Beyond The Stereotype of Autism

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If social things have always come naturally to you, you don't have autism because autism is defined as having a social impairment. People's brain's work differently-- you don't need to describe these people as having autism just because they're a bit different. If you started doing that, where would the line even be?

I am an artistic Aspie, and I assure you that I still fit the stereotype of poor social skills. Being artistic does not mean you are less autistic. Once an aspie, always an aspie.

Many autistics have dramatic abilities. Most autistics who have dramatic abilities can read social signals and behave very NT. It doesn't come naturally to us. We read it like a foreign language and we act upon it as though we were somebody else.

Hi KenG

Nice to see you.

The mystery deepens on this one.

Hey, what is the username of that lady from Tel Aviv who did that resurch on subsets of autism.........we talked of her work recently....emmmmmm, she calls herself an emotional savant? It would be interesting to hear her contemplations on this subject

I'm Dxed dyspraxia from school, but not AS.

I'm here because I have AS symptoms and I've always suspected I was spectrum.

I'm quite average at maths and not a whizz with tech. I'm definitely not a visual thinker or learner. I don't even score particularly highly on IQ tests, usually around 114, or lower. I'm terrible at those questions that involve fitting shapes into other shapes. I've known men with suspected AS who were really good at maths and physics and had 160 IQs. I've known AS women who speak 5 languages, etc. I'm really just slightly above-average in intelligence.

I have most of the dyspraxic symptoms that overlap with AS, and most people can see the dyspraxia, if they know what it is. I get obsessed with things, feel socially isolated, have trouble expressing my emotions appropriately, have sensitivities of touch and noise, I'm clumsy, I'm absent-minded sometimes but I have a great eye for detail, I don't understand most 'normal' people and feel like I come from another planet.

Do I have an 'extreme male brain', whatever that is? No, I don't really think so.

Most people see me as eccentric and a bit lonely, but harmless. They think I'm a lot more intelligent than I am, usually. I don't know if they think I'm AS. I don't mind one way or the other. I'd rather they thought I was AS than think I'm 'weird' and bully/avoid me - which happened a lot when I was younger.

I don't know.

There's "logic" to everything, even the professions you listed.

But I don't think we're purely logical either, we're just forced to rely on it more so it becomes more developed. We also have instincts(but for things different from NTs), and in my experience tend to have random thoughts pop into our heads or randomly notice things in patterns that make us think about things. Letting ideas just "come" is good for a profession like writing, and our instincts tend to be good for music. Some of those professions such as psychotherapist would have to involve replacing the absent instinctual feel for the client's emotions with a logical system(And I see no reason why emotions could not be systemized if someone worked at), which could be improved even beyond "normal" instinct.

That fits me to a T!! I am an author, and an astrologer, and a networker! I can read social signals very well, and use them too!! Even my 6 year old HFA son reads it!! Very impressive. And yes I do appear NT except for the fact that my eye contact is not that good still. And YES emotional difficulties I have, and some sensory issues such as having sensory cravings of having to touch my dogs wet cold nose all of the time. It is crazy I know, it is a sensory stim and I literally get anxious and upset if I cannot touch his nose!! Yep messed up I know.

Mir

thank you Dguru and Lioness.

emotions that are systemized.....
very interesting. This makes
great sense to me. Everything gets
put through my 'systems' to make
life workable.

Lioness.......I love the wet nose thing,
I think I would find it irrisistable
to not touch too.

Wishing you all well from windy London.

Chris

I'm really into writing, which is a field that my psychologist told me is something I could never do. In the spring I'm getting my Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional Writing so she can blow it out her ear. I'll be one of the first women in my family to get a Bachelor degree at all. I don't know about you guys, but that makes me feel pretty awesome.

well done!.........have you read
'Writers in the spectrum' by
Julie Brown?

No but it sounds interesting.

Not really. It seems to me like the number one hollywood/media stereotype of AS/autism is the "idiot savant" (not that I really care for this disparaging term - but there isn't really a nicer word for it). Autistic people are always portrayed as mental hoarders and parrots of vast quantities of disparate factual information on esoteric topics. On the contrary, I'm rather weak in the rote memory department, or at least don't have a lot of patience for it. My thinking style is more on the intuitive end.

Also, I may be deluded but sometimes I get the feeling that I can readily see and understand certain psychological drives and biases in people that they themselves don't appear to be aware of. The "extreme male" or "alexithymia" hypothesis for autism would say that I should be less reflective of my self and others, yet it seems to me the opposite is true. Of course, any reflective ability I have doesn't translate into social skills as there's a large gap between instinctual perceptive/reflective ability and instinctual social performance ability. If I don't consciously remind myself to "act social" to an exhausting degree, I will always fall back on my more natural reflective/aloof state. I also have a more general problem with translating theoretical understanding into practical use. I understand things more than I can ever use or convey to others.

I have no formal diagnosis but this describes me as well. I guess my tendency towards detachment has given me the skills to observe but not to participate.

great to hear from you both.

Go well out there.