A talent?

Post Reply New Topic

poeple with aspergers/autism are often said to have an erm talent? if thats the right word, like being exeptional at maths or exelent musitions or have awsome memory. but im not sure if this is more of an urban myth because i havent got a talent and im not particually good at anything.
so i was wondering if poeple here have stuff there really good at that sets you apart from normal poeple.

I'm sure you're good at something. You just might not know it.

I'm no Kim Peek (yes, I know he's not autistic) but I've got a pretty good memory. I'm also known for my photography, can draw, got some photoshop skills, and I like writing stories.

I agree with that you probably don't know what you're talented at. It took me until I was 19 or 20 to work out I was good at photography. I knew that I could draw and write stories from an early age though.

I have a lot of smaller talents/interests. I do not have any exceptional ones, certainly nothing resembling savantism.

Me? I do not have any talents but I have things that I'm good than most people.

For instance, I've always typed faster than all of my computer/typing class teachers and faster than any students in those classes. And I have a lot of general knowledge about computers than most do, but it's certainly not a talent or gifted IMO.

I also have very good writing skills, so I've been told by all my English teachers. Unfortunately do to my executive functioning problems I couldn't start or complete half of my writing assignments but when I did the teacher told my mother I was the best writer in the school that she taught.

=] So I'm sure you have something you're good at it which could be considered a talent.

I didn't know that my talent was writing until I was in Year 7, cos that's when my English teacher said how good I am at it. Before that, it was just something I DID, like breathing, I didn't really think of it as a talent.

there is a possible correlation between autism and "savant" skills....but its hard to distinguish whether these skills appear at birth or whether autistic people just get so obsessed with one subject that they practise and practise at it tilll they get good.

for me, my music skills include a bit of both, i hear music fundamentally differently to most folk, as a series of layers that can be analysed and repeated, chopped up, modulated, etc...but i needed to practise my compositional/performance skills to get any good at the whole thing...

talents or skills often don't just jump out at you and often you find you have them when you least expect it and sometimes they are very surprising so don't be to concerned if nothing has seemed to materialize at any particular point in life. There is no time table for living so you have to let things work their selves out so to speak.

Sometimes talent just means desire. Sometimes talent is effort unseen. Sometimes talent is the outcome of luck. Sometimes talent comes with age/experience.

Point being, no one knows their talent until they try enough things and see what comes easier than others. Till they know what they'd like to do. usually thats what they're talented in. After a while, it just feels like you have to be "that person".(that person meaning a singer or athlete, scientist or philosopher, whatever "that" is to you).

Me, I always "knew" I had a way with words, I just couldnt speak that well back during school. My mouth was always over salivating and i had crude usage of motor skills that have evolved, adapted. My mind has exanded to limits I couldnt dream of then. Yours will do the same, more or less.

But it wont just "happen". You wont go to bed tonight and tomorrow be in perfect harmony with a gospel choir(unless you already can or you're a savant). These great minds, voices, and artists, activists and action heroes... they didnt just spawn into themselves in a moments notice. They mastered thier craft by working off thier ass, not sitting on it. They became passionate about something and chased it like destiny. Like it was thier only hope...

Everyone has potential. There are things to which you are naturally predisposed. Some kind of strength in something.
The extent to which these potential energies become demonstrable talents all depends on how you connect to and express these abilities.

Let me give you an example.
I have a natural ability to work with plants... a "green thumb", if you will.
It started as simply an interest. I liked plants. But over time, as I learned more about them, did more practical hands-on work with them, I started to get really good. I began to intuitively understand how plants worked, and could produce desired results of growth or production almost effortlessly. The internal aspie-obsessive drive to be around plants is what kept me going. But the knowledge and skills that I gained were the same that anyone would, if they kept practicing and trying to learn.

This is very different from being a savant. That's a completely separate neurological process.

To phrase it another way, if you have an overwhelming special interest, follow it. Indulge yourself in it and express it to the best of your ability. In some form or another, that act of expression will start to be the "talent" that I think you are speaking of.

I don't believe I have any special talents, just skills related to my job, such as a good memory, knowledge of different musical groups (which helps me find CDs for the Interlibrary Loan) and a love of books and writing.

I got skills . . . You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.


For those that aren't "in the know," that last line comes from Napolean Dynamite--but I do have pretty sweet computer/tech skills. I love computer programming and managed to teach meself how to do GW-Basic when I was about 15 with only the aid of some cheesy programs that came every month in my issue of 3-2-1 Contact magazine. Since then, I've taught myself QB Basic, Visual Basic and a bunch of other computer related things.

Mine would be music. I play keyboards (organ, piano, electronic keyboards), dulcimers (hammered and mountain), trombone, and harmonica. I became a professional musician around the 9th grade.

I also like to write---poetry, short stories, and currently working on a novel. The fictional works often have a science fiction/horror edge to them.

i have been told i have a few. arts related mainly. and a few others that are a bit spooky.
i agree with the adorable xanderbeans (hi xander - you are a very f*****g cool musician and all from WP really should be checking xander out if you haven't already.....)


it is a bit of both. a bit of talent and a bit of hard work that is not hard work for aspies because we are so in love with being obsessive. ( so what is hard work for others is simply a completely bloody enjoyable state of affairs for us.)


but the very best talent to pursue is to TRULY BE YOU.

Anyone who hasn't done so already should check out millie's artwork. You can find her link off of her profile page. She is among the best in my opinion.

To millie: I hope everything will be working out well for you now. I have been thinking about you after reading your posts---I wish you the best. You are appreciated by me---and many others here at the WP.

thanks glider. i feel really lucky to know this fine group of people here.
it is very hard what is happening and also very good. very very good.
and i shall get a new tatt this week. a big star on my forearm just for me.

by the way. do you have a website that we can plug here also????

would be good if you did.