What can and can't you do as an autistic?

Page 1 of 3 [ 48 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

komamanga
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jan 2017
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,343
Location: CzechRep.

22 Dec 2017, 1:13 am

As a start,

What I can do:

Draw
Remember visual cues, instructions
Remember dates and written information
Hyperfocus
Talk
Travel
Work from home
Socialize with people one to one or on the net


What I can't do:

Socialize with people in a normal way
Work regular hours with people around
Think in a noisy environment
Sleep regular hours
Listen
Control my anger well
Talk audibly
Hide my honesty
Remember verbal commands/instructions
Remember people's faces and/or names
Read people's mimics
Be spontaneous
Think flexibly and see the gray area
Stand smells
Shift attention easily or control my attention at all
Multitask
Call on the phone



TheSilentOne
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Aug 2015
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,820
Location: Torchwood Three

22 Dec 2017, 2:12 pm

Can:
Remember things like names and combinations of letters and numbers, such as license plate numbers.
Remember small details about people I haven't talked to in years
Be really passionate about TV shows and crafts and cake decorating
Talk to people as long as I have a purpose and a "script"
Go to school and earn decent grades

Cannot:
Hold down a job, despite how hard I have tried (I'm crossing my fingers and doing everything I can to make the new one work)
Socialize successfully with people in person
Wear any stiff or itchy clothing (all my clothes have to be knit and stretchy)
Stop talking about the things I am passionate about
Understand why people around me do things and act they way they do

I'll add to this when I think of more


_________________
"Have you never seen something so mad, so extraordinary... That just for one second, you think that there might be more out there?" -Gwen Cooper, Torchwood


rebeccadanielprophet
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 14 Dec 2017
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 157
Location: maryland

22 Dec 2017, 3:03 pm

What I can do:
1. draw
2. write (but I got a 60 on the english placement test)
3. do gymnastics, dance, lift weights, and martial arts
4. be honest
5. figure out math problems I've never been taught how to solve
6. worship God and go to Bible study classes at church (this is my safe haven. When I miss church and Bible study I freak out but then I try to worship God on my own)
7. Pray. Like, God has feelings, and He is the only Being who really understands me.
8. Put on masks. Which can vbe exhausting and overwhelming. So some people dont think I really have ASD because sometimes I pretend to be normal

What I can't do:
1. Keep a conversation going
2. feel like people hear me when I insert my own obsessions into conversations
3. be normal
4. trust people
5. understand jokes
6. keep relationships...I always lose friends
7. Stop myself from being obsessed with certain things (like TV shows or "hobbies")
8. feel like a part of my family.

I'm sure there's more to both sides. Just can't remember right now


_________________
Change: sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's beautiful, but most of the times its both.

"Someday you might see who I really am, and it will change the way you feel about me." "Nothing could ever do that."


Made different to make a difference

whether as victor or vanquished, isn't it better than sullen resignation?


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

22 Dec 2017, 4:25 pm

What I can do:-

Spell words well
Empathise with people
Express feelings and emotions and thoughts
Do Christmas gift shopping for loved ones
Love
Create good stories and characters
Be trustworthy

What I can't (as in find difficult to) do*:-

Cook
Hide emotions
Make eye contact with strangers passing in the street
Work full-time (I only work part-time)
Resist sleep
Iron
Lose weight
Ignore certain sounds that agitate me
Remember most things
Go to parties
Drink enough alcohol to get drunk (don't like being drunk)
Think logically
Understand math
Get motivated to look for a new job
Be authoritative at work
Get pregnant (I don't mean I can't fall pregnant, I just mean I'm scared of pregnancy)
Wait for very long without getting restless
Stay focused on anything for long, even my own interests
Be calm for a whole day without being either anxious or hyper
Peel potatos
Allow my head to go under the water in a swimming-pool


_________________
Female


Caz72
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2013
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,394
Location: England

22 Dec 2017, 4:36 pm

What i can do

do my job as a bus driver very well because of my good attention span and the fact that i love my career

cook

write

be happy alone, enjoy my own company

keep everywhere neat and tidy and orgenized

sleep well

stay married to my husband (and he is a suspected aspie).


What can't i do

get along with people

control my outbursts

care what others think

make friends ( not that i care anyway


_________________
Have diagnosis of autism.
Have a neurotypical son.


Glflegolas
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 20 Dec 2016
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Posts: 490
Location: NS, Canada

24 Dec 2017, 8:08 pm

Here's my list.

Can do very well
1. Start a fire almost anywhere using almost anything.
2. Run an organic chemistry lab.
3. Fix almost anything mechanical/electrical, if I'm given enough time.
4. Sail on the open sea by myself.
5. Forecast the weather with great accuracy.
6. Walk with a 50lb backpack all day long up and down steep hills.
7. Tell you any note on a piano, or the key of any song, just by listening to it.
8. Make extremely good Li-ion batteries.
9. Explain many facts regarding Lord of the Rings.
10. Make puns.

Can do OK
1. Code in Visual Basic & HTML.
2. Physics up to high school level or so.
3. Karate.
4. Talk to people.
5. Biology.
6. Make friends.
7. Blow glass.
8. Read accurately.
9. Solder electrical equipment.
10. Shoot a bow somewhat accurately.

Can't do well
1. Mathematics without mixing up +/- signs, reversing numbers, etc...
2. Write neatly esp. when writing fast
3. Tolerate sudden loud noises if I'm told that they'll occur. For example, if you shoot a gun and I'm not expecting it I won't mind, but if you tell me "I'm going to shoot a gun sometime within the next five minutes" that makes me nervous.
4. Figure out why people are so stupid sometimes.
5. Stop mixing up my b's and p's when writing.
6. Learn to spell a word correctly if I mis-read it the first time I read it.
7. Keep multiple directions in my head unless I write them down first.
8. Drink coffee (that's simply not allowed)
9. Get drunk (again not permitted)
10. Go out on a date/have sex (no. simply NO. Being asexual I'd fight that to the death)


_________________
~Glflegolas, B.Sc.
The Colourblind Country Chemist & Tropical Tracker

Myers-Briggs personality: The Commander
Asperger's Quiz: 79/111, both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits present. AQ score: 23 Raads-r score: here


auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 114,072
Location: the island of defective toy santas

24 Dec 2017, 8:12 pm

what I can do: live.
what I can't do: live GRACEFULLY.



komamanga
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jan 2017
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,343
Location: CzechRep.

24 Dec 2017, 8:18 pm

auntblabby wrote:
what I can do: live.
what I can't do: live GRACEFULLY.


Sad but true



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 114,072
Location: the island of defective toy santas

24 Dec 2017, 8:23 pm

komamanga wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
what I can do: live.
what I can't do: live GRACEFULLY.


Sad but true

one eventually gets used to it.



Edna3362
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Oct 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 11,803
Location: ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔

24 Dec 2017, 10:03 pm

As an autistic, not as a human, nor as a biological female, nor just myself, nor as a middle-classer from a 3rd world economy country, nor as anything else beyond that yes?? :lol:
And it doesn't say 'things you could never do'.


What I can do: Anything -- it just varies and depends on odds on how well or how often I do it.

What I can't do: It has something to do with processing. It could be sensory, could be emotional, could be bodily control, could be multitasking on multiple levels, could be because all of those together.


_________________
Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.


InspectorSpaceTime
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 19 Dec 2017
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 25
Location: Greendale Community College, Colorado

24 Dec 2017, 10:28 pm

Can:
1. Do math in my head.
2. Teach Literature courses.
3. Develop deep emotional attachments.
4. Have empathy for others.
5. Withstand sub-zero temperatures in shorts and t-shirt.
6. Live by myself.

Cannot
1. Pay bills. Balance a checking account.
2. Form relationships with colleagues.
3. Connect with my family and loved ones. Express my emotions with others.
4. Create healthy boundaries with others.
5. Tolerate loud noises or repetitive sounds.
6. Overcome loneliness.


_________________
Childhood Diagnosis (1980's): Dyslexia, MDD, OCD
DSM-4 Diagnosis (2007): Asperger's Disorder
DSM-5 Diagnosis (2013): Autism Spectrum Disorder (SC-1, RRB-2)


auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 114,072
Location: the island of defective toy santas

24 Dec 2017, 10:32 pm

can use perfect pitch to tune my own instruments sans external pitch source
cannot easily learn how to actually play musical instruments with anything approaching skill.



Benjamin the Donkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Mar 2017
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,328

25 Dec 2017, 7:04 am

Can do well:
Focus intently on something that interests me.
Write.
Answer my kids' questions and explain all sorts of things to them.
Work in an academic environment.
Notice details that other people don't.
Notice patterns that other people don't.
Be alone most of the time.

Can do somewhat well (with stress):
Pass for NT most of the time when I need to.
Drive (harder at night because of bright lights).
Cook (if there are no distractions).
Make acqaintances.
Negotiate (with difficulty).
Make small talk (after many years of practice).

Can't do well:
Focus on topics / jobs that don't interest me.
Tolerate loud noises.
Tolerate strong smells.
Tolerate two or more people talking at the same time.
Tolerate dishonesty.
Work in a typical office environment.
Play "pretend" games with my kids.
Maintain friendships or other relationships.
Do calculations or spell words in my head.
Manage seemingly simple daily tasks (deal with schedule changes, pay bills, reply to emails, etc.)
Be diplomatic.
Be patient with fools.
Be celibate.
Flirt.
Lie.


_________________
"Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey."


komamanga
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jan 2017
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,343
Location: CzechRep.

25 Dec 2017, 2:39 pm

I can't not panic



Lumi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Sep 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,513
Location: Positive-minded

25 Dec 2017, 4:00 pm

Can:
1.speak and use language fairly well
2.read and write very well
3.intelligence is seen
4.clean myself
5.am well coordinated
6.tolerate most changes
7.be calm the majority of the time
8.improve

Can't:
1.pretend I don't have autism or sensory challenges at all
2.financially support myself
3.live alone


_________________
Slytherin/Thunderbird


AceofPens
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jun 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 439
Location: United States

26 Dec 2017, 12:54 pm

Can:
Write fiction and nonfiction fairly well
Read dense and "dry" books with enthusiasm
Pursue historical points that others deem irrelevant
Interact well with kids, surprisingly
Work at a library
Study towards the purpose of becoming an archivist

Can somewhat:
Glean small details from a person's behavior
Work as a tutor
Speak publicly

Can't:
Endure sensory overload for long without passing out
Engage in a traditional relationship (asexual)
Keep to a normal school schedule
Interact with teenagers in real life
Pass as a nineteen-year-old


_________________
I have not the kind affections of a pigeon. - Ralph Waldo Emerson