What is it like being neurotypical or Aspie?

[tree]

A problem I have found with asking NTs about their
thoughts is that so few of them actually think about
their thinking process. What I get from the people I
know is that they are unaware of themselves, for the
most part.

 

[AveApollo]

Interesting, tree. Do their social interactions come so spontaneously? If I walk in public: I'm thinking of which side of the road or place to walk, so the person opposite doesn't bump in to me, if I need to ask for directions: I will rehearse my words in my head before actually talking to them (sometimes I mispronounce words or just struggle to be coherent, concise or accidently say something direct that might sound strange or not how I want to say it), if I buy an item: I will also rehearse the words mentally and,or prepare the money in my hand before arriving at the cashier...basically I am ALWAYS thinking and assessing. They don't do this?

 

[tree]

AveApollo
"I will rehearse my words in my head before actually talking to them (sometimes I mispronounce words or just struggle to be coherent, concise or accidentally say something direct that might sound strange or not how I want to say it), if I buy an item: I will also rehearse the words mentally and,or prepare the money in my hand before arriving at the cashier...basically I am ALWAYS thinking and assessing."

What you have written sounds completely normal and
reasonable to me. That is, it sounds like what is goes on
in my head.

The NTs I have consulted/compare notes with seem oblivious
to what is going on within themselves, to the degree that they
don't even note any difference in how they feel regarding eating
various foods, unless it is to say "I don't like that." Then they
offer some non-rational reason for not eating it.

Examples:
No pancakes. Why? Not challenging enough texture.
No bananas. Why? They look like slugs.
Nothing made with pumpkin? Why? Pumpkin sounds nasty.

Those are 3 different people.

If I don't eat a food it is because of how it makes me feel.

OK...the aspect of social awareness...These three have scripts
they expect to follow, but it seems they don't find it necessary to
continually rehearse them. A linking feature to these three people
is they all claim to "understand people."

In one case, the understanding seems based primarily along the
lines the Dunning-Kruger effect describes. She thinks she knows
because she doesn't realize how little she does know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

 

[AveApollo]

...about food: I am highly sensitive to taste and texture. I avoid certain foods because they make me feel uncomfortable because of being too sweet (I don't like sweet stuff) or some food is sharp in the mouth or worse, a combo of soft and sharp, like some weird breakfast cereal I tried recently. Also, I have a strange dislike of fish, because when I was a child, I think someone told me that the fish's body is a brain structure, so I thought I was literally eating brains! I realise this is factually wrong but I think the idea stayed with me from a child, so I find them a bit strange as animals. So I admit to this irrationality here perhaps? But still, my examples all relate to how it makes me feel directly I suppose, not because I don't like the sound of a food! Lol.

About Dunning-Kruger: I love it. I found out about it recently. I keep meeting people who, are admittedly more intelligent than the general population, but think that they are waaaay smarter than they actually are. Typically these seem to be the ones that call other people 'sheeple" and strongly believe in conspiracy theories and unscientific new-age things etc. Since I've had psychological assessments done in the last few years, I know that I am very probably even smarter than these arrogant people, but I had grown up thinking I am way dumber than them. Partly due to not being able to keep up socially or understand what's going on in a group as well as they do. It's like they have an unwritten language that they all understand each other, or that they are tuned in to the same frequency but I am on a different wavelength, and when I open my mouth: they sometimes get shocked, offended, confused, laugh, judge me, bully me or ignore me. Finding out about AS only a few months ago, after 34 years or so of life like this might have made me more un-confident to a degree, yes.

About social awareness: I think you are right about NTs not really knowing about what they are thinking during social activity. When I told some of them that I have to think things through and that I find the world too ambiguous and I need clarification and prefer instructions written down than spoken etc, they assume that I lack confidence. They don't see that it is because I find them confusing, take things literally and always have a feeling that I am not understanding something, because there have been so many occasions where people turn around and accuse me of things where I hadn't even noticed what was expected, or realised that I should have done or behaved in a certain way...why can't they just be clear and direct? Apparently they don't need to be with each other, and it's an "expected thing" of me in society. To finally find out about AS is such a relief. If the diagnostician says I'm not an Aspie, I think I will finally go insane. EQ, AQ, and AAA tests all qualify me for AS. Just an 'informal interview' apparently that I have to do in person left to do. The appointment date is taking forever.