• 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

In what ways do you, specifically, differ from the stereotypical perceptions of autism?

BrokenBoy

戯言使い(Nonsense User)
Title.
  • I am antisocial as opposed to asocial unlike most autistics. I'm still fairly introverted though.
  • I have the memory of a goldfish.
  • I'm horrible at math and hate it.
  • The only good thing that comes out me being autistic is that I can use my autism as a "Get out of jail free card". Otherwise there is no perks that come from me being autistic at all.
  • I can usually detect sarcasm.
  • I have a huge sense of humor. So much so I can sometimes be seen laughing out loud for seemingly no reason because I constantly think of funny thoughts in my head.
 
Last edited:
I am a girl which still seems to confuse people.

I have friends.

I don’t care either way about science

I’m not a genius but i’m not dumb either.
 
I too am a female ( boys supposedly can only be autistic or on the spectrum).

Do not have a montoned voice.

Not a bland facial expression.

Not good at all with math.

Not a genus in any form.

Labels only occasionally feel uncomfortable, but mostly not.

Not fixated on one type of foods.

Do care what others think of me and along side that, do not like to offend.

Have varied coloured clothes.

Although hate washing, do keep myself clean and do not forget.

Do take care of my home.
 
Its difficult to know what is meant by 'typical', in terms of a discerning or undiscerning opinion, but...

I have a very extroverted job - I am a part-time CrossFit Coach. Which means that I have to be (or at least appear) very organised and on the ball, need to be able to 'read' a room, understand body language, stay focused with lots going on around me, show compassion empathy etc, be comfortable creating rapport with complete strangers, and many other predominantly extroverted neuro-typcial behaviors.

Its exhausting, and I forget to give my time to recharge. I also sometimes wonder how i got to where i am, but I seem to be doing okay at it.

But I love it, I feel 1,000% privileged to be able to do what I do.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have always been employed, working doing the same thing all of my adult life. However, I was working with my special interest and worked alone. That helped a lot.

I have been married most of my adult life and have a very large family.

In my old age, I can talk to people much better than I used be able to.

For me, the advantages of being autistic out weights the disadvantages by a long ways. I like being a Aspie.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a maths genius, a savant or music prodigy.
I can't instantly count toothpicks that fall to the ground.
I can't calculate the day of any given date.

Edit: actually I can instantly count toothpicks that have fallen to the ground. If I have just opened a pack of 500, I take one out and then the pack drops, then assuming that the number on the packet is correct, there are going to be 499 on the ground :)
 
Last edited:
I regard myself as having very high executive functioning. Having spent many years hired to successfully guard the assets and liabilities of a corporate entity. Plus like so many others, I am not a savant. I've used math almost all my adult life, but in a very ordinary manner. No "Rain Man" to be found here.

While I can make eye contact, but it has never come naturally to me. I do it as just another way to mask who and what I am apart from protecting my credibility on a very superficial level. I also have a somewhat wry sense of humor as well.

If anything, such a question makes me realize that while I have any number of typical traits and behaviors of Autism Spectrum Disorder, I believe that they are visually manifested in a mild form to the outside world. Making it difficult for them- and myself at times to perceive me as being truly autistic. But I am, and I have come to terms with it over the years of becoming self-aware since the age of 55.
 
Last edited:
I don’t stim by flapping my arms or hands.

I don’t have one topic that I’m completely obsessed over and know everything about.
 
Although I was officially diagnosed, by two different doctors, here are my anomalies:
  • I'm highly empathetic, and always prioritize others' emotional wellbeing over taking logical stances
  • I'm illogical
  • People tend to think I'm very kind; I agree with them
  • I have a strong imagination (though, I'm not sure if low imagination characterizes autism [someone said so, but I'm skeptical of that assertion; many people with autism are imaginative])
  • I'm not male, in gender; my gender is complicated, but my Signature explains the three-part fluctuation
  • I hate playing "by the book" or "by the rules;" doing so doesn't delight me with predictability or safety; it restricts my imagination and annoys me
  • I am an altruist
  • I enjoy metaphors and symbolism
  • I like hugs
That might sound like a lot, but if I were to enumerate every characteristically autistic trait of mine, that list would hugely outsize this one.
 
I'm no math genius, I can do basic calculations in my head.

Don't usually stim except in the car, unless you consider dancing and martial arts stimming.

Not all that introverted, enjoy being with friends at times and care about other people and animals a great deal.

Have certain abilities that I've used to make my way in the world. Not a savant in any way.
 
Last edited:
I'm not officially diagnosed with an ASD but I have believed for several years that I'm on the spectrum. However I have been noticing that I don't exhibit many of the traits to the degree of many aspies I seem to read about here, and the few I know from social media and in person. This list is mainly things I relate to, but that I only see in limited quantities in myself.
• While I can be cold/logical, especially when I don't care, I'm often empathetic, to the point where my worries over the plight of others destroy my day. I am always careful about how my delivery will affect others, so I am not the brutally honest type, or the call it only as I see it type.
• I understand the intents of humor, sarcasm, metaphors etc. and use them constantly. However, I don't understand how some creative people go so far with them. I am much better at humor in speech than in writing.
• While I have obsessions or special interests, I learned from an early age that very few people share them with me and most others wouldn't be interested in hearing about them. I am, however, fascinated by savants in my areas of interest, and sometimes feel envious of them to some degree. While I am gifted in music, and less so mental math, I am by no means a genius. But many people seem to think I am.
• I can be amazingly extrovert if I have to be, thanks to some scripting and having some time and experience to acquaint with the atmosphere. Even if I'm thrown off the deep end, I'm able to improvise enough to get myself out, but it's really taxing on me.
• I do get meltdowns/shutdowns, but they are rarely the disfunctional kind I've heard come with an ASD. I don't become non verbal or regress in other ways when I'm in the middle of one. I just get really moody,, anxious and needlessly contemplative as my brain whirls with a thousand conflicting frustrating thoughts that I am unable to control.

In the end, I guess I can say I relate to a lot of ASD symptoms, but not enough to say that I feel like I should be labeled with Aspergers. There are times, however, when Aspergers really seems to fit the bill. But it's frustrating being caught in the middle, which is where I am much of the time. When I want to feel normal for lack of a better word, but I'm having an aspie moment, nobody understands. When I am around my aspie friends and I want to feel more normal, they don't always understand, though I think they do believe me.

It's worse when I talk to therapists or people who have supported me during my childhood, who still try to mentor me. Generally I don't mind this, but questioning whether I have an ASD or not in recent years has driven a wedge between me and them. None of them take me seriously when I try to broach the subject. They say something like "I've worked with autistics my entire career, and if you fit the bill, I would've noticed, or someone else would have and you would've been diagnosed. You, are certainly, not on the spectrum. Don't try to self-diagnose."

While their confidence is encouraging, it doesn't alleviate my conflicting emotions. Am I mostly neurotypical with a few ASD traits, or am I ASD, but good enough at acting neurotypical? I don't know which it is and, though it may seem silly to many people, it really makes me question who I am. When I'm alone, I don't care which it is; I just do my thing. But when I'm around other people, people who seem to know little about autism in general, or who don't seem sensitive to the issues it can bring, I get anxious, especially when they start to ask questions.

Maybe if it ever comes up in conversation again, I should say I'm neurodiverse. But imho that's just a fancy word for "a bit odd." And most people I know don't even believe I'm a bit odd, until some awkward moment happens, and the ease at which they brush it off always astounds me. Meh, I think I'm just safer letting it go, though it bugs me from time to time.
 
My nature is chaotic, not orderly. I cant organize anything, and I can turn any hotel room into a horrible exploded mess in the space of one day.

I can deal with weird unexpected things easily... I dont get thrown off balance by that.

I'm a fountain of sarcasm. "You're basically Garfield", is something I've been told before.

I have no interest in math, and in fact cannot really do any. Ask me to do addition or subtraction, and that's okay I guess. Multiplication will be slow and likely to have errors. Division will merely get you a blank stare. I've been using computers and other tech since I was little, and those things do the calculating for me when necessary.

I have a memory like a cheese grater.

Cant stand silence. I need a certain amount of constant sound to keep from going mad. I sleep with a very loud waterfall roar coming from my iPad, it is loud enough to drown out even thunder. Or anything else.

I notice that many autistics seem to be unable to drive for whatever reason. Not only can I drive, but it's essentially one of my stims, in a way. I must get out of the house and do that at least once a day... even if there isnt really anywhere to go.

I have incredible coordination, and can mentally process many, many things at once. To the point where if I try to focus on only ONE thing, I'll get spacey and confused. This was a big problem back in school.
 
I'm an adult woman. Autism isn't some little white boy disorder.
I've always been really bad at math. I used to worry that I'd never be able to live like an adult or even do my own grocery shopping because of it.
I'm overweight, not underweight.:(
I eat a variation of foods.
I'm the queen of sarcasm.
I prefer artistic things over logical things. I cant play chess, but I can draw and make crafts.
I actually like a lot of fictional stories, although they're mostly classic children's stories and not adult ones.
I don't flap my hands.
I don't wear a helmet.
I don't rock without a rocking chair.
I'm verbal and can speak very well.
I can make eye contact occasionally. I seem to have gotten better at it since my diagnosis.
I feel like I can't stay in the apartment alone for more than three days or so at a time. I start to get cabin fever and have to go out and do some shopping or something. Of course, I'm usually very glad to be home afterwards.
I show many different facial expressions and body language.
I don't speak in a monotone.

Autistic people are like individual DIY sundaes being made at a sundae bar. Almost no one uses the exact same ingredients. Even if they did use the exact same ingredients, the amount of each ingredient would vary.:yum:
 
Last edited:
  • I LIKE hugs (from appropriately close people). My ASD3 daughter is even less discriminating about hugs.
  • Unusual sensations or disrupted patterns don't offend me as much as they pique my curiosity.
 
*I'm a girl.
*I (currently) don't have a strict routine. (I used to, but that was when I was anorexic, and that routine was... messed up, to say the least)...
*I don't flap my hands (at least not when anyone's around to see).
*I'm terrible at math.
*I don't have super sensitive hearing, in fact, I suspect I may have mild auditory processing disorder, because I'm constantly mishearing my family members.
*I'm not sensitive to bright lights.
*I'm super duper creative
*I'm not a picky eater at all.
*I don't speak in an unusual voice (like a monotone).
*I enjoy both fiction and nonfiction books.
*I can make eye contact (for maybe 1 second at a time if I force myself, which is pretty pathetic).
 
I play music but am nowhere near being a savant or even highly skilled.

I'm good at math but in a practical sense, to make my life easier. I don't know calculus and don't get into math for the fun of it, or math jokes. I can do some things in my head but it takes a long time.

I don't like modern computers, smartphones, comic books, sci-fi, roleplaying games, anything beyond the occassional look at planets... any of those things typically associated with being nerdy or sterotypically autistic.
 
I don't like math.
I understand and use sarcasm.
I don't speak in a monotone manner, although overall I don't talk a lot.
I use metaphors quite often.
Have varied facial experessions.
Like fictional, sci-fi and horror movies.
Also like a variety of foods.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom