Are highly intellectual aspies different than other aspies?

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About as different as intellectual NTs are from non-intellectual NTs.

ruveyn

I was given the diagnosis of "gifted" when I was 8 years old and the diagnosis of AS after I turned 34. I am still trying to figure out the differences myself. I am learning a lot in the forums of WP. I read post after post of people who cannot leave home and cannot get or maintain a job and I wonder if I had received my diagnoses in the opposite order if I would have self-fulfilled as a "low-functioning" individual myself. How much is the way you (and your parents) define yourself versus the way you actually process? Am I "high-functioning" because I was never diagnosed as a child or was I never diagnosed as a child because I am "high-functioning"? These are questions for which I continue to look for answers.

Who knows what fundamental basics create the intellectual? Intellectuals tend to be curious with a quintessential thirst for answers to their questions. It's that drive to find the relevant answers that create the intellectual, regardless of being Aspie or NT or something else entirely.

Yes.
I would like to think that I'm different from the ones who possess average intellect. I was also diagnosed as 'gifted', but at the age of seven.

Haha yeah I forget to eat a lot. I'll usually just eat one meal a day or I try to get stuff that I can leave out in plain sight so that I see it during the day, that way there is a higher probability that I will see it and remember to eat.

I'm in between jobs right now so I'm on my own most of the day. I haven't settled into a routine so we sit down the night before and write in things that I need to do the next Day. my girlfriend who helps me forgets that I need to be reminded to eat and shower every now and then so we don't write it in.

She says I'm full of contradictions. She is baffled by my intelligence and ability to figure stuff out in short amount of time. I could learn everything in a text book in a week but I still can't tie my shoes. ( I wear shoes with 3 velcro straps). I can cook a meal I saw on tv a week ago, but I can't go grocery shopping on my own.

I don't know.

I guess more intellectual aspies may be more likelly to have a great diversity of intellectual interests.

Intellegence is such a fuzzy concept. A person who is extremely gifted in one aspect can be extremely limited in another.

Generally speaking a more intellegent person will cope better as they will be better able to self analyse and adapt but it really depends on the severity of co-morbid conditions and such.

Essentially all aspies differ from all other aspies, as we are all unique. We all lie on a spectrum, but for some the colours shine much brighter.

When I think of an "intellectual autistic person" I don't necessarily think of "how intelligent" a person is (as if I could even measure or conceive of something like that). I tend to think instead of how much they use their mind for idea and/or concept and/or category type of thinking, regardless of how many ideas they can string together or stack up or whatever people do with ideas. (And this is about what happens inside their head, not about what they appear to do.) Nothing at all to do with being "gifted" or not.

I don't think of myself as "intellectual" or "very intellectual" for that matter. I tend to approach the world in a manner that has more to do with sensory-based stuff and the patterns between that, rather than idea-based stuff and the designs they can be sculpted into. And I do see a huge difference between the way I do things and the way more intellectually-based people do things. We may sometimes come out with similar output, but we're not doing the same things inside.

I'm glad you found a way out of it. That's very encouraging. My goal is to work from home, so I don't have to deal with sensory issues.

I have been diagnosed in the past as being Autistic Spectrum, but my current psychiatrist doesn't see it. I know it's still there!

Current diagnosis: depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, and attention-deficit disorder.

My plans are to go to a specialty clinic for autism and have a thorough exam, and find a support system somehow. Then I will have the "proof" I need. It will about a year from now before I have the money to fly there, but it is a realistic goal. In the meantime I am going to concentrate on getting organized (once and for all; I have much improved through the years), better relationships, and other realistic goals.

Finding "wrong planet" was a major breakthrough. I'm "normal" here!

Yes, I don't find myself even slightly similar to the majority of users on this site.

I think that people diagnosed with Aspergers fall into many different categories. There is the highly intellectual aware who is socially aware but is unable to show affection, they tend to be executive functioning than other Aspies but do not desire affection. They are academically successful with few learning problems and socially seclusive and many come off as very arrogant. They often have a dry sense of humor and appear to have a big ego. The polar opposite is the Aspie who are more socially immature and socially completely, who I would classify as Pervasive Development Disorder rather than Asperger's. They are more unaware of their surroundings but are often desire social acceptance. They tend to have more learning problems and have less of an understanding of the world. They are often socially immature and inappropriate and many are silly rather than witty and unlike the more intellectual Aspie they often desperate for socialization and physical affection. They mostly have more difficulty functioning in life and taking care of themselves. Most people fall somewhere between the two groups and one can change so we can't typecast. Often people appear to be more PDD in their childhood and develop more maturity into adulthood. Their are multiple reasons for this. I believe As a young child, I was often placed in therapy groups with more intellectually disabled children than myself and I began to behave like them. I attended a mainstream school but I was socially very immature and not academically motivated because I believed myself to be in that category. I loved math was naturally good at it but I didn't even try with the other subjects. But I have matured into my adulthood, I developed my own intellectual style and my own dry sense of humor. I am still pretty dysfunctional, which I will never outgrow. I still have trouble taking care of myself.

I believe other disorders such as ADHD, certain Mental Illnesses and eating disorders can be divided into sub groups as well.

Yes, there seem to be so many combinations. I fall under the intellectual, studious type, but I actually crave affection so much I trust too easily. I crave Some interaction socially. I just don't know how to read social clues.