What do Aspies have that Nt's don't?

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I hope you don't find me offensive. I just started researching Asperger's and realized that my disorder got in the way of my life. What's so special about being an Aspie? What do Aspies have that NT's don't? It's a question out of curiosity, I don't mean to offend people.

What makes our "unusual" interests unusual?

I don't really know a universally-applicable answer to that.

I just wonder why a lot of aspies are proud of them selves, so they must have something that many NT's dont.

It's called pride and not wallowing in self pity.

Just one question. Why do you think Aspies (or anyone for that matter) have to have something that others do not in order for them to be proud of themselves? I don't get it. Can't you just be proud that you can be yourself?

I'm not saying they HAVE to have something. Why do they take pride in being aspie? What makes them so different from the normal people?

And I'm not proud of myself, because i'm always the one who is an easy target, I'm the one who says really ret*d things, and never know what I'm talking about. It's just that everything I do points to a disorder.

Asperger's Syndrome, of course!


but I do understand when you finally find out you are Asperger's Syndrome it explains so much about your life, your challenges, your defeats and so much unexplained becomes explained.

Have you ever seen a flock of birds or a school of fish perform manoevers as a group, seemingly of one mind? That is mirror neurons they are operating on. NT people have that, too, a seemingly 'herding instinct' that Aspies do not have. This is what Apspies have that NTs don't. They rarely go 'along with the herd.'

Merle

THat probably explains me who is the only teen who never goes on myspace

I experience advantages to many of the AS characteristics that are disadvantageous in some situations and are typically described negatively. A few examples:

- My "sensory issues" are the result of heightened senses. While I do experience more uncomfortable sensations than most people, I also have a more intense and complex experience of pleasant sensations.

- I have trouble focusing on information unrelated to my "intense, narrow interests", but I have a deeper, more complex understanding of my interests than most neurotypical minds could achieve under similar circumstances (my doctor pointed this out).

- My communication issues have caused me to be more of an observer of society than a participant. I think this gives me an advantage creatively, philosophically, even scientifically. I probably notice many things that active participants do not, and perhaps I can be more objective.

About your interests, is it really a good thing to have narrow interests? I write stories and stuff, but that may just be a narrow interests. Why do people call that unusual?

None of you have narrow interests.

maybe we all don't have "narrow" interests, but in my experience, they are intense.

what has been an advantage to me is my narrow focus, and being able to literally "find a needle in a haystack."

I don't think the word narrow is a good term to describe strengths. If anything it's a negative spin on someone's strength to make it seem like a weakness when it's not.

People that pay too much attention to their surroundings might be troublesome because.....?

Chimchar, come on. What can you do good? You just focused on what you can't do... that's so not helpful dear.

Don't make AS feel special, but feel special yourself, you can and have every right to. Then AS is starting to feel good as is anything else about you, but there's no need to be perfect, really. Good and bad is what you determine, it's not going to determine you, unless you let it.
So, instead of going on about what you can't/don't do - what do you excel at?

You write stories? Sounds good. Why care if it's a narrow interest? If you like writing (I do haha), then it's just perfect. Why need to know what category it belongs to, what makes you do it, how to define it. Unless you want to get into wikipedia, might be useful to come up with a good narrow and simple definition and explanation then, but otherwise... nah, not really.

Can someone define what is thought of as the latter of narrow interests?

I'm just glad to not be like everyone else all the time. Do I sometimes get upset that I'm worse than most people at some things: yeah, maybe. There are a lot of things that I am great at. I would much rather be great at some things and terrible at others than just plain mediocre at everything like most NTs.

Narrow interests don't have to necessarily be narrow. An aspie can research a topic obsessively and then move on to another, and can excel in many topics this way. "Narrow" is a badly put word, IMO. It gives off the idea that it's one topic and one only.