Autistic Kids Don't have any Imagination

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Do you believe that people with autism have an imagination? What is your definition of imagination? Discuss




Personally: i have a great imagination, and i have met other autistic people: Severely autistic people, use they're imaginations and create things and dream with it. some kids even try to play imaginatively with others, but may have a hard time.

Imagination: the ability to use your own knowledge and create something new, Or pretend something is happening, when it is not. (living in your own mind)

I've actually noticed that people with ASD seem to be either as imaginative or more imaginative than most people I've met. I've worked with one guy with autism who, I would say, is quite creative in his own way - he just makes stuff up all the time that is utterly hilarious.

I've had a very wild imagination as a child, and I still do to this day. Who said that we don't have an imagination? Autism Speaks? I wouldn't be surprised.

I spend a lot of my life in my imagination. But I did have a hard time in imaginary play with other kids, namely because the world of my imagining was so different from theirs, it was hard to find a way to integrate my ideas with theirs (me compromise? NEVER!!).

I do have a hard time imagining things that aren't in some way rooted in reality. I wrote a lot of historical fiction stories as a child, but really struggled even to read fantasy. However, I know of other AS individuals who are exactly the opposite, and prefer fantasy.

I lived with figurative horseblinds until recently that I seem to have finally outgrown them.

mine is severely impaired,and it has affected various parts of life in a lot of ways.
imagination impairment isnt one way or the other with autistics,everyone is different,everyone shoud know that by now.

I've always interpreted the notion of "autistics having limited imagination" to apply mostly to imagining what an other person/persons might be feeling/doing in a particular situation, and not so much imagination in the sense of dreaming up fantasy worlds, writing stories, or playing with toys. I think the psychiatrists who've throughout the years made the assessment of autistic children having 'limited imagination', have contrasted these children against non-autistic control groups, and have found that on average autistic children have a less sharp, while not non-existent, ability to put themselves into someone else's shoes. I think that's what's meant with an impairment in imagination in this particular case.

Also, the tendency of autistics to stick by particular rituals and be rigid in this aspect, as well as usually focusing on a particular set of interests (or one interest), might give off the impression to the outside world that we are unable (and not unwilling, which is more often the case), to look beyond our own little world or even 'think outside the box'.

it's complete crap that auties have no imagination - my autobiographical books "dafydd bach: death of innocence: the beginning", "dafydd bach: death of innocence: the aftermath" and "dafydd bach: death of innocence: the appendix" prove i am right - the first went viral within 24 hours of its publication on amazon.co.uk week before last and grabbed the #1 bestseller slot in the childhood autism and aspergers syndrome niche, then did the same within a week on amazon.com

Auties have very wild imaginations. The only reason NT's think we don't is because we are too afraid to expressed it because of fear of ridicule and persecution from other NT's who think our ideas are somehow stupid.

I have a very active imagination. And honestly, Because of my sensory issues and communication issues. I spend and spent so much time alone now and as a kid that without my wild and active imagination I would have been lonely and miserable. I might think that perhaps we tend to have better and more active imaginations than people who spend most of their time with others. But as KOR said, we are all different so we all have different levels of imagination.

It is such a lie. If people had no imagination, we would all be eggplants.

It's absurd to think an autistic person doesn't have an imagination; in fact, "too much" of an imagination could be at the heart of autism LOL--so much sensory impulses coming together at one time.

as far as I can remember I didnt have ANY social imagination until I turned 15. I could be wrong as I have very bad memory but that's what I remember. and even now, when I do have social emagination, it cconsists of monologs. the people i talk to never answer (thank god).
but I had "technical" imagination. like putting stuff together and inventing stuff since i was a kid.
I you have to differentiate between different kinds of imagination. I think when they say aspies dont have imagination they mean social imagination.

I noticed that many artists amongst us are very good at making drawings directly out of photos and what not, many also seem very fixed on certain imaginary worlds, i do believe that it's not very creative when you make a ultra-realistic drawing out of a photo, or have fixed yourself inside of someone else's fiction.

As a child I was probably the best in my classes at drawing, however my drawings were realistic, and never had any charm, so I frequently lost art competitions because I couldn't see past photo-realism.

A strong imagination needs to take into account all the possibilities, which is hard for some on the spectrum to do because our our intense-focus on things, it's never as simple as 'this group has no imagination', but I do believe we have extra hurdles to clear.