Sometimes I get depressed with how dumb I am.

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Any other autistics get down about how stupid they are? I mean my below average intellect makes me realize that my options in the future are indeed limited. It feels bad.

Have you take an official tests?
I am not talking about some internet test.

You don't have to be smart to achieve something, what can you do well?

I have a few people around me with a below average IQ but this doesn't make them less of a person, just better in other categories.
I can't say I can really relate, my IQ is last measured at 140 and at that time I was pretty confused so I can't really tell how it is.

Please do not look at those hurdles as burdens but as challenges, please do the same at possibilities instead of looking at seemingly impossible situations.

But being aware of yourself, your plusses in contrast to other people, your lesser strenghts to other people, then I think you can cover alot of distance in your wishes.
Remember, you are never alone - so find people complementairy to your own and be complementairy to them. In this way you'll find your goals, uses and happiness in your life.
Where are you in contrast to the rest of the world? What's your strength?

Cheerfully,
Wallourdes

There's many different versions of "smart" and not everyone came with the same version. Your version of smart is just as valid and intelligent as anyone else's

I hate that answer. I recieved it as a kid.

If I had the version of "smart" as you refered to it that would earn me lots of money, I would be very happy right now.

Not necessarily because smartness is a value in itself differentiated from the income one earns. I value intellect in itself, not as a means to an end
Sorry you didn't like my answer. I was just trying to help.

Hey, at least you tried instead of giving some nasty reply. For that, you are a good person

Intelligence doesn't mean anything, and it certainly doesn't mean happiness. I went to good grad school, have a huge toxic student loan and the only job I ever liked was working at a library that didn't pay much above minimum wage. Seriously, just find something that will make you happy.

Forget about how smart you are. Having too low or even too high a regard with how smart you are is a bad thing and can hamper one's ability to progress as a person in all kinds of areas. No matter what you are (going beyond intelligence) its never gonna change, so stop beating yourself over it. Instead, find ways around it. Find ways you can work with what you got (I know, cliches, but its soo true!)

Remember one thing, the natural wiring of your brain is never gonna change so much that you become a totally different person to the core. So what you gonna do? Keep fighting it (by beating your self over your "flaws") or find how you can make your way in this world with what was given to you? Your choice.

you're not dumb. If you were, you wouldn't have the ability to write what you did.

Don't be so down on yourself man!

Is it even possible to accurately measure intelligence? Where even the most "intelligent" people fail, others often succeed.

I'm of the opinion that creativity and passion are better indicators of success than intelligence. While a person with better cognition may work out the answer faster, he or she may not be driven to do so. Of course, intelligence definitely helps, but with most things, the same answer can be reached with only a little more persistence.

I think all these things contribute, but you also need focus to direct that intelligence, creativity, and passion. Persistence can go a long way.

I was speaking under the assumption that passion leads to persistence, but you're right, the two are not mutually exclusive.


EDIT: I didn't mean mutually exclusive

I meant equivalent.

Last edited by js3521 on 29 Dec 2010, 10:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think passion does lead to some persistence and can keep one going for a good period of time. But after a point the passion's probably going to run out and one still needs to keep it up. A good bout of passion about a topic can keep me on target for probably 2-4 weeks?

I suck at a lot of things but they're not the things I want to do anyway... it all kinda works out.

I think the people who have the hardest time are the people who are bad at things society believes to be important, have bought into society's ideas about those skills, and want to do things that require those skills. So I think it should be possible to re-evaluate what you have been told about what you can do and what people think is important to be able to do, and have more realistic ideas about yourself rather than just assuming that if the world thinks something is important, they must be right.

There is Howard Gardner's idea of "Multiple Intelligences".

These "intelligences" are:

-Body Kinesthetic (movement)

-Visual

-Musical

-Naturalistic

-Linguistic

-Logical Mathematical

-Interpersonal

-Intrapersonal


The category of "Spiritual Intelligence" has also been suggested.


So I suppose, one could theoretically be "dumb" in one area, but "brilliant" in another.
I notice that he didn't write about "Multiple Stupidities".

I guess culture has a role in determining what kinds of "intelligences" are most "valid".

For instance, a teacher could assume that a boy was "stupid" at Math.
This so called "stupid" boy could then build a Go-Kart at home: measuring out the sizes of the blocks of wood that he needed. He'd use ratios and geometry because the motivation would be there. He'd see the fruits of his labors in a tangible, concrete form.

Maybe the boy wouldn't understand why Math class was important or relevant, given the abstract nature of the problems and the passiveness of the learning environment.

I suppose that someone could be very talented in an area, but if no one appreciates this talent or the if the ability is stigmatised, then the person "stuck". The person is not allowed to develop their talent because of circumstance.

I think that a lot of this so called "intelligence" is to do with an individual being in a favourable place in a favourable, supportive environment with a "favourable" mind.

People that could be called "gifted" in one culture might be "disabled" in another.
There's the trade-off factor as well: someone could be very creative, but also very untidy.


The phrase: "I am dumb." is vague it doesn't state what the person is "dumb" in or how "dumb" they are and in which faculties. What is a person "dumb" in? There is also no mention of what the threshold for "dumbness" is or how someone can tell whether or not the person has achieved the state of "dumbness". How is "dumbness" measured?

It's self deprecation.

I know nothing of your intelligence, so what I am about to say is not necessarily particularly aimed towards you.

From what I can tell, there is an inappropriate idolisation of intelligence. We have this instinct to reassure people that just because they aren't intelligent in one way, then that's okay because they simply must be intelligent in another way. However, it seems (to me) wrong to assign any additional worth to a life simply because of its relative ability.

Google 'a life beyond reason' and click on the top link to see an article that I found quite challenging in this regard.

My personal consideration is that it is solely our ability to experience pain (and joy) that imbues us with worth. Intelligence is what gives some people a greater burden of responsibility* because they are generally more able to alleviate more suffering and promote joy than the less able. So from my perspective, being intelligent does make anyone worth more - it just gives them more responsibility.

*'burden of responsibility' can also be called the gift/joy of having the influence/power to promote more good in the world. It's a blessing and/or a curse, depending on how self-centred you are.