Tony Attwood's different autistic people
Dear_one
Veteran
Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,717
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines
I regard all "types" as rather arbitrary boundaries. Sometimes I compare the brain to something like a big sound mixing board. If a lot of the sliders are against their stops, someone is non-verbal, but if only a few are, we can re-wire around them to some extent, and may have some keen special effects. However, the variety among the selection of which are "off" is enormous.
I have no trouble seeing you as a fellow aspie, even though the last time I designed a processing facility, I had to do it all mentally because I was driving. I usually sketch a bit, and may leave out extraneous details to the point of being unidentifiable later. The drawings boost my short-term memory, and may highlight problems.
True, but there are characteristic tendancies.
Without these tendancies, we couldn't be classified as being on the spectrum, no?
I have no trouble looking people in the eyes, but many, perhaps most autistics do.
Yet there is no question I am autistic due to other characteristics I share:
-Not having an inherent "Theory of mind".
-Not having an intuitive understanding of body language.
-My compulsive honesty.
-My excessive valuing of truthfulness.
-My abhorrence of indiscriminate lying.
-My affinity with animals.
-A conscious, rather than intuitive, orientation of life/living.
-Executive functioning disorder.
-Co-morbid ADD.
-Preferring solitude to social involvement.
-Extreme individuality.
-Disgust at groupthink.
-An inner, involuntary moral compass.
-An intense interest in detail.
-A tendency to specialise on certain topics/activities.
-My perseveration.
-My (slight) difficulty with coordination.
-My intellectual bent.
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