• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Do you consider your Asperger's a blessing, curse or indifferent.

How do you view your Asperger's

  • Blessing

    Votes: 7 7.1%

  • Curse

    Votes: 18 18.2%

  • Neutral

    Votes: 11 11.1%

  • Sometimes blessing, sometimes curse

    Votes: 57 57.6%

  • None of these apply

    Votes: 6 6.1%
  • Total voters
    99
DocBee

DocBee

Well-Known Member
Hello all. I am new to your forum. I was diagnosed with Asperger's about 3 years ago. I had about a 17 year job history where I was technically proficient but lost job after job due to either meltdowns or poor social interactions. After my diagnosis, through research and practice I was able to change a lot of behaviors that got me into trouble and improve my social skills.


Here's the thing. I look at this as a curse. It's not an unmanageable one . It's not overwhelming like it was in the past but it's still a negative in my eyes. I view it like I lost a hand at birth. A definite disadvantage but can be overcome with planning and effort. Maybe that will change but that's how I view it now.


I feel I live in a world that was built around people not like myself. I find myself at a disadvantage at social communication others take for granted. I wish I was born differently but accept the cards I was dealt.


I was on an unrelated forum and two people stated they'd never heard of a person with ASD who considered their syndrome a curse. Am I the only one? How do you see it?
 
Many people here consider their ASD a curse, others a blessing.

I'm self diagnosed, and am indifferent. I've always been different from everyone else and that's ok with me. No different from someone having a different faith that they follow or skin colour from another.

Also, Welcome to the Forums! :)
 
Thank you! I was indifferent to how others viewed their diagnosis until this evening. I was highly skeptical i was the only one who viewed it as a negative. I'm ok with that and whatever way others view their diagnosis.
 
Depending on my mood, it can be either a blessing or a curse.

I was diagnosed last month with grade 2-3 and at first felt surreal, but now a sense of: could they have got it wrong?

Anyway, I am interested to find out why you joined, with your current emotion on it?
 
Anyway, I am interested to find out why you joined, with your current emotion on it?

I'm really not active in the Asperger's community although I attend a monthly support group and continue individual counseling. I hope all perspectives are valued here. I look at my syndrome as a permanent obstacle but not one that's insurmountable. I do not look on myself or others with this diagnosis negatively.

The main reason I joined tonight was to ask the question because I wasn't sure of the answer.
 
Last edited:
I'm not cursed with autism. I am cursed with living at a time when autistic people are still mistreated and misunderstood which makes life unnecessarily difficult at times.
 
I have mixed feelings about it. For me, it's not the autism in itself which is a curse, but the depression and anxiety it can cause, and its interaction with those. Also, society's attitude towards and stereotyping of people with ASD.
 
I see it as both because there are negatives and positives that go along. Wait - first - hello and welcome. :)
1. Autism makes things harder to deal with and our brain wiring is such that other's just don't understand, making us feel more alone.
2. Autism gives us a different way of seeing things that no one else sees. Makes us unique.
While I do wish others could understand me, I'm glad I don't think like everyone else.
While I'm confused how others can lie, or cheat, I'm glad that does not come easy for me.
DocBee - you are who you are and autism is a big part of who you are. It is for me and I'm content with who I am. Actually, I'm happy with who I am. If I didn't have autism there's no telling who I would have ended up being. But I doubt I would have been as content being that other person.
(Oh my goodness! I could've been my sister. Ikes!)
 
ASD is my superpower! It allows me to do things that others can not and because of that people seek me out. As a bonus, my mind is my favorite form of entertainment. It would be nice if I was more social, but that does not bother me much. If I were offered a procedure that would make me neurologically typical, I would decline without hesitation. If I wasn't autistic, I would not be me.
 
Autistamatic said:
I'm not cursed with autism. I am cursed with living at a time when autistic people are still mistreated and misunderstood which makes life unnecessarily difficult at times.
Click to expand...

I am sorry to hear that things are difficult for the moment. Are you receiving any treatment and therapy for your mood? It makes a huge difference over time.

At present things seem stack up against you and your feelings reflect that, but with time your mood will improve, you will regain your balance and optimism, you will feel better. about everything, including your AS.

Aspergers is not something you have, it is integral part of who you are, so it is not a 'curse' or blessing in itself, it is what you make of it. Please don't be so hard on yourself, just continue to get better.

It is a difference, a disability that does put us at a disadvantage because the majority is neurotypical. But we can get stronger and more creative, more perseverant, more focussed, more ingenious by using it to our advantage too. Ultimately indeed we need to hope and act and support each-other to make the society more accommodating of our difference, so it would stop being disabling and becomes just another gift, a part of human diversity of talents, which it is.

So it's a blessing, your unique gift in the world, it is who you are.
You are feeling hard times on your shoulders now, but that can improve.
 
DocBee said:
Hello all. I am new to your forum. I was diagnosed with Asperger's about 3 years ago. I had about a 17 year job history where I was technically proficient but lost job after job due to either meltdowns or poor social interactions. After my diagnosis, through research and practice I was able to change a lot of behaviors that got me into trouble and improve my social skills.


Here's the thing. I look at this as a curse. It's not an unmanageable one . It's not overwhelming like it was in the past but it's still a negative in my eyes. I view it like I lost a hand at birth. A definite disadvantage but can be overcome with planning and effort. Maybe that will change but that's how I view it now.


I feel I live in a world that was built around people not like myself. I find myself at a disadvantage at social communication others take for granted. I wish I was born differently but accept the cards I was dealt.


I was on an unrelated forum and two people stated they'd never heard of a person with ASD who considered their syndrome a curse. Am I the only one? How do you see it?
Click to expand...

welcome.i’m an aspie too.i was diagnosed when i was 4,8 or 9.social interaction wise,i see my aspergers as a curse,as well as male AS-female NT social interaction wise a curse also.
 
You'd be more likely to find people who agree it's a curse in support groups or group therapies, because the choice to participate in a forum on the subject often follows acceptance, but there have been many people who have passed through who agree with you. The two who have never heard of it probably hadn't been around the community long.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing!

Definitely an even mixture of both for me. I have the same feeling of living in a world not designed for someone like me, especially the social and employment norms, BUT, I have gifts and traits that I credit greatly to being on the spectrum. Always was a music and math wiz, always been unusually honest and loyal, always been able to focus on something I love and learn it rapidly. My sensory experience has always seemed magnified... which can be great when the birds are chirping and the sun is setting. And I really feel I have a 6th sense with animals. These all can bring opposing challenges, but I have a positive attitude towards it. Not to say I don't get down in the dumps about it sometimes.
 
Oh, you also asked why we joined this forum? I was looking up some stuff on autism, and in my wondering why I didn't always recognize people and always had a hard time picking my kids out of crowds - (had to search faces individually) I typed that into my search and a thread came up from this forum about that subject and I seen all these comments that I could so easily relate to. So I came to the forum, liked other things I was reading and liked how people were comparing different traits and so on - so I joined and happy I did.
 
It really depends. It gives me some strengths, like attention to detail (which helps in my art projects and college homework). But there are also downsides, like not being able to hold down a job, not being able to handle a full college workload, meltdowns, burnout from social interactions, etc... Right now its more of a curse, I think. But if I get an A on my art homework, it will be more of a blessing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom