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Oblomov

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Hello... Thank you to the Moderators for validating me. Even in the real world, when using my real name, it's so difficult to validate my identity as I've never possessed either a passport or a driving licence. Why would I need them? I hate travelling and never managed even to ride a bicycle!

 

These unusual traits - and many others - have recently been explained by my clinical diagnosis (by the NHS BASS team) at the age of 55 with Asperger's, following ten years of trying to get GPs to take me seriously on this issue. It was no surprise to me, as all my life I've been (painfully or humorously) aware that my "face doesn't fit," as they're fond of saying in workplaces. All my O-levels, A-levels and arts degree counted for nothing when trying for jobs.

 

I think the nadir of my employment search was when I was interviewed in a factory where books were manually wrapped in plastic jackets. "So why does a graduate want this job?" they asked. "Err, because I like handling plastic?" I suggested. I didn't get the job - though a few years later I wrote a book of my own which a distinguished academic publisher added to their catalogue. The Daily Telegraph reviewer included it in a list of the Most Bizarre Books of 1995.

 

Isn't life exhausting? I identify with Oblomov, the central character of Ivan Goncharov's 1859 novel, who can barely make it out of his bedroom - though Oblomov is one up on me as he can sleep round the clock, where as I've had chronic insomnia since the age of forty (another Asperger trait). I do exercise every day, though as soon as I step out the front door, a total stranger is likely to shout at me, "Cheer up mate, it might never 'appen!" (But it already has...)

 

In the novel, Oblomov's best friend is called Stoltz, a typical neurotypical who is always doing things and urging Oblomov to get out and about. In my life too, there's a Stoltz - my partner (latterly civil partner) for 27 years who cannot stop working, mostly unpaid, and seldom spends any waking time at home. He's very much a "get up and go" person where as I'm a "go and lie down" type. Both the fictional Oblomov and I are examples of "the superfluous man" - a Russian literary concept rather than a judgemental term - though personally I'm quite happy to be superfluous in a world whose values are mostly so alien to mine.

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions, especially about my Asperger's or diagnosis. I enjoy writing about myself, as it's the one subject on which I feel I can speak with total authority.

Edited by Oblomov

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Welcome

 

I was in the create centre earlier today. If you saw someone in a smart suit in a wheelchair with a pudsey bear that was me.

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