What is so good about aspergers?

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ASD Positives:
I get a high feeling from learning.
I feel intense emotion from music.
I don't give in to peer pressure.
Good problem solving skills.
Artistic and analytical.
I love physics.
Can act child-like at times.
More organised.
With minimal social interaction I retain a lot of factual knowledge.
Wet towels feel so damn good.
Basically if I decide to do something I'll do it.
Have less social dramas than my friends.
I understand cats.

ASD Negatives:
Unstable emotions.
Meltdowns/ Shutdowns.
I don't cope well with change.
Can become anxious during group conversation which I usually can't join in on.
Hard to get a job.
Not very good at cooking a variety of meals.
Lights and sound and certain materials hurt.
Prone to anxiety and/or depression.
My feelings are hurt quite easily.
Hard to share emotions.

The good - If I learn something and I'm interested in that subject or what being taught, I become more creative and engaged in that.
I value the journey - not the destination.
I can see things in a greater level of detail than most people
I love being hands-on and involved in something
I can "read" people without social pretense and get a feel for them

The bad -
I have a short fuse in certain situations - I can meltdown when people fail to use logical thinking
I'm somewhat socially inept
I find it difficult to express my feelings to others, I tend to keep things bottled up

The one thing I would never, ever, EVER want to give up is the way I view the world. I feel like I see the world in a fresh way with subtle emotions there aren't words for. It can be hard and it can be depressing, but I've seen the way most people work. I realised a long time ago that I never want to understand most people, because I see the results of the things they do, and they don't make any sense.
MOST people -- there are always exceptions, and I've been lucky enough to find and know great people to balance my views.

But still. Despite the things that are disabling about being AS, I wouldn't change it for all the world if I had to change my Mind.

Mick Avory?

I'm not happy to have it because I don't have any negative traits that aren't related to Asperger's and I don't have any positive traits that are related to Asperger's. At least, I think.

I found they grew on me and developed more the older I got and more comfortable I became.

like someone playing pass the parcel, with little gifts after several layers and then getting the big on in the middle, once the parcel is unwrapped.

It's true, there are many negative points to having Asperger's. We struggle in ways that most other people don't, and in ways that most other people can't understand. It can be stressful, frightening, and lonely.

All the same, I do not lament being an Aspie. If it weren't for Asperger's, I would be a different person. I may struggle and I may despair, but I like myself. I wouldn't want to be anyone else.

------------Standing on the outside looking in.----------------------------------

Is this a good thing?

The things that I have enjoyed:
For one the focus is on science and how things work, and even "us" on a bio-psychological level..... what makes people tick occupies a significant amount of mental energy/time for myself. I'm intensely curious.

When in kindergarten( around 5) I asked my mother the question about "existence," and I asked, mom, who am I?
I was aware that someone was aware here, looking at the world through these pair of eyes; comparing this to the time I was before, when everything was dark.
Why am I me and not you was the base question here - so who am I ?

This early abstract reasoning phase is part of this "condition" as neurotypicals come to this "stage" later in life... not at 5.
I also have eidetic memory.

The difficult :
I've never been successful/able to interface the emotional side of humanity; the only one exception is humor, here... (I can make people laugh).

I don't catch the mirror of the other's reflection when they communicate non verbally, as you'll notice how others in a two way communication do this where there is this 'transfer of face glow to face glow'....they catch and volley emotions and theory of mind to each other on an unconscious level.
If people can't emotively connect to you than they can't know you, or at least know you well enough......ultimately you become a 'John Doe alone' here. This should have been my user name here.....(shoe fits well).

I had a hard time understanding that people are not interested in facts and how things work and knowledge wins you absolutely nothing.
The emotional side of life is vacant - people distance.
This would really hurt in some ways, but I would rationalize this away as maybe I'm on the bit of the gifted side as others have remarked that I am.

Ive had trouble, in fact a lot of trouble, by people misconstruing me and my motives and most always felt like an outlier here.

"I just don't understand you." "You make people uncomfortable." "why this and why do you do that that way." "I can't trust a guy who can't make good eye contact." "You stand aloof." "You send out the signal, I'm O.K. over here and you are O.K. over there."

Geez!

I like myself no matter who tries to bring me down, thanks corp900