Lack of creativity/imagination?

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As far as I know, lack of creativity and/or imagination is one of the criteria for AS. However, from what I have read on this site, most people consider themselves very creative/imaginative, and they probably are, but I am not. Creativity/imagination is by far my weakest point.

Many people consider themselves "uncreative" but if forced, they can generally produce something somewhat creative at least. I cannot. I know this as I went to art college and struggled tremendously when it came to imagining. I was fairly good at art when given precise instruction (ie, drawing a collection of objects on a table, or when using a reference pic for a portrait) but when it came to much more open subjects, such as creating something from scratch, from my own imagination, or even something as simple as creating a border for a finished piece of work, I really really struggled. I eventually quit, as I knew that later on I wouldn't be able to produce decent work.

I struggle so much that I can't even play games such as The Sims, without repeating the same scenarios over and over again.

I can't even build houses as they all end up simple, plain and boring, all furnished and decorated in the same manner, with usually the same colours. It's a real struggle to come up with even a simple floor plan, or decoration and usually when I try, I end up with houses that are unplayable.

I recently downloaded the Spore creature creator and even on that, where there are practically no boundaries, I could only come up with slightly altered versions of animals that already exist, and even then, it was usually common animals like a bird or a dog.

Sometimes I'll see someone putting two simple things together and be amazed that they could do that. I remember seeing my mum put butter on a sandwich and then adding jam. Before that point, I thought jam, and only jam could go on bread. The thought of putting two spreads on at once had never even occured to me.

It's still the same today. Simple things I could never think of putting together. People don't realise how much imagination plays a role in every day tasks.

Styling my hair is a huge issue as I don't know what to do with it. It's very long and people are always nagging me to "do something with your hair" but I don't know what to do. Things like making lunch are difficult unless I eat the same thing every day as I just don't know what I can throw together. I see people putting things together with no effort and even if I put in all my effort, I still couldn't come up with anything new or interesting.

I don't want to continue going on, but I want to get my point across about how severely lacking in imagination I am, even though my examples seem insignificant. People don't think it's an issue. They think imagination and creativity are only important for the arts, when it's not true. Imagination, or lack of, can be quite important in even the simplest of everyday tasks. It can make me appear stupid when I can't see where something is going next, or if I can't come up with something other people consider "obvious" or "easy"



Does anyone else here have such a severe lack of creativity/imagination? If yes, do you find it interferes with daily tasks or activities?

Could this lack of imagination be the reason for my Social difficulties? (a question that can't really be answered, but thought I'd add it anyway incase anyone has any ideas)

Any other thoughts?

when these criteria were applied to the dsm iv manual, they apply to a diagnosis in observed children who exhibit rote learning and liking for sameness, and observation of lack of creativity was made.
i feel it isnt accurate as many AS are very creative abd i feel tis description while accurate, is made without the input of adut AS who are more verbal and able to communicate, like i have that thi smay not be entirely accurate.

i am creative but not always in the same ways and i find i have to have symmetry in many of the things i do...i can "copy" drawings but can't come up with my own as well...this goes into writing as well...i can write facts like i am now but i have a hard time if you ask me to write a "story"...i can't think of anything and if pushed i panic...it is also harder for me to write my opinion most of the time...when i have tried house designs mine always have to be symmetrical and often turn into octagons
my latest creative spurt is my current obsession...bento boxes
bento is a japanese boxed lunch that can range from elegant to cute...bento is based on appearance more than content...i found some hello kitty bento boxes at the dollar store that included dividers...one important part of bento is compartments...i like that i can seperate food that way and i can make it "attractive" too...i like that they use cookie cutters to shape foods...anything from rice to sandwhiches...it makes for such neat orderly little lunces and my daughter really enjoys them
i am creative but to my friends i seem to lack immagination sometimes...i just think my immagination works differently...and creativity involves bringing something into existance so really i guess both of us had to use some creativity to write these even?

I have a severe lack of imagination. I love drawing, but when it comes to drawing from imagination I jsut can't do it. And as for the Sims game, I didn't think anyone else did that. I too play out the same scenarios over and over again. I eat the same thing everyday, I have never thought about eating anything else. A lack of imagination does affect everything. It does affect every day tasks. I know what you mean, about not being able to see where something is going. I do have an idea, about a lack of imagination being the reason for social difficulties. To be able to imagine what another person is feeling or thinking, some imagination is needed. I think it has something to do with Theory of Mind. So if you can't imagine how someone else would feel, how can you know if somehting is considered offensive or not.
I have this problem, I can never work out if something is offensive or not because I can not imagine how someone else might interpret what I say.

I think I do have a kind of lack of imagination, it seems that when I try to come up with things I tend to just copy other things, I tried writing for english class and just recreated things I knew. I did art but in the class I was bad at drawing and at imagining, often I just copied ther things, my final piece I did for the class was a terrible picture of a bike lock. Lately I have been trying to think up of a story by takeing influences from different things like mythology, games, philosophy, anime, scifi and other things. My plan is to come up with a totaly unique story, and one of my favirout times is when I am thinking and suddnly the logic makes sense and seems like I just imagined something original. I have liked doing writing but my lack of ability to imagin original things is always a problem.

With ME, I need SOME sort of direction. I mean that in a more literal sense though. If someone gives me parts, and says to build whatever, I will try to make do with what I have. I HAVE been known to do some things in new and unusual ways that did the job well. My imagination is ok also. Sometimes it can be so real that I can describe it as if it is right in front of me, and in the finest detail.

MY disability? Artistic ability. The ability to make something with NO real direction. This usually means artism in the form that is understood. A song(though there ARE relatively limited options, and I could do it if REALLY needed), a picture(if no requirement is made or suggestion offered, etc...), etc....

I guess the latter isn't REALLY a disability. Even Harry Potter was FAR from original. It was simply a set formula applied and embelished. Many movies, shorts, and series today are even EXACT replicas, even with the same title or script as the original! When I asked a bragging expert to create a simple HEADER(He claimed that was best) for a website, he failed to come up with ANYTHING decent!

Frankly, I am starting to wonder if very many can EVER do that! Is anyone HERE a good graphics designer? Be aware, I CAN put pictures together, or come up with random patterns, but that is NOT what I want!

I voted "Yes" but now I'm not so sure after reading the posts. I take art in college and I considered myself to be quite creative, but now I think I might not be!

When I ask my art teacher for her opinion and she gives me her suggestions I can't imagine her ideas at all, even if I really try. This part of art I really struggle at. I can't draw from my imagination at all but I can draw very well from observation and I have done from a very young age. If you ask me to draw a portrait of someone from observation I can draw it just like how the person looks, but if you said don't look at the person and draw from memory I won't have a clue what to draw.

I also play exactly the same scenarios in The Sims but I feel that this is out of choice not out of lack of imagination, I like sameness and I would feel uncomfertable playing it any other way.

When I was younger I never played role playing games, when I tried I never understood how everyone knew what everyone else was thinking, for example if one of my friends got on her hands and knees then my other friends would do the same and all start barking and I would just be standing there completely clueless.

I wonder if that is why I find it difficult in social situations because I can't imagine what everyone else is imagining so I am on a completely different wavelength to everyone else.

Maybe I do have imagination... maybe everyone else just has ESP.

When I got my diagnosis I asked the Dr about that lack of imagination thing, as I have always been quite creative myself. She reckoned it refers to a lack of imagination in social situations and rigid playing habits in kids with AS, not necessarily a lack of creativity.

Lack of imagination or creativity isn't a criteria, it's an assumption. There are many ways of being imaginative and creative; on my primary blog, I write about intellectual creativity, which requires a different kind of mind from those who are good at art, games, etc. And, as has already been mentioned, such evaluations are based mostly on children, not adults who have matured neurologically and cognitively and who may have many more abilities than they had as children.

I lack imagination too. I usually draw the same things over and over again, build the same things from Lego every time and have a hard time imagining something new from scratch. I'm good at making things with my hands (provided that I have plenty of time to get it done at my own speed), but I'm not good at imagining what it should look like, I always need an idea or example from somewhere.

It does interfere a bit with daily tasks and can be a limitation for me. It makes me feel awkward and really uncomfortable when people expect me to be creative or imaginative and I can't be.

I don't see a lack of creativity and/or imagination anywhere in the criteria for Asperger's Disorder (in all four sets of). Is it in "Autistic Psychopathy"?

A lack of creative and imaginative play is there for Autistic Disorder/Autism, not Asperger's Disorder.

I don't have a lack of creativity, but I do have a lack of imagination. I think there is a difference. That's why all my artwork are depictions from real life like stills, portraits, landscapes taken from real life or photos. I only wish I had an imagination. With creative writing though, it's hard to fathom how imagination wouldn't be involved.

I'm only creative in my areas of special interests because I know so much about it I can mix a few things around. Often much different when I go out and try it anyway Doesn't deter me though

I've always been very creative and imaginative. I see things in my mind very vividly, be they stories, characters, the end results of craft projects, or even whole worlds. Sometimes, not always, I hear music and such along with some of this. I try to the best of my ability to translate those things I imagine into real form. I usually succeed to some degree.

However, the same kinds of people and the same situations keep popping up in the stories I create. I wonder how much of that is a lack of imagination, though, and how much of it is some underlying thing about me trying to work itself out through fiction.

Also, when I was younger, I used to draw cats constantly. I was obsessed with cats, and always drew them in the same position, with only slight variations of marking. I didn't really have stories for them, I just wanted to draw them because I needed something to occupy myself during class when everyone else was still struggling with week-old material. However, this was at the same time that me and someone else (also with Asperger's) were creating an entire world of characters, so it might've been that there was no lack there, either, just it was not manifested in visual form.