Which Asperger's stereotypes do you not exhibit?
Well I guess that is true. My husband often tells me that I am making a weird face or will ask why I made a face that I was not aware of. Perhaps I am not 'decent' at it as I thought..
My husband is the only one who has ever made such comments to me though so I have no idea.
i have improved with an understanding of facial expressions as the years have gone by. when i was a child i was terrified though, because all i ever saw or comprehended were "angry" faces. i just thought everyone was angry all the time.
these days i am fine with more pronounced emotional expressions of the face -- anger, hilarity, grief etc. but the subtle emotions are harder to fathom. But i can do it with effort and a shuffling around in the old visual memory bank and mental filing cabinets.
Regarding my own facial expressions - I am told i have very strange and pronounced expressions. there is nothing SMOOTH and subtle about my facial expressions and they tend to be overly pronounced and almost jagged.....by this i mean they do not flow into each other. It can add to the general view that i am somewhat weird at times. I just pulled out these photos when my siblings and i went to the U.K a few years back. they are all smiling normally in the photos and i am making really weird faces - part joking - but it is not like i can help what i am doing. it is connected in with my inability to regulate more sublte emotions - which is very, very difficult, if done at all. I have to work HARD to try to look nice and womanly and passive and "souly." it does NOT come naturally.
i have facial recognition capacities to the extreme. i literally NEVER EVER forget a face.
I wasn't aware there was a fascination with traps stereotype. When I was a kid, I did love that game Mousetrap and was fascinated with it. I didn't want to follow the rules and actually play the game. All I wanted to do was put the mousetrap part together as quickly as possible just to see what would happen when it was triggered.
I don't know if this fits into the trap stereotype considering it was a game.
Stereotypes that don't fit me:
stimming
math skills- math was my worst subject in school
food issues-I mix food on my fork when eating
lack of empathy
savant skills
Now, one thing that does apply to me is that I'm sensitive to clothing tags, so I either cut out tags, or buy tagless clothing.
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"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason,
and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
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toboo
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 3 Apr 2008
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 61
Location: chi-town burbs
things that don't fit:
i have very neat handwriting.
my voice is not monotone.
i care somewhat about my appearance and can dress well if i put my mind to it.
my routines are not very rigid.
my obsessions are not usually totally engrossing, though it has happened on occasion.
i can have my food touching, but there are certain smells that keep me from eating certain foods.
i can manage eye contact with people i know well and feel comfortable with.
i'm not really face blind, but names do me in all the time. but that's an audio processing thing.
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Toni
Ravenclawgurl
Veteran
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,274
Location: somewhere over the rainbow
I don't have a monotone voice. I mix my food together. My long term memory isn't that great and I struggle with math.
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Don't obviously stim. What I do involves curling my toes, subtle finger stuff and pacing. It's not very obvious if you arent looking for it.
My voice is deep and has limited tone, but it's not monitone. I think only once in my life has someone pointed out that it's somewhat flat.
Non-savants with AS/autism can be very good at math. This thread says which stereotype don't you have. The good at math thing is a stereotype.
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Schedule fluidity. I'd be fine if someone would stop by and say "Hey, that movie looks good, wanna go? If we hurry we can make the 8 o'clock". I've skipped stuff I've scheduled for myself because someone wanted to hang out. Similarly it frustrates me when other people assume because I have AS I can't handle stuff like finishing up later or earlier, or even changing plans. It's feeling I don't have anyone to call/see to get a straight answer when/if something goes wrong with the change of plan I can't handle.
No fear of animals. Dogs don't scare me, if they do nothing but bark it's annoying but that's why I have an ipod. Animals in general don't scare me. I've been an arm's length from a wild falcon with nothing preventing it from going straight at me if it wanted. Yeah, I was cautious, respectful and very aware of the fact that it was a wild animal with finely honed predatory instincts and razor sharp beak and claws, but I wasn't afraid of it as I would have been of say, a classmate.
Related but a bit different, I don't automatically refuse to try something again if it's gone wrong or I got hurt accidentally once doing it. I've fallen of a horse, shrugged it off and gotten right back on (the horse had a lifetime's experience being ridden while I had none riding a horse, it's logical to assume the fault of the fall lay with me) only to see people look surprised at that and for some weird reason tell me how proud they were I got back on the horse. NTs are so frigging weird sometimes.
I emote with my voice, unless I very specifically try to keep it monotone, which is kind of hard at times now.
I don't really have any major OCD issues. Obsessive interests sure, but no OCD stuff.
I have a sense of humor and I frequently use sarcasm. I also know what irony is and can use the term correctly in conversations.
Emotionless/without empathy. Kind of wish I had those traits. Not being able to feel would certainly make life easier. Not caring what others feel certainly seems to work out nicely for the sociopaths who actually do have that trait unlike us Aspies. When I do misread things I more commonly misread basic stuff than the very complicated. Which often surprises people as they don't expect someone who has problems telling if you're angry or sad to be able to intuit that you're feeling conflicting emotions about being happy about a promotion with being worried that you won't be able to handle all the greater demands it also places on you.
I'm not quite faceblind. I can learn, though it takes a while. I'll recognize people by their voice long before I recognize their faces though.
I can handle change pretty well and just go with the flow.
On the same sort of subject, I actually like to do and try new things even though it scares me.
I have a strong support network and friends and am generally liked by people (even though they ultimately tell me that I am "weird" to them)
1) I have a good number of friends, but things hasnt always been this way, I had to work for this 1
2) I have no motor problems in fact I have good fine motor skills(I used to love crafts), and I used be a dancer so I can be fairly graceful most of the time.
3) I have almost no sensory issues
4) Im good at reading vocal cues: I use that to make up for my lack in reading other forms of body language, however the downfall to that is that I will forget to keep making eye contact cause I dont feel its nessary
5) I dont sound like a professor: my word usage sucks at times.
I do have:
1) A good visual and numerical memory: I will remember the approximent settings I was in from years ago. I can remember strings of numbers as well.
2) I good at highschool math before calculus.
3) Im somewhat faceblind especially with acquintances, I use peoples hair and stuff to recognize them.
4) I lack eye contact.
5) I have fairly rigid scheduled routines, I do deviate when nessary, I generally like to stay on schedule.
6) I mostly lack empathy unless I can directly relate to the situation.
7) I still have trouble reading facial expressions(or maybe its cause I dont pay attention), and knowing the underlying meanings of many social situations.
ONES THAT I DON'T HAVE:
-I'm not logical
-I don't have issues with eye contact
-I don't have issues with facial expressions
-I don't have issues with lights or sound
-I'm EXTREMELY fickle (Yes, I have heard that not being fickle is an aspie trait)
-I don't have high intelligence
-I don't have digestive problems
-I'm not a loner
-I don't issues understanding facial expressions
-I don't issues with tone of voice
-I'm female
-I don't flap my hands
-I don't rock
-I don't stare at people
-I don't have a monotone voice
-I don't have a blank expression on my face
-I'm not an animal lover
THE ONES THAT I DO HAVE:
-I have a minor social impairment, probably in the 20th percentile for female 16 years old, which I am, probably in the 85th for those with AS.
-I have meltdowns (not related to sensory issues)
-I have handwriting issues
-I have special interests, but they aren't nearly as intense as some aspies
-I'm not good at sports
As far as empathy goes, I am in between on it.
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-Allie
Canadian, young adult, student demisexual-heteroromantic, cisgender female, autistic
I'll take the list of traits from here, and only keep the ones that I don't have, since I'm not good at recalling things I know.
Personal / Physical
* Repetitive routines or rituals - I don't have any rituals, but I do usually tend to do the same few things every day.
* Doesn't always recognize faces right away - I remember faces and names better than average actually.
* Idiosyncratic attachment to inanimate objects
* Word repetition
* Excellent rote memory - Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes it's horrible.
Social Interactions
* Desire for friendships and social contact but difficulty acquiring and maintaining them
* Shuts down in social situations
* Can obsess about having friends to prove they’re “normal”
I removed the relationship section because it doesn't apply to me. ![]()
