Asperger's & Autism Forum

I don't have a desire for eating anything very sweet.
Neither do I snack.

If I do eat anything sweet, such as the rare piece of a really good brand
boxed candy or a cordial, I can only eat one piece.
If someone says take another and I have done that to oblige,
it seems to make me sick to my stomach.

Something not so sweet tasting is more appealing.
I don't even like chocolate unless it is the high cocoa percent that is not sweet to taste.

My Grandfather, austistic also, never ate sweets.
He wasn't diabetic, so that wasn't the reason.
You could offer him cakes, pie, candies, etc. Nope, he didn't like them.

I knew a woman with an autistic child years ago who worried because the boy
would not eat fruit.

I know most people love chocolate and other delightful desserts and eat them
through out the day.

Just wondering if this is typical taste for those on the spectrum.
Do you love your sweeties or really don't have a craving for them?

For example, If I'm walking and in my silence and somebody unexpectedly as they go past says good morning, I will usually respond in kind. And then I might spend time looking at it. Did I want to respond? Was it expected of me? Was I resistant or reluctant, was I happy to do so, pleased to have been spoken to like that. Was my response given in a good way? I then try to put myself in their shoes. How did they experience me? And then I might start saying the same ‘good morning’ out loud a couple times, to see what it sounded like, to check the tone. Next, I might start experimenting, where the next person I pass I will say ‘good morning’ to, rather than simply make eye contact, nod and continue on in silence.

It's important because how I've been perceived reveals whether or not I am expressing myself well. If there is an issue making me feel a particular way, something negative perhaps, something I haven't dealt with, I have to look at all this and it can take some time.

So does...

Or perhaps this should be more accurately phrased as 'do you ever get told you don't ask the right questions'

I do, and feel like this is a daily occurrence in my home. It will either be in a group conversation (on zoom or other platforms right now obviously, but previously too) and be told afterwards something along the lines of "why didn't you ask them 'x' when they said 'y'. Or asking how the person I'd met up with for coffee is and 'how is their job' and then I don't have the answer because I didn't ask that one, nor its subsequent leading questions. And it's not that I didn't ask any questions - I wouldn't have had a conversation at all if that had been the case - but I'm guessing that I went 'off script' i.e. I dropped my mask

A while ago when I was having occupational therapy, my therapist used a mnemonic/acronym to help me with said script: FORCED: Family/Friends, Occupation, Recreation, Current events, Environment, Dreams (the idea behind the acronym being that...

What Is Asperger Syndrome? | Autism Speaks
I came across a link to autism speaks for aspergers and it lists the strengths on the Autism Speaks website and doesn't even mention ABA therapy. For generic autism there's a quote saying "
If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism.
"

Where on the Autism Speaks website does it list hate towards us?

Sometimes I feel like I have to be silent. Sometimes I don't have a choice and find myself silent just because it's not comfortable. But when I feel okay with it, not thinking that something is wrong. If I become comfortable with it, and feel that my silence is acceptable and other people know I'm going to be that way, I become incredibly still and get to see them differently. I can see them in a way that if I were to reveal it they would not necessarily like it, or agree with it, or be happy that I'm seeing it. It's only for me. I can write about it afterwards. I can share it with other people, just not with them.

So I was wondering if when you experience a mutism silence, is it a resistive, uncomfortable experience where you are self-conscious and awkward and don't fit, or are you comfortable that you are in that state? Are you accepting?

I feel like I benefit from the silence.

I've just been on a walking meditation in a smallish park with a nice circular route that I can do...

I could say it stems from my childhood, being a loner, being alone, not having other kids to play with, making things up, living in my own world. I could say some of it comes from how I look after my things, then seeing the way others don’t look after theirs and not wanting them to use mine that way.

I might say it comes out of living alone in a small camper for a couple of years, doing it by myself, and not having to justify or account for what I did, only deciding how I wanted to and doing it.

But I have played just fine with others many times, and I have lived with others too, and yet there was always an element of making sure I had what I needed, and sometimes more than I needed.

This came to a head when I became a dad, as I had to become more giving and less selfish, and for the most part I was, although some aspects never left entirely.

But it is money I have the biggest issue with, and something I have always found hard to spend, even on myself. I could say it comes out...

Dr Edward Hall otherwise known as Mohawk says autism equals shamanism.
Here is a video

How do I overcome dog phobia? I have a friend in my criteria that just called me that he wants me to come to his house someday and he has other friends that’s also in my criteria but they have huge dogs.

Recently I had uploaded a video featuring one of my best friends who is autistic and he wants to reappear on my channel.

How many of you have other friends who are autistic?

After moving out somewhere else three years ago, since I was in the position to make new friends, just to wanted to have a go at being friends with other people who are autistic, it's been successful.

Aspergers/autistics are known to have a lot of affective empathy, which is often misunderstood by professionals. The ability to feel what someone else is feeling.

What I lack, and many other people on the spectrum, is cognitive empathy/theory of mind, the ability to gauge others intentions, mental states.

It is the lack of this second type of empathy, the title of the thread that has caused vulnerability in me, as lacking this type of empathy means I am easily manipulated.

My question is, who on here has got cognitive empathy/theory of mind?
My other question is, what helped you get cognitive empathy/theory of mind?