Do You Ever Wonder...

[Perkinsj88]

Do you ever want to just switch brains with someone else, preferably a neurotypical? For like...a week or so, just to see what life is like outside the spectrum? I know I do.

It can be a negative or positive thing. With me, it's negative. In general, I think I'd rather not have Asperger's, it has caused me a lot more pain and trouble than it has conveniences. Everybody is different, but in my case there are more downsides than upsides. My only upside, I feel, is that I'm a skillful artist and animator for my age. That's all I can think of, everything else, like social issues, is frustrating to the point where I wish I would've been born a neurotypical. I just can't figure out how people socialize!

I just wish I had more social abilities so I'd feel less isolated, that's the main reason I want to see what life is like not having Asperger's. Would it be better or worse? I'll never know... Can you guys relate to this?

You see Asperger Syndrome as the source of your pain, let's think about that for a moment. I can still remember a time when I was very young (Age 2 is my earliest memory) and quite happy. I knew I was different but I didn't care, I didn't realize it was a "problem" until my nuerotypical peers felt they had to inform me of my "defect". I immediately thought "oh no, I have to fix this" and here we are today. I still have to fight habits I have developed in order to "correct" myself since I had been told I was defective.

Looking back now, they were defective, not me. The pain I endured was directly caused by a nuerotypical person's lack of tolerance and inability to understand it the way I did. I would not trade my ability to use reason and logic in way most if not all nuerotypicals could never imagine. I love the way I can see the world and all of it'soften overlooked details. I only wish I could find a way to teach others to see things from many different angles such as I do.

**EDIT** I forgot to mention that if you intent is merely to understand the way they see and think then I can relate to this. My way of pursuing this desire to understand different viewpoints is different but effective and possible . I have become fascinated with psychology. Even before I obsessed over it I had a generalized understanding of what makes humans "tick". The basic needs for an individual to survive and the needs of a species to survive are the driving factor behind much of what we do. I have my doubts that it controls everything as it can appear in many less evolved animals, I see it more or less as the "minimum requirement" that enables you to live. I can drag this out for hours with my own personal theory's and idea's but I'm gunna stop here because I have a need of my own that is demanding attention NIIIICCOOOTINNNE. Sorry. Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone with AS to stop smoking cigarettes? I am tempted to form a special support group just for people with AS who wish to quit smoking lol. We have all the normal addictions from chemical and habit but in my case it's become such a huge part of my life...or routine that I do not want to stop. I want to be able to smoke and never suffer from the horrendous conditions that it causes.

 

[Perkinsj88]

Interesting question, I like making hypothesis.
Switching brains with just on NT-individual would have nothing adequate to offer in a light of statistics. If I wanted to know how others think, I'd have to have a good sampling of overall human population, lets say 8-20% (that would be up to ~1,400,000,000 brains). Of all living people, from vast different geographical locations and cultural environments, different kinds of socio economic backgrounds and health conditions. List ensues. I don't know how long my consciousness should linger in each being in order to be able to gain their worldview properly, so I can't even imagine how long that whole process would take. I don't know if there'd be returning back into my own being after that, so I'll just pass.
But thanks for asking.

Elegantly said. I commend you! The patterns that could be identified from seeing the world through such a vast amount of brains would be amazing, it would bring to light a multitude of things for me. I love theorizing for hours by identifying patterns I find to be unique and meaningful and relating it back to whatever it was I started to formulate the original theory for. Sometimes I can never demonstrate my findings in a way others can understand...often times actually. But nevertheless I still enjoy trying. One example of a theory I developed is an attempt to debunk the widely accepted chemical imbalance theory by showing you can't use assumptions and estimates as proof to such an important idea. I see it all clearly in my head but I will probably never get into words in a meaningful way. I also propose in theory, the diseases that sell 12 billion dollars worth of medication in a year are likely symptoms of a underlying condition such as AS. Now that we have moved into the family of ASD what's to say the entire spectrum is so much larger than we first believed. In another theory I propose AS is an attempt at evolution, it's not unusual for evolution to begin as something that fails to work in a totally beneficial way. Again, all theory and many could likely be proven wrong with tests that I unfortunately do not have the resources to conduct.

 

[total-recoil]

I'm detecting a sense of neurotypical vs aspergers element to some of this debate, which I can understand but have also come to question. You see, like most of you, I have been surrounded by neurotypical world all my life. I can recall thousands of instances where I felt depressed, isolated, inferior or even victimised on account of being different. This even extended to my family.
However, I can also recall neurotypical friends who did their utmost to encourage me in class, were interested in hearing my point of view and probably understood I was different but respected me notwithstanding. I was recently e-mailing an old friend at school and we pretty much grew up together. I finally told him about aspergers and he said, great, he knew a little bit about it and joked he recalls my odd behaviour at school.
I do not with to be neurotypical because I am who I am. I don't enjoy being different to other people (well, maybe some times), because I think it is part of who I am. In some ways, I've accepted I'll possibly never live a normal life and will probably be fairly isolated (inside) the rest of my life but I still find it possible to make friends and sometimes even be liked (and misunderstood at the same time).I have started to make neurotypical friends slowly and gradually, due to the fact I have become more tolerant of my aspergers situation. I expect friends to accept it too. I haven't so far told friends about aspergers but maybe deep down my belief is most people sense it.
I'm not really sure if there is a stereotype of neurotypical. Perhaps it may be true to say the neurotypical friends I have are either educated, artistic types or prone to occasional anxiety, strange behaviour or mood swings. The point is, though, you can make friends with others who are supposedly "normal" and sometimes it's important to just make sure they accept you as you are and be yourself always.
Of course, I confess I haven't always handled friendship well and often the fault has been my own when I withdraw.

I think about this sometimes. But, knowing I am who I am puts me in a position not to want to actually change it. In fact, it's generally impossible for the most part.

I do not relate to most Neurotypicals and in fact I shun them and their sorts of behavior. I relate better to animals and quiet, introverted people..

 

[total-recoil]

I think my social skills have improved a lot too. I suspect this is because part of me surrendered to self-acceptance and I just expect everyone else to accept me the way I accept them. I also learned that if I'm being ignored in a group to just take off and not sweat over it. Sometimes it happens like that and sometimes I'm more included. Ultimately I'm most at ease with my dog playing a ball game but I can chat a lot more socially than in the past.

I've thought about that, yeah. I definitely would have liked to grow up neurotypical because I that feel my core interests and desires in life would have been more accessible to me, but now that I'm older it's a matter of making the best out of what I have. I don't know how much it would change now, especially since my social skills have been vastly improving.

 

[total-recoil]

This deserves more comment and discussion. The problem we aspies have (I think) is we grow up neurologically different than "normal" people. From a very early age, they don't understand us and we don't understand them. Thus, a gap begins to widen up and philosophically speaking we are like a ripple that remains in a pool as the main current goes off on its destinated course. The more the gap widens, the less we are integrated. And, of course, people function as a group. Usually many of us aspie males struggle to get girlfriends if we appear to be outside of the group and remote.
The big question to ask, though, is do you want to be "part of the group". Isn't it the case that neurotypicals are far more vulnerable to peer pressure and collective, group thought than we aspies (who tend to stick to out own ideas far more and dare to be different in our approach to subject matter). Personally I don't want to be someone who has to "fit in" with accepted ideas and norms, watch the same T.V. shows, waste time talking about who fancies whom and who has the best outfit. I guess I'd rather be my own person with my own ideas and if I'm not popular as a result of that I've come to shrug it off (usually).
My social skills are way off. I'm actually over talkative to people and very honest about my thoughts and ideas. I talk to girls a lot more than in the past but ultimately I figure there is little chance of my having a girlfriend as I'm now too reclusive to go off on a holiday and switch off from my work. To what degree could I improve my social skills and become an actor? You know, pretend to be like everybody else and break a sweat over fitting in with a group. I heard many aspies chose that path so guess it can be done. I guess we have all learned to act to a degree.
I get strange reactions from neurotips. Some can be quite good to me and, for some reason, give me things. Other times I get ignored totally or even may be disliked.
Basically you have to calculate the pros and cons. Do you prefer to simply fit in, be judged by peer pressure and popularity or be your own person who doesn't care less if someone chooses to judge you on superficiality?
In some ways, aspergers for me is a nightmare and in other ways the strengths derived from coping with it and having a different way of thinking make me willing to accept my lot in life. Maybe my ambition is to try and make neurotypicals understand how it is for us and try to be accepted as I am and make people more aware of aspergers in society. At some point I will share with my neurotypical friends my experience with aspergers, hopefully in a way they can understand what it's like and how so many of us struggle to come to terms with being different.

Do you ever want to just switch brains with someone else, preferably a neurotypical? For like...a week or so, just to see what life is like outside the spectrum? I know I do.

It can be a negative or positive thing. With me, it's negative. In general, I think I'd rather not have Asperger's, it has caused me a lot more pain and trouble than it has conveniences. Everybody is different, but in my case there are more downsides than upsides. My only upside, I feel, is that I'm a skillful artist and animator for my age. That's all I can think of, everything else, like social issues, is frustrating to the point where I wish I would've been born a neurotypical. I just can't figure out how people socialize!

I just wish I had more social abilities so I'd feel less isolated, that's the main reason I want to see what life is like not having Asperger's. Would it be better or worse? I'll never know... Can you guys relate to this?

 

[Aspieistj]

All my life I have experienced pain because I never fit in with neurotypicals (NTs), and all my life I have thought the things NTs prefer are often just dumb. If I could be born again I would definitely choose to be normal and never have to experience the ridicule and discrimination that has caused me severe distress. However, because I am an Aspie and I see how foolish so many NT preferences are, I don't think I could be happy with a miracle cure now. I absolutely can't understand what is so wonderful about following some sports team when I don't like to play that sport and don't know anyone on the team. I live near Syracuse and the local team spirit is maniacal. I am so sick of turning on the local news and being subjected to a newscast that is mostly sports. When my "normal" children were preadolescent they used to argue over which is batter--Coke or Pepsi. Absolutely idiotic! Personal taste is just that--personal. However, team spirit seems to be herd mentality.

 

[Dusty285]

This is my response for the thoughts posed by Aspieistj, above, on 8 May 2013 at 07:35 AM:


Before there were sports there were wars. The human population of this planet is in a runaway bubble. These events always end badly. Examples are rabbits in Australia and Lemmings. The Lemmings are only trying to escape overpopulation pressures. Human leaders seem to be trying to not have our population bubble end quite so badly.

In the era of the 1930's Depression the human population of this planet was about 2 1/2 billion. I do not recall the numbers very well, but in the time of the middle of the Roman Empire the human population was about half that. There was a lot of space on this planet that was not tied up by people. It was a buffer zone to keep conflicts down quite a lot.

Wars were conducted for about the same reasons that we now have national (American) football or (elsewhere) soccer. Conflict and supremacy between and within the various political entities. It does not matter in the NT mind if the battle is military groups (Greek Phalanxes of the City-States? Small medieval armies from each little kingdom?) killing each other or the sports team from 'your' city or area or school winning (and losing) games. It is all about the hard-wired human xenophobia and need to achieve and over-achieve (which ties into greed and some other so-called 'Deadly Sins'). I have no doubt that sports is a better way of coping with this syndrome than war. Especially if you are one of the principal performers (I spent part of my life doing war, combat). Or, in the case of war, one of the non-combatants who is taken into slavery or killed by the winners.

Population pressures increase conflict. Space to live, food and other resource availability. Sports is a release for the NT mind and probably for others. This kind of commenting can quickly get out of hand because much of human philosophy is a discussion about it all. End.

 

[musclecarman]

I've wondered about being an owl, a crocodile, an orangutan, a dolphin & an ant (not all at the same time, though)

no needs we are kind of living the lifestyle well I am what if we are dolphins trapped in a human body

Dolphins & Children with Autism: The Connection | Decrypted Matrix

 

[Nolan1971]

We see ourselves in them but since they never hide their true selves we can deeply relate. I feel like my issues are a great gift since I live without almost inner barriers to my thoughts and feelings (total freedom). If I had to choose which animal best reflects me it absolutely would be a dolphin.
They reflect how care free we would be if we were not weighed down by so much garbage we accumulate
as adults (ignorance,prejudice,etc)

 

[Progster]

Yes, I'd like to live for a day as a different version of myself in a parallel universe where I don't have AS, just out of curiosity to see how I would turn out without it, whether I'd have a successful career or not, whether I'd have kids, where I'd be living and with whom, etc.

Edit: I have no idea of how I come across to others, so I'd like to swap places with another person close to me so I can see how I come across to them. That might make me understand myself a bit better and I could overcome my anxiety about it. I'm curious to see how much AS affects my personality too, whether I'd be more confident and outgoing if I didn't have AS, or whether I'd still be reserved.

 

[musclecarman]

Off topic stare at this pic for a few seconds then reply what you thought about it

 

[musclecarman]

Dolphin Personhood heres the link to the site

 

[Katherine Rawstron]

I know the feeling. My condition is relatively mild, more of an inconvenience than anything, and I thank the Lord that it's not worse; but it would be nice to be neuro-typical for a bit. I've often thought it would be a good idea if everybody had to spend some time being the opposite gender, so we would all know what it was like and understand each other better. There have been times when I've wanted to be a specific person (known to me, not anybody famous) to get into their heads and see what made them tick.