Bounty wrote:Actual it proves my point; learns social skills through trial, error and observation
Which is how every human being on the planet learns it.
Every human child learns how to walk too. Does that mean that kids who only start walking around the age of 5 are perfectly normal?
Most people pick up on the fact that smiling means that someone is happy on their own. That's the normal situation. Not knowing that, or not knowing that I need to smile in a certain way along with body language and articulation to let people know how I feel is NOT normal.
Do you think kids just automagically know how to behave?
Do you think kids just automagically learn how to use the toilet? How to walk? How to eat with a knife and fork or how to hold a pencil? That they need to say "I love you" to family members and not just to assume that it's known?
Some things which are incredibly basic for most people and easily mastered, just... aren't for some of us.
We all learn through 'observation and trial and error'.
Yes, we do. But there's a gulf between learning that crying=sad, and learning more advanced material.
It's a shame it takes some people longer due to psychological issues,
It's physiological asshat.
and I applaud anyone who works through them; but it's not some magic block that means you can only pretend to interact socially, as some people like to delude themselves into thinking.
It depends on the severity. I'm lucky in that i'm quite high functioning, in most social situations people wouldn't have a clue that i'm autistic, and my adhd is far less noticeable. On the other end of the scale, you have people who scream "weirdo!" just from their body language, posture and speech patterns. (and beyond that, dribbling people who need their beards shaved and nappies changed).
PS aspergers IS a kind of autism, but don't let the facts get in the way.
It's
a kind of autism; it is
not autism proper. It's not even in the same area code as autism proper.
It's not autism, but it's a spectrum of a neurological disorder, and is similiar in a great many ways. Having a cold and having the flu are different, but people tend to lump them together despite far greater differences than two different flavours of social retardness accompanied with various disorders and often above average intelligence and mental skills.
PS - Can a mod please split this?
. (But yeah, I lack command. I suppose I should try working in S&M for experience? 
)