Do you ever feel ret*d?

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I've been called a "ret*d" by a lot more than a few people, some were
doctors and teachers.

Yes!! I spent a lifetime before finding out I'm an aspie wondering how one can be so intelligent and so dumb at the same time! And also how I can be so socially minded and concious yet so socially inept all rolled into one.

Usually when people first meet me too they think I'm not all that bright and are surprised when they realize how smart I am and how much I know in so many subjects. My former coworkers started calling me the 411.. LOL Though I think in a way they still saw me as not so bright..

Steve,

You ARE being stupid! You are being unduly harsh on yourself, and your assessment may be faulty. I have been in CLASSES where EVERYONE laughed at me because they "knew" the answer and I didn't. and LATER THEY reveal that they never knew the answer, even after I figured it out MYSELF! I was once given a "tutor" in a spanish class, and she proceeds to "explain" the subject to me and I inform her that she is WRONG, and PROVE it! HER response? "Oh, WE'RE not in that section yet!"! I once STRUGGLED to find someone that knew how to do antialiasing in a program, and they didn't even know what I was talking about, etc....

Sometimes I have been laughed at for being stupid because the people laughing were ******SO******* remarkably stupid that they didn't realize I was asking a question that was FAR beyond them! And those "idiot" books don't help, because they often don't cover that kind of info. I can't even call tech support because I always have to either figure it out myself, or find a work around.

BTW I am generally considered to be good and FAST, so don't think I am speaking from ignorance, etc...! And YEAH, I'll admit it! With social, sports, and a few other things, I AM an idiot. HEY, you can't win them all. The social stupidity is an AS symptom. The other stuff is probably comorbid because of my limited coordination and interest.

Steve

Good points,and good spirit.I hadn't taken any academic classes for fifteen years,until a few years ago when required for work.And I was again reminded of public school,where I would ask questions related to the topic but apparently out of sequence,as they came to me,because they helped "flesh out" the picture I was creating of the concept at hand.But I would be told to stay on course and maybe eventually my question would be answered.I didn't realize I was thinking out of context,only that I was curious about a specific facet of the topic and wished to learn at a pace that made sense to me.I don't know if I am stupid or not,but compulsory education does have a few flaws.Anyhow,thank heavens for the internet and autodidactics,and all that jazz.

So it isn't only me who feels this way!

I have often said my Asperger's manifests itself in the form of "stupid moments." I know the capitals of most countries, have studied many countries and their cultures in depth, have four college degrees and do well at my library job. I have a broad general knowledge base and am the person people come to for spelling and grammar assistance. Yet I feel dumb. I don't have a driver's license. I did well when taking lessons, but failed the test at the DMV three times due to nervousness. I also feel somewhat clumsy.

I remember being very dispirited after taking an I.Q. test in college. I got above average scores in general knowledge and vocabulary, but completely tanked on the spatial (block design) test. The examiner said, in effect, that she wondered how I ever got around campus to go to my classes. (I had a 3.6 average that quarter, so obviously I found my classrooms.) In my early years, I learned a second language, excelled in school, got an award for English and made it into a good university. On that day, I felt everything I had done up to that point was totally nullified.

I wish I could do that test over with a more competent evaluator and show what I know. My intelligence is higher than that test showed.

MY GOD!! !! ! I forgot about that! That happened to me ALL THE TIME!



Yeah, you could drop me off in over a dozen countries, and I could get around without using english, etc... I do very well at my job, have a broad knowledge base, and people come to me for nearly everything. I did poorly on DRIVING lessons.(The written stuff, and mechanical questions were second nature, and I got EVERY ONE RIGHT, but I was nervous with driving the car, and some ways of parking I thought were STUPID, and I NEVER even BOTHERED to learn) LUCKILY, I wasn't tested on those! On the written test, I'll tell you about indianas. I flunked the first one. Two days later I was accused of cheating, because I got every one right. I TRIED to do REALLY well. I remembered how many flags you needed of a given type for a given condition and how far the had to believe, etc.... What the maximum wieghts, heights, size, etc... Frankly, I knew they would ask really crazy things.

Women aren't supposed to do as well on the spatial test(Although AS women generally DO). Ironically, women ARE supposedly better with directions! Anyway, that test is FAR from perfect, and it is NOT directly comparable to a map. THEY try to trick you by changing perspective, using mirrors, etc... It is VERY rare for a map to have similar confusing features. Still, it is ONE part of the test, doesn't have a direct correlation to your limitations(A strong spatial IQ says you will be better with SOME puzzles, SOME mental engineering, MENTALLY viewing possibilities, etc... ), and you weren't expected to do that well.

Steve

Yeah.

I tend not to make assumptions like NTs do, so when I get assignments, I tease them out and ask about every little thing in them that covered a grey area, not black and white telling you what to do in the assignment. If I didn't, I would probably interperet the assignment wrong.


On another note, I sometimes feel ret*d in other ways.

Like standing looking stupid, stuttering and not knowing what to say.

Always…my whole life I’ve had trouble doing anything and everything that my peers seemingly grasped without effort...where it has required a monumental amount of effort on my part to even compete, and I was rarely able to compete with my peers.

It’s hard to stay “positive” when you’ve always been thrust into situations where you’re deemed…dubbed as “negative” compared to those around you due to your achievements. Modern society is based on achieving, accumulating and ascending.

I am ret*d.

I did the SAME thing this week in my job! They used terminology that was incompatible, making it CLEAR that they made mistakes. They have asked me to run off half cocked!



I do that ALL THE TIME! Last week I stood at a spot at the airport for like 30 seconds! I was trying to determine the shortest route to my destination. One could have been shorter if I went around some barriers, but I decided not to.

I felt "ret*d" before I could educate myself with knowledge about AS, autism and PDD

There were always teasing and bullying because they considered me so stupid and ret*d. There are some tasks that I can't do, like one time that I had to coil a cord, I thought that if I really tried maybe I could do it but I couldn't, as well as other manual tasks that I had tried but failed to do so. Usually those things made me feel so frustrated. I am also slow to do anything, any mental and physical task always takes me more time. I haven't tried driving a car because I am almost certain that I just would not be able to do it and only be causing terrible accidents.

As a kid I used to do movements with my hands imitating special effect watched on TV, a couple of neighbor kids who were younger than me saw me by accident and they laughed at me calling me ret*d.

I really hate it when that word is used on internet, is like it'is used when one doesn't agree with someone else's opinion.

I feel somehow behind with aspies here, even though I am not sure if I really am, I don't seem to be intelligent enough. I know I am not mature enough, I am way behind my physical age.

There aren't many things that I can consider myself ret*d at, except social situations and practicality. Also, there are some subjects that I am slow at understanding, but once I understand them, I understand them TOO well.

definitely, i sometimes get agitated and i actually tear up if i really have a hard time of understanding...

No, I've never felt "ret*d".

I agree. I was always more of a word person. People with AS are said to think in pictures, and I don't. I am strictly a word-oriented person.

I can't see images in my head at all (except in dreams). That is one the things I'm going to see the experts about.

It is hard to explain how I think of something. It is sort of like a definition, not great though.

I feel like this all the time. My boyfriend will try to tell me how to do something over the phone, or link me a website with step by step directions on it, and I just don't get it... I need to be SHOWN how to do something, or need pictures to reference what I'm doing to it.