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Must Geek TV - Aspergers syndrome & "The Big Bang Theory"

bryce

bryce

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(Note: I never know if threads about "The Big Bang Theory" fit better here in General Media, or actually belong in Science Fiction...!?)


I have mild but still very problimatic OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) so as a fan of the TV sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" with OCD, I very quickly noticed that, although it's never mentioned on the show by name, the character Sheldon is quite clearly a sufferer of OCD like myself - and it's obvious that the character was *intentionally* written as suffering the disorder...*

What I didn't know, is that Sheldon also displays clear signs of Aspergers syndrome, a mild type of autism spectrum disorder, and it's not gone unnoticed by the autusm community, where a number of it's members haave come to identify with the Sheldon character. But I learn that today when I listened to today's Slate Daily Podcast, entilted "Must Geek TV"...

If you're a fan of TBBT, or just curious about the show, take a listen to this short podcast!

Go to: http://www.slate.com/id/2119317/ to get info on how to dl the "Slate Daily Podcast" (for today, 2/9/09) or download it from iTunes it's available for free from there. (I've also heard them mention on the air it's available on audible.com but I couldn't find it on the site.)
 
Re: Must Geek TV - Aspergers syndrome & The Big Bang Theory

Thanks for the link. I'll have to check it out.

I have my very own Sheldon here sometimes. When he talks about sandwich topping ratios, I nod my head. Yep, I know ALL about somebody requiring particular ratios and builds to a sandwich. That's only the beginning, too. Can't wait for tonight's ep. Though I actually will wait. Watch it on the DVR either later tonight or tomorrow.
 
Re: Must Geek TV - Aspergers syndrome & The Big Bang Theory

mrcoaster said:
Thanks for the link. I'll have to check it out.

I have my very own Sheldon here sometimes. When he talks about sandwich topping ratios, I nod my head. Yep, I know ALL about somebody requiring particular ratios and builds to a sandwich. That's only the beginning, too. Can't wait for tonight's ep. Though I actually will wait. Watch it on the DVR either later tonight or tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Is your Sheldon a child or a spouse?*

I think I might have a young female Sheldon myself...

My ex-wife has a 5 year-old (my kids 1/2 sister) and since she and I reconciled I'm become kind of a surrogate father to the 5yo as well, and I've wondered for a while now - and so have her teachers, her doctor, and many other of my ex's family - if she might have asperger's herself.

I love her just as much as if she were one of my biological kids, and she's a very very bright child, very smart, and a very talented budding artist...but she din't talk for the longest time, and now when she does she's says the oddest things...like, she's just not on the same planet as us...she never makes eye contact, and when she was younger she'd line up her toys in straight rows or patterns as opposed to *playing* with them like others kids would (lining up toys I have read is ofter a "tell" for autism).

She needs to be tested and she will be next month we made an appointment.*

She's a *wonderful* child and a joy to be around, she and I both love spending time together and she goes with me everywhere if she can. She's just a little..."interesting"...and "quirky."

Luckily even if she does have autism spectrum disorder, it's a highly functional type of it.
 
Re: Must Geek TV - Aspergers syndrome & The Big Bang Theory

That would be a spouse for me. Though she's not quite as extreme as Sheldon can be, I see elements of his character quite a bit. That Periodic Table of the Elements shower curtain? We have that one. :p Not actually up in the bathroom, but we have it.
 
Re: Must Geek TV - Aspergers syndrome & The Big Bang Theory

mrcoaster said:
That would be a spouse for me. Though she's not quite as extreme as Sheldon can be, I see elements of his character quite a bit. That Periodic Table of the Elements shower curtain? We have that one. :p Not actually up in the bathroom, but we have it.
Click to expand...

Oh, I see what you mean now...yeah, my ex-wife (we're still close friends) has said before that she thinks I'm a Sheldon too...she's watched TBBT with me and our kids alot, and she's remarked how much I can be annoyingly like him sometimes, in the uber-science-geek-know-it-all sense...like putting up science posters all over my house, wearing science t-shirts, explaining to her at length this or that scientific fact about the avocado she's eating because I think "it's interesting how..." or "you know it's fascinating that..." *but she just want's me to shut up...making snarky comments how I find something she believes in or thinks is true is "in my opinion just a bunch of pseudoscientific nonsense because..."

She say if we weren't already divorced she'd divorce me!:guffaw:

And our oldest daughter is now following in my foodsteps!:rommie:
 
A quick question, why aren't the grading threads for TBBT done anymore ? am watching the latest episode with Lenoard's mom and its simply the best thing I've seen in months :lol:
 
Jax said:
A quick question, why aren't the grading threads for TBBT done anymore ? am watching the latest episode with Lenoard's mom and its simply the best thing I've seen in months :lol:
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was great!:bolian:

And it applies to the autism topic; the way Lenoard's mom say "I've got to urinate."...her mannerism reminded me a lot of the...odd...way I've hear people with mild autism speak.

And I didn't know there was a greading thread for TBBT or I would have participated. You know, I know that TBBT isn't a science fiction show per-see, but it is so full of geeky sci-fi references, I wonder if a TBBT discussion would thrive better in the Sci-fi & fantasy forum?

Anyway...here's a link to the written article version of the podcast in my OP:

http://www.slate.com/id/2210635/

Picture a man and a woman in a car. The woman appears hungover and irate, and the man maintains a nonstop patter to engage her, oblivious to her fraying temper: "I'll say an element, and you say an element whose name starts with the last letter of the one I said." No response. "I'll start!" he blurts, ignoring her body language. He heedlessly bores through helium, mercury, ytterbium, molybdenum, and more until he reaches mendelevium—and her last nerve. "Get out!" she commands. When he does, he's startled to find that she's not asking him to look at the car engine.

For some therapists, this is a familiar scene: a guy enthusiastically firing on all conversational cylinders at precisely the wrong moment and then puzzled by a hostile response. But it's not an autism spectrum disorder case study—it's a clip from The Big Bang Theory. CONT
Click to expand...
 
I identify somewhat with Sheldon as well, though really I don't know anyone who is that extreme.

I have never been diagnosed at all (probably because my parents/teachers never brought it up to anyone who could help), but I'm pretty sure I have some mild forms of OCD and Asperger's. The characteristics fit so well. I used to line up my toys all the time when I was a kid...I still line things up. I especially enjoyed lining up all of my books. I am training to become an archivist, where I can organize things all day, so that should say something. I have always had a very difficult time talking to people...the things I say come out wrong, they sound right in my head but not out loud. And often I get so nervous around people that I have to leave the room. I am VERY bad at small talk, I just can't do it. I say things pretty directly, much like the "I need to urinate" line.

However, once I get really close to someone, I am not like that as much (or maybe the other person just gets used to it and it's not such a big deal). I can talk freely with my boyfriend and feel very comfortable around him. But I still freak out if the labels are facing outward on the soup cans...
 
I have Aspergers but Ive never seen the show ...is it the one with the guy who was one of the daughter's bf from Rosanne?
 
Jax said:
A quick question, why aren't the grading threads for TBBT done anymore ? am watching the latest episode with Lenoard's mom and its simply the best thing I've seen in months :lol:
Click to expand...


That was an AWESOME episode. Just freaking hilarious!!
 
I quite enjoy 'Big Bang Theory' and Sheldon. I had a teacher in school tell me I seemed like I had Asperger's when I was 19. Is that weird?
 
If any character did indeed have any kind of diagnosable disorder, co-creator Chuck Lorre would have made it MUCH more obvious by now.

The man is smart and quick -- and usually very deliberate in what he wants to get across.

The joke is that they're all, in their own ways, social misfits --AND they know it, and they also know they could change if they really wanted to. To give them specific disorders would be comedic suicide.

--Ted
 
Only would a bunch of nerds watch a show about nerds desperately searching for reasons why the TV nerds are just like them.

It's validation! :lol:
 
^OMGS!!! THAT'S GONNA BE THE MOST GEEKTASTIC GUEST STAR APPEARENCE *EVER*!!!!!
 
TGTheodore said:
If any character did indeed have any kind of diagnosable disorder, co-creator Chuck Lorre would have made it MUCH more obvious by now.

The man is smart and quick -- and usually very deliberate in what he wants to get across.

The joke is that they're all, in their own ways, social misfits --AND they know it, and they also know they could change if they really wanted to. To give them specific disorders would be comedic suicide.

--Ted
Click to expand...

Well, the writters do deny it's intentional - and I agree that making an issue would kill the show, and I hope it's never ever mentioned by name - but I have OCD myself, and care for a child with Aspergers, and I can see it in Sheldon, and IMO it's too obvious to be just a coincidence.
 
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