AS a Gift?

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Once in a While on Wrong Planet I come across people saying AS is a gift. As i sit here a think about that, I find it hard to see it that way. The only thing I can think about is i see things differently than most people. As a result my actions and reactions to everything in the world are different. That can be a BAD thing but also a GOOD thing. I'm Curious to see what You might have to say! What is your Gift?

I don't see it as a gift, I just see it as something that's there and it's just a part of me and it's not good or bad. Saying AS is a gift is like saying having blue eyes is a gift.

It's a yin and a yang. I've got incredible observation skills, but as a result I tend to forget that I'm actually also participating in this world, not just watching it. I'm an actor and I've read that many AS actors are incredible...when they're allowed their peace.
Love your avatar btw

It's not about up and down but side to side.
Better, worse, higher, lower, we're all the same, just a bit more of this and less of that but the same amount in the end.

For me it's all bad. No friends, never been on a date, can't get a job, etc.

I see my HFA neutrally, there are postives and there are negatives. If someone can help me with the negatives or improve me as a person overall then i am all for it. But to keep me at the same level and merely equal out the postives and negatives? To make me more normal? i'm not interested.

I've been told before to group a good thing together with a bad thing to help self-esteem, so here i go...

I like my hyperfocus, i dislike that i struggle to switch tasks.
I like the protective aspects of my alexithymia, i dislike the derealisation it helps to cause.
I like my stims, i dislike the way others react to my stims.
I like my increased sense of taste, i dislike the fact that my sense of smell is almost non-existant.

AS is not a gift. You don't have to accept gifts the same way you accept AS, or not

I mean, uh, when AS starts come to feel like a gift, THEN I'll treat it as one.

Those who say Autism is a gift are those who are lucky not to have the tragedies of unemployment, destitution, constant rejection and humiliation, ending up in an institution, etc. Some are talented to work at something that they're not expected to mingle successfully in, some live in countries where they can get money each month just for having a diagnosis of Autism, and don't have to live on the streets. Others have some rents, others are married to someone who works, etc. etc. They have threads running here making everyone else look "negative" for having a life of intense hardship and not being """"grateful"""" for their Autism.

In my specific case, and that of others here, the wonderful traits that Autism gave me do not allow me to get even a meager income, and when you can't live with a minimum of dignity, you can hardly thank God for Autism.

gift.. but from whom?
I think AS is a good thing, but a product of evolution, not a gift from God, a gift from Fudo maybe..?
almost any difference can be seen as a positive with the right kind of eyes.

It can be an advantage when I need the expertise, but sometimes it just gets in the way of social interation.

It certainly carries a lot of negatives with it, but I wouldn't give it up if I had the chance. I just couldn't see myself as normal person. I wouldn't want to live that way. I get too much enjoyment out of simple pleasures like learning, and that learning in turn helps me out in life. Would I trade this for a neurotic fascination with sports, celebrities, and social drama? Not in a million years.

Do I wish it were easier to cope with the many difficulties I've faced? Do I wish people were more accepting? Every last day I struggle through, yes I do.

But in the end, yes... I do personally think of it as a gift. Quite simply I could not be the person I am today without it. I, as a person, would not exist. I can't think of anything more like a gift than existence. Even if I did lose my job, wind up on the streets, etc... none of that would matter if I weren't me.

I have endured hardships that nearly exhausted my very will to live. In recent days I have realized Asperger's has given me unique insights into existence. I know more about my subjects of interests than most others could ever dream of knowing, because Asperger's gave me that unbreakable determination to gather facts, to become well-versed in those subjects.

I follow the philosophy of It's not because I have AS that I cannot do it, it is because I have AS that I can do it. What I mean, is that all my social shortcomings can be rectified by objective study. The doctor who diagnosed me had a son who was High-Functioning autistic. His son came to learn everything there was to know about body language. How people sat, their facial expressions, voice tonalities, etc. His comprehension of the subtleties of body language, while conscious, ascended that of most neurotypicals.

I refrain from stating such presumptuous things as "We can achieve anything." I do believe we are selling ourselves far short if we neglect to at least acknowledge that we can achieve most anything.

I think people often think of gifts as things that must be thoroughly positive.

I can't understand that ever since I learnt that the term also allows something to have both positive and negative aspects.

Life, for example, is a gift (not all agree, sure, I know) and life needn't be all good to be gift.

It's a gift with its downsides and positives, the cruelty, despair, pain as well as the happiness, love and joy.

Gifts are not always all fun. Autism is like that too, I think.