A disability or a strength?

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Hello everyone,
Ever since l realised I'm on the spectrum, I've had this dichotomy in my perception of what high functioning autism is. On one hand it is clearly a disability: poor executive functioning, poor motor skills, poor muscle tone, ADHD, dyslexia, alexithymia, dificulty empathising, severe defficit in socialising.

On the other hand there are some positive traits to it that I strongly identify with, like: a disinterested curiosity about the universe, expressed through the persuit of special interests; a strong sense of morality and justice; a taste for arts and generally a cultured attitude towards life; valuing truth above emotional attachment (I can't imagine an autistic society where a totalitarian regime would be possible); pattern seeking abstract thought.

So, it is clearly a disability but one that comes with some strenghths. There is something romantic about it. One can even speculate evolution is driving us towards somewhere. Yet still autism can be painfully challenging for those who have it. What are your thoughts regarding this dichotomy.

Last edited by Cornflake on 02 Jan 2023, 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.: Corrected title spelling

I think you've summed it up quite well - ASD is a double-edged sword. Whether the upside exceeds the downside or vice versa depends on the individual, their environment, and what they're trying to do at the time. As a gut reaction I wouldn't want to be neurotypical, but objectively I don't know much about what it would really be like for me. I'd be interested in trying it for a while on the strict understanding that I could change back to ASD if I wanted to.

Steve Jobs/Apple said “think different”

What if:
Some days I hate it and just want to be normal?
Some days I know I “think different” and I am ok with that - even happy?
I never want activists telling me I cannot feel one way and must only feel the other?

I'd consider it a social disability, though it depends on the individual. In other areas it can be a strength, due to the differences in brain connectivity. E.g. it can lead to increased concentration (outside of social situations) in some individuals (e.g. me). Meaning I'd finish a concentration test significantly faster than the average neurotypical person.

What are my thoughts????

Humans are a very evolved being. We are unlike anything that has ever existed on our planet. We have multiple brains. One exist on the left side of our skull and the other on the right side. The left side is dominant because it contains a small series of extra cells. These two sides are very different from each other. In most people the left side controls our daytime lives. But our right side comes alive in our sleep, during REM and NREM sleep cycles.

But sometimes this structure is damages. For example I was attacked by a large bull when I was around 3 years old and I died. At least the left side of my brain died. But after a few hours, my right side was brought online and was given a choice to live or die. I choose to live. As a result of this near death experience, I became a dominant right brain person. Eventually when my left side recovered, it became my night time brain. It was a brain flip.

But these two sides of my brain are very different. The right side of your brain is HUGH. It thinks about everything. The world is so vast that it can take decades for it to learn and absorb information. I am an old Aspie. I know what happened before the big bang. I know what will happen in the far far far future. If we ever transition to the far corners of the universe, it will be Aspies that will lead the way.

Last edited by jimmy m on 23 Dec 2022, 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I also feel that at the end of the day I would have to accept the "cure", if such a thing was offered to me. But I wouldn't like to lose the special way I see the world. It would feel like a lobotomy. I would only like to gain those social instincts that NTs have while retaining the cool stuff of the autistic me.

There is also the thought, what if everybody was autistic? Would we still feel disabled? I mean, our most pronounced disability is our dificulty with socialising. If everybody was autistic then we could socialise in an autistic way without feeling that we lack something.

This is the coolest thing I've heard so far about autism. Just WOW. I definitively agree.

Happens to me too. I guess it's like being too tall, sometimes you feel good about it, sometimes you don't.

I also don't particularly like this neurodiverdity thing. I mean ok, we are all part of a "human" spectrum with different abilities but we cannot simply forget about the obviously challenging aspects of autism.

I've never thought about taking a concentration test. I'm curious about how I would perform.

I don't feel it's a disability or a strength. Not for me anyway (I'm not speaking for all spectrumers). While I don't really identify as autistic, I do have ADHD, RSD, OCD and anxiety disorder, and I feel those are differences more than disabilities or strengths. I think I'm capable of doing anything the average neurotypical can do but fear just gets in the way. I feel emotions very strongly and my brain is always ruminating, which can lead to depression and anxiety.

A lot of times a strength somewhere comes at the cost of a weakness somewhere else. As for totalitarian regimes,
the full control would have to be given to someone that has little desire other than peace and freedom, and really does NOT want the job. Unfortunately, it tends to be driven by someone that wants it and has NO urge to be peaceful, and grant freedom. So all totalitarian regimes have ended in a bad way. 8(

The dichotomy makes it confusing and makes it hard to explain to others. People want things to be bad or good and autism does not work that way.

That's why it's hard for me to conceptualize it.

For this guy, ASD seems to have had a strength from the start, and a downside which he eventually overcame:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-63974400

I once saw a film with the title "Children of a Lesser God"

● Wikipedia - Children of a Lesser God (film)

It was about a deaf woman who was married to a hearing man. He was a teacher at a deaf school and could speak American sign language fluently. It also dealt with conflict between the "deaf world" which was sometimes separatist and aggressive, and how this conflict was reflected in the life of this couple. She had been deaf since birth and had has experiences he couldn't directly relate to because he had never had them. Similarly sometimes he liked to listen to classical music and it was something they could never share - it was an experience he had that was very important and personal to him that she never had and never could have. It was also used to represent other ways they were connected, but not connected.

I am not deaf but some of the elements of the movie resinated with me.

I once took acting classes with a fellow who was cast as the husband character in a local theatrical production of the play version of "Children of a Lesser God". He told me that the author was deaf and required that all deaf characters really be deaf, and all hearing characters really be hearing, and not deaf. The production of the play itself would then have to deal with some of the same subjects depicted in the play.

I am also relate to the TV Detective Ardian Monk who says (about his OCD) "It's a blessing . . . and a curse".

I take issue with the idea that autism necessarily causes certain problems. First off, poor exec functioning comes from the ADHD and is not a diagnostic criterion for autism. I have a clinical diagnosis of autism but have excellent exec functioning.

Next, though maybe not the majority, SOME autistics DO have great motor skills naturally. I've always had good hand-eye coordination, while I've witnessed many an NT get hit in the face with a ball they couldn't catch.

Next, ADHD is not caused by autism, but IS a common comorbidity.

Next, how do you arrive that dyslexia is caused by autism? There may be a higher percentage of dyslexics among autistics than in NTs, but plenty of dyslexics are NT.

I'm not disabled. I don't need help navigating life and conductiong business or advocating for my health and other components of life. I'm an Alpha woman and can even shovel snow much better than most men.

I've always had significant social deficits, and I'm very sure my sister would consider my autism a disability for this very reason.

I associate "disability" with the lack of ability to live completely independently, while my sister would consider me crippled in the social sphere. Meanwhile, there are people who use wheelchairs or who are deaf or have artificial legs who, while classically considered disabled, might actually be 100 percent independent in their life (being unable to scale a mountain or hear a symphony doesn't make one disabled).

Autism brings me numerous strengths and skills. One of them is the ability to slip into Vulcan mode in the face of crisis. Logical, tactical thinking makes one productive, while getting emotional like an NT impedes productivity.