The long attention span you and others mentioned is an advantage for at least some of us including myself. Also I tend to be detail-oriented and very analytical. If I'm interested in something, I will study it deeply enough to become close to an expert.
All of the above are commonly said to be advantages of autism. But I wonder what advantages it could possibly have for someone with both ASD and ADHD. because it seems to me that these two conditions would tend to cancel out each other's advantages for the most part. See the separate thread/poll How you feel about autism (with / without co-occurring ADHD).
Anyhow, back to my own advantages:
As a child, I was a musical savant, though not a full-blown prodigy. At age four, concurrently with finally getting around to learning how to talk, I figured out on my own how to play the piano by ear, starting with one-finger melodies, then soon playing chords too.
(I never quite reached professional musician quality, though, because I never had formal lessons, though I did get some informal lessons from my parents after figuring out the basics on my own.)
Also I've always had a strong talent for math, which tends to accompany some varieties of autism.
Also, I've long tended to question popular ideas, and I've long tended to hold social views that were ahead of their time. For example, I was an early gay rights advocate back in the late 1970's.
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- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
Last edited by Mona Pereth on 06 Sep 2019, 9:21 am, edited 2 times in total.