I've understood how Autism fundamentally affects you

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From my own experience I would say I don't have a strong enough presence in the world. It's like NTs have much stronger boundaries and announce their presence much more boldly. It's like they have a sold black outline defining where they begin and end but I have no outline and as a result sort of blend into my surroundings and other people without having a clear sense of where I end and they begin. It's like being watery and blurry compared to the rock hardness and sharp outline of NTs

That's very much what I'm describing.

Compared to those NT's you are less present in your immediate surroundings, but more present in your mind.

Not more present in your mind in the sense that you are more aware of your existence in your immediate physical surroundings. You are more likely to believe your thoughts to be the reality you are experiencing compared to the NTs.

What you are describing here are the effects of this. When you are very present in your surroundings you get more "rock hard", i.e. you claim your wants and rights more, which will be perceived as outlining where you "begin and end". It is their subjective outlook you are feeling; they view everything in relation to themselves, so they will make it clear what they want and don't want.

Last edited by qawer on 12 Apr 2013, 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have always been aware of other people, however their motives confound me STILL mystify & confound me after 51 trips around Sol. Its their minds I do not get. Or rather I had expected them to be like me.
And bullies, I learned to recognize them in order to avoid them.

Sincerely,
Matthew.

That should be in the diagnostic criteria.

Lol yes!

It sums me up precisely!

1. "You are more likely to believe your thoughts to be the reality you are experiencing compared to the NTs."

What do NTs see as reality?

2. "It is their subjective outlook you are feeling; they view everything in relation to themselves, so they will make it clear what they want and don't want"

This makes sense in terms of them always saying what they do and don't like all the time! I get fed up of it as I feel no such need to let anyone know I like this or that about a person or object all the time yet they do it endlessly, as if it's important when in my opinion it isn't. They have such a sense of their own importance it really angers me. They use opinions to define themselves whereas often I feel no such need to define myself at all - I just am! Having to take part in the world forces me to be opinionated but no way could I do it to the extent the average NT does - they nit pick everything to death!

I don't get it, but I'm also not the logical genus type.

...

Last edited by qawer on 13 Apr 2013, 6:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

I didn't make such a statement.

I do a lot of things to filter out a lot of the "outside world" because it is so distracting and intense. I mean, sunglasses, white noise, I avoid situations likely to cause overload



I am not sure this has any relation to the reality of being autistic. I mean, I do not think that autism is another word for "solipsism."

I am not sure I understand it well enough to make a coherent response. Bits and pieces I see seem to be overgeneralizations that may not be accurate. The point of the video I linked was to show an autistic person who describes a fairly intense relationship with the world around her. I have something similar, although I often try to mute as much of it as I can because it is overwhelming and uncomfortable. I feel entirely too aware of the outside world.

Same here. I call it my "I'm-right-and-you're-wrong" reflex.

Thank you Qawer, this will help me explain what I mean,

In this one, you are using Objectively in a correct way, as long as you leave life out of the consideration. And it is an objective fact that some things are alive, and those things have objective needs if they are to remain alive, yes?
It is an objective fact that people cannot live without water, that's not subjective.
Or put another way, "water is important for living things to remain alive" is objective.
A subjective statement about water would be something like a reference to the way it tastes (the experience). It may vary according to the taster. But if any taster refuses to drink any more water in any form, they will all die regardless of what they think or experience.


Now you're using subjective correctly... I think... although it's weird for the example to be a cause-and-effect relationship, which suggests some objectivity is involved.
It's worth noting that there may be objective circumstances in your life, which are true no matter who perceives them, which lead to an experience of goodness or badness.
Example: Your best friend died. If it happened, that could be an objective fact that cannot be denied that gives rise to a subjective experience of grief. But then, what other response would you be likely to have?


The problem is with your subjective example again. You may be confusing subjectivity with relative comparisons.
The sun is objectively much bigger than we are. It's small as stars go, but its actual size is an objective fact, and the relationship it has to us objectively is that it's bigger, by many orders of magnitude. So, without being subjective, you could say that the sun is relatively big: Of all the sorts of objects in the universe, it is one of the biggest types to be found. Because that is the nature of the sun's physical existence. Exactly the same argument works for the sun being hot and shiny.
The sun may only be yellow because of how our vision works, so that seems more subjective... unless you think of "yellowness" as being whatever objective properties of the sun's light make it appear to be that color to our eyes. Those properties of light are not subjective.


This is basically correct, because your experience of time or anything else stops when you die. But it's a weird example because plenty of people, both NTs and Aspies, think of time as something that existed before they were born and will continue to exist after they die. It's not hard to know that or feel like it's true (at least I hope not). We use this kind of thinking any time we think about history or make decisions that will affect future generations. So the subjective example may not be true for everyone.

I find this statement odd. I'm usually the one looked at as weird for doing/thinking something in a way most others wouldn't.

I think the theory is on the right track but misses the mark a bit. I don't believe it's an aspie's lack of relating himself to the world or existence that's the problem. I would say it's a disconnect from the NT social structure.

The NTs create natural pecking orders. This occurs not only in established groups but also in something as broad as society. Those who are unaware/indifferent to how the structure operates are often seen (consciously or unconsciously) as wild cards, and hence, a threat to the group dynamic.

The aspie is often unaware or unconcerned with this group dynamic and his place within it...or anyone else's place for that matter. It doesn't come naturally and doesn't seem necessary. As a result, he's either confused or appalled by his exclusion.

So I would say it's not about perception of the wider world, or the planet earth, or life, but rather about how the majority of people operate socially.

And folks, in general, don't debase yourselves, OR flatter yourselves.

I'd agree with all this

I've never wanted to belong to a group that badly that I'd act like a performing monkey to earn a place in it - no way! I've got too much pride.

Well if OPs hypothesis had any basis in reality, I would be the one (or rare) autistic who broke the mould.

I do have a lot of those feelings about people being selfish, and I do need the truth and facts, however, I do also think things like "my life is bad" and a lot of other subjective things. If autistics/Aspies didn't think those types of subjective things, why do we have Haven on WP and why do we get anxiety, depression and social phobia?