Trade knowledge for social skills

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Do you ever feel look your social skills is traded for knowledge and intellect therefore making you an aspie?

If you get the chance to be NT, But you'd have to trade off your intellect would you do so? This means your just going to be another average NT.

Yes. I would trade being impaired for being average. Success in life is determined by social skills, not by knowledge.

It is said in the book "How To Win Friends And Influence People" By Dale Carnegie that people who are socially gifted are much more likely to succeed in their career. There was then a quote by someone who runs a business saying something like "I will take a person who can talk to people over someone who is just great at their job".

I still wouldn't want to sacrifice my knowledge for more social skills. I would rather keep my knowledge I have, my ability to learn, and use my abilities to learn to socialize better.

Last edited by Pondering on 04 Dec 2012, 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Oh yeah, definitely.

I used to feel like I would give anything to be accepted, including a few IQ points. But in the last few years that has changed completely. Now I would never trade my aspie traits so I could be NT.

I get frustrated by the way my brain works, but it is still my biggest asset. If I didn't have such an unusual way of thinking, I am certain I would not be alive today. I would have killed myself...except that my loud-mouth, non-stop, pain-in-the-ass brain wouldn't stop thinking. It seems to latch onto a problem and rehash it a million different ways until it finds the answer. This is involuntary and exhausting. After I tried dozens of anti-depressants and found little relief, I was ready to give up hope. Then my mind latched onto this problem: how to fix me.

I didn't want to look for answers I knew weren't there. But it didn't matter what I wanted- my brain wanted to rehash the problem. I would find myself spending hours reading scientific studies, taking notes and building a plan. I wanted to scream. I'm sure we all know what it feel like to be a slave to compulsion.

In the end, I found many answers. They boosted me up until I felt amazing, like I never dreamed was possible. I still get sad sometimes, which is normal. And it's been twice now that taking antibiotics has knocked me off my happy place. It doesn't matter though, I know I will get back there.

I don't believe anybody goes through life without suffering. People try hard to hide it and put on a brave face, but the truth is we all get dealt a hand that's a mix of awesome and crap. You can work with what you've got or keep comparing your insides to everybody else's outsides. Personally, I'm working with what I got and I'm gonna rock it

Not everyone with Asperger's also has above average intelligence, and not every non-Asperger's person has average intelligence.

I would like to be a bit less socially awkward, but I wouldn't want to be less intelligent. I also wouldn't want to be the sort of uber-confident charming person who coasts through life easily. I find that having had friendships be a bit harder for me has made me more appreciative and more forgiving of others. I wouldn't want to give up that awareness. So I'd like to be a bit more confident and socially gifted, not too much though.

Exactly.

I feel like accepting that we are not special, more intelligent, or heaven forbid, "the next step in evolution" is key in helping us move forward and gain acceptance within our peers and the greater world. The knee-jerk reaction that people not on the autism spectrum are average, boring, or stupid is hurting us more than it is them.

I know this was a hypothetical question, but I've seen it discussed seriously in the past and this sort of attitude worries me.

I wouldn't trade it off, personally. Just because you're more likely to be successful with better social skills doesn't guarantee success itself, that only increases the chance for success to happen. Anyway, do I really have to trade my intellect? That would be the tie-breaker since I love this thing, it's what makes me able to think and produce creatively. I'm sorry but being an NT will be boring without my "higher" intelligence so I'll pass.