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Your views on Autism/Aspergers

superboyian

superboyian

Former Co-Owner
V.I.P Member
I've always heard different views about it and it however seems everyone has a different point of view.
Some seems to hate it and some seems to love it and accept it and get on with what they do in life.

What are your views of Autism/Aspergers
 
Actually, I didn't post in the thread at Aspies Central but I think I was going to. Anyway, my view is that there's both pros and cons with AS. Obviously the main con being difficulty with communication and social skills. One of the pros being our uniqueness in the way we see things and think.

I would say I'm one who accepts it and gets on with life.
 
^ Chair, I totally agree with you there. I'm not a fan of the aspie supremacist point of view, the idea that any negative aspects of aspergers are always "co-morbid" and not part of aspergers at all. They tend to be a small but very vocal minority.

For me, at this point in my life at the age of 45, I would call it neutral. The positives and negatives are fairly even. For most of my life, though, it was certainly a negative, particularly during the 3 and a half decades it took me to develop some basic communication and coping skills.
 
I'd hate to give up my analytical skills, my intellect, and so on... I so enjoy using them.

But on another board, someone who claims to be NT seems to have even more of the same abilities (or did until she fell ill) and had a PhD in physics and programming skills and heavily enjoyed using both, so maybe AS is just a pure negative that forces us to use what intellect we have to the fullest to partly make up for it, much like a blind person has to rely on his ears. Blind people don't develop super hearing, they just learn to use what hearing they have to fill in the blanks and train themselves to pay attention to sounds that the rest of us might not. And we learn to use our intellect for the same thing... but AS doesn't necessarily give us a better intellect than we would have had without it.

That NT physicist makes me jealous, but it's my problem, not hers. She is a wonderful source of support and info.
 
I like it, just like my ADD (which is a main source of my creativity), it makes life a whole lot more interesting for me. Imagining myself without these traits, both good and bad, sounds like a boring life. Would be a whole lot less problematic probably and I'd probably have a shoddy mediocre job by now but ey, I'm not complainin'.

I actually had a hard time accepting it at first though, mainly because I didn't expect the diagnosis at, all. I was mainly looking to explain the ADD part. And I was kind of terrified of the idea that I'd always have problems connecting with people and intuitively understanding them, always lacking something in the social exchange. Also that I would be less able to connect with people on a more intimate level, more then just mostly functional. I mean, my 'job'(aspiration) requires me to understand how people experience things, how it makes them feel.
I never truly considered before the diagnosis that I actually experienced the world around me quite differently (I knew it was a little different, but not in that way) and so the same for emotions. So I can't use myself as comparison to check how people experience things. So that's kind of a bummer.
So I'm taking a different approach. Just do my own thing, adjust when neccessary. The work might not 'connect' with people on a deeper level, but that's okay. Making it look pretty often suffices and that's not so hard. If I want it to connect, I can always ask for help or research stuff, I'll work it out. And I know a bunch of tricks that work already, they're just that though, tricks. And a good artist is not a bag of tricks.

Finding a girlfriend however, is an arduous task. For that sake I sometimes wish I was a little 'smoother', so to speak. And people understood me a little more easily. Better find a girl who likes a mysterious man...and who doesn't have emotions made out of eggshells for when I blindly step on them.

Life never really makes it easy to succeed. Makes succeeding a whole lot more rewarding and getting there more fun. Oh yes, challenges are fun.
 
Actually...as an NT...I really don't see any real difference with Aspies and NTs. I read common emotions and reasons here....just as I would expect from other NTs. My son (Aspie - 9 yrs. old) and I are very much alike in many ways. I really love his compassion for others and sense of justice...I see so much of myself in him. We agree on so many topics...from politics to philosophy...especially in critical reasoning. Although, he has gone through ABA therapy so successfully...and I don't want to downplay those who were not afforded early intervention...and have had a tough time in life...most of the replies I have read here and on other Aspie forums...run the full gamut of NTs responses.

It is more important how the individual guides his life than anything else. How closely he keeps his dreams alive and works toward them...while minimizing self sabotage...is what is important.

Remember....Helen Keller had a far...far more debilitating condition. She finally adapted....and considering her deficits....excelled.

Temple Grandin has achieved instead of choosing reasons to quit.

The individual is what is important...not the category. Choose to excel in life...find your way...don't let anything stop you.
 
Sometimes you think you're being completely like other people and entirely believable, but you cannot lie, it's just not possible. You don't know how people look innocent in the first place (what facial expression represents innocent and, having found that out, how do you reproduce it?, so lying and trying to seem believable doesn't work. It's like you're under a shield and everyone can see through it, even if you think they can't. I'm down to finding silly metaphors now. I don't know. Autism is huge. I don't feel like writing reams now.
 
I am definitely one of the people who accept it. I've never wanted to fit in, always been proud to be different and stand out. I figure that if people can't accept my differences, it's not my problem; it's just the way I am and I don't want to change. Social deficits don't bother me much because I don't want a boyfriend or anything anyway. I don't care much for being around or with people. I was glad when my mom diagnosed me with AS because it explains so much about me.
I've read what Temple Grandin has to say about "finding a cure," and I agree with it. It would be nice to alleviate more severe autism and allow people with it to be more high-functioning, but if we eliminated all the traits/genes that cause autism, we would pay a terrible price since the world would then be full of very social people who accomplish very little.
 
chinaberry said:
Sometimes you think you're being completely like other people and entirely believable, but you cannot lie, it's just not possible. You don't know how people look innocent in the first place (what facial expression represents innocent and, having found that out, how do you reproduce it?, so lying and trying to seem believable doesn't work. It's like you're under a shield and everyone can see through it, even if you think they can't. I'm down to finding silly metaphors now. I don't know. Autism is huge. I don't feel like writing reams now.
Click to expand...
Was this a reply to Shiroi Tora or me? :huh:
 
I wholeheartedly embrace my gift, for it gives me a chance to stand against the conformities of those who would seek to being me under their fold.
 
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