New Here-Anything good about being an Aspie?

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Hey, positive aspie here . . .

Read this: The Discovery of "Aspie" Criteria

Written by two of the greats in the field: Tony Attwood and Carol Gray . . .

Check out my website . . . there are more positive things where that came from. And much much more. lol I sound like a bad ad.

Hi Obstinate. I'm Nicholas. I directed If You Could Say It In Words. I just discovered this discussion thread.

First, very quickly, it means a lot to me -- and to Alvin -- that the clips resonated with you. Seeing that post was the high point of my day. Thank you.

As to your question: Yes, there is a lot to love about AS. (I don't think I am aspie, so I might be speaking out of turn here.) Several people in this discussion group mentioned how much better understanding they feel they get on topics, how a more intense focus deepens their logic and reasoning. To achieve greatness in almost any field today, one must have an almost obsessive level of committment to that field. Whether it's art or politics or science, all the great ones say it becomes their whole lives. It makes me wonder how many of our intellectual pioneers accomplish what they do because of AS, not in spite of it.

The one drawback everyone brings up is, for lack of a better phrase, the sense of being outcast. Someone here said "Wouldn't you trade all that for people not to be uncomfortable around you?" But that is not a problem with aspies. That is a problem with out society! That's what happens when we don't take the time to understand and embrace our differences, but instead run away from them. That problem is solvable (is that a word?), and not by "curing" autistics by educating NTs.

Obstinate:

Not sure where you live, but If You Could is going to be screening March 29 as part of the 2009 Method Fest near Los Angeles and April 16-18 in Omaha, Nebraska as part of a autism conference there. I don't have all the details on Nebraska yet, but you can find out about the California screening by visiting www.methodfest.com or www.IfYouCould-Movie.com/Festivals

To be able to enjoy sad and morbid songs, and the blues.

Some posters are going to say there's nothing positive about having AS. If you believe them and start thinking negative, there will be nothing positive. You will further alienate yourself from developing the skills needed to overcome.

A very good memory for facts?

Very hard to sway via peer pressure?

Thinking outside of the box, due to actually being outside of the box?

That's a few I see.

Having an aspie mind actually protected me from some really ugly harm regarding my parents divorce. My mom is an evil sociopathic narcissistic b****... All she has ever done is try to harm my dad and the family that live with him. She also used her own children as pawns in her little games... AS just made me a little more aware, and a little less swayed by her attempts, just enough to protect me and keep me where I should be.

I will not go into details, but she has ruined my sister's life, and she tried to do the same thing to me and my brother, who is also likely on the spectrum but has a brain condition that makes diagnosis impossible.

The special interests, definitely. I would never give up being an Aspie, simply for the intense enthusiasm and joy that I get out of my special interests. Another really good thing is having a great memory. Those two qualities definitely make up for the not-so-fun symptoms of AS (like sensory issues).
-OddDuckNash99-

I wouldn't give up my AS, although if I could live a new life without an ASD, I gladly would. Its one of those things that could I have changed at birth I would have.

In the Pink topic

Many aspie traits are right brain oriented. We see detail, patterns are creative, visual. Theses are the sorts of abilities that are needed in the world now, according to Daniel Pink, a lecturer on the positive outlook for right brain thinkers. If we combine these traits with some of our left brain functions such as logic, series orientation,analysis and routine (persistence) we can succeed in a predominantly non-AS world.

Most Aspies are really good at maths and science.

That's a myth...

Hells f*****g yes!!

Asperger's is partly amazing because I can realize how ridiculous the above statement sounds. Not having social skills certainly has it's downside, but being able to stand outside of social norms and behaviors and realize how ridiculous they are is certainly something worth being able to do. While social interactions can be difficult, the outside perspective can make them just as comical. It's all a matter of adopting the right attitude.

Asperger's, by society's definition of "normal" behaviors, has its deficits. But as an individual, outside of what others expect, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. I have my strengths and weaknesses. But so does every NT, theirs are perhaps just different from mine.

It's not. I made a poll asking if people were good at maths and Science and around 99% said they were, and the 3 people who got the highest test results for maths and science in my year (I was one of them) were the only 3 people in the school that had AS.

Your poll had a structural bias, and math/science in highschool is completely different from advanced math/science. Advanced math and science is significantly harder. I was amazing in highschool, but come university I started doing poorly because it was no longer purely logic based, and based largely on abstract thinking I lack. I am better at language and language manipulation than math. Also, you are going to encounter a confirmation bias by saying that all aspies are good at math and science, as everyone you see that is will prove the idea, and anyone who isn't will seem like an outlier, and thus be ignored statisticly.

The correct thing to say would have been that aspies have more profound strengths and weaknesses, and are less "balanced" with their abilities.

Being different is good. The only reason why some of you can't use your aspie powers is because you ALLWAYS think negative about it. I had huge problems before and bottled up most of my pain "acting normal" (since I didn't know what was wrong with me, found out about my AS a week ago)

Today by focusing hard and ignoring everything else I can save a object in my mind by looking at it, turn it into a blueprint in my head and change it however I like. I get a 3D picture in my head with black background, I call it my workbench.

+ I'm hyper creative and super funny (sometimes I make my friend laugh so hard he can't breathe, then he asks if I'm trying to kill him and I always reply, yes. )

go AS go! stop being afraid of the world, world is more afraid of you and your ridiculous awesomeness.