Special gift?

[Ame568]

I went to get my hair cut yesterday and the lady who cut my hair said that all autistic children/adults have a special gift like drawing really well for example; That made me wonder if that's true because I'm self diagnosed but I don't think I have a special gift and it sounded ableist to me and...I can't describe what I mean. What do you guys say?

 

[Greatshield17]

My personal opinion is yes and no, I think both Autistic and non-Autistic people are born with special gifts but they need to practice at them to help cultivate them, otherwise they never develop and/or lapse; I used to love drawing as a kid but I never mastered that skill; I would like to believe I'll get better at in the future, as right now I'm woking on an Hispanic version of my groups emblem. (though struggle to find time to complete it.)

 

[Rodafina]

all autistic children/adults have a special gift like drawing really well for example

It doesn’t really make sense, what she said. “All autistic children/adults” is such a massive group, it’s somewhat silly when people say that.

My snide side would like to ask her how long it took her to speak to all autistic people and learn this. But, my more thoughtful side would say…

Among autistic people there are surely many talents, obscure interests, and people who like to learn new things. For my part, I don’t think I was born with any special skill I can identify, but I have many interests where I have great motivation to learn and grow and become good at things.

I think what she said may come from a minimal understanding of autism based on pop culture and mass media.

 

[Aspychata]

Never really discovered my talents until l worked jobs that challenged me. So as a paralegal, l realized l like wading thru legal documents and reading them. As a bartender/server, l can multitask and learn fast, but names and faces can periodically stump me. That's why l encourage others to apply for positions outside of their comfort zone because you never know until you try.

 

[dragonfire42]

Well, I can say that I was diagnosed as a kid before I’d ever even heard the word “autism” before, seem pretty “textbook,” and I have no particular talent, skill, or even interest that can be put to any sort of use besides entertaining myself.

 

[Alexej]

.. but I don't think I have a special gift and it sounded ableist to me and...I can't describe what I mean. What do you guys say?

This sounds like a variation on the Rain Man meme of autism.
Autism means you have a special ability, This is not the case for all, but may be for some.

Certainly dont feel you are missing out if you dont have a "special gift"

 

[Darkkin]

It is the whole 'superpower' schtick. Things like savantism and prodigy level skill sets are exceedingly rare, even within the minority of the divergent population.

It is an extreme manifestation of the peak and valley learning (talent) profiles inherent in the ND population. In nearly 100% of savant cases there is major neurological involvement (more often correlated with ASD2 and ASD3 or major neurological trauma like a TBI). A majority of these individuals will present with such an uneven talent (skill) profile that they are incapable of living independently and will require life long support. Such 'gifts' can often come at a devastating cost.

Yes, some people will have some innate talent for things like art, sports, music, etc...but a lot of skills are developed through simple determination, practice, and often, a lot of self education.

I can't walk across a flat surface without tripping, and I can string words together in a competent manner, but then again so can several billion people, many in multiple languages. Where precisely does a basic skill in literacy become a gift? It doesn't, it is just a skill I learned because it is required in order to effectively interact with the world in which I live.

The clichés like Spencer Reid's character in Criminal Minds or Dr. Shaun Murphy in the Good Doctor are the atypical presentation of a savant profile, (they have workable functionality within a real world setting, but again, this is generally not the case). Rain Man is a much more accurate portrayal of what savantism (the severity of the skill set imbalance presents).

Roughly 50% of savants are autistic and roughly 37% of autistics have a savant level skill. Roughly 25- 40% of autistics are nonverbal (many have benefitted from the huge leap in adaptive technologies). The majority of active members of autism communities like this forum tend to be ASD1, the peak and valley skill sets, while still prevalent, will be much less extreme, thusly presenting with far fewer savant profiles. There are many highly skilled individuals on this forum, but a lot of those skills were developed through perseverance and study, not just natural inclination or social blindness.

 

[VictorR]

Never really discovered my talents until l worked jobs that challenged me. So as a paralegal, l realized l like wading thru legal documents and reading them. As a bartender/server, l can multitask and learn fast, but names and faces can periodically stump me. That's why l encourage others to apply for positions outside of their comfort zone because you never know until you try.

Exposure to things cannot be understated, along with resources/support along the way. This applies to everyone, but to use some examples on the spectrum...

Would Temple Grandin have become an animal scientist had she not been to her aunt's farm as a teenager and had the resources for further education?

Would Austin Riley have become a race car driver had his father not spent time and money on him to explore different things until he found something that just "clicked" for him, and then to support him on that journey?

Would Michael McCreary have become a successful stand up comic if not for his father's network helping set up some of his early gigs?

One thing that makes me sad is that many with socioeconomic barriers and intersectionalities simply never get the chance to become the best version of who they could be, and so when it comes to charities and support organizations and services, I always appreciate those that help under-priviledged children and youth get opportunities and exposure to things they might not have otherwise encountered on their own.

 

[mysterionz]

It doesn’t really make sense, what she said. “All autistic children/adults” is such a massive group, it’s somewhat silly when people say that.

My snide side would like to ask her how long it took her to speak to all autistic people and learn this. But, my more thoughtful side would say…

Among autistic people there are surely many talents, obscure interests, and people who like to learn new things. For my part, I don’t think I was born with any special skill I can identify, but I have many interests where I have great motivation to learn and grow and become good at things.

I think what she said may come from a minimal understanding of autism based on pop culture and mass media.

This. What Rodafina said. Also on the last paragraph autism representation is almost always “white cisgender males that are savants in math, socially awkward, and like trains.” Basically the Sheldon cooper trope.

 

[mysterionz]

This sounds like a variation on the Rain Man meme of autism.
Autism means you have a special ability, This is not the case for all, but may be for some.

Certainly dont feel you are missing out if you dont have a "special gift"

Also what Alexej said too.

Anyone remember MLP FiM? There was a character called Apple Bloom that formed a group called “The Cutie Mark Crusaders” with two other characters (sweetie belle and scootalo) where the three went out on various quests to try and find their “special talent/gift.” This was a major theme in the first few seasons of the show. Eventually, the three found their special gift/talent after patience, and hard work.

You don’t choose your special gift, the special gift chooses you.

 

[330]

This. What Rodafina said. Also on the last paragraph autism representation is almost always “white cisgender males that are savants in math, socially awkward, and like trains.” Basically the Sheldon cooper trope.

Funny was just watching the show “Young Sheldon”

 

[mysterionz]

Funny was just watching the show “Young Sheldon”

 

[330]

I went to get my hair cut yesterday and the lady who cut my hair said that all autistic children/adults have a special gift like drawing really well for example; That made me wonder if that's true because I'm self diagnosed but I don't think I have a special gift and it sounded ableist to me and...I can't describe what I mean. What do you guys say?

I would think of it like this . Every Hollywood writer puts every stereotype into a character.

We know that every person in the military is not Rambo .

And that concept may transfer into how other people see us and conform us into one group of traits .

 

[mysterionz]

I would think of it like this . Every Hollywood writer puts every stereotype into a character.

We know that every person in the military is not Rambo .

And that concept may translate how other people see us and conform us into one group of traits .

dhar Mann will enter the room in 3,2,1 and take notes for how to intantlize autistic ppl in his next feel good video

 

[330]

dhar Mann will enter the room in 3,2,1 and take notes for how to intantlize autistic ppl in his next feel good video

Yup exactly

 

[mysterionz]

Yup exactly

I’ll probably be right. I already dislike him waaaaaay too much

 

[Progster]

An interesting fact about some 'special gifts' is that practising a skill can lead to structural changes in the brain. Einstein, for example, learned to play the violin and had an extra knob of brain material in the area associated with motor function. Indeed all musicians who play the violin develop this. This extra brain material may make it easy for a musician to play a musical intrument and become much better than average it, hence being labelled gifted. But without practice and dedication, this talent will never develop.

 

[330]

An interesting fact about some 'special gifts' is that practising a skill can lead to structural changes in the brain. Einstein, for example, learned to play the violin and had an extra knob of brain material in the area associated with motor function. Indeed all musicians who play the violin develop this. This extra brain material may make it easy for a musician to play a musical intrument and become much better than average it, hence being labelled gifted. But without practice and dedication, this talent will never develop.

I often wondered if the musical part of his brain that he developed with practicing his violin contributed to his imagination of his scientific mind, or are they part of the same thing

 

[Progster]

I often wondered if the musical part of his brain that he developed with practicing his violin contributed to his imagination of his scientific mind, or are they part of the same thing

He also apparently had greater than average corpus callosum, the fibers connecting the two halves of the brain. So greater connectivity, and perhaps greater than average ability to integrate the different areas that each half of the brain is responsible for. He also had an extra ridge on his mid-frontal lobe, the area associated with making plans adn short term memory. These may have given him the edge (though this can't be proven and is a topic of debate among scientists).
source here:

 

[330]

He also apparently had greater than average corpus callosum, the fibers connecting the two halves of the brain. So greater connectivity, and perhaps greater than average ability to integrate the different areas that each half of the brain is responsible for. He also had an extra ridge on his mid-frontal lobe, the area associated with making plans adn short term memory. These may have given him the edge (though this can't be proven and is a topic of debate among scientists).
source here:

Thank you for that information .