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Aspie or Just a Nerd

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Mysty
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17 Nov 2010, 8:56 am

theexternvoid wrote:
Hello, this is my first post here. You've probably seen it a million times: I think I have Asperger's and I have some questions. I have a pretty basic one to start. What do you believe distinguishes a smart, gifted, bullied aspie vs. a smart, gifted, bullied NT nerd?

Apologies in advance if there's already a thread for this, but I could not find one.


I don't think there is a such thing as an NT nerd. A nerd, even if not an aspie, is also not an NT. More like, somewhere between NT and aspie.


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not aspie, not NT, somewhere in between
Aspie Quiz: 110 Aspie, 103 Neurotypical.
Used to be more autistic than I am now.


amber_missy
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17 Nov 2010, 9:08 am

I think that these terms might differ from country to country.

I'm in the UK and I would describe a nerd or a geek in a similar way...? Both would symbolise someone with social anxiety / social issues / limited friends and who has a focused (at school or home) related to science/traditional-fantasy (dwarves, elves, etc)/computer games/sci-fi...?

I don't think anyone really uses the term dork anymore...?



claudia
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17 Nov 2010, 9:50 am

I'm an NT nerd... I was an NT nerd, this word makes me think of a teenager.
I was not ugly at the time, but that was not an advantage because Italy is still a sexist place. A girl can't be a nerd, to have a womb and to be skilled in math and in latin (too!) was simply too much. In addition I wore dresses that said "Don't look at me please".
I taught myself english, that is not so good, but allows me to communicate with you, and I assure you that this is one of the most important things in my life.

pensieve wrote:
I don't know what an NT nerd is like.

Can they small talk or do they talk more about their special interests?

They can do both

To that have oversensitivity to light/sound/touch/smell?
No

Do they have any motor skill problems?
I was not an athlete...

Do they spend all day on their special interest, forget to eat and lose sleep because of it?
Yes, it happens.

Can they adjust well to change?
Yes

Do they have repetitive rituals? Wear the same clothes, eat the same food, do the same thing everyday, etc.
No

Do they need step by step instructions to learn a new skill? Usually it's something that is physical.
No

Can they regulate their emotions or are they quick to anger?
No

Are they immature emotionally to that of their peers?
I was more mature than my peers and still I am.

Do they write lists and talk like an instruction manual?
No

Is their name Sheldon? I thought I'd add that last one in.
Sheldon... good name...

Interesting about the whole social cues vs. math thing. I always do math re-vision but I haven't got the memory for it. It just slips out of my mind and so I have to re-learn it again. It's the same with me and social cues. I did learn some things but when I'm actually around people I completely forget about what I learnt.



huntedman
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17 Nov 2010, 10:41 am

I would say that most of the Nerds that I have met are NT, or at least not with AS as their main issue.

although NT nerds have difficulty with social execution for one reason or another (anxiety, clumsiness, arrogance etc.), they still have an understanding of how others see them, they can both display and observe emotion, they understand their own emotions, respond to their name correctly ...

Also although they have strong interests, they are still 'present' when working on them. The drive to show their skill and results to others is much stronger, and has an effect on which interest they choose.

Quote:
And even with social cues, these can be learned by some aspies. It might be difficult, but if you're smart enough then you can learn it. Math comes naturally to me, but most people need to work to learn math. I suspect an aspie could learn social cues the same way that a non-math inclined NT learns math: study some text books, do some homework assignments, etc.


This is part of the issue as I see it, in my experience no matter how much you categorize, make rules for or (god forbid) practice social interaction, there is no replacement for an actual unconscious understanding of he situation. You can create a passable imitation, yet over time people will always recognize that you do not understand in the right way.

NT nerds seem to start at a disadvantage, but the information available to them and the way in which they see the problem is no different from more socially skilled NTs.

Yet these are rash generalizations of one person, as I'm sure you have read here people with AS vary allot.



theexternvoid
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17 Nov 2010, 11:00 am

Tollorin wrote:
Hope it can help.

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10167.aspx

That's very helpful. And I've just now found that a Google search of "gifted vs. asperger's" also provides some very interesting documents. It makes me more doubtful that I'm an aspie. And yet I score aspie on all the on-line tests, some of them off the charts beyond what's normal for an aspie. And when I read aspies discussing their own lives I often hear myself in their descriptions. Very confusing. Just as the high functioning end of the autism spectrum was expanded in the late 20th century to include Asperger's, perhaps the autistic spectrum doesn't end with Asperger's but has other milder undocumented gradients beyond that.