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Do you like being autistic?

Do you like being autistic?

  • Love it. There are no disadvantages.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Love it. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

    Votes: 8 23.5%

  • Like it.

    Votes: 4 11.8%

  • Not sure/Neutral.

    Votes: 13 38.2%

  • Dislike it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hate it. The disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

    Votes: 6 17.6%

  • Hate it. There are no benefits.

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • I'm not autistic.

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • Total voters
    34
Generally I like who I am and being ND. I dont like how unnecessarily though life can be at times; when I don't have access to support services for the mental health challenges that result from non-inclusive experiences.
That one irritates me.
 
Very good question!!

I selected Neutral because I both hate it and I love it.

In my social life, especially school, family, etc., it was (is) absolute, total hell. When alone everything was great.

I was not a bright kid with substantial learning disabilities. That made school hell for me.

But, in my early childhood, I dreamed of becoming an electronics design engineer when I grew up.

The autism made me solitary due to my extreme social anxiety. It also made me obsessed with electronics so much that I studied it perpetually.

As I realized I couldn't learn or pass school, much less any college. I was heart broken to realize that my life's dream of becoming an electronics design engineer was totally hopeless.

Very long story, but, without any degree, because of my autism, I still ended up as a well respected electronics design engineer - just as I dreamed of in my early childhood.

So, it's both. I hated the hell I lived in during my school years and other social encounters, but still, it provided my life's dream. I feel that as bad as the hell side is, fulfilling my life's dream makes it all worth it.
 
Yeshuasdaughter said:
Autism is a disability.
Click to expand...
Well, not in the same sense as being epileptic, severely asthmatic, morbidly obese, paraplegic, or immunocompromised. Because those disabilities provide no silver linings and give nothing back. The list of people who've used their autistic minds to accomplish great things for humanity is quite long, especially when including historical figures we can't be 100% sure about:

Elon Musk, Thomas Jefferson, Temple Grandin, Issac Newton, Albert Einstein...
 
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If you don't remember not being autistic, you don't know what you're missing. If you find something that temporarily cures you of autism, I guarantee you'd be willing to do almost anything to permanently rid yourself of the condition.
 
Matthias said:
If you don't remember not being autistic, you don't know what you're missing. If you find something that temporarily cures you of autism, I guarantee you'd be willing to do almost anything to permanently rid yourself of the condition.
Click to expand...

Are you autistic?

Myself i think this condition can be a plague even if you can move, talk, and are like smart, the misunderstandings, and emotional pain, of not being able to understand each other with other people.
 
I am 2e. I don't know how I would feel with autism alone, but the gifted/ASD1 combo --even with their drawbacks-- rocks! (Giftedness is a form of neuro-diversity, too.)
 
Never diagnosed with either, just lived my life never complained just did what had to be done. Just like now physically disabled still no wheelchair, no stairmaster.
 
NB79 said:
Are you autistic?
Click to expand...
I'm in the process of recovering from it. I was much happier before I got autism.

NB79 said:
Myself i think this condition can be a plague even if you can move, talk, and are like smart, the misunderstandings, and emotional pain, of not being able to understand each other with other people.
Click to expand...
I used to be the same way. Fortunately, I corrected the misunderstandings I had and worked to improve my emotional intelligence to the point that I now understand people very well and no longer have significant emotional pain. Despite that, I still hate being autistic because it makes it impossible to be myself and enjoy my life.
 
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I’ve gotten used to my diagnosis. I just learned to adapt to my own needs and how to manage my symptoms so that I don’t have any meltdowns.
 
Love it. I think my brain is pretty awesome just as it is.

Great challenges come to every human. I do not think my suffering is worse than anyone else’s. I'm grateful that I am the way I am for my particular journey on this earth.
 
I just came across the most counterintuitive statistic. Being completely blind or paraplegic looks a hell of a lot more depressing than what we go through, right? Turns out, people with those conditions have much lower rates of depression and suicide than those on the spectrum. And those with borderline personality disorder are far more depressed than all the categories above. Hard to believe, but I doubt you can prove me wrong.
 
While I do find that my more logical thinking, free-thinking, and ability to think for myself and speak my mind, likely has something to do with my Autism, I still find that I would be better of socially, financially, and in many other ways without it. It is a net negative at the end of the day.
 
Frederick W. Lanchester, a most capable engineer once commented on his Board of Directors:
"They seem to change their minds quite often, but then, if I had a mind like any of theirs, I'd change it as quick as I could."
 
I feel sure that without being autistic, my social life would have been much better, but that is about it. The autism has made me financially better as well as fulfilling my life's dream. I'm happy where it has taken me. Hard road to get here, but well worth it. Thus, I have to conclude that, for me, my autism is a net positive.
 
I absolutely do not like the social part and the complications and heartbreak it can dig up, the bullying --other parts I love: the intensity focus pattern recognition, and the way my mind works makes me very happy. As an adult I have recently gone back to thinking of it like from my childhood: I can remember having a salamander that I kept in a terrarium when I was 6, and there wasn't the restriction of having to appear normal because I was a child. I would literally climb up on a chair to stare down into the terrarium to watch and observe it. I did that every day at times for hours, and it was really like COMMUNING with the salamander, but all I wanted to do was watch its every move. It made me so happy I would throw off my clothing and run down the street. I still get ecstatic about things like that. Don't go running down the street anymore, but am lucky to be engaged in the world in a way that's different and wonderful.
 

Do you like being autistic?​

I have no clue what my life would be as a neurotypical.

I don't know how a dog's mind operates. Or what a cat's or horse's mind is like.
Same with neurotypical human's minds, it might as well be another universe.

When I read or view the current news, with all the conspiracy theories and warped crimes,
perhaps being autistic is an equal disability to being neurotypical?
 
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