Do you love or hate having aspergers/autism?

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I wouldn't need my green eyes cured because other people only had blue or brown eyes.

Merle

I'm neutral about it. I have liked the positive things its given me but I also see it as being me. Then there came times when I wished I didn't have it. I rarely feel that way now. I used to hate having it and started to blame everything on it. Maybe that's what my mom means I used it as an excuse in my early teens.

I see it as everyone has things about themselves they don't like and would like to change that. But lot of people have labels to blame it on because it's caused by them.

I like the whole obsessive interest, as it provides countless fun/enjoyment.

I don't like the disability that comes with mine, as I can't pursue the vocation I've always wanted (army); it exempts me, and for good reason too (my psychiatrist wouldn't write a note saying I was fit enough for such, and he was right; I'm not a team player, and whilst there's a lot of routine in the military, it's someone else's routine, not mine).

I didn't know I had it 'til I was at the point in my life where I just thought "that explains everything".

To truly understand how great it is, you have to come to a lot of understandings in life, and accept many unfortunate truths about humanity that you may not like.

To quote Bruce Hornsby and the Range from 1986: "that's just the way it is...."

I agree with this.

Also why do people think they will be a completely different person without it? Probably not the case. Plenty of people born normal may end up with similar character traits associated with AS if they were given similar experiences growing up. It only becomes 'AS' if there is the presence of disabilities that cause an impact on life. If those were fixed, you'd just become one of those normal people with similar personalities because the only difference between us and them are the disabilities, surely? Being cured would not change who you are as a person.

By the way what ARE the positives that are directly related to the condition? I can't think of anything that the same personality NT couldn't do.

here's your answer: http://www.coachingasperger.com/advantages.htm

I love it! I don't ever want to be 'cured'. I don't need a cure. I'm quite different from my parents and my brother, true, but I feel myself more an individual. It's not that they are ignorant or anything, it's just that they care so much about other people. Especially what they might think, and everything. I am not as bound to society as much as they are. I only go enough to get by, but society doesn't really dictate my life and my habits as much as theirs.

I don't mind having it. I do have some parts that I dislike, like the social problems and not understanding certain things. But it also helps me in stuff too, especially school.

Thats awesome you love being autistic persian85033 but for me, its just 50/50.
Plus i'm from london and apparently its the worst place to be autistic and I used to get bullied for it.
But I rather not be cured for it, because I wouldn't be who i'am today and i wouldn't of been with the girl that im with today

That's technically how I describe my autism. But the thing is that im now in college. But I rather hang out with a smaller crowd as a huge crowds frustrates me and i go all silent.

This is an easy vote for me---I love having Asperger's and I would not take a cure for it. I have fun with the special intense interests and talents it has given me. Right now I have two projects going on that are rooted in my autistic interests of architecture and amusements:

1. Putting together 9 circus tent models for my train layout
2. Building a 1960's era contemporary (International Style) scale model house as part of a culture fest in March

I really get into these kinds of interests and find them very fun. It is fun for me to collect things and research them.

I have to bring up one point, that I feel gets lost in the wash on this site sometimes...

While that is a great list of positive ways to interpret the traits of Asperger's,
it almost seems like it is suggesting that a person MUST have AS in order to do things like:


I'll say again, I've known a number of people who demonstrate all of these qualities and yet do NOT experience the social, cognitive, emotional, and sensory problems that are also a hallmark of Asperger's.

You can have lots of unique and amazing talents and NOT be autistic.

Why would you choose to burden yourself with these problems, if you didn't have to???

Being that:

1) I've spent 31 years of my life without having even the most fundamental understanding of Asperger's,
2) I've always cherished my individuality (which seems to come very naturally to me),
3) I reap many of the benefits of thinking differently,

...I'd have to say that I enjoy it, I guess. What I really enjoy, though, is being unabashedly, unapologetically me.

I just don't care anymore. It's never gona go away, so why bother?

This question gets brought up many times about the gifts, interest, and talents and "you don't have to be autistic to have those." True. But the fact remains, I have gifts, interests, and talents and I am autistic---therefore those things came from an autistic brain, not a neurotypical brain. The way I perform and behave with those things is through autistic wiring. A neurotypical can also do those things, but through neurotypical wiring. Therefore these positives came from autistic wiring for me. That is why I credit autism for my abilities and interests.

The next question here is, why burden oneself with problems of autism? Well, I will say this, "You can be neurotypical and have problems too." Problems come with life---no matter who you are. You just have to try to make the best of it. As for autistic challenges---I accept them. Autism is my friend (and it has always been my friend in life). And as with a human friend, there are things that a friend may do that causes one discomfort. But one doesn't turn their back on that friend. So...for those of us that find the joy in autism, we do not turn our back on it. It is our friend.

exactly; as I've said it before....

despite several of my former classmates now removing me from their Facebook profiles for obvious reasons, one of them that hadn't posted that she's now nine months clean from 15 years of drinking and drugs; I was in high school 10-15 years ago....which means she was utterly hammered then. And I'm positive she wasn't the only one of my classmates who was.

Now, we have twice the level of anxiety NTs have, yet despite that they're still getting loaded up on drugs and alcohol, to cope with life.

Ya think being NT automatically means "free of problems dealing with life"? Don't kid yourself.

They only make it look easier...but I assure you for them it requires a group effort; and since that social skills thang is so freakin' high on their lists, I'd assume that has something to do with making it look easier.

We on the other hand deal with twice the anxiety, and I'm guessing that despite it many of us manage to function in society considerably regardless. Sure, we don't have the social life they do...but I don't think we need it, either.

So are we! I have AS, and I've drank and used drugs to cope with life since I was 16. Thankfully I don't use drugs anymore, but I still drink frequently to escape from my anxiety and overwhelmed senses.


No, I don't. And I didn't imply that at all. Everyone's got problems, but surely no one needs the often perplexing set of issues that people on the spectrum experience... on top of the everyday problems of life and the sorts of things that NT's go through.

Why glorify autism, when its gifts sometimes come at such a high price?

Why give up now on the idea that there might be, if not a cure, some revolutionary methods of therapy to reduce the problems that autistic people face? I don't understand why some people are so complacent about what can only be categorized as a disorder!


We don't need a social life?? Are you serious? Sure, we don't need to be the life of the party, but everyone needs people in their lives. There have been lots of studies on the physical and mental health of people who are isolated...

Social Relationships And Health (careful, it's PDF)

People who are isolated experience more physical and mental illness and early death than those with more relationships.

I have no one. No friends. Distant family. I live more or less in a world of my own. Manifestations of Asperger's Syndrome have cost me jobs, and prevented me from getting hired at others, and almost got me kicked out of University. AS-related issues have ruined all my attempts at friendship and romantic relationships, and have made me a stranger to my own family, and myself. Every day I hide from the unpredictable environments around me, when at any second, some thing could come along and send me into sensory-overload. My life has been a string of failures and misery, and AS has a lot to do with it.

How could I love something which has caused me so much pain???