Creativity?

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I keep reading up on Asperger's and a lot of sources seem to think Aspies are incapable of being creative. (Or at least may not be very creative). Other sites point out that Aspies don't get humour. I mean I used to play with Lego and Blocks, I mean I didn't make anything especially fantastic (very creative) but I could make more than just a line of blocks. I was creative enough to have a whole city of Legos (although I didn't like to stray from the directions).

As for humour, I've always thought I was a funny guy. I mean I'm not alone in this, my friends generally think I say funny stuff (Though it's not always meant as a joke at the time). I also love comedic movies and TV shows, especially satire. Anyone have any insight into this? I'm tapped for the moment.

Sidebar: One thing people seem to find funny is that I change my voice often when I say funny things. For me I change my voice almost as a way to distance myself from what I'm saying. I mean I do this in uncomfortable conversations as well. Does anyone else do this?

If Aspies were unable to be creative then then there wouldn't be speculation on whether Jane Austin, Michaelangelo, and other historical figures were Aspies and well if Aspies weren't creative than unfortunately Dan Aykroyd and Stephen Spielberg would never have been diagnosed as Aspies either. Just a little something to consider.

Here's another list to potentially consider if Aspies are creative or not to clarify things:
http://myautis.com/famousaspies.html

I think we're plenty creative, just not the way others expect or would demand us to be. Just because we perceive differently than most non-autistics doesn't mean we can't be creative. It just shows that maybe not all sources of information in relation to Autism or Aspergers should be taken for face value.

I myself have a sense of humor, just not the normal expected one others would understand. I love British humor, I'm a Monty Python fan as well as a fan of several other British comedies. I can be creative at times when I feel like it, I like writing poetry but haven't done so in a long time.

I've seen people use legos in uncreative ways. This kid I knew (of) would build whatever model the legos were intended for, and nothing else.

I would build robots with my technic legos, using home-made servos. I rarely built the model the legos were intended for. The one exception being the "Chassis" set which was a huge model of a car with engine, transmission, etc. As soon as I built it, I turned it into a radio-controlled car (although it was very slow).

As for humor, there are different kinds of humor. Humor seems to be our way of dealing with discomfort, and there are as many kinds of humor as there are kinds of discomfort. I tend to prefer irony (which deals with the discomfort of logical dissonance), satire, sarcasm, and tragic humor (which I can't seem to find a term for). Some people think I tend to use scatological humor, but that has more to do with repartee.

I played clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone from grade school to highschool graduation.
I was pretty good.....all-state my senior year.
Couldn't put together any music on my own to save my life, I could only play sheet music in front of me.
I do play around on my keyboard but it's just a few minor chords that send me into a trans-like state.

I loved playing with lego's as a child too.
Only built what they were intended for.....I did build other things but they never resembled anything.

Capsela & Erector sets.....now that's stuff I could get creative with.
I built things to perform a function or accomplish a task.
But I've always been a very purpose driven person..even, if not especially today...could that be considered an AS trait?

I think the term we're looking for is methodological.

Its a stereotype and thats all.

I'm more creative than anyone i've ever met and have the logic of a peanut.

i play guitar bass and drums and i scream in a one man black metal band

I got the second highest grade (VG, comparable to a B or a C with the highest grade MVG comparable to an A or a B) despite my serious lacking in motor skills and low attendance

Well, I was once guilty of building the lego models from the bow sets. Then I saw what I had and dismantled everything and built my own stuff from then on.

I write poetry and stories and play the piano.Also,I sing songs that I made up.If anything,I have a VERY good imagination.


-SpaceCase

I've actually always felt like most aspies are supremely creative. Which is one of the reasons why I feel like I'm inferior to most aspies.

I didn't even build what was on the box with my Legos, let alone come up with something creative on my own. I just made towers.

I'm not very creative... I mean I have strong vivid images in my head that I want to write stories about, but I can't seem to get the words quite right, or I will lose interest in the story very quickly after I start writing.

If the workaholic meaning of 'creative' counts (which I would call productive) I tend to work extremely hard at my studies and what-not until I completely burn myself out and then I just coast for a long while... My last burnout has lasted for almost a year and a half but I think I'm starting to come out of it.

I'm creative and uncreative at the same time.

I am not creative in terms of thinking of new ideas or coming up with a new invention.

But I'm very creative when it comes to analyzing an idea and figuring out how to make it happen, working around problems, etc.

Oh my---


Wouldn't AS by its deffinition (not getting social interaction/expectation stuff) make us more likely to be creative.

my co-workers say I am the most creative, out of the box thinker in my group.

I find it easy to accept new ways of thinking, but I do find that some people with AS seem to have a difficulty grasping abstract notions. Perhaps it is a wider human trait, but it seems unless one has experienced something directly, it is difficult to fathom.

I remember when I was younger having difficulty seeing the POINT to metaphorical or symbolic language. I absolutely hated reading Shakespeare's Tempest as I was supposed to make the connection between the chess game and events elsewhere on the island. To me I could only imagine these things in concrete forms, literally two people playing chess for the sake of playing chess. I didn't understand the purpose of allegory, especially when written so literally.

I understand it now, but I think AS people tend to be more concrete and perhaps why they are thought of as being uncreative.

I think the people who say autistics aren't creative don't happen to know any autistics in a personal manner.

It's a bad saying which was started by Lorna Wing's triad of impairments. One of those happens to be a deficit in Imagination. Or more specifically (what it was meant to imply), imaginative play.

Now it's been revised to include "a deficit in imaginative or social imaginative play" for a little more leeway. But any professional who works with autties a lot will say that we don't lack creativity but instead have too damn much of it!

Which is an excellent reminder to not believe everything books tell us.