What separates NT clumsy and AS clumsy?

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Hmm.. see I would have said that aspie shy is more likely to be learned, while NT why would be more likely to be just a personality characteristic. (I know not all aspies are shy, and some shy aspies have shy personalities too, but I bet there are a lot that don't have an overall shy personality, but eventually ended up acting shy just because they couldn't read people and socialize correctly.)

I'm so clumsy. The frequency is what gets people asking 'what the heck?'.
This picture might give you an idea of how clumsy I am:


Stuff like this happens to me all the time.

I frequently fail to navigate around things completely when walking, and usually this happens when I'm either fatigued or in a hurry and my mind is wandering. I also get bruises I can't explain. While I'm doing housework or yard work, I get bumps and bruises and don't even notice because I'm focused on what I'm doing. I was horrible at sports. I would learn something and then unlearn it somehow, like serving a badminton birdie -- I learned it, did fine at it, and then lost it, and the gym teacher had to teach me again in steps. I have a lousy sense of rhythm and timing, and I think that's where my lack of coordination starts -- perhaps I perform movements out of order? I know that was the problem with the badminton birdie.

I also don't balance well. It took me a long time to learn to ride a bicycle and roller skate, as a kid, and that old saying about never forgetting how to ride a bike doesn't apparently apply to me, because when I tried to ride one again as an adult, I had to learn again. Even then I could only ride certain types of bicycles. The mountain bike frame was fine, but the more streamlined racing type frame, where you have to lean way forward, I can't maintain my balance on. It's also a good thing I don't live where it gets cold in winter, because I'd be a menace navigating on icy walkways. I've had some bad falls on wet floors and pavement as it is.

I'm certain that some of my problems with sports are related to muscle tension from the stress of feeling observed. I tend to be extremely self-conscious, and that makes every muscle in my body tense up, so trying a new sport or doing anything physical in view of anyone makes me tense up so much that I'm sure that affects my performance a great deal. There was a time when my husband and I lived near a community college and could find hours when the tennis courts were vacant. Then I'd do fine practicing tennis with just him -- as long as I stayed relaxed. As soon as I started making mistakes, or he got impatient with me, or anyone else showed up to use the other courts, I'd tense up and then I would do terribly again. Then, as soon as I got a little winded, I'd do badly too.

Aerobic exercise gets me really clumsy. I don't know if it's getting winded or what, but immediately after aerobic exercise -- healthy, moderate amounts, mind you -- I'm extremely clumsy and more likely to walk into things.

I got an A in one PE class, and that was archery. Go figure. I'm so nearsighted I couldn't even see the target properly, but I did great at that. It sure shocked the gym teacher, who was aware of my problems with other sports.

I don't know if this is all Aspie related -- as I'm not even sure yet that I'm an Aspie. But my awkwardness and clumsiness have been with me forever.

That happens to me sometimes.....there's a task at work I've done many times over the past couple of years, and the other day when I started on it, I noticed that I was approaching it as though I'd never done it before, in some respects. The learning was there but it was somehow inaccessible at the time, perhaps because I'd not done that task for a week or two - probably the learning is still in there, but some subtle changes to the working environment made me approach it from the wrong angle somehow. And of course I get stressed out when I notice that something I thought I knew has escaped, and being stressed out doesn't help me to function at all.

On the other hand, I've never forgotten how to ride a bike, even after years of not riding....perhaps that's because I was always cycling so much when I was younger - the bike was almost part of me, so the learning was very strongly reinforced.

It's quite easy to be a clumsy gymnast-I did gymnastics in school a few years ago. Due to my flexibility, I was great compared to my classmates. And yet I'm the only person I know who's actually gotten a bloody nose by kneeing herself in the face trying to do a forward roll
I suppose I was too flexible, and tucked myself into too tight of a ball
Though now I'm just clumsy in the "how did you cut your arm on the school bus" way. (I tripped and fell onto the divider between the driver of the bus and us) Only I could do that!

Asperger's?

i agree

how would anyone know for sure?

i think normal people are clumsy if they have limited motor skills and/or limited situational judgment.

i am clumsy because i pay no attention to what i am doing if it is a simple series of actions.

it is silly i think to segregate "AS" and "NT". everyone is built from the same source.

people who do not have my condition, i can analogize as "horses with no blinkers on".
they can romp and prance at their will with no obscuring obstacles.

i have blinkers on and can see only a narrow field of reality.

but i note that the "un-blinkered" horses all get spooked regularly by something or another, while i never see anything to get spooked by.

Ok - ADHD "NT" (I guess) here. I am the biggest clutz in the world. I drop things all the time, bump into walls, trip over my feet (scary when I carry my son), just a clutz. My AS husband is completely not a clutz and either is my dx son. they both have great fine motor skills and mine sucks.

I don't think there is a difference.

Yes, a million times!

I ended up being shy as a concious decision to try and shut down my 'weird' behavior when I was 12 or so..

I don't think there is a difference.

I assume physical clumsiness is the subject.


Physical co-ordination is strongly influenced by the corpus callosum, which connects the two halves of the brain. Activities that practise co-ordination strengthen the callosum, making co-ordination clumsiness less likely.

Sensory Awareness issues are more likely in AS compared to NT. This includes Body-spatial Awareness, like currently where my hand is positioned relative to the rest of me and the keyboard. With AS we seem "less aware" of wether or not objects, are or will obstruct a given movement.


In Summary, practice skills or activities that involve synchronised movement, hand-eye coordination, 2-handed coordination, full body coordination, etc. especially with your non-dominant arm. In cluttered environments, or with open cupboards or ajar doors and windows, anything like that you could accidentally bump into, slow down and pay more attention to your surroundings.

For me:

- Cutting myself while cooking
- Not properly assembling furniture despite following all instructions to the letter and having it all fall apart days later.
- Trying to fix the car then not only failing but also not know how to put everything back together again, thus having to call a tow truck just to get the thing going again..

i'm not clumsy at all. conversely, i am actually extremely agile, alert, deft and graceful when navigating, walking, handling objects tiny or bulky, avoiding collisions, dodging, bobbing and weaving. i could be a boxer.

I have fine motor clumsiness. MY gross motor is generally fine.

I'm extremely clumsy when I'm not paying attention to my clumsiness. I constantly drop things because I'm not focusing on my grip for them (dropping my pencil and phone in class), I run into things because I forget they're there (thus, why my mom will never take me to a china shop) and I'm inco-ordinated when I'm focused on something rather than what I'm supposed to be doing (I dragged on to the grass when I was using my phone while walking on the sidewalk, and I'm great at sports if they're slow-paced and no distractions).