I'm NOT a Savant! But that doesn't make me an Idiot. *geesh*

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The news media coverage of autism and Aspergers is driving me nuts. Everything that comes on the TV or Radio talks about how socially dysfunctional Aspies are but how incredibly, unbelievably, intelligent we are.

People who meet me think I'm full of crap because I'm not a genius or a savant. The idea that an Aspie doesn't have to fall into extremes either socially or intellectually is just not being comprehended.

Has anyone else found this frustrating?

Yes I am sick and tired of all the stereotypes.

The opposite also applies. For instance, I've been told that I couldn't be an aspie because I was too "clever" or that I could live a normal life. But at the same time, I would not think of myself as abnormally smart, I just do things rationally and avoid situations that I know would expose my weaknesses.

But yes, I do understand where you're coming from, in a different way, and I find it unfortunate.

Last year I was standing behind the counter of the tattoo shop, stimming. A college-age girl came in with her BFFs and while they were filling out their paperwork, she looked at me and said "Do you do that all the time?" To which I replied "I'm autistic."

"Oh, she says," You must be very smart."

I guess it was a compliment of sorts. But it is a dangerous misconception - like the notion that Asperger Syndrome is such a high-functioning level of ASD, that all Aspies are perfectly capable of maintaining high-paying careers as physicists for NASA.

I'm certainly bright and articulate, but when it comes to functioning in the real world, without assistance, I'd be homeless.

I too am tired of these stereotypes. So damaging

I am not good with numbers or computers but everybody thinks I am it really annoys me.

I agree. I'm smart but not a genius and, to my knowledge, I don't have any special talents or skills.

I'm good with computers... but not numbers...

What really works for me is -patterns-.

I'm good at taking a data set, and getting down to bottom line stuff... What matters, and what's just noise...

Let's see...

Courses I've gotten As in... Journalism/Broadcasting law, Media Statistics, that sort of thing - stuff where you discard opinion, and you've got basically nothing but facts, or at least facts with assigned error rates...

I'm socially an idiot and in some very limited domains a savant or sorts, but don't know what to make of the stereotype since it usually applies to the Rainman-like image, which seems quite distinct from the traits associates with Aspies, savants or otherwise.

Actually I hate to disagree and say that we're not sterotypes but ...

I've never yet met an aspie who either wasn't brilliant at something or hadn't yet discovered what they were brilliant at.

No... we're not all savants, we're not all geniuses - if we use the normal definitions, none of us are...

but.


We have focus and we have special interests.... Combine them and we're pretty damn good in that one little area.

Sadly, at the moment, my son's focus is "Star Wars Battlefields", which isn't particularly career furthering - but that doesn't mean he isn't brilliant in some way.

I apologize for being a stereotype.

[/Math and computer science student with a chess obsession]

Patterns goes for me too. That must be one of my really good areas.
I think this helps me, when I'm using a computer, cause I can remember "where to click".

People say that I am intelligent which I kind of agree with to some degree. At the same time though, I can barely count, wouldn't know where to start with most board games and I suck at sports. The special interest thing is correct, most people with AS do have knowledge in one or two areas at least. In our house we have two interested in rabbits (me being one), one who knows EVERYTHING about farming, birds and tractors, one who is obsessed with radios and one who knows the release dates and actors in practically any movie you mention! You know, but some of them can't really do much else like literacy or maths wise. It doesn't make them dumb though, we all have strenghts and weaknesses.

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

Well, technically I am a genius, but I'm not sure how I function in the real world. I used to think it was my IQ that caused my problems with other people, but knowing I was diagnosed auty as a kid explains things much better.

The narrow area in which I excel I'm exceptional at. But though this is useful to employers, I'm coming to believe that I'm not going to be able to use it for my career, because my career involves being around "norms", and they are incalculable.

People don't expect me to be good at maths, because I've never confessed to anyone that I'm auty apart from my son, who is aspie, and therefore deserves to know, and my brother who said, "yeah, I know." Turns out my Dad told him before he told me. And he only told me when I asked him if I'd ever been tested for anything mental. Anyway... people don't know I'm auty, so I don't have people expecting me to be good at maths, which is just as well, because I'm dyscalculic. I would find it very annoying if folks thought I could count!

What annoys me most in terms of stereotype is the public perception that auties and aspies have no feelings. I'm pretty sure that I feel things far more intensley than many NT's. It's like I never learned to filter my experience. At work I can't stim for comfort, which may contribute to the general stress.