ABOUT ME AND HOW MY BRAIN WORKS
Derek’s introduction
My name is Derek Rogers, I was born in 1987 and I have Aspergers / High Functioning Autism. My hobbies are watching stand up comedy DVDs, listening to music and using my computer. I go to Yoga classes and have Art lessons. I also have a cat called Austin and we’ve had him since April 2008.
My website is called ‘The Perceptions Of Derek Rogers’ and I came up with the name after I was watching an episode of University Challenge in 2008 and somebody gave a correct answer which was “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari” which apparently is a 1920 silent film. I don’t actually remember what the question was but I decided to come up with a name which sounded similar and I did. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy working on it however I wouldn’t expect anyone to see it all straight away.
Me with music
I see notes in colour.
Major Keys
A = Turquoise
B flat = Brown
B = Red
C = White
D flat = Purple
D = Blue
E flat = Brown
E = Orange
F = White
G flat = Brownish purple
G = Pink
A flat = Dark red
Minor chords
A minor = Light green
B flat minor = Brown
B minor = Blue
C minor = Orange with a bit of green but not mixed
D flat minor = Orange
D minor = Yellow
E flat minor = Brownish orange
E minor = Light blue
F minor = White with a bit of red but not mixed
G flat minor = Purplish blue
G minor = Green
A flat minor = Red
But it all depends what colour they are on some days because they don’t always stay the same.
Me with numbers
I see numbers in gender but only with single digits.
1 = Male
2 = Female
3 = Male
4 = Male
5 = Male
6 = Male
7 = Male
8 = Male
9 = Female
But I don’t have a preference for 0
With numbers I imagine they are a journey
1 – 10 = South
11 – 20 = North
21 – 30 = West
31 – 40 = South West
41 – 50 = West
51 – 60 = North
61 – 70 = West
71 – 80 = North
81 – 90 = South
91 – 100 = South West
I also imagine that you’re on a journey through a century.
00s = South
10s = North
20s = West
30s = South West
40s = West
50s = North
60s = West
70s = East
80s = South
90s = East
It’s like that for me particularly with the 20th centaury.
When I used to watch Eggheads
Even though I see numbers 1 to 9 in gender with 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 as male and 2 and 9 as female I would never expect there to be all male teams on Eggheads every time the prize money is £1,000, £3,000, £4,000, £5,000, £6,000, £7,000 and £8,000 and I would never expect there to be all female teams on the programme every time the prize money is £2,000 and £9,000 although it has worked for some teams regardless of whatever age group they would be. Just as well it wouldn’t work every time because if it did it would seem quite creepy and also if it ever worked in one single streak there would have been 6 all male teams on the programme in a row and the most I’ve ever seen in a row is 3 and that was only once.
Teams that have worked
£1,000
Mugwumps
The Abbey Revellers
Cottenham Beach Frisbee Club
The Merrie Men
£2,000
Romantic Novelists Association
The Golf Roses
£3,000
The Hippocratic Oafs
The Flyboys
The Empty Heads
Gone to the Dogs
The Lion Hearts
Coach Druids
Mostly Red
Quiz Akabusi
£4,000
Witchery Tours
The Ombuddies
Circus
The A Team
Super Spidey
The Brian’s Trust
Strike It Lucky
Make Sense
David vs Goliaths
£5,000
No Stone Unturned
The Calendar Boys
The Chicken Heads
Beer And Skittles
The Check Mates
The Rat Pack
The Monumentals
South Wales Warriors
Duet
£6,000
Chewy’s Choice
The Young Pretenders
The Quiz Monkeys
Losers Corner
Lobster Men From Mars
The Bald & The Beautiful
Egg Traffic Control
The Pickled Eggs
Hot Heads
Quizzy Rascals
CJ’s Haircut
£7,000
Mancunian Candidates
The Welsh Wizards
Groovy Revolution
The Black Horsemen
London Didgeridoo Club
The Regents
Us 4 Plus 1
£8,000
The Highway Men
Ware’s Your Head At?
Sadly there were no all women teams I knew of who were playing for £9,000 on the programme. No problem with that though.
Me with directions
I can tell which is north, which is east, which is west and which is south some of the time.
In most areas of Colchester I feel that the directions are right but when we start to go up the old Ipswich Road, they change and north starts to feel like east, east starts to feel like south, south starts to feel like west and west starts to feel like north and it doesn’t go back to normal until we come back to the beginning of the old Ipswich Road from where we started.
When I was at school in the car park the directions felt right but as soon as I went into the playground they changed and north felt like west, east felt like north, south felt like east and west felt like south.
When I’m at my Nan’s house in London I know which are which but they feel different. North feels like west, east feels like north, south feels like east and west feels like south. But when I go down the road eastwards, when I come to the Tesco shopping centre at the crossroad it feels right. But when I go northwards towards Woolworth’s, North starts to feel like west again, east starts to feel like north again, south starts to feel like east again and west starts to feel like south again and when were going westwards towards Lea Bridge Road it feels like we’re going southwards and it doesn’t change and when we are at the crossroads at the Tesco shopping centre and the directions feel right and as we go southwards it doesn’t change.
Tapes in a tape recorder
When I was playing a tape on my tape recorder I imagined I was on a road and when I was playing the tape on side A, I felt I was going north on it and when I came to the end of side A and I turned the tape over to side B, I felt that the road was doing a U turn on the left and when I was playing the tape on side B, I felt I was going south on the road.
Walking alongside canals
When my Granddad and I used to go for long walks along the canal we started doing it from Lea Bridge Road and we walked along the canal northwards even though to me it felt like we were walking westwards and we walked to different car parks along side the canal and we walked further from them when we parked at them and when we got as far as Ponders End Lock outside the north of London it started to feel like we were walking northwards. When we started to walk the other direction from Lea Bridge Road I knew we were walking southwards even though it felt like we were walking eastwards and we walked as far as the end of the canal at Bow Locks but not all in one walk and in all of that distance the direction never changed for me. About half way between Bow Locks and Lea Bridge Road there was another canal joining onto it at a junction and we started doing walks along that and we were walking westwards even though it felt like we were walking southwards and that canal is only about one and a half miles long and it joins onto another canal at another junction. On May 30th 2001 on my 14th birthday my Granddad and I walked along that canal in the evening and we were walking southwards even though it felt like eastwards and we walked down to the Limehouse Basin and the directions never changed for me on that route either. Later in the year when we started going in the other direction we were walking northwards even though it felt like we were walking westwards and the canal turned west into the city and the direction started to feel correct because it still felt like we were walking westwards. We walked as far as near the London zoo and we never walked any further.
Driving alongside the River Thames
Sometimes when I stay with my Nan and Granddad we go for a drive round the city of London and when we come to driving alongside the River Thames we are driving westwards and the direction does feel correct for me but when it comes to the bend and we turn south it doesn’t change for me and we turn either directions at Big Ben.
Excellent memory
I can also remember the scores of every single game in every episode of University Challenge that’s been on since I started watching it in 2006. I used to get my Mum to write down the scores for me so even though I’ve stopped watching the programme I can memorise them so they would stay in my head after I look at them for a minute.
Obsessions
Like most people on the autistic spectrum, when I become interested in something it can become an obsession. I’ll talk about some of my previous obsessions in the two sections about my past interests.
