How has asperger's been something positive for you?

[harrietjansson]

How has asperger's been something positive for you?
I am good at being analytical which can be both good and bad. I do think too much and get stuck a lot but if I am allowed to use my analytical mind I might find the patterns and details that people often miss. People often miss a lot of the fundamentals when they learn something. When you analyse you can find all the details of the fundamentals. Most people skip this it seems.
An example. I took dance lessons and people bassically just wanted us to dance and learn it that way. I wanted to go though the fundamentals. When I looked at all the fundamentals I became much better than the others who took dance lessons. I failed when I didn't do this. Normal people often don't need to go through all the fundamentals when learning something but I have to. I am not talking about perfectionism. All I am talking about is the fundamentals needed in order to even being able to dance at all. Most adults and even children skip the fundamentals. Perhaps children are more comfortable with being detailed-oriented but even kids skip a lot as they don't need it. Aspies often need the to go deeper into the fundamentals of a certain skill or we will fail.

 

[Aspychata]

We can be exceptionally good at details, etc. I am extremely observant at noticing all patterns of all and everything. My brain is constantly averaging all patterns of calls, deliveries, software bugs, scammer calls, rain, times boss is in a bad mood, times l see my mom in a year. This is me. I even do it in my sleep. It would be irritating to a NT perhaps. But l just consider it the way l roll.. I will notice how many people have brand new cars in apartment complexes. (maybe shouldn't live there). l have strong desire to understand top down fundamentals in the place l work.Who is in power. What is the underlying reason we are doing something the way we are doing it. Another glitch in my brain. lol. It's complicated being us.

 

[harrietjansson]

We can be exceptionally good at details, etc. I am extremely observant at noticing all patterns of all and everything. My brain is constantly averaging all patterns of calls, deliveries, software bugs, scammer calls, rain, times boss is in a bad mood, times l see my mom in a year. This is me. I even do it in my sleep. It would be irritating to a NT perhaps. But l just consider it the way l roll.. I will notice how many people have brand new cars in apartment complexes. (maybe shouldn't live there). l have strong desire to understand top down fundamentals in the place l work.Who is in power. What is the underlying reason we are doing something the way we are doing it. Another glitch in my brain. lol. It's complicated being us.

so you do this unconsciously? I seek patterns both consciously and unconsciously.
Most of it is very conscious as well.

 

[aspieoutlaw89]

We can be exceptionally good at details, etc. I am extremely observant at noticing all patterns of all and everything. My brain is constantly averaging all patterns of calls, deliveries, software bugs, scammer calls, rain, times boss is in a bad mood, times l see my mom in a year. This is me. I even do it in my sleep. It would be irritating to a NT perhaps. But l just consider it the way l roll.. I will notice how many people have brand new cars in apartment complexes. (maybe shouldn't live there). l have strong desire to understand top down fundamentals in the place l work.Who is in power. What is the underlying reason we are doing something the way we are doing it. Another glitch in my brain. lol. It's complicated being us.

for me,i would socially make mischief however I could

 

[Nervous Rex]

I am good at math, programming, games, etc. - anything with a system of rules. I often find implications or cause-and-effect interactions in systems that others hadn't realized. That has provided me gainful employment. I have been able to solve several problems that made the difference between releasing a product or canceling it.

However, one big problem for me is that I can't start work on something until I have it all figured out. I once took a task at work that other people said was hard. I did absolutely nothing for 3 weeks, then - once everything clicked and I had it all figured out - I worked furiously for one week and got it done. Everyone was impressed that I got it done in a month, but I felt bad for procrastinating for three weeks. The counselor who diagnosed me said that was "a very autistic behavior".

 

[harrietjansson]

I am good at math, programming, games, etc. - anything with a system of rules. I often find implications or cause-and-effect interactions in systems that others hadn't realized. That has provided me gainful employment. I have been able to solve several problems that made the difference between releasing a product or canceling it.

However, one big problem for me is that I can't start work on something until I have it all figured out. I once took a task at work that other people said was hard. I did absolutely nothing for 3 weeks, then - once everything clicked and I had it all figured out - I worked furiously for one week and got it done. Everyone was impressed that I got it done in a month, but I felt bad for procrastinating for three weeks. The counselor who diagnosed me said that was "a very autistic behavior".

system of rules refer to?
I, myself, always feel like I just have to see how everything is connected. Some people call this synthetic thinking. Eg how is speaking and singing connected. You only have one voice. I also focus on how they are different. This makes learning take longer time for me. I think adults can learn many things at once but I cannot. I am more like a child who cannot.
Why did you do nothing for three weeks? You did not know what to do or just proscrastinated?
Suddenly you just knew what to do?

 

[unperson]

I've always wanted to be fully backgrounded in something before I learn it, like I need all the 'why' answers. Which is pretty unrealistic, life doesn't work that way and it can be quite inhibiting. most NTs just attempt stuff without knowing much about it.

 

[harrietjansson]

I've always wanted to be fully backgrounded in something before I learn it, like I need all the 'why' answers. Which is pretty unrealistic, life doesn't work that way and it can be quite inhibiting. most NTs just attempt stuff without knowing much about it.

also, many so called NTs just want everyone to learn as quick/fast as possible. They are often more patient with children.

 

[unperson]

well it can be tiring explaining all the why's to people, I used to get the why why why stuff from one of my nephews (he's autistic) and uh, well, it takes up a lot of time and mental energy. NTs just throw you into a situation and expect you to learn from doing.

 

[selena]

I've always wanted to be fully backgrounded in something before I learn it, like I need all the 'why' answers. Which is pretty unrealistic, life doesn't work that way and it can be quite inhibiting. most NTs just attempt stuff without knowing much about it.

I know this thread is supposed to encourage optimism, but I'm the same way and this is the reason managers at work have no confidence in me. While my coworkers speak with the confidence of someone who had NO idea how much they don't know, I pepper my responses with variations of "I think," "maybe," and "I'll see what I can do."

 

[unperson]

yuh, 'tell them what they think they want to hear' is common NT speech policy, it can be useful.

 

[Fino]

It makes me unique, funny, and likeable.

 

[harrietjansson]

I've always wanted to be fully backgrounded in something before I learn it, like I need all the 'why' answers. Which is pretty unrealistic, life doesn't work that way and it can be quite inhibiting. most NTs just attempt stuff without knowing much about it.

You are refering to the problems "normal" people have. This is exactly what I am trying to say to myself and others. We are all good at something and bad at something.
Even if we were allowed by ourselves and others to be ourselves much of the issues would still be there. It doesn't just dissapear beacuse we allow ourselves to be ourselves. This is why I say: stop saying that all you problems stem from other people wanting you to be "normal" (Not that "normal" even exists).

 

[SusanLR]

My mind is constantly humming away on how things work and I want to understand things in depth.
A psychiatrist once said I could not look at a sunset and just see it's beauty. I would want to know
why it was yellow there, orange here and maroon in another area.
True.

A neighbor once saw my bedroom and the first thing she said to my Mom was I had the mind of a
scientist.
How she thought that from one look at my room, well, not sure. But, true also.
I'm always for digging deeper to understand or try to.

An example would be a memory of when I was a toddler and one of my toys was a
blow up rolley polley clown. Hit it and it always came back to an upright position.
I wanted to know how it did that. So one day I sat out to find the reason.

I knew where Mom's sewing box was. I got a pair of scissors and cut off the big red nose
so I could look inside. Of course the thing sank to the floor as the air was let out.
I thought I had killed it!
Oh, no. What would happen now? When Mom found it!!!
I walked to the living room and Mom was there. She knew something was wrong and said
I was white as a sheet and wouldn't say anything.
She went to the room where I was playing and found the clown.

I followed her to see what would happen.
She ask if this was what was wrong with me. I was scared to death.
Somehow she knew and explained to me it wasn't dead. It wasn't a living thing and threw it away.
I was so glad.
Can you imagine the headlines?
Child Kills Clown.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

How has asperger's been something positive for you?

My attention to details. My seemingly unusual ability to recognize patterns. My ability to look at things logically and separate "association from causation". My deep, almost pathological need to understand how things work. I've literally made a career and stand out amongst my neurotypical peers as a result.

However, that said,...I still have the long list of negatives,...the social and communication difficulties, the sensory issues, etc. Having Asperger's is, for me, a list of pros and cons. My ability to cope with these differences is a combination of narcissism, focusing upon what I am good at,...and not giving much thought to the things I am not good at.

My father once told me, "Use the correct tool for the job." So, when dealing with people and the job at hand, there are people that seem to have special aptitudes. Best to put people in positions and career paths where they are going to thrive. There are employers who actually screen for autistic traits and seek these individuals for employment.

 

[unperson]

yeah there's an inventor tribe in autism that longs to know how things work, I think I wanted my parents to tell me how electricity works and where the water that went down the plughole went when I was about 5. No one wants to explain this stuff to a 5 yr old, but my parents bought a set of childrens encylopaedias, which I pored over, and still remember much of. at least that was something.

I've been on the receiving end of it with my nephew and yuh it is a bit of an 'eyeroll' thing with people who want everything explained to them.

 

[Major Tom]

The doc that tested my hearing said "wow, you can hear nearly as well as a dog." Back in my hunting days it was very beneficial. I am also hyper-aware of my surroundings. Being on the spectrum also helped me to better understand my son who is also on the spectrum as well.

 

[Aspychata]

This is one great blessing. We completely understand our offspring, the ones of us that our comfortable in our own self. Then we are able to indulge their passions.

 

[Ken]

A psychiatrist once said I could not look at a sunset and just see it's beauty. I would want to know
why it was yellow there, orange here and maroon in another area.

It is the psychiatrist that is at a loss.
Learning, knowing and understanding "why it was yellow there, orange here and maroon in another area" is another - elevated - level of beauty that the psychiatrist misses.

 

[Ken]

How has asperger's been something positive for you?

My career.

While being autistic has been devastating for most of my life, it has been a career superpower. Since single digit years of age, I have been fascinated and obsessed with electronic circuits. Not so much the devices, but the electronics within. I had to understand how and why it works. I would study electronics theory books and draw schematics incessantly. I was always in trouble at school for studying and drawing electronic schematics in class. My obsession, along with my social issues, pretty much devastated my school performance. Before the age of 10, I desperately wanted to be an electronics design engineer when I grew up, but due to my dismal school performance, I knew that was impossible.

However, my obsession made me dig old radio’s and TVs out of the dump, dissect them for parts and study. With that knowledge, I started to fix them. In my early teens, I got a job at a department store fixing electronics. I got the job because I dug a TV out of the trash bin behind the store, fixed it and returned it back to the store. The manager hired me to take inoperative or damaged electronics home and fix them. As I got older, I got jobs in repair shops. My credentials was either reputation or asking for a test to prove my ability.

Finally, I got a job at a contract electronics design lab building prototype electronics. Within a month, I was advanced to testing the prototypes and reporting the results to the engineers. Along with my reports, I started offering suggestions for fixing design flaws. I was then advanced to reviewing and correcting the engineer’s schematics prior to prototype builds. The engineers – some PhD’s started coming to me with theory questions. Then with no college degree and very poor public-school performance I became the senior design engineer. The great thing is that in each of these jobs, my work area was isolated and quiet.

Without any doubt, it was autism that drove me to my “impossible” life’s dream.