you said the words “Chuckle Brothers” to them it created a taste of semen… apparently!
LOL XD
Perhaps Derren’s extraordinary abilities will let me know why Facebook Scrabble is playing up…?
I agree Sue ;o)
Systems: if you have been around in your brain than you will know that you can trigger way more things which you normally will not have. But … don’t try … something already needs to be a bit different than the standard design so to speak …
The above topic brings this article to mind.
Another form of synaesthesia: People who can hear what they see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7545888.stm
So can anyone hear the dots? 😉
Btw, synaesthesia or synesthesia?? – Is the one without the ‘a’ the American spelling?
It’s not only those in the autism spectrum who see others as different than theirselves … to call all people who are not diagnosed as in the autism spectrum neurotypicals is a bit … short sighted .. as there is hardly a standard when it comes to humans … this can seem to be the case but only when you don’t go in … there are so many small overlapses between people .. also between people in autism spectrum and neurotypicals .. According to me .. all people have a hard time mixing … in reality … but not all show ..
Well, all I meant to say was that the filtering of sensory input is somewhat impaired in those with disorders on the autism spectrum, as compared to most individuals. I didn’t mean ‘neurotypical’ as an insult of any sort. I was using the word in the way I’ve seen it used in this context, to describe people whose brains have developed more along ‘normal’ lines. Non-disordered, if you will.
I don’t quite get what you’re trying to say. Of course I’m not saying that everybody is alike… All I’m implying is that those with a certain disorder share a certain set of symptoms, which have positive and negative sides. I’m certainly not saying that having an ASD sets me apart from other people – I don’t consider myself ‘an autist’, I consider myself a person who happens to have a certain disorder. Everybody is different, that’s a given.
You’re Dutch, right? I am, too. If you think you can express yourself more clearly in Dutch, maybe the other posters won’t mind a little foreign-language (to them) clarification?
I have very few capabilities but I am synaesthetic. I had no idea what it was until a few years ago when I heard a radio programme about it. It’s very exciting to find out you are not just weird. It has no practical use whatsoever, but every word has a colour.
As the mother of a colour-blind son the section on tetrachromacy has got me very interested!
My son has been diagnosed as “ragingly colour-blind” and has difficulty distinguishing between colours in a wide range of groups. I often wonder just how the world looks to him.
This has prompted me to do some further research (both colour-blindness and tetrachromacy). If anyone knows of any interesting sites…….
BellaFiga: Wow, that’s cool! Can I bother you to ask the colour of my name? You’ve made me curious! 🙂
Extraordinary abilities – Mmm…I must be unique. I’m the exact opposite!
Berber, no, english is fine. You describe things the way they indeed are described in books sometimes but not from yourself. Neutotypicals is a word that as far as I know is invented by someone with autism himself. Lots of people nowadays will be diagnosed as asperger. The point is .. what do you see yourself? From what I’ve read and seen from Aspergers there are a lot who should not be labeled like that at all. People get labeled too soon. Just to box them. It does not always help those people. I’ve been diagnosed with many labels already and would have had medication for the rest of my life if I had taken psychiatrists words for granted. I listened more close to my own ideas and I conquered stuff a bit different. Age plays a rol as welll in some cases .. by the time they come close to 40 they will not longer have the label Asperger … hormones cause a lot.
It’s just that people unfortunately see psychologists, psychiatrists and medical scientists a bit too much as the new gods. They theirselves def. aren’t so sure about lot of things.
Nopke it will be then (my last name is Noppert and my name among my friends used to be Nopke and I adored this nick if I’m honest, sounded way better than my own name).
Synaestetic: creative people use this as well I think, that is, something that comes close to it. Lots describe people also as e.g. vanilla, dark brown choclat, the feeling they get when they think about someone.
And music .. you can direct your brain to see colour with the music .. or patterns … dances on the music …
if you wish.
Describing tastes can also lead to something that slightly resembles it .. but than vice versa … translating it into words is …
I think autists develop this way of seeing numbers (feeling numbers) after they were born .. The fact that scientists have considered the parents to be causing it partially (or making it worse) is not all without a small truth perhaps .. not that they really cause it .. but they can make things worse sometimes .. they are not scholared and also, diagnosis comes way too late sometimes. I read a book about a belgian family in which there were 4 childeren of 6 autistic (3 heavily and 1 mild) … Makes you wonder whether people should get so many childeren then .. and why they did not see this … Very depressing to read. ‘Normal’ childeren take already a lot of time .. let alone those who need special attention .. more scholared attention .. But then we would come to a discussion … human right to decide …
The book lacks some facts (about help, whether they had that .. that kinda stuff).
“Can I bother you to ask the colour of my name? ”
Beige and red. I find most things with an “a” sound are red. Saturday is red. Matador is red and black. Rat is red. Aphid is not red because it’s a different sound. Aphid is pink and white. The Berber part is difficult because I’m not sure if it’s influenced by berber carpeting, or not. If it were Turbot instead of Berber, the colours would be sort of ochre and blue. Don’t ask me why, they just are. There is no decision process.
BellaFiga: Cool 🙂 Red is my favourite colour, so I like that part of my name is red 🙂
Berber is the Frisian form of Barbara, btw. I do think the pronunciation matches the carpet, though.
Nopke: I do describe things from my own point of view. The sensitivity thing I was describing is something that can be cool, and it can be bothersome. My friends who have ASDs recognize it, my friends who do not, well, they don’t.
I don’t consider myself ‘labeled’, and I certainly do not believe that this is a superfluous diagnosis. I’m 25, I’ve had certain problems my entire life, and I have now, finally, been diagnosed with a syndrome that explains these symptoms/problems. I now have ways to work with or around them, and yes, one of those ways (if I feel I need it) is medication. Nothing wrong with that, though I’m currently fine without it. Nobody was trying to ‘box’ me, I just sought help for certain problems, and received a certain diagnosis. It’s an explanation, not a label.
This is getting rather off-topic, by the way – so let’s stop spamming this blog 😉
Berber Anne: no problem, I wasn’t here to discuss personal issues in this area either, but those can come up and can be very personal for some people without others realizing this.
I do see diagnoses quite often a bit more as labeling, esp. in the psychology area. I’m 43. I don’t believe in labels myself either. Make sure not to see all things linked up to Asperger. It can make things sometimes more complicated. I mentioned hormones not without reason by the way. I’ve seen a lot. Anyhow, wish you all the best. I hope you will see what i see when you’re around 40, then you may know what I tried to say. It was a positive thing towards you. Keep your mind!