Do you ever think about this?

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I mean, what it would be like to be NT? Do you ever think about what it would be like to hang out with friends or do things you find difficult due to autism? I know that's what I do from time to time. Like, I don't really want to be cured or anything to get that though. I just think about it and what it must be like to be an NT with no real problems.

There area many NTS with problems I wouldn't want to experience.

I wish that I did not have OCD.

Though I still feel the sense of loss which many would have should they be stripped of their autism. I cannot comprehend what I would be like without OCD, because (although not as complex nor pervasive as autism) it's a disorder that impacts multiple facets of my personality and abilities.

I also struggle to imagine what is meant by NT, so I usually just accept the local definition of 'not autistic'. For all I know, I could have other disorders or even problems that do not yet have a label, which most do not have. I ignore that in my post here, though.

Exactly. There's so many NT kids on the teen forum with problems I don't have to worry about. That said, sure I'd like to be a regular ordinary average kid.

I don't really mean the bad stuff though. I think just everyone goes through that, whether they are autistic or not.

I do think about it sometimes too. I wonder what it would be like to be able to do things like go to a restaurant or a movie theatre or even just be in a small crowd without getting overloaded because of all my sensory issues.

Even so, I don't want to have my autism taken away because it effects so much that it is a part of who I am. If it was taken away, life as I know it would also be taken away.

I do those particular NT things so I don't need to wonder what it's like to hang out with friends. Of course I've wondered what it might be like to actually be NT completely.. but I'm not so sure I'd choose it, for I'd have to give up the beneficial parts of autism - the things that make me think as I do, solve problems as I do, be able to design or engineer things etc. I'd be different without those traits, but I'm not so sure I'd be better. Perhaps even better at socializing w/ very little effort as it'd be a lot more naturally intuitive.. but I'm not so sure life would be better completely NT - just different.

My symptoms WERE bad a couple years ago. Very bad. I've since managed to reduce them big time. I no longer have severe anxiety or sensory issues and am currently enjoying quite the NT-ish life, so I don't have to wonder about all of the basics that some others are posting about in this thread. I get to live them like everyone else.

I will say that I don't just feel different than when my symptoms were strong. I feel MUCH better - like a better version of myself; not like I'm no longer myself as some people describe what it might be like to lose their autism symptoms. I'm still myself, only a lot less idiot and a bit more savant. I still have AS symptoms and traits, but my life is infinitely better for having minimized them and their impact on my day to day.

Honestly, it's hard to wish for something you don't know. I just wish I wasn't lonely or had the difficulties in life that I have had.

LOL. Irony is, I always have the option to take medicine for ADHD and be more 'normal'. But there comes a price, because the medicine also makes me feel weaker, like I'm not as strong physically.
Frankly, I'd much rather feel well and be nuts, rather than the other way round.

Occasionally, when in unavoidable social gatherings and situations I sometimes would prefer not to feel the anxiety and repulsion of being there, purely for my own comfort and ease.

But, to be honest, I don't actually want to want to. I don't want to feel different, to the point that I want to go to the Christmas Party, I don't want to go to the pub after work with colleagues, I don't want to hang out with people I don't like, talking about things I'm not interested in, pretending to care about what they think about the Weather and what their ill-informed, wrong opinion is on something they saw on the news this morning . . . If I wanted to do those things, I wouldn't be me.

I may think that most NTs have harder life than I. I was mobbed in school for many years (when I was about 6 - 15 years old), my family is mildly pathological in my opinion. But I have large talent to learning. I was rather good student. I often had not to learn so much because many parts of the school material were really easy to me. I wrote my "mature" exams really good when I was 18, in two of them I had 100%. I think that learning is harder for most NTs than to me. I do not know so much about my ocupational abilites, but there is a risk of being underemployed due to my disorders.

I also have not more serious somatic problems.

I've been thinking of that ever since I was diagnosed at the tender age of 8.
I can easily imagine what it would be like to be NT. I even write stories about NT characters living day to day life, and my mum sometimes reads them and says I have a good view on NTs. But she also says that I'm not far from NT myself, which often makes me feel better about myself.

I once read that the people with mild form of autism make decisons more rationally than "normal" people because people with mild autism are not ruled by emotions. I have appreciably nonconformism. It may have some drawbacks, but many things which are sad, irritating or problematic in other way to "NTs" may be less "harmful" for me.

But my thinking is based on emotion. I have very high levels of empathy, and don't need a diagram drawn to notice other people's thoughts, feelings and intentions. I can notice all those non-verbal things intuitively.
I wish I WERE more rational sometimes.

I'd say that's me sometimes; while not immune to emotional outbursts myself, often my NT other-half will be irrational, emotional and upset and I will remain calm, point out the rational solution and not "lose it"... case in point, I did get very upset and angry at something a few years back, punched a kitchen cupboard and broke my hand in 3 places; my hand was literally folded in half, looked completely f***ed - my other half was screaming and scared, I was going around closing the windows (with my unbroken hand) in case the Neighbours heard her

I always seek out a rational explanation for things, rather obsessively. But, mainly because there pretty much always is a rational explanation for things; usually explained by Human psychology for example, particularly anything that people claim to be magical, supernatural, psychic or involving "Aliens", "BigFoots", "Loch Ness Monsters" or "Ghosts"

I have been looking back on my life a lot lately. I am nearing the completion of a rough draft of a book on my life with Asperger's. As a youth, I often wondered why I wasn't like the other kids. I thought I was some one-of-a-kind anomaly. However, I enjoyed my childhood so it didn't concern me that I didn't act like my peers. I avoided the social scene (and still do) because it is awkward for me. As I sat on the sidelines and watched the goings on of my classmates enjoying "social public school," I witnessed fights over girls, traumatic breakdowns over lost friendships, earth-shattering break-ups, cruel bullying, and parent/peer induced pressure to "make the team." I didn't have the privilege to enjoy these NT luxuries (sarcasm). I had the privilege of enjoying Asperger's special intense interests and talents (no sarcasm).

I look at the post's question the same I way I imagine what it would've been like to have lived in the midst of the plagues of the Dark Ages --- I have tried to imagine it, but I wouldn't want to have experienced it. I imagine being on the perilous Hillary Step of Mt. Everest, starving for oxygen, ready to walk that terrifying blade of earth to the highest point on earth. But I wouldn't want to do it, for I prefer to climb that mountain from my armchair with my eyes gazing upon word encrusted snowy pages. I imagine life the way I have so far lived it, within the comforts of my psychological construction.

Some people are good at drawing pictures but dream of playing some professional sport, although they are not good at sports. Should they torture themselves for the rest of their life striving to be something they cannot? Or should they learn to take that gift of drawing and find happiness in it? That's how I look at my Asperger's. That's how I look at NTs. We are each born with an entire toolbox of potential, but no toolbox is big enough to carry every implement. We fill our toolbox with those tools necessary for the job. Our job should be to enjoy and succeed in life. Find out who you are ... accept who you are ... and fill your toolbox with those things you are comfortable with ... then use those tools.

In my toolbox of life, I left the social tools out, because I don't use them well. In their place I inserted musical notes, roller coasters, and house plans (to name a few). Now, does anyone want to talk 1920s roller coasters?