Joe90 wrote:
I'm good with reading facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and other non-verbal cues from instinct, which then makes me wonder why I was diagnosed with AS because it seems more common for those with ASDs to not understand non-verbal cues. I was even told that it is not possible for someone with ASDs to be able to read non-verbal cues by instinct.
That's baloney. There is a statistical correlation between autism and poor reading of body language, but there's also a big spread so obviously not everyone has the same degree of problems. There are a lot of people who somehow thing the ability to make eye contact, carry on a conversation, or read body language is immediate grounds for being un-diagnosed.
I'm also good at reading non-verbal cues and I don't ever recall not doing it by instinct as far back as I can remember. In the past I had more trouble with verbal information, like slang terms, figures of speech, idioms, and other "hidden" implied/contextual meanings that don't make a lot of logical sense but are none-the-less part of NT communication. Plain old emotions are easier to interpret because I just seem to "feel" them.