Jan 23, 2016

Does Eminem Give Asperger's a Bad Rap
By Kim Stagliano

I was looking for a good impending snowstorm meme on Facebook yesterday to tell me whether I'm supposed to buy bread and milk when I saw a post from a neurodiversity proponent saying that Marshall Mather, aka Eminem (swear to God I didn't even have to look up his real name that's how hip I am!) has Asperger's. This stems from a blog post called Eminem And Aspergers Posted by: Emma Dalmayne.

Does he? Or is he a Narcissist?

Our Teresa Conrick has an encyclopedic catalog of studies, quotes and info. She offered us this article from a psychologist Am I Asperger's or Narcissist?

"With Asperger’s and NPD, a lot of the criteria overlap. The difference is that while all people with Aspergers are narcissistic (not NPD, but self-centered; it’s a central trait), all people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are definitely not aspergers, and can be the total opposite: super smooth and charming."

And this:

Asperger's (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA) are often confused with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). The reason for this confusion is understandable since some of the symptoms found in people with AS and HFA are also found in those with NPD. Some of the similarities between AS/HFA and NPD may include the following:

• apparent lack empathy
• difficulty understanding others’ feelings
• eccentric personality
• harsh interpersonal communication
• inability to view the world from the perspective of others
• lack of demonstrated non-verbal cues and inability to pick-up on the non-verbal cues of others
• lack of interest in others
• lack of psychological awareness
• narrow range of interests and activities
• obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
• preoccupation with their own agenda
• problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
• self-centeredness
• similar eye-to-eye gaze, body stance, and facial expressions
• tendency to react to social problems/stress with depression
• underdeveloped conversational skills

Despite the similarities listed above, the difference between AS/HFA and NPD is vast, like night and day. Here are a few examples of the dissimilarities: (See this interesting list, that shows great respect to those with true Asperger's at "Is it Asperger's or Narcissism.)
I did a bit of Googling, because as an anti-vaccine autism Mommy, I am so stupid that I think Google has answers to important questions. Here's what I found on blogs. Hardly agreement even in the Asperger's community.

Search: Eminem Asperger's

Hip Hop Site:

Maybe he does maybe he doesn't. Who cares? And that applies to everybody imo. So what you're autistic. It's just a label. As long as you aren't throwing your s--- at anyone I think you're fine.

###
>implying assburgers is a real thing
See: socially inept, selfish, self-absorbed, awkward.
I don't understand why people need to label being "weird" as some autism spectrum disorder.

###

C'mon man. My brother has autism. I can't even have a conversation with the kid. He can't even tell me how his day was. It's a real thing bro, I promise you. I'm sure their are some self-absorbed, quirky/weird people who think it's cute to self diagnose themselves with aspergers and whatnot, but I promise you autism is a real thing.

ND Site

Eminem is an Aspie? Cool.

###

If Eminem is a f*****g Aspie-- and it's not clear from the lyrics whether he's talking about himself, or taking some angst-ridden future school shooter's perspective (which would probably be the first useful thing he's done in several albums now)-- I'm going to plead misdiagnosis and retest under DSM5. This time, I'll answer "NO" to all the things I've learned to compensate for.

He's got a great voice. Wonderful sense of rhythm. Some really great rhymes.

He just also happens to be up there with Adam Lanza on the short list of company I don't care to keep.

BARF!! !! !! !

###



I have many friends whose sons have Asperger's Syndrome. Their road is as difficult as the notorious 8 Mile in Detroit near which Marshall was raised. I've written pointed blog posts on Huffington Post and elsewhere defending men (and women) with Asperger's Syndrome when a mass shooting occurs and people jump to the autism conclusion. So why is it that when someone who is successful hints at having something that could be autism (Eminem's lyrics: I used to be the type of kid that would always think the sky is falling,/Why am I so differently wired? Am I a martian?/What kind of twisted experiment am I involved in?/‘Cause I don’t belong in this world/Thats why I’m scoffing at authority,defiant often,/Flying off the handle at my mom,no dad/So I am non-compliant at home,at school I’m just shy and awkward,/And I don’t need no g.d. psychologist/Tryna diagnose why I have all these underlying problems”) many are eager to embrace him or her as "one of the club."

My children have full blown autism. They will need care forever. The media, publishing and neurodiversity push to normalize autism and even elevate it as a conduit to success is dangerous. It means my girls' autism will not be taken seriously. Can Asperger's be a conduit to success? Yes. Should people everywhere on the spectrum feel pride and a sense of community? Yes.

But remember, self-diagnosis, let alone diagnosis by lyrics, is not the same as clinical diagnosis of a very real Syndrome with limitations, negatives and life altering attributes. We can't sugar coat Asperger's ... you know, like an M&M.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor for Age of Autism.

 

Jan 23, 2016

Wicked Ways - 'Guess I got a way with words, I could get away with murder, ever hearda', Aspergers, it's a rare condition, it's what your suffering from when you don't care if it's an...'

Could very possibly been discussed in his childhood wether he had it or not. Wouldn't be too far fetched to say he has got it.

 

Jan 23, 2016

This whole article is a mess

 

Jan 23, 2016

if you think this is weird you still haven't checked out the eminem articles on thyblackman.com

 

Jan 23, 2016

s---

 

Jan 23, 2016

Bipolar

 

Jan 23, 2016

Not reading all of that my guy

 

Jan 23, 2016

@Nori nailed it last year when he said Eminem was paving the way for autistic rappers.

 

Jan 23, 2016

I think I have Aspergers

 

Jan 24, 2016

of course you do

 

Jan 24, 2016

why didn't anyone say anything this is a bad way to find out

 

Jan 24, 2016

it's okay fam

i'm there for you

 

Jan 24, 2016

It's a rare condition

 

Jan 24, 2016

This article gave me Aspergers

 

Jan 24, 2016

This is the reason I hate being autistic. I'm automatically part of the community of people who are trying to promote autism for the benefit or neglecting the higher-functioning side of autism. We get it, there needs to be more done to recognize autism but I'm a walking example, I rap, I do complex things, I have more grasp of math than the average autistic person; I can even learn a second language if I wanted to. Problem is, since there are factors at play that influence autism (genetics, chemicals, environmental factors), there's going to be a degree of severity involved and because of these factors, the autism will never fully go away; especially since more people are being born with it.

Additionally, those who have an awareness and a high IQ are basically shunned from autism publicity due to the fact that it doesn't portray the image they want to portray. Want to get rid of autism, why not get rid of diversity, why not force everybody to have their brain think a same way, why not make everybody white? There's a reason why people have different interests, because the human brain isn't formed one way, it's formed through experiences and parameters.

 

Jan 24, 2016

Eminem is the best rapper alive