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Sora
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04 Dec 2007, 1:26 pm

Are there more people like that maybe?

I know that everybody is different, yeah. I just wonder sometimes, a lot of those with Aspergers I have met appear to have a fairly balanced profile when it comes to autism. They have social difficulties with non-autistic people, but they also have their rituals and that cool and different type of speech. I'm totally not like that though.
I had some bad tactile sensory issues I overcame mostly, some over mediocre sensory issues and I seriously fail at social interaction with about anybody, but I have very few rituals, about zero. Speech is rather normal too. No special interests in childhood either. I'm diagnosed with Aspergers, but it feels more natural around people who're deeper into the spectrum and further away from non-autistic people. Can't explain it, it's just way more comfortable and natural.

I was already asked to explain some of my autism in front of some psychologists, because they thought I was a somewhat extremely interesting individual. It was unnerving.

Anybody else have a kind of... unbalanced autism? Sounds funny, but I can't think of what else to call it, bear with it please.



insomniakat
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04 Dec 2007, 1:49 pm

I dunno. That might fit me. I'm not even sure what I am. My shrink mentioned PDD-NOS and my therapist said maybe a bit Aspergers.

I have difficult sensory integration issues. I'm probably going to quit my job soon because I'm in PAIN by being trapped in a small room with two other people who don't stop making noise. Plus it is impossible to concentrate on my work. I also have problems with other senses (like needing to sleep under a lot of blankets or my brain doesn't settle, not liking bright busy environments, or crowds of people), but hearing is the most problematic.

I got called weird a lot growing up (and teased).

I have problems with recognizing faces sometimes. :oops:

I still don't make eye contact very well, although I do try.

I'm extremely ethical and honest (which is also giving me problems at work, because I'm uncomfortable being around people that want me to lie or say half-truths...screw 'em). I also just assume everyone is being honest with me, which can lead to me being screwed over unless I have experience in the situation. :evil:

I don't seem to have a huge problem figuring out someone's moods by facial expression (or displaying my own), but I don't seem to understand why people do the things they do. They usually make no sense, and I can't puzzle it out and don't have the patience to do so, so I avoid people that don't make sense (people that aren't rational, predictable, reliable, dependable). Those are the only friends I keep, and it has to be on my terms. As such, I have very few friends (but since I'm a huge loner anyway, that's alright with me).

Social interactions need to be about doing something, not just sitting around chatting, which I do not and never will understand. How is chatting/talking fun? How is that interesting?

I don't fit the profile of not understanding humor (I'm very sarcastic, and that the only social interaction I do unless someone says something interesting about an interesting subject). I also am a writer (it's my only interest, and has been my only interest since I was five), so that seems to be at odds with the 'no imagination' aspects of autism.

I have a very high IQ, which might be why I learned some of these things on my own (although this site has been helpful on a couple of the things I thought I was getting right and wasn't--like listening).

I also have never felt connected to anyone in my life. I don't feel love or lonliness or ever miss anyone. I also don't desire friends or friendship, and that's a trait of Asperger's from what I understand.

So I don't know what I am. Maybe it's PDD-NOS. I'm either on the autistic spectrum or a total self-absorbed weirdo. According to my shrink, just the sensory issues put me on the autistic spectrum, but I don't know...


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scumsuckingdouchebag
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04 Dec 2007, 2:46 pm

insomniakat wrote:
...

I got called weird a lot growing up (and teased).

I have problems with recognizing faces sometimes. :oops:

I still don't make eye contact very well, although I do try.

...

Social interactions need to be about doing something, not just sitting around chatting, which I do not and never will understand. How is chatting/talking fun? How is that interesting?

...

I also have never felt connected to anyone in my life. I don't feel love or lonliness or ever miss anyone. I also don't desire friends or friendship, and that's a trait of Asperger's from what I understand.

...

I'm either on the autistic spectrum or a total self-absorbed weirdo

...


My feelings on myself too.



EvilKimEvil
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04 Dec 2007, 4:15 pm

Sora wrote:
They have social difficulties with non-autistic people, but they also have their rituals and that cool and different type of speech.


What is that type of speech? Can you describe it?



UnfoldedCranes
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04 Dec 2007, 6:04 pm

I identify with a lot of Asperger-ish traits, though mostly they're relatively mild for me (except the inertia, alas.) But I can read social cues just fine (I think -- I suppose I could be missing stuff and not know it).

I think maybe "the spectrum" is more multidimensional than most people realize.



srriv345
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04 Dec 2007, 6:50 pm

I definitely feel this describes me, to some extent. As my mom and boyfriend are always reminding me, it's a spectrum, but I feel I'm not really stereotypically aspie even though that's my diagnosis. I too did not really have noticeable obsessions in childhood and my social problems were probably milder compared to most other aspies. OTOH, I've always had problems with other spectrum-y traits. For instance, changes in plan often cause me to have pretty bad meltdowns. I think it probably was the meltdowns more than anything which caused my parents to seek my diagnosis. My social problems are certainly there, but it's more subtle, I think.



Whisperer
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04 Dec 2007, 11:52 pm

Similar situation here.

- My social problems have always been very much worse than anything a random person looking at me or anyone acquainted with my skills/education could guess. I don't celebrate my birthday, nor christmas, nor anything like that - probably the most damaging kind of bullying and stigmatization I underwent was within my own family so I'm not eager to celebrate anything with them. Even today I have to put up with random disagreeable stuff if I don't keep communication to a minimum.
. . .never really had a friend either. . . as in. . . never. . . not now, not ten years ago. . . not when I was at school.

- I never had one focussed interest but many. Certain things obsess me over periods of time but they rotate and there are always other things competing for my attention/time. Sometimes I find it hard to stick to one thing. Few things don't interest me at all: cars and mainstream sports, for example.

- Creativity is one of my strong points. Everything I do has to be in my own way somehow. Dealing with complex problems in a creative process gives me an almost palpable mental pleasure and causes me to lose track of time. Simplicity, routines and rote memory tasks feel unpleasant and I tend to shun them. I learn actively; I can't just "swallow" information.

- I have no problems with metaphors and symbols; I even seem to be capable of quite complex systems of ideas by working with the later at exponential levels - not that I do it deliberatedly as some conscious method; I get a violent kaleidoskopic feel as I get thinking. Writing (usually in my first language) and reading used to be typical activities of mine.

- I can read and interpret some attitudes quite well; others seem more obscure. I have a problem figuring out how others feel because I consider myself too different; attempts in the past to predict others reactions based on what mine would have been have failed. I can use body language too. I'm probably not as fluent in all this as a more average person.

- I didn't isolate myself as a child. I wasn't shy; I kept trying to make friends and had my hopes crushed repeatedly for years - then I became shy and awkward. I'm not generally at easy around people and that affects my body language and speech.

- I have strong ADD traits, like forgetting to pay my bills, getting bored, losing track of time , etc. . .

- I'm not unfit. I've heard "being flabby" was a trait. . . :roll:
I was less fit as a kid; still not particularily weak; beating up my bullies and then having to run away when they ganged up on me later on was a constant loop I could never escape from.



Sora
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05 Dec 2007, 1:44 pm

EvilKimEvil wrote:
Sora wrote:
They have social difficulties with non-autistic people, but they also have their rituals and that cool and different type of speech.


What is that type of speech? Can you describe it?


I can try, I hope this will make some sense too. I noticed that autistic people usually use language in a more precise way than non-autistic people. Non-autistic people often say the same thing, but use vocabulary that is quite ambiguous so that different people understand different things in one sentence. I rarely see this happening in discussions of those with Aspergers. They choose words that express exactly what they mean to say and that cannot be interpreted in a different way. The cool thing is that I get what they say immediatly, while I misinterpret the language of nun-autistic people often.
I don't know if a non-autistic person would see it the same way as me. Asking them would be very interesting.

I noticed this because I feel that I am opposite of this Aspergian way of speaking, as I have trouble expressing what exactly I want to say to a degree that even non-autistic people have trouble getting what I mean.