Asperger's & Autism Forum

Hello, I'm just going to give you a description of my life and experiences so you can get an idea of who I am etc.

So I'm 31 years old and I'm from England. I went to a normal comprehensive school and although I have no intellectual disabilities, I found socialising very hard. I never really fit in with the other kids and always felt different but i wasn't sure why, I just accepted that I was born different and never asked for help. I tried befriending people from different 'social groups' at school but I never had more than 2-3 friends at a time. I felt like this was more than enough friends at any one time. I used to get alot of anxiety which got even worse towards the end of school.

I then went onto sixth form for another 2 years, I wasn't really interested in studying much but I wasn't ready for work so i just went and picked the courses that my friend was doing so i could be with him to reduce my anxiety. When everyone else was developing social skills, going to parties etc...

Hi people, I'm also an Aspie and have discovered a simple trick which calms me down 24/7 and allows my mind to have a single focus, rather than the conflicting, stressful state I was born with.
I've not discussed this trick before, and continue to experiment.

The trick is to simply block one eye. I used a scratched pair of glasses, removed one lens and covered the other with black tape.

After 7 hours the mind begins to play tricks. It stops accounting for the blocked eye, and once in a while it swaps, and you can't see anything (complete blindness), and it takes effort or movement to switch back.

My understanding of what is happening in the autistic mind is lengthy so I'll keep it brief.

Basically, if you block the right eye (and optionally right ear) for Asperger, or the left side for Autism, you stop the unfocused overlay of two vision inputs, and alleviate the stress caused by great efforts needed to compensate autonomically.

I see these conditions as leading to a dreamy or...

So last summer I worked at a zoo. (was going to this year again but covid-19 happened). One day when we were really busy and understaff, a guest notified me that a bird (parakeet, aka budgie) got stepped on and couldn't fly. So I went to get the net to catch it (was super easy to catch) and went to get the carrier so I can radio the vet to bring the bird to the vet.

When I was about to leave the aviary with the bird, my coworker, (who has worked at this zoo longer then I have) asked me what I was doing and I explained everything to her clearly. How the guest saw this bird get stepped on and it's wing was damanged and couldn't fly. And this coworker said "well a lot of birds in this aviary can't fly, the bird is fine" and decide to reach in the net to take the bird and put it back on the ground..

I was angry at that point so I went to get my supervisor in which she agreed that bird needs to go to the vet and helped me take it to the vet in which I caught it easily a second time....

Have you ever attended a protest?
This protest recently happened near where I live:-

Hundreds of anti-maskers plan to attend Edinburgh coronavirus protest

I hate mirrors in general, and now I'm forced to look at my face on the screen at least twice every day. I guess I could turn off the video, but then that makes me look insecure, and if it's a meeting with people I've never actually met in person it raises questions that it makes me suspect.

Anyone else?

This morning, I listened to a debate on the Pints with Aquinas podcast and at one point, they started talking about Natural Law and the Is-Ought objection. (I am fascinated with Natural Law and Human Nature, but I'm digressing here.) The word "ought" led me to think about how I tend to obsess over how things "ought to be," and how I'm prone to idealism and perfectionism; this leads me to wonder, do Autistic people tend to be idealists and perfectionist? Do any of you tend to have an idealistic approach to things?

For the past 15 years I have been working on a predictive theory of human cognition. It is called Functional Cognitive Typology. The book will be called "A Theory of Mind: Introduction to Functional Cognitive Typology" (Since I am ASD... I thought this would be a funny title since I "don't have a theory of mind")

The base scientific philosophy here is that there is no "order" in nature (order is an abstraction used by the human mind to simplify complex observable phenomenon). If there is no natural order, then there are no disorders. There are individuals who are in dysfunctional states instead.

Life itself is based on Function. Function is how living things survive in their environment.
Humans have types to facilitate this survival. ASD (EC) is actually a gene spreading mechanism (get tortured by NTs (CA**))... leave the tribe... mate with members of the new tribe thus adding fresh genes in order to prevent mutational meltdown in the adopted tribe)

Here is the theory in simple...

I've always felt alone in this. I can't tolerate the sensation of so many different, very normal foods like almost all fruits and vegetables and even meat. Like i like chicken, but unless its ground chicken cooked for taco meat (or similar) there's no guarentee i'll be able to tolerate it and eat it. And even then it depends on whose cooking.

I remember getting so much grief for it as a kid and even now as an adult. To the point i can't stand eating in front of people cause i know its weird and shameful and its embarrassing cause its not normal to go so far as to refuse lettuce and tomatoes and mayo on sandwiches, for instance...

Its just hard cause i have a bad dairy allergy now too. I can't figure out how to accommodate both my food allergy and my food texture issues combined with the fact i don't cook beyond the use of a microwave.

So, to sum it up, because i realize i wasn't totally clear....i have big food texture issues but also my other big issue is too many textures in...

Every year I have a birthday, and constantly have to wonder if anyone will send praise (Happy birthday) or If i will receive nothing at all. I know Ill get a call from my mom atleast.

Im fine with receiving no praise, but it's uncomfortable being alone or acknowledged by others when they haven't talked to me in forever... last year i just slept it off. Thought i would have reconnected with people this year, but with the pandemic, it has been even less.
People tell me it gets easier being alone as you get older ... they lied.

This year has been brought to you in part by the Letter "D" for DepressameStreet.

I am self-diagnosed asperger's, which doesn't wash with some people.
I am rubbish at reading eyes.
I am not too bad at reading facial expressions and body language though.

Are there any of you here any good at reading body language and facial expressions?