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BeggingTurtle
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15 Jan 2017, 2:06 am

I feel like every autistic (not Aspie) wants to escape into their own mind and stay there. I feel like everyone I know with Aspergers is the opposite; they want to engage the world head on and get out of their heads.
I use the example with myself, a high-functioning autistic, and my roommate, who has Aspergers. I am more likely to disengage and escape to books, homework, etc. On the other hand, my roommate is either talking to people or out exercising.
Is this true about you? I want to know.


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Fraser_1990
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15 Jan 2017, 2:28 am

I want to be out there connecting and engaging with people. It just never seems to happen.


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FandomConnection
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15 Jan 2017, 2:34 am

Perhaps not useful here, being undiagnosed, but I swing to extremes on this. Sometimes I try as hard as I can to divorce myself from the world in general through reading/listening to music/researching/dissociating etc., but other times I just want to be normal and connect with other people.


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Goth Fairy
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15 Jan 2017, 2:55 am

I'm an Aspie, I also swing from one to another. When I am feeling happy and confident I can handle being out in the world and sometimes I even enjoy it. I think that in terms of personality, I am an extrovert and enjoy being around people. But because I'm on the spectrum, I have certain difficulties doing so and this was even more of a problem when I was younger. Sometimes being out in the world is as much about sensory stimuli as it is about though- I used to love the lights and loud music in a nightclub or the sights and smells of the countryside.

However, I also love disappearing into a fantasy world in my head. I have noticed that I tend to do this a lot more in times of stress, like when I start a new job or dance class or when there are other problems or decisions that I have to deal with. But having just had my diagnosis this week, the psychologist said that in times of stress I tend to move towards being more autistic, so maybe that fits in with your theory.

I often start over-analysing conversations, interactions and things that have happened to me a long time ago in my head. When this starts happening, it affects my ability to deal with other people, and reading a book, playing a repetitive computer games, or visiting the made-up world in my head are the only ways to switch it off.


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iliketrees
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15 Jan 2017, 3:31 am

Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.



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15 Jan 2017, 3:38 am

I'm an 'own world' type, mostly. I'm diagnosed Level 1, autistic, but think I would have fallen under the Asperger's category were it still in use. I connect well with family, and I enjoy meeting with close friends as long as I've had some warning and time to prepare, but otherwise I tend to escape into my own head.



whatamievendoing
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15 Jan 2017, 5:39 am

I definitely escape into my own head more often than not, but I like to think I'm a mixture of both. Only thing that kinda sucks about the social half is that I'm a one-on-one type of dude when it comes to conversations, but situations where it's possible are incredibly rare.


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Edna3362
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15 Jan 2017, 6:08 am

I would engage to people to see if I could grasp something... I don't do anything social related to fit in or to please anyone or for the sake of socializing at all.
I'm not interested at people or sought to be with them. I don't like the contextualized world, and fitting in it can only go as far.
I'm interested about learning whether it involves introversion or extraversion -- I'm an ambivert.

I'm pretty much the former, and I'm an aspie.
Only difference is that I would find ways to get away with it in the real world.


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mr_bigmouth_502
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15 Jan 2017, 6:11 am

iliketrees wrote:
Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.

I'll be honest, I'm tired of people talking about "Asperger's" being a different condition than autism. "Asperger's" IS autism, the only real difference is that it was a label that used to be given to people who experienced less severe symptoms.

As for whether I'm an introvert or an extrovert, I'm not sure. I tend to avoid socialization in real life and I can't stand excessive socialization online either, though I do tend to post to forums a lot (in fact I'm actually quite addicted to it), and I do like talking with my friends online sometimes. I need a certain amount of socialization, not too much, but not too little either, and doing it online is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier for me than doing it offline. Maybe I'm an ambivert then? I don't know.


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Leahcar
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15 Jan 2017, 6:28 am

It may sound strange, but I can never escape my head to be honest. Even when I feel completely focused, my thought processes are never really fully focused on what I'm doing (e.g. I'll be reading something, or making myself a cup of tea, and I'll always have some video or song looping over and over in my head that's nothing to do with it). I don't always enjoy having a cloudy, daydreamy mindset; it helps me to calm down when I'm stressed or occupy myself when I've nothing else to do, but when I want to actually do something I find it a bit distracting.
I'd say I have an extroverted heart, but an introverted mindset, and they just don't match. I love to go out there and talk to other people, and I can be capable of doing that when I'm with people I like and trust. It makes me feel good when I can have a nice natter. I hate to avoid socialisation, but I find it difficult to approach people because I'm naturally not very trusting of others when I first meet them, and I have to let them convince me otherwise before I can start talking to them.
Recently I have started practising going out in public by myself, fully tuned into my surroundings. But all the daydreamy nonsense is still there, just pushed into the back of my head.
BTW I was diagnosed with classic autism, now high-functioning. I'd say now it's pretty much like Asperger's but with a delay in language onset, and some problems with self-care.


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iliketrees
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15 Jan 2017, 6:52 am

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
iliketrees wrote:
Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.

I'll be honest, I'm tired of people talking about "Asperger's" being a different condition than autism. "Asperger's" IS autism

I agree. Some people here keep insisting it's different though which I don't get. I wonder if the diagnostic labels on our profiles will ever change, especially when the ICD 11 comes out, removing "other autism spectrum disorder" and having "ASD" instead of "Aspergers".



Trekkie83
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15 Jan 2017, 7:10 am

I'm definitely the type that prefers to live in my own head.



mr_bigmouth_502
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15 Jan 2017, 7:14 am

iliketrees wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
iliketrees wrote:
Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.

I'll be honest, I'm tired of people talking about "Asperger's" being a different condition than autism. "Asperger's" IS autism

I agree. Some people here keep insisting it's different though which I don't get. I wonder if the diagnostic labels on our profiles will ever change, especially when the ICD 11 comes out, removing "other autism spectrum disorder" and having "ASD" instead of "Aspergers".

I think part of the reason people try to insist that it's different is because they don't want to face the stigma of being "autistic". Like I mentioned before, the only real difference seems to be a lesser (apparent) degree of severity, with people diagnosed with "Aspergers" often not experiencing the language delays associated with "classic" autism.

I guess "Aspergers" could be used as a label for people on the higher-functioning end of the spectrum, but really, isn't it kind of redundant? Autism is a spectrum disorder, and people on the spectrum tend to have different challenges in different areas. Some people have more significant language issues, some people have more significant sensory issues, etc.


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15 Jan 2017, 10:06 am

My tennis instructor said one should strive to have both an "indoor life" (intellectual) and an "outdoor life" (physically active, social). This is the balance I seek. I have been living a very active life for the past two years and really enjoy it. I am seeking every opportunity to connect based upon my interests.



BeggingTurtle
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15 Jan 2017, 2:24 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
iliketrees wrote:
Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.

I'll be honest, I'm tired of people talking about "Asperger's" being a different condition than autism. "Asperger's" IS autism, the only real difference is that it was a label that used to be given to people who experienced less severe symptoms.

I never meant this as a "one size fits all" kind of thought; people like iliketrees are clearly an exception.


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iliketrees
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15 Jan 2017, 3:01 pm

BeggingTurtle wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
iliketrees wrote:
Nope, I'm diagnosed Asperger's but I'm not at all extroverted. Even wrongplanet gets too much and I keep taking breaks from here. I really just prefer being by myself. I don't seek people out like I assume your roommate does.

I'll be honest, I'm tired of people talking about "Asperger's" being a different condition than autism. "Asperger's" IS autism, the only real difference is that it was a label that used to be given to people who experienced less severe symptoms.

I never meant this as a "one size fits all" kind of thought; people like iliketrees are clearly an exception.

Am I though - am I an exception to a rule? I'm not convinced that HFA and AS are two distinct profiles, there's so much variance in people with either diagnosis, I think they're the same thing.