Do you think there are any POSITIVE symptoms of autism?

Post Reply New Topic

That's what my son's like too (he's aspie)
There's a pony where they go riding who always wants to bite everyone. With him she is totally soppy ..follows him around trying to kiss his head and fluffing up his hair.

ohmigod StampySquiddyFan.. brilliant!
Thanks ! !! !

Exactly. Usually aggressive animals are docile to affectionate with me. This does seem common thing among many with autism.

Not only on things of interest necessarily. I tend to remember things very well regardless of whether they involve my interests or not - I only read through the books I had to read for the university entrance exams once, and I still passed the entrance exam honorably. Same thing with most of the course exams. Many NTs would have to spend weeks, if not months, reading and re-reading the material in order to memorize everything. Aspies don't necessarily have to put in the same level of effort.

Well, let's see.

Hyper-awareness. I see/hear everything all the time, I dont miss anything. Even a cat couldnt sneak up on me. Proven due to having multiple cats, years ago (ahh, I miss them...)

Hyper-tracking. I dont know what else to call this. I can mentally track/follow/process an incredible number of things at once without slowing down. Rather than explain what it's like, I can just give an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktC9WKgS00

Even if you're not into video games, the idea is easy to grasp: Dont get hit by anything (the pulsing spot on the ship is the spot where I can be hit). The difficulty of this particular game is abnormally extreme, but... I'm not going to get hit by anything. Many players who are into games like this use memorization to deal with the chaos, knowing where to go to dodge all the lunacy. I cant do that; my memory is terrible. So I have to follow/track and react to *everything*. I can hold a conversation with someone and think about, I dunno, cheese or something, while doing this.

There's a bizarre side-effect though: I do have a bit of a limit to this, and while I can technically go past that limit, I'll actually start to physically overheat. Heck if I know how THAT works. The other effect though is that if there isnt ENOUGH to process, I'll completely space out, and then things get stupid. That's when I do airheaded things like try to open a hotel room door with my car remote.


Other than that...

I'm extremely coordinated, and I'm also very *fast*. I dont mean physically, I mean in terms of reflexes / reaction speed.

I'm good at navigating, and have a habit of driving down roads I've never been down, just to see where they go. Which then lead to more roads, I dont know where those go either, so I go down those too... I'll make it back fine though. This all out in the country, so there's typically no signs or other things to help. I also explore the tangled forest preserves around here. They're badly maintained, so paths are hard to see, let alone follow. Still wont get lost.

Non-conformity. Good grief, I feel like I dodged a bullet with this one. When I see what "normal" is these days, and what typical society is like... *shudder* Yeah. To think I could have been like that. Thank you, autism.

Good with computers and tech stuff. Well, to a point. If I get irritated at a problem my "solution" will be to hit it with a shoe or something, or just shout alot. Clearly, this is productive. But generally I can figure out most devices easily.

Animal affinity. Seems to be common here, yeah?

That's all the ones I can think of.

Of course, the list of downsides is just as long, but... that's just how it goes, yeah?

Same for me. I can't even relate to most of these positives listed in this thread. I seem to have the challenging symptoms that make my ASD not 'who I am' but just something I've got.

Really?
That was my main struggle all through school and even now. I had trouble memorizing information needed to learn and take tests, where as my classmates seemed to be able to take new information in and score either average or high on their tests. They also were good at completing their homework on time. I fell way behind with my work.

A few close people think I'm some sort of Dr Doolittle.
I went to a neighbours the other day and they had a visitor with a dog who immediately held onto the dogs collar when I entered the room , when I asked why , they said because it's vicious and would bite me , I sat on the floor and told them to release the dog and it just came over , had a sniff of my hands and then let me stroke it. I think some people are not able to read animals where I think I can get a good read on an animal - my GF thinks if you give me enough quality time with an animal it will love me.
There are two people I know who think I have some sort of animal superpower although I'm the type of person who you will probably read about one day because I climbed into a tiger cage to have a chat and got mauled to death

This is interesting because it's exactly my experiences. If I just walk up to an animal it will run or fly away. But if I sit down and make little clicking noises with my tongue it will come near me or right up to me. I had a canada goose climb in my lap and let me pet it. Squirrels will like play tag with my leg or shoe darting around me. Dogs always start wagging their tail like mad when I come near them and the owner has to hold onto the leash really tight. Cats come meowing after me. I wonder if it's some pheromone I put off or something.

^I do the clicking noise also I also try to mimic the animals actual voice. Maybe you do give off a 'safe' pheromone ? Or maybe your demeanor gives off a non threatening and playful vibe ?

Anyone else on non-conformity? I like this one

I've started to enlarge a bit on it.. e.g.
- Resistance to being manipulated
- Being understanding of 'differences' in others
- Lack of 'herd mentality'
- Not accepting stuff just because 'everyone does'

I don't really like threads like these because there are lots of things listed in this thread that lots of us may not have, but some posters make it sound like 99% of us do have them like "oh Aspies can do X but NTs can't" sort of thing. Plus some of these are personality traits.

Positive aspect seems to be the fact that I am (over) organized. No chaos, no mess, never without toilet paper . I have lists for everything, a strict (military) daily routine. I do not think it is such a positive thing, but NT-ers seem to like it.

Everything pretty much has both positives and negatives.

Of course there are positive qualities of having ASD, such as photographic memory and better concentrating working on your skills you are trying to develop, whether it art, science, or both.

Ah, but arent our personalities in huge part defined BY the condition?

The core of the whole thing is that it affects the way we think. Our brains are wired differently, affecting us as a whole. It's not like it affects just one extremely specific part of you.

With all that different core wiring... these seem like more than just "personality" traits to me.

The idea of non-conformity. It's true, NTs can be like this as well (even if it is incredibly, INCREDIBLY rare). I dont know about anyone else though, but for me, I dont have the slightest doubt that the reason I dont conform is because of autism. It's DEFINITELY that. I simply dont have the bizarre instinctive need to fit in. I dont have that desire to conform; it's literally not there. Also because of that different wiring, I'm immune to peer pressure... always have been. While NTs can sometimes have those aspects as a natural part of their personality, in my case, it's directly hardwired there. Even if I decided "you know I want to try out this conforming thing just to see what happens" I wouldnt actually be able to do it... my mind literally just doesnt function that way.

So that aspect of my personality is, in fact, an aspect of my autism as well.


Also keep in mind: The way you're thinking on this one can apply to the negative traits too. How much of THOSE are truly the fault of autism... and how many are ACTUALLY the fault of the person, but with them being unable to admit to or acknowledge it? NTs arent the only ones that tend to have the "blame everything else but myself" mentality... that can apply to anyone, even us. My point is, this all goes both ways, and I think that's important to keep in mind. With so many "woe is me" threads all over this site... it's nice to see a more positive one like this. Anything that might help even one person spot some of the good traits they do have, instead of just focusing on the bad, seems worth it to me.

Loyalty, honesty, objectivity... and, best of all, being childlike! I'm pretty sure I have more fun than most people during the mundane thanks to fidgeting, bouncing, dancing, making crazy sounds, etc

Also, drive! I can dog-on-a-bone something and get it done like NOBODY'S business!