AS and sense of direction?

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I almost always know where north is. Unfortunately, most map directions don't include compass directions and I get lost after "turn left at the light, and then go down to..." BTW, I can and do get lost using a GPS... lol.

I (aspie) have a below-average sense of direction while my aspie fiancé has a perfect sense of direction. His brain is like a computer, he takes everything in and creates a GPS map in his head.

I think it depends on the symptom manifestation present in the particular case of AS.

I have a good sense of direction. My husband has horrible sense. He has to know the area well.

I think I have a poor sense of direction, but I thought it was more of a Dyspraxia thing.

But a lot of my difficulties are affected by social phobia. If I was in a restaurant I have never been to before, and I really wanted the toilet, I would feel nervous of getting up on my own and going to the toilet because of being worried I might not find the toilets. And I'm only afraid of that because I feel people will look at me when I walk past the tables, which always makes me lose my courage suddenly, and I'm afraid I might end up wondering around looking for the toilets with an unsure expression in my body language and feeling stupid. And my family or friends will be sitting at the table watching me and tutting among themselves, ''aww, where is she going?! The door to the toilets is only there!'' And then they might start yelling across the restaurant, ''the toilets are there!'' And they point to the door but I look in the right direction but my object blindness then kicks in and I will see no door. Ohh, the humiliation I will receive!! !

I think if I was to find somewhere in my own time without nobody else watching or knowing where I'm going, I will probably have a normal sense of direction.

Well, my sense of direction can be screwed up w/o a GPS, that is for sure.

It can happen to me whenever I drive, for the most part, but sometimes I can be astute at finding my way.

I was hoooman GPS for family before there was GPS in cars.

I have a great sense of direction and spatial memory in real life to the point of people commenting on it, but am utterly lost in computer games. It's the physical and spatial mapping that's lacking in a virtual environment I guess.

I think have a rather good sense of direction, and a sense of place...Like mentioned previously in this thread, I almost kind of get nervous during the moments that I lose that sense or get confused at which way I'm going, because it's always there. And I find it almost scary how poor of a sense of direction a lot of people have, not to be mean or anything.


During car rides when I was younger, I'd often close my eyes for a while, guess where I was, then open my eyes to see and I'd be where I guessed I was almost every time. If I go somewhere just one time, whether it's across town or into another state, I'll almost always remember how to get there. I almost feel "hyper-aware" when it comes to these sorts of things, or always in tune with these sorts of "senses"


I have a weird "sense of space" that I'll try my best to describe, I mentioned it in the synesthesia thread. I have a strong "sense of place" (don't know how else to describe?) that seems like a "spatial synesthasia" of sorts (again, I don't know how else to explain). Every place I go, everywhere, I'm constantly experiencing a different "feel/emotion" that's very abstract, but a distinct unique feeling. Every room or hallway in a building, every corner of every room in a building, every city block, every aisle in a store, every mile of open highway, everywhere. Every place, even parts of places (different parts of a room) has it's own unique "feeling"...I'm constantly experiencing a flux of different "feelings" I can't describe. These abstract feelings/emotions get attached to the space I experience them, so I have a mental map of every place I've been that's based merely on these "feelings" (Same goes for every place I've been in my dreams, I have a separate mental map for the places I explore in my dreams). I hope I conveyed that well enough to make some sense......I also have a good mental/visual map of the physical/visual aspect of places, so I have a rather good sense of direction...I also think this plays a roll in me having good memory as well.



I'm very much so a visual/conceptual/abstract thinker, HSP, experience a lot of "feeling" to things.



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It sure holds true for me. Me being navigator is an inside joke in my family. I too have even gotten lost in computer games with big levels.

Yep, that's me too. Especially in online games with big open worlds.

And in real life it's even worse.

Used to be better but still very good I think

Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a "sense of direction" in any animal. Not even birds have a sense of direction.

But having "a sense of direction" in the figurative sense that most folks mean by the phrase ( ie being able to keep track which way you're headed on the road) I have it atleast as well as the next person. A friend got lost in a region that she should have known better than I- but I pointed out big airliner descending from the sky- and said "well, you know that Dulles Airport has to be THAT direction because thats where that plane is headed, and the trees are casting shows in such and such a direction, so we must be headed west. So just make a U turn and we will be fine. And we did that, and we were fine. It was like breathing- no thought involved. So sometimes Im good- atleast compared others who seem a bit impaired.

Do you have a source for this Master_Shake? I ask because while I don't have AS diagnosed my verbal is in the 90th percentile, performance is garbage (40% percentile) and I'm blind in my left eye so spatial is garbage too..

Also, as per sense of direction, I don't have one - I am constantly getting lost even with my GPS enabled smart phone

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I rarely go anywhere new by myself because I always get lost and it is very stressful. If I pay close attention and memorize landmarks to get back, it helps, but whatever "feels" like the correct direction is almost invariably wrong.

Both hold true for me.

1 I'm Male, Autistic, and have no sense of direction

In the newest Scientific American, there's an article about how mammals' brains, and that includes humans, can automatically create mental maps which give them a sense of direction.

I don't think my brain does that.

The article mentioned Alzheimer's, but not autism or any other mental differences or disorders.