Smart but dumb ?

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The worst thing of being 'smart but dumb' is that non-professionals and psych professionals can take the smart bit and apply it wrongly to all situations . A failure to meet the expected standard can all too often be seen as passive aggressiveness, contrariness,bad character etc .

Yeah. I always did OK with academic stuff, my IQ is probably in the upper 5-10% range... but the number of idiotic or naive or hurtful things I've said, the number of times I've missed the joke or the sarcasm or the intent, and the way I can be paralysed by the thought of having to answer the phone or clean the house or fill out a form... so, yeah.

in the army i was told "you're kinda dumb, but now and then you're smart."

I don't know about that. I went to the highest academic-performing high school in my state (top 10 in the country)... and TONS of my peers struggled with those things, not just me. To my knowledge (and through minor facebook stalking) I think the only people in my high school graduating class who are truly wealthy are the ones whose families were wealthy in high school. Plenty of them are married and have kids though. I'm still making my mind up about that XD

"Smart but dumb". That is what being on the part of the autistic spectrum that can post in a place like this is all about. That is why functioning levels are misleading.

My stepdaughter who is not highly book learned, but who is intelligent nonetheless,grasps the 'smart but dumb' concept, as applies to me, better than any health professional I've known.

No professional has ever bothered to look at my strengths and weaknesses . Beyond the initial forward digit span and count down from a 100 in groups of 7, which was done during 1st admission at 18, there has been nothing.

Based on interaction on forums with people from the USA I do know that tests of cognition,and of adaptive functioning , are done significantly more frequently there. Indeed my mention of 'adaptive functioning', at the post dx appointment, drew a vacant expression from the professional seeing me .

The reason why my Twitter screenshot is botched is because Firefox developers are smarts but dumbs.

Yes, strengths in one area, weaknesses in other areas - the dichotomy of the Autism Spectrum.

Special interests esp. science & TECH-related topics whose scope goes "over the heads" of many NTs, and even others with HFA are strengths - esp. if one is able to apply these special interests towards career objectives.

Social skills and all of its nuances, subtleties, pitfalls, etc. etc. are weaknesses.

One must reassess strengths in order to address one weaknesses.

Personally, being in friendly public environments, and learning social subtleties by osmosis, and practicing through small talk with familiar people (on a first name basis) is often helpful.