"Impairment of Imagination"

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What does this mean exactly? When I was diagnosed (I'm from the UK) this was a category, along with "Impairment of Social Skills". What does imagination have to do with aspergers?

edit: in fact the other category is actually "Impairment in Social Interaction".

I have a very rich imagination.

Someone observing someone with autism while they played would assume they lacked imaginative play. This means they did not play with toys in the typical manner, instead collecting information or lining up toys in lines.

It was implied in my diagnosis that my ability to write imaginatively as a child at school was a point against having aspergers. Is this unfair?

I don't know. I always thought they meant imaginative play as an infant, toddler, and possibly as a child.

I could never write fiction that was unique. Each time I tried I just ended up copying characters and ideas from obscure pieces of fiction I liked and mixing them all together.

I don't care what NTs with certificates say, we do NOT have bad imaginations. If anything, our imaginations are superior to those of NTs, especially since we spend so much time in our own worlds - or at least we tend to when younger, anyway.

No, create writing isn't a point against Asperger's. I'm diagnosed and I write poems as a hobby and am in the top English class.

I didn't do things like play house or anything like that. What I enjoyed most was fitting blocks together and stuff like that. I also loved to look at my dolls, but not actually play with them.

I've got a completely wild imagination. So wild in fact that a team of hunters with elephant guns couldn't bring it down.

I have a vivid imagination when it comes to making things up.
My imagination is impaired when it comes to stuff like...what to fix for dinner....then i am totally and completely stumped and only have a few ideas that I will toss out over and over again.

Whoever first stated there is a lack of imagination in all ASD people, got it VERY WRONG. it varies.

I think it may well have originated from the style of childhood play with toys, and then this has morphed into a blanket claim we lack imagination.
I have rich imagination. Absolutely rich. I would say i live in a rich visual fantasy world in my mind, 80% of the time.

Interestingly, my son who has many traits but does not have an AS dx (his dad thinks he needs to go back to be reconsidered as certain issues are arising as he gets a little older...) has never exhibited any imaginative play whatsoever. He never "broom-broomed" cars or played with toys. Never. He prefers facts and information and pokemon cards. A

my nephew who IS diagnosed with HFA, has an extraordinary imagination. He has people living in his mother's ear and makes up the most incredible stories etc.

it just depends and I think this imagination issue should be restricted so it only refers to style of play as a child. That makes some sense.
BUT - what about those ASD kids who dress up and get completely fixated on other characters?
Attwood mentions this with a story about his sister in law who dressed up as a viking and went around the village in full viking costume.
What about retreat into fantasy and imagination, which seems to be the very thing that saved many of us from ending it?

I can relate to this in my own childhood,
My nephew with HFA also assumes "character" and takes on the persona of others, at five years old. Currently he is styling himself on the lead singer of a glam dance group here in Australia.

Hmm.. I thought the "impairment in imagination" usually referred to either impairment in SOCIAL imagination(theory of mind) or impairment with flexible thinking and tendency to be repetitive/obsessive.

Whoever coined the phrase "impairment in imagination" should have chosen a more imaginative phrase.
I imagined that imagined meant imagination in the sense of imagination not in er... imagination.

Meh. Some aspie friends I have are somewhat lacking in imagination. Just one of them and another friend with ADD are very good fiction writers.
I'm actually not that bad either. I can come up with a new idea on the spot but it takes me a while to put it into words.

MUSIC, it's the only thing that breaks my rationality and sends me to another world based on the music being played. I could be hired to make music videos Oo. Unfortunately I get obsessed with only a few select songs and build on that imagination until it's detailed and makes sense.

I'm the exact same way. It's very difficult for me to come up with storylines and original characters, and when I do, they always borrow elements from other things I enjoy.

In fact, an ongoing, extensive fictional universe of mine that I've been thinking up for over 3 years is simply a crossover universe inhabited by all my favorite fictional characters. All the original characters in said universe are the biological children of existing characters. What's more, each of their names are blatant references to other fictional works or music, and many elements of their personalities are cribbed from various other fictional characters. It's one gigantic copyright-infringing mess, which is the primary reason it will never see the light of day. (the other reason being that I can't formulate a cohesive plot to save my life.)

I have a pretty rich imagination. I even do imaginative play, but by myself. It's also usually not as mundane as "playing house". (Though playing House might be fun)