Blessing or a curse?

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Sorry if I ask a lot of questions on this website. I really like it and I have a lot to ask since the majority of the people I around are NTs. Would you consider being an aspie/ autie a blessing, curse, or mixture?

Mostly blessing. I'm really smart and I have passions I can easily make something with. Poor social skills, executive dysfunction and sensory sensitivities aren't a big deal compared to that.

Here's a few threads on the topic, if that would interest you:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt123653.html
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt228929.html
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt186196.html
https://www.wrongplanet.net/postt96530.html
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp2083786.html

The general consensus is that some people consider having an ASD to be the worst conceivable fate, some people consider having an ASD to be a gift bestowed by heaven, and that most people consider having an ASD to be a blessing in some aspects and a curse in other aspects.

I am of the latter-most camp, though I try to focus more on the positives than the negatives.

And yourself?

I can handle myself well when i have sensory issues and aspergers issues,but saying that i also like being able to memorize P.I to 30 digits and also having a good memory for things ,i would say that being on the Autistic Spectrum is both a blessing and a curse.

I have difficult moments, but also the good ones. I just see it as me.

Its neither really, different people have different perceptions of autism. Some hate it, some love it, some like me just try to concentrate a on the good points while managing the bad.

But at the end of the day its the individual that defines the impact of the condition, not the condition itself.

_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.

the problem with autism is not the autism itself but the quality of life,lack of funding to cover the devices and house adaptions many of us need,and support back up,as well as discrimination,disablism,bigotism,hate crime and bullying etc.
if someone has good support,doesnt experience any of the shtty things caused by other people and doesnt need devices or adaptions or accomodations to live their live then there is more chance they will appreciate things in their life more than looking at the label as if it has damaged them and stopped them from living.
the mental health issues that many on the spectrum have as a result of how they experience life from their autist perception also adds to how someone sees the label,if these mental health issues are not under control of course people are going to see things negatively.

it also doesnt help when people are going through a late diagnosis to,they have got to mentaly process a lot of things, perhaps things they never got to do but never had a label for it so they were treated very nastily instead, they may have been beaten by family members because of their autism and are struggling to accept the label because of it.
see,its not the label itself but the circumstances every individual has,and the views we have of the label can change back and forth over the years.

at one point was pro cure of autism [mine,that is].
was in a very bad state due to long term acute abuse was suffering in a LD institution and its connected multiple residential homes who all shared the same network of staff,they had no understanding of autism but had understanding for profoundly autistic people,the quality of life of mine was so bad at one point the BBC had got involved through the national autistic society;who were a full time support network of mine ontop of learning disability residential services,and were planning on making a documentary around it in the hope it woud make things better however they coudnt get the funding from the high ups and had to change the topic to males, under twenty five, and high functioning.
however thanks to the specialist service am in today,which unfortunately had meant leaving the NAS services behind including the day centre due to how funding works; have progressed so well and have got a quality of life that isnt sht and pointless anymore.

am never going to be agreeing that autism is a curse or a blessing,its just a different version of normality,read about the social model of disability to get a good understanding of how autism is affected by society and not impairment itself.

I used to think sometimes that I'd give up all my intelligence and talents (if that's what to call it) just to be like other people who seem to have a blessed life both in their ignorance and their ability to just live a normal healthy life with friends/family around them all the time (not to mention having a proper relationship with someone). I only started to think I may have Aspergers recently and now I'm not sure if I would give anything up at all.

When I had a job I was able to push myself to do things and motivate myself. I could apply myself to pretty much anything and come up with a great result. Before I got a job I always thought I'd have to work with something that was somewhere even close to the things I like but I was wrong in that and after a while came to be OK with not being interested in what I was doing (and became a little interested in the job I was doing too). So really the only thing missing in my life is having proper friends and knowing what it's like to have a proper relationship.

I have come to find I am good with creative things as well as intellectual things and that's not something everybody has. I remember feeling bad once for talking about interests because one of my friends seemed not to have any interests or talents or creative skills or anything like that so it seemed to me they had a kind of mundane life and that I had probably made them feel bad too. I don't have a problem with the mundane or with applying my skills (or whatever the word might be) to something academic or to a career, but I do have the problem of not being able to make friends or enjoy everything most people take for granted.

Because I've thought of myself as just a normal guy that's kinda shy for so long I have not always thought something was "wrong", maybe sometimes yeah I would think something was wrong. But now I know a bit more about myself that's like an opportunity opening up to me because if when I go to get diagnosed it turns out I don't have Aspergers or a kind of autism that is not going to matter so much to me one way or another. If I don't have Aspergers great, I'll work at my problems and be as smart as I am and hopefully overcome the social issues too. If I do have Aspergers that's great too because I'll know and be able to work on the social aspect better. Also one way or the other I now know there are people I can relate to or have shared interests with. If I had been diagnosed as a kid I might not think like that I don't really know.

I'm still not sure if it's a blessing or curse being how I am but for myself I'm going to say both. But finding out what Aspergers is I think is a blessing. But I mean that that's how it is for me, I'm not gonna say everyone with Autism or Aspergers or being anything like them is a blessing or curse, because I don't know many people with autism/aspergers and even if I did I wouldn't know them all.

I guess for me my autism has affected my personality and development. I can't imagine not being autistic. I wouldn't call my AS a blessing since there are things that I struggle with more so than NTs, but I won't call it a curse since it has given me a driven obsession that is starting to help me make connections in the world. I guess I'd say it is more of a mixture of blessings and curses wrapped in an enigma that I doubt I shall ever solve.

What do you think, Musicgirl?

I would say mostly a curse. It prevents me from having a normal life and for what? The good stuff just isn't worth it IMO.
I have obsessions. Do I enjoy that? Of course (or they wouldn't be obsessions) but they're never on anything useful that could help me earn a living, and the only reason I do enjoy them is that my neural connections are faulty.
I am not particularly gifted in any way, so I get none of the advantages autism could give in the form of savant like abilities or useful obsessions.
I take no interest whatsoever in the fields where Aspies have a shot of doing it well (IT).

I honestly think I have some values that are superior to those of the majority of NTs. They are all into brands, celebrities, sports and other shallow good-for-nothing interests. While I do have some good-for-nothing interests (reading, video games), I am also very preoccupied with the state of the environment and the extinction crisis. They are very important issues of course, but all I can do at best is donate to STRP and spread awareness as best I can. I can't do much of anything besides living as green as I can, and one person doing that isn't even a drop in the ocean. So mostly it causes me great pain, frustration, and grief. It makes me realize how f***ed the situation is and that nothing will be done while there is still time. Yeah, I'd rather be a mindless fool, thank you very much.

And I haven't even touched on the actually negative aspects of it.

Both. And I'm at peace w/ that.

Autism is a Blessing and a Curse:
http://www.mahjee.com/blessingcurse-page.html

Curse. What's good about giving off negative unapproachable vibes to people when all you're trying to be is friendly and approachable? It makes it even worse when people you're with attract positive attention within half a second of making eye contact with a stranger without even having to put on a smile.

Being beyond help is a curse too. I am beyond help. However friendly, helpful, thoughtful, happy, attractive, presentable, normal I can be, I still give off these f*****g negative vibes. It seems that vibes are impossible to prevent. Uh, hate being human! Especially with Asperger's!

Reasons why I think living with Asperger's is a terrible curse:-

1. Isolation and feeling victimized with it
2. Focusing on small things until it turns into a big problem
3. Giving off unwanted vibes (as mentioned above)
4. Problems with socialising and making friends (see number 1)
5. Social anxiety/social phobia overlapping with the Asperger's, making things even more difficult for me
6. Politically being caught in the middle of normal and disabled
7. Obsessions that end up getting me into trouble or making me look a fool in the end
8. Sensory issues (making my ears feel like they are inflamed all the time)
9. Agitation and mood swings (I know this can happen to anyone but in my situation it feels like the AS doesn't help)
10. Anxiety with routine change/unpredictability
11. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger and frustration
12. Certain buttons easily being pushed and people always forgetting which ones
13. Always ''number 2'' at everything (meaning my best isn't good enough, socially and intellectually)
14. Difficulty finding a job, due to insensitive employers and the discrimination of today
15. Bouts of depression making me want to commit suicide
16. Having the feeling of others being superior to me

Even if there is a few ''good'' things, all of the above still outweighs anything good. And no, I am not a genius either. I am just around average, and underaverage in some things what others are average or intelligent at.

There are obviously aspects that hinder me. Sensory issues are pretty unequivocally negative, with some rare exceptions (although then they aren't "issues").

Lack of social grace is generally negative.

However, I like my special interests. My ability to become wrapped up in a subject is largely a blessing, though again, there are exceptions.