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I was having a conversation with a fellow classmate, who I had previous classes with, and we were talking about our interests, and he said I was more extroverted than he was.

But aren't Aspies introverted by nature?

It depends on the person, I suppose. AS is an aspect of one's personality, not its totality.

I wasn't offended by the comment, just very surprised.

Not always. I met someone once who was on the spectrum and was extremely friendly. He clearly had no idea of social norms like a typical aspie but it didn't hold him back from socializing at all.

I was just commenting to a friend the other day. We're both NT's but she's very extroverted and Im introverted. Yet somehow I go out more. Go figure.

My teacher said I was extrovert. I kind of agree but based off of all my social screw ups considering ditching the friendly try to make friends behavior apporach for the more laid back in the shadows antisocial one (not sure if it'd work LOL!)

I am autistic - not necessarily an aspie - but I am not shy if that is what you mean my introverted. I do have social deficits, such as a tendency to be too blunt and to go on too long on any one topic, and I can live rather happily by myself. However, when I am with a group of people (not that often) I am quite extroverted. Probably I talk too much at times.

I've read in several books about AS and autism that the introverted image is a bit of a myth. Although a lot, perhaps even the majority of Aspies and Auties would seem to be introverted, there are notable exceptions.

Then too, people's level of introversion/extroversion varies depending on the situation.

I consider myself an introvert (consider this an aspect of AS or not to your own taste), but I tend to talk a lot to appear less antisocial and more normal. Of course, I don't talk like an NT, so I doubt its effectiveness. It also makes me uncomfortable, so I get the feeling that this is a learned behaviour.

No. Asperger Syndrome is a neurological condition, not a personality type. Being introverted or extroverted are personality dimensions. You might as well suggest everyone with epilepsy or dyslexia are introverts by nature.

It'd be more like assuming that dyslexics don't like stories... but yes. Autism does not make you introverted--even severe autism doesn't necessarily mean introversion. It's just that if you're autistic, you won't know quite how to connect to people, and if you're extroverted, that can mean being really clumsy at interacting with people. For example, my mom once worked with a profoundly autistic (PDDNOS) boy who couldn't speak and spent most of his time stimming, but would give and receive hugs joyfully and make eye contact so enthusiastically that he'd get up to within an inch of your face to look at you. That's a very autistic, very extroverted person--no knowledge of social norms, but fascinated with people. A less dramatic example is another friend of mine, who is autistic and extroverted, very interested in people. He gets frustrated often because he can never tell when he's being too pushy about talking to people.

Autistic people do not necessarily have social anxiety, either. The extroverted/non-anxious type will have accepted the reality of doing embarrassing things and learned to accept and probably laugh about it; the introverted/non-anxious type is generally happy with solitude and doesn't care too much what others think of him for being such a "loner". The awkward/social and aloof/introvert types are probably more to do with personality than anything else, since you find them all along the spectrum.

You and your friend can both be generally introverted, but comparing the two of you with each other, one of you can be more outgoing (extroverted) than the other.

There's a great example in the BBC documentary Autistic Me, one of the guys they follow is very extrovert, loves getting out and about talking to folk loved being at work very cheerful etc

IMO, I think this is a bit overstated. Certainly some people are, possibly more than average. But I believe there are many who are extraverted who are more "forced" into introversion because they can't acquire enough social skills to be successful at extraversion. Pure speculation, but I wonder if these people more subject to depression.

For the record, my wife (NT) thinks I am more extraverted than she is. I agree.

I seen that when it was on, is it Ollie the one you're talking about?
Out of all 3 of them I see myself as more like Alex (the last one they showed)

There are plenty of very shy NTs, too.. I guess they don't miss the social cues or screw things up so much as aspies do, but just find being around people to be exhausting.

Edit: was he commenting on you, or on himself? I mean, when he said that you're more extroverted than he is, could he have meant something along the lines of "think of how introverted you are.. now, even you are more extroverted than I am"? It could have been that he was trying to express how very introverted HE is by comparison.

Last edited by Maggiedoll on 12 Sep 2009, 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.