Anosognosia

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Anosognosia is a concept I first became aware of in literature about dementias. The word means a condition in which you are unaware that you have a disability. Sometimes, a person with dementia has no insight into their own mental decline, and therefore believe their relatives are just trying to "put them away," maybe to get control of the person's money or just to be rid of them. (This is NOT true of ALL people with dementia.)

I do see a few people at WP who seem to think there is no social skills deficit in them, and the "problem" is in everybody else in the world. Typically these are the folks who don't feel they should adapt or change because it's all NT's problem, not theirs. They can name and diagnose the problem all those NTs have (typically named as an expletive). If you suggest anything the individual could do to manage a situation better, these people reject the suggestion or even take it as evidence that you are demeaning them.

Can you see this in posters here? Do you think it might even be true of yourself? (hint: if you think you may have anosognosia, you probably don't!)

It's hard for me to judge how disabled people are through this forum, therefore making it equally hard to know how severe their anosognosia is. What I do know is that in general people, disabled or not, have trouble knowing their true condition. It's like trying to know what your own face looks like without a mirror. It's why it pays to have people you can trust tell you.

It's hard for me to judge how disabled people are through this forum, therefore making it equally hard to know how severe their anosognosia is. What I do know is that in general people, disabled or not, have trouble knowing their true condition. It's like trying to know what your own face looks like without a mirror. It's why it pays to have people you can trust tell you.

I did see myself as being superior (I’m intelligent) and I blamed others for behaving in ways that seemed to make it more difficult for me to interact with them or to socialize. I really had a dim view of people and I saw animals (who I could better relate to) as being more virtuous than humans. I was very successful professionally, but my social life was dismal, my friendships few, and my marriages ended badly. I had a bad case of seeing myself alternately as being very superior to others versus being a complete loser.