Unintelligence mistaken for Aspergers?

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As soon as I found out what Aspergers is and what the telling signs and symptoms are I was sure I had it. The inability to relate to others, to converse, to use body language (specifically proper eye contact) and pretty much all the other things in the list. I took online quizzes and each time got the answer "yes you have Aspergers." I started reading this forum and the experiences others on here posted about that related to mine pretty much kept pushing in the idea that I had Aspergers.

The only "aspie thing" that I don't seem to have is being very knowledgeable about a subject(s). I am obsessed with certain subjects but I'm still not very knowledgeable about them. I think if a person is obsessed with a subject and studies it constantly the only way he/she can become knowledgeable about it is if he/she is also intelligent enough to remember everything they read about it. An example of an subject Aspies are supposed to be obsessed with is trains. I could read every single thing about trains but I still would only come away with remembering a few small facts whereas a "true" Aspie could do the same but remember every single thing he/she has read on the subject.

I think the reason I'm in this position is my genes. My dad is pretty much an Aspie. He works in computer science and is very good with maths but doesn't talk much. On the other side, my mother isn't very intelligent. So it looks like those two traits combining in me is how I got how I got to be.

Either I'm unintelligent and have a bit of Aspergers or I'm just unintelligent. Social intelligence, basically knowing how people work and are supposed to act is an intelligence isn't it? I have known unintelligent people who are very sociable, so it looks like they have social intelligence but not real intelligence.

I've only really been thinking about this for the last two months or so and have come to the conclusion that the ideas in the thread (I can't post a link to it) entitled "Hypothesis: Only the elite class should breed." in the "Politics, Philosophy, and Religion" section would be the best thing for the world.

I don't really know what else I can expand on yet so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

The aspie symptom isn't the intelligence itself. The reason aspies tend to be more intelligent in certain areas is because, since they're not constantly multitasking with twenty subjects and just focus their lives on a few big ones, all of their effort to learn tends to lean toward those topics and not too many other places. The intelligence is the byproduct of the symptom. The symptom is being obsessive about only a few, narrow topics (especially odd ones that are weirdly specific, like how some will be really passionately interested in a type of algae, or the history of a certain machine part, or a specific battle in history). This obsessiveness means the person extends beyond the normal scope of preoccupation with the subject. It doesn't have to be life-long, either. I've heard of a lot of Aspies who move from interest to interest over periods of time, like for a few years they may be obsessive about one topic and then later on in life may be obsessive about several others instead. I know a few who move much faster than that and go from a few months to a few months. But the important thing is that while they're engaged in that subject or those few subjects, they seem to pretty much ignore reading or learning anything else that isn't necessary. For instance, when I was in math class, I would Philosophy textbooks nonstop. Same with most other classes. by the time the year ended, I was scraping by in what I knew for classes. I passed, but I didn't put all of my effort into it because my passion just wasn't there, it was with reading textbooks and literature written by Philosophers. I'm extremely knowledgeable in certain subjects that I've found myself obsessed with through the years, to the point I have been able to hold my own ground in debates with doctoral graduates and professors of those subjects, but I know diddly squat about math of any sort and probably never will. I still struggle with basic long division (case in point, my interests are Language, Literature, History, and Philosophy [specific parts of all]). When I tested out for my national placement, my percentile scores were 3% in math (97% of the nation is better in math than me at my grade level) and 98% in English (the opposite).

I think this post is a display of low confidence or being fed false/stereotypical information.. Aspies aren't geniuses. My IQ is in the 90's. I never become really great at my special interests. Your post is formulated fine and doesn't make me think of someone I would consider unintelligent.

I do, however, think autism can be misdiagnosed in people with mild intellectual disabilities-- in which case they obtain an autism label for poor social skills when in reality it could be a reflection of their IQ. People with autism typically have large discrepancies between their skills on an IQ test while someone mentally ret*d would probably have just a general low IQ across the board. But I don't think this is applicable for you.

I know it seems like in IQ threads everyone is claiming genius IQ scores but that isn't reality for autism.

Actually this type of thing is a well noted trait among those with AS. Many with AS will be obsessed with a particular subject but their actual knowledge on the subject will be superficial and largely rote.

This is because the interest isn't always with the entire subject itself, but with a particular aspect of the subject.

I shall use myself as an example.
One of my former obsessive interests was weather. I would watch the weather channel for more than three hours a day when I was 11. I liked to know what the weather was going to be even though I didn't really care much for being outside at the time. I liked to know the temperature and I liked to watch it change...in the reports anyway, and I liked to see the doppler radar, which usually showed nothing as I lived in Southern California and we were having a drought.

I'd watch the weather report over and over and over again.

But really aside from telling you what type a cloud was, that low pressure meant a chance of rain and high pressure meant a chance of a heatwave, I could tell you almost nothing about meteorology. I couldn't tell you much about dew points. I really paid no attention when the weather man began to talk about fronts. I couldn't tell you which symbol meant cold front, warm front, or stationary front, or anything particularly in depth about the subject.

I eventually moved on to tornados. I wasn't particularly interested on the exact physics of a tornadoes. I was just interested in the conditions in which they were most likely to form, how high they went into the clouds, and statistical information like what part of the world had the most tornadoes, what part of the world had the fewest tornadoes, how often waterspouts became tornadoes, and the frequency of tornadoes in each county in California.

As it turns out, California actually has a lot of tornadoes. People who live in Orange County need their home owners insurance to cover tornadoes.

People thought I was absolutely silly for going on about it so much, telling me "tornadoes don't occur in California," until one dropped out of a cloud and tore up a field right outside of the city.
That was also the last time I heard "tornadoes don't just drop out of a lone little cloud on a sunny day".

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Last edited by Chronos on 23 Sep 2010, 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think what a lot of people don't realize is that is takes more than smarts to be successful. AS is a good example of how intelligences isn't the only dimension a person needs, to make it in the world. In the past, it probably wasn't so important, but nowadays, you definitely have to be well-rounded.

I remember in grade school I when I was getting A honor roll, I would think about how defeating it must be for people that can't even get B honor roll. During high school, these people that were "struggling" were excelling, while I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth.

Not likely, since mongoloid people score better at TOM tests than autistic people.

Well I'm screwed. Not smart and weird at the same time. What's the opposite of being well rounded? A straight line?

Actually a straight line would be well-rounded because your skills would be the same across the board. Someone with Asperger's would be a zigzag, perhaps.

As was mentioned, you are reasoning here in your post, and someone found wanting intellectually couldn't craft what you wrote.
Certainly knowledge is a component of intelligence, but the human mind is more modular than just knowing information about subjects.

I'm thinking what you posted about body language, and "the disconnect," would be an indicator or could even be the lynch pin.

Stick around; it's a sure way to find out.

If you are impaired enough than seek a diagnoses.

I agree and, very well said.

We can't all be Einsteins.

I'm certainly no Einstein.