Intelligence

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Yeah, so i know the majority of us have above-average intelligence, but why exactly does everyone keep going on and on with this super-smart-aspie stereotype? Isn't the only actual intelligence requirement for AS that one doesn't have mental retardation? That's a pretty wide range there. Could enforcing this stereotype possibly be harmful to those of mere average intelligence who have AS? This isn't an "aspies are stupid" thread, because i know most of us are pretty smart. But isn't the whole super-smart thing just a stereotype, really?
Upon first telling my cousin and his girlfriend that i was diagnosed with AS, her first comment was "that means you're a smartypants!" And i am smart. That is, obvously, better than someone saying "that means you're ret*d!" So, i guess it's progress. But couldn't these kind of expectations be harmful to some aspies out there?

Saying all of any group of people is anything is a stereotype, but a positive one like this is a lot better than "you're all ret*ds", as you said.

Everyone gets a stereotype unfortunately, it's a fact of life. So I say it's better that we get a positive one.

And, actually, when someone in my school assumed a smart kid they'd heard about was autistic based off the fact they were really good at English, it made me smile

Last edited by Asp-Z on 23 Jun 2010, 10:20 am, edited 2 times in total.

Actually, people can be on the spectrum & be mentally ret*d. But the majority of aspies/auties are average to above average in intelligence.

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My doctors, friends and work colleagues all think me very smart/intelligent/whatever, but I suspect that if tested properly, my IQ's about average.

It just so happens that I've a good memory for facts and I know my subject well. That's not quite the same as intelligence, but as you say Asp-Z, I am happy to let people believe this about me.

Sadly the downside is that I also have a way of getting into trouble socially, and that meant sodding up my career!! !

Exactly the same here! Everyone seems to think I'm so smart when I go on about my obsessions, but good memory does not intelligence make!

pleased you agree, just remember this when you've got your billions and living in Monaco

I think we have a different type of intelligence than others. For some reason it's a type of intelligence that NT's tend to notice... Not sure why though, few can figure out anything else about us.
We tend to be great trivia players, which is kinda worthless to me, unless you wanna make a career on the game show circuit. Though there are also some of us that do have that same ability when it comes to comprehension too... I think that it's not so much that I have this type and you have that type of intelligence, rather it's I honed the intelligence I have in a certain direction, and you honed yours in a different direction. As aspies, there are specific directions we are likely to hone our intelligence, but we don't have to be exclusive about it.

Yes, I can sit around and spew out stats, facts, trivia and stuff like that until the cows come home, but I need someone to cue the memory for me. I only do this about topics that others have brought up. It could be a way to try to fit in socially, and at least contribute SOMETHING to the conversation at hand, which otherwise I wouldn't really be able to. I actually think that that is why we do remember facts so well, because it's about the only thing many of us can contribute to a conversation... Heck I know I think to myself sometimes when I hear something that I should remember it... just for that reason.. so that I can tell others, and contribute when I otherwise couldn't.

We can't socialize.. so we try to teach. And that can sometimes alienate ourselves from some types of people who don't want to know things. And there are a lot of people in the world that would prefer to be just like an ostrich. Bury your head in the sand, don't learn things, and pretend that ignorance is a bliss. (well, maybe it is to some people, but I pity them)

The ones we alienate this way will call us smarty pants or the likes in a derogatory manner (That A-hole is too smart for his own good, gonna get himself punched in the face one day), the ones that we don't alienate will call us intelligent in a positive manner. (he's odd, but smart, worth putting up with given how useful his friendship could be)

However I think many of us face other problems as well as AS. And it is the other things that limit us in the direction and extent of our intelligence. It is a genetic issue, which is pretty well known... And given what kinda side-effects can manifest from a single gene alteration, let alone a duplication or missing part (as has been suggested of ASD) it's not surprising that many other factors play into the discussion.

The mental potential is there in all of us I believe, but the path to get there is not always clear, and in many cases it isn't. Add in the fact that we're raised in a world full of NTs that learn things in a different manner, and who's intelligence is manifest in a different way, it's not surprising that we face issues tapping into the full of our intelligence. We have few, if any to guide us, and teach us. Even other Aspies may not be able to, because it is a spectrum disorder, and each of us might share being different from NTs , but we are different in different ways.

I think in some of the more extreme cases, in both behavior and the genetic side, there are some of us that do have physical blocks to learning alongside the great potential within the brain. This is the group i am glad I am not in. I think it would be massively frustrating to have to deal with that. And it would be discouraging for those people who have to live up to that stereotype that started the whole discussion in the first place. And to answer the OP question, Yes. I do believe that for some within the AS community that the stereotype is a negative effect. But the overall good it does, by dispelling the other possible first impressions (crazy, insane, stupid, ret*d etc) is well worth the cost.... imo.