Unusual autism traits? High coordination and athleticism but low situational awareness, fear of

[BenderRodriguez]

^
I can definitely see that making a difference: focus and mental endurance makes a huge difference for professional athletes and most of them get it through years of discipline.

 

[The Q]

Have you played musical instruments? I used to go to this music group thing where everyone got together once a week to play mostly guitar based music. I was mainly just the guy who found the equipment since I was buying and selling things at the time, but I would sing and try to play instruments. I noticed a little of what you are saying in maybe a slightly different way, where I am not very good at guitar, but I am sort of a natural at drums, but when I would play drums I would be very animated. Like it was easier to keep the rhythm if my whole body was moving with it.

Driving in familiar areas, especially in light traffic and trying to drive on unfamiliar highways in heavy traffic are like totally different things to me. Like if you get your drivers license, you don’t have to drive downtown or on highways during rush hour

I don’t know how semi-truck drivers and so on regularly manage dealing with all the things going on around them with huge vehicles, I’d be more comfortable driving very fast by myself on racetrack than figuring out what lane I am supposed to be in on a busy highway. I mean it’s weird, I would turn late night pizza delivery into sort of race track and have fun with this, but unfamiliar highways or one way streets in the city during rush hour when I don’t know where I am going and the only thing keeping me from anxiety attacks is gps telling me what to do.

Like if I can focus on the car and the road I am great, but focusing on hard to see signs and which lane to be in and all the other traffic and so on and it’s like too many things

But my issues are definitely around the entire thing about “executive functioning”, so I am sure that I am different from others on the spectrum about what is hard and what isn’t.

I played piano for years! So yep, definitely understand that.

And yeah everyone is certainly different, I'm terrible at taking care of myself and get overwhelmed easily but I'm good at in-depth conversations with people in moderation.

 

[Jumpback]

This is a current situation I'm finding perplexing with a man I am seeing.
He is Aspie and is lost socially, yet has always been good with the ladies, they like his looks,
(so do I), and never lacked for a partner either.
We really like each other and have even said I love you's. But, he's been used to a full s*x life
and I'm asexual.
How do the two ever agree?

Here is an incredibly good looking autistic Rugby player that has difficulty with confidence around women and seems to get scared of getting close to women, though he is obviously incredibly popular with them

I identify with his situation some, though I was certainly never close to being that good looking, but I did used to be in this good of shape and was that athletic

All four of the girlfriends I have had, we had sex immediately, so I knew they were interested. Things involving flirting kind of would seem unclear to me, and if there was a date I’d become such a nervous wreck and not know what to say that I was embarrassed to talk to the woman again.

Unfortunately, I was also around a lot of gay men whose signals I also misread and they seemed to misread mine. One issue I had twice was I would meet some guy and think I was making a friend and then after we became roommates he’d come out of the closet and express his interest in me.

Actually, the way I came across when I was younger was probably more than a little like the Rugby player. For some reason I seemed to come across as uncomfortable or possibly even dangerous once in awhile to women, but the discomfort and shyness seemed to be viewed as cuteness or interest by gay men. Or something like this. It was very strange

 

[SliverOfSand]

This thread reminded me of a section in ‘The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome’ by Tony Atwood. In Chapter 10, page 281, he says, “... I have known of many children and adults with Asperger’s syndrome who have achieved abilities in movement skills that have been exceptional and contributed towards winning national and international championships.”

He also gives examples of solitary sports, such as fencing or martial arts, that autistic people may be skilled in. I know from personal experience, that I was really good at running and basketball because I was tall, and could focus on a single objective. I never really joined a team though. I went to a track and field meet once, and found it overwhelming and confusing, since there was too much happening at once, and there wasn’t any clear instruction on what to do and where to be.

During middle school and high school, I joined a curling league. At first, people would point out that I looked like a giraffe on rollerblades XD, but I eventually got skilled enough that I could really focus and make precise plays and decisions in the game. Of course, because it was a team sport, I had a hard time communicating with others on the team, and as the skip (captain), I wasn’t a very effective leader, and would avoid as much communication as possible. So eventually I quit, and I prefer to play sports like table tennis or golf.

I totally get the executive function problems when it comes to sports. It’s hard to really focus on a task when there is so much movement and noise distracting you. I would always get really stressed during a sport, and then I would become frustrated when I couldn’t focus or made a mistake.

 

[Ursus Chainus]

N
This is a current situation I'm finding perplexing with a man I am seeing.
He is Aspie and is lost socially, yet has always been good with the ladies, they like his looks,
(so do I), and never lacked for a partner either.
We really like each other and have even said I love you's. But, he's been used to a full s*x life
and I'm asexual.
How do the two ever agree?

They really don't on some level but just having a stable relationship with someone who loves me is plenty enough. I love her deeply too. She definitely has a strong stance against me being sexual with anyone else. That does chafe a bit simply because I am a very independent person who absolutely hates the idea of "being owned". I have decided to view it as a trade off. I want her to be happy and not have to worry about me taking off with some woman. I have had an incredible sex life with lots of amazing exploration. I don't think I am missing much as most people are boring in bed and often act strange after sex.

Women still respond to me and it irritates her. I might instigate that a bit, lol. One thing that can be a bit challenging for some people who are with asexual partners is that they feel that they are not attractive so I would make sure you let him know you find him very attractive in your way.

Our sexuality is a core part of who we are. I would not want my wife ever to change. I love all of her... even her asexuality. I also love it when she says "Yuck, you did that!?"

 

[Jumpback]

This thread reminded me of a section in ‘The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome’ by Tony Atwood. In Chapter 10, page 281, he says, “... I have known of many children and adults with Asperger’s syndrome who have achieved abilities in movement skills that have been exceptional and contributed towards winning national and international championships.”

What I feel like, for whatever reason, is that my head and body are always going a bit faster than everyone else’s

Like I just started group therapy as a result of needing medication for anxiety and adhd and depression and I can not sit still. The therapist allows me to sit out in the hall where I can move around or pace or rock sort of from side to side quickly and pace manically

But then what also happens is when things speed up, they actually move into my speed. I used to go to dance clubs in my early 20s and sometimes they would keep speeding the music up, and most of the time when they got to the end, I would be the only one keeping rhythm jumping around and doing all kinds of movements. It just wasn’t hard for me

Like it wasn’t sophisticated dance moves or anything, but whatever I could think of to do, rather jumping in place quickly or moving my legs or arms around or spinning around or whatever, they never seemed to speed the music up to where I could not maintain rhythm with it

Like just completing the most basic of basic tasks requiring sitting still and focus or just even taking care of myself is hard, but maintaining rhythm and coordination at very high rates of speed I just can do

I don’t know why

 

[Jumpback]

He also gives examples of solitary sports, such as fencing or martial arts, that autistic people may be skilled in. I know from personal experience, that I was really good at running and basketball because I was tall,

I just mentioned this on another thread...I kind of feel like the way autistic spectrum people, especially tall people, might excel at basketball is to adopt an Akeem Olajuwan approach where he had a lot of preset moves. Guy had a move for this and a counter move for that and everything in between. If defender did this he would do that and so on.

Simplifies everything, his moves were almost like math and probability, rather than paying attention to all details on the court.

The famous “Dream Shake” on David Robinson was not something he made up at the moment, it was part of his arsenal of if the other person does this, I am going to do that

 

[Jumpback]

What I feel like, for whatever reason, is that my head and body are always going a bit faster than everyone else’s

Like I just started group therapy as a result of needing medication for anxiety and adhd and depression and I can not sit still. The therapist allows me to sit out in the hall where I can move around or pace or rock sort of from side to side quickly and pace manically

But then what also happens is when things speed up, they actually move into my speed. I used to go to dance clubs in my early 20s and sometimes they would keep speeding the music up, and most of the time when they got to the end, I would be the only one keeping rhythm jumping around and doing all kinds of movements. It just wasn’t hard for me

Like it wasn’t sophisticated dance moves or anything, but whatever I could think of to do, rather jumping in place quickly or moving my legs or arms around or spinning around or whatever, they never seemed to speed the music up to where I could not maintain rhythm with it

Like just completing the most basic of basic tasks requiring sitting still and focus or just even taking care of myself is hard, but maintaining rhythm and coordination at very high rates of speed I just can do

I don’t know why

Or maybe I looked like a fool dancing around really fast. Who knows? But I did have fun.

 

[Jumpback]

This thread reminded me of a section in ‘The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome’ by Tony Atwood. In Chapter 10, page 281, he says, “... I have known of many children and adults with Asperger’s syndrome who have achieved abilities in movement skills that have been exceptional and contributed towards winning national and international championships.”

I can think of three nba players who might be in the direction of being autistic, though I don’t know that any of them would be far enough to fit Aspergers. All three are incredible athletes even by nba standards and excellent defensive players

Kristaps Porzingis- Likely the most athletic/coordinated 7’3” player ever to play in nba, but he is not a very good passer. Should be one of the top players in the nba due to being a really good shooter and actually being able to chase down quick wing players to block shots, but tends to be too complicated when he gets the ball, like he isn’t sure what to do

JaVale McGee- Freak athlete for his size, has been diagnosed with ADHD, famous for making boneheaded plays, so never seems to be as good as his athletic ability would suggest

Kawhi Leonard- One of best athletes and players in the nba, especially since he excels at defense as much as he does offensive. His one weakness is passing, but it’s not really bad. Seems very quiet and uncomfortable in interviews. Actually seems possibly the most autistic of the three, but doesn’t seem to have too much trouble with court awareness/of what everyone is doing

 

[Jumpback]

I can think of three nba players who might be in the direction of being autistic, though I don’t know that any of them would be far enough to fit Aspergers. All three are incredible athletes even by nba standards and excellent defensive players

Kristaps Porzingis- Likely the most athletic/coordinated 7’3” player ever to play in nba, but he is not a very good passer. Should be one of the top players in the nba due to being a really good shooter and actually being able to chase down quick wing players to block shots, but tends to be too complicated when he gets the ball, like he isn’t sure what to do

JaVale McGee- Freak athlete for his size, has been diagnosed with ADHD, famous for making boneheaded plays, so never seems to be as good as his athletic ability would suggest

Kawhi Leonard- One of best athletes and players in the nba, especially since he excels at defense as much as he does offensive. His one weakness is passing, but it’s not really bad. Seems very quiet and uncomfortable in interviews. Actually seems possibly the most autistic of the three, but doesn’t seem to have too much trouble with court awareness/of what everyone is doing

I looked up these three guys and their hobbies are watching YouTube videos about various things, fishing and creating music. Nothing too unusual

Maybe these guys aren’t close to autistic spectrum. But I just found it strange that the three I could think of who might be in terms having poor court awareness or discomfort in interviews happened to also be three of the most athletic/coordinated players in the nba, and also three of the better defensive players in the nba.