Got it...
Verdandi wrote:
This extends to other things, such as the ability to look at a photograph and infer thoughts, emotions, and even a social scenario/story from what they see, whereas I see precisely what's in that same photograph, and little more.
Based on my own perception and my daughters we both love to stare endlessly at pictures. As a child I recall spending many hours flicking through an encyclopaedia staring at the photographs. I was particularly fascinated by two things a) people's faces and pictures with incredible detail such as rainforests. I used to reproduce people's faces from photos in almost realistic dimensions as a 6-8 yr old. My daughter loves drawing animals from pictures.
Verdandi wrote:
This also extends to, say, giving nonhuman shapes/objects personalities or intentions. I don't really do it. There's a video that shows various shapes interacting that you watch and describe what you see with as many social elements as possible - and to me, I see very little (although the social descriptions I've read from others make sense).
Classic. My bother and I had a collection of objects which were given names and had a life of their own. We used to have multiple stories going on using a bull dog clip, box, stationary and various bits of hardware.
Verdandi wrote:
And I guess this relates to what people like to call theory of mind:
If this refers to the Baron-Cohen exercise re: hiding a ball in bag and the autistic person looks for it in the basket etc I am still in the dark as my daughter seems to have mastered this trick fairly early on.
Verdandi wrote:
I do care about what people think and feel, and if I know they need/want sympathy I can try to give it. It takes me time to work out what I should offer when I see it (I can tell when someone is crying, but I have to work out that crying = something made them cry = maybe they need a hug).
To be honest I am much like this and perhaps this is where I am clearly on the spectrum and not NT. I have been accused of this throughout my life.
Verdandi wrote:
I would mention something to my mother, and her response seemed to have no relation or bearing on what I said. When I said that the answer made no sense and could she explain what she means, she simply said "It shouldn't be confusing." Thanks, mom.
I just had a conversation today with my mother and it's like we are on different planes of thought. Speaking with my father is far more straight forward but he's exactly like me an undiagnosed Autie. My daughter's much purer in her thought process here. She will for instance talk about going to the shopping centre and turning right at the traffic lights. I'll acknowledge her statement then change subject and start talking about how she needs to keep room clean. She then ignores my conversation and refers back to the shopping centre making sure that we are still going? "turn right daddy" even though we are still a 2km away. It's like the conversation needs to be around the shopping centre and the drive there not about other topics. The focus appears to be one topic at a time. But then it stuck me - this is what I accuse my mother of doing, she jumps from one subject to another and sometimes has 3 conversations going in parallel. I honestly can't keep up.
Verdandi wrote:
Not all NTs think alike, but their brains and perceptions are generally wired in a similar fashion to each other, meaning that in various ways they can often relate to and understand each other, even though they all have different interests, preferences, loves, hates, politics, opinions, philosophies, religions, etc. They're diverse, but they have certain kinds of cognitive architecture that they use to function socially (among other things).
There are plenty of nuerdiverse individuals out there but yes, there seems to be four major divisions
Division 1 - NTs
1 - NTs
2- NTs with anxiety and mood disorders
3 - NTs with brain firing issues (i.e. schizophrenia or personality disorders)
4. NTs with ADHD
Division 2 - NTs with nuerodegenrative disease (Parkinsons, Alzheimers or MS)
Division 3 - Developmental disorders (PDD, Autism and Retts) with IQ > 70
Division 4 - Mental retardation where IQ<70
The NT group really should exclude Division 1 Point's 2, 3 or 4 and Divisions 2, 3 of 4. Anyway that's how I see it.
Verdandi wrote:
Long before I knew I was autistic, I found that there are things I'd say or opinions I'd express that other people didn't understand, and often other people would say things I didn't understand. I remember one problem I consistently run into is that I'll say something, others will respond to something that seems - to me - to have nothing to do with what I said, and I point out I said exactly, literally what I meant. Or to turn it around, and I take someone else literally, and they explain that I misunderstood (or, if they're just being jerks, calling me illiterate). One of my friends told me they'd thought I was on the spectrum for some time because I so frequently misunderstood their jokes and sarcasm.
I don't understand this one but I think that may be the point right?
Verdandi wrote:
However, all of the above aside? I think that autistic people and NTs have more in common than otherwise. It's how we perceive and express ourselves that often gets in the way. I mean, there are things that I don't really care about that many NTs do, and these are things in common with many other autistic people - but also some number of NTs (possibly more NTs in terms of raw numbers, but a lower overall percentage).
I think as we get older the gap that separates us becomes smaller, the margin will vary of course.
29 Sep 2011, 7:51 am
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