• 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

What's some of your favorite positive effects of your ASD?

Great post! For me it is being able to absorb information easily and the ability to see through things and figure out the nuts and bolts of it. Most of all I like the feeling of comfort I get when I'm bang into something and have blocked out the world while doing it.
 
errorblankfield said:
^I'm the same way. I've always had a really good emotional intelligence. Growing up, people would tell me this all the time (which is a weird thing to say I think, but meh) and for the longest time I didn't really believe them. Over the years I started to see it myself. It's just the whole transcribing the emotions into something 'useful' for other people.

So on that note, that's one of my favorite effects.

Other than that, I'd have to say my ability to recognize patterns. Having a natural affinity for logic/order, I started picking up on patterns in everything. Started in the sciences -so math really, but then I started seeing them in nature and people. Sometimes freak myself out when I analyze a person and figure out things about them before they tell me.

Also, the idiosyncrasies I've picked over the years. While common in this community, a lot of the habits we share are atypical to the general populous. I feel like when I find someone that does something -different- but in a way I like, I'll start doing the same. Easy example, using semi-colons. I forgot how rare they are to find in 'in the wild' so to speak. At one point, I would even use them in texts if needed -but eventually enough people complained so I got out of the habit. Then I saw people on the forum using them correctly and I had a moment... I had completely forgotten how much I liked using them.

So there's another thing actually, those little connections we get to make; a unique bond connecting aspies in general. Though it's cheating cause it's merely another pattern, we have a lot of common threads that connect us in a very special way. Something I take solace in.

(Wow, haven't typed a semicolon in years... going to start. Also first post, this place should be awesome.)
Click to expand...

I love semi-colons and am always excited when I find someone else who does too!
 
1: My mind. I'm lazy, so my mind figures out the easiest and fastest way to do something, while still getting it right. My mind is my biggest source entertainment.

2: My minds eye. I can see things in my mind and test different solutions to a problem to see if it will work. This is handy when you spend your life disassembling and reassembling things.

3: The ability to focus on a subject long enough to take in and retain large amounts of information.

4:A built in set of principles.

5: A logical thought process that makes me aware of what's going on around me. This process dictates what I believe and most of the things that I do.
 
To think differently than nt's and develop solutions to ideas that others can not . .
My work has been carpentry for many years, I have accomplished some beautiful work for people, I have skills that are not explainable, simple details that just pull projects together., I can create a video in my head of the project and then follow that thru. with logical thinking, spacial intelligence and a simplistic approach.
I have taught myself wood working, electricity, plumbing, tile work, and flooring and elevated these to the level of art.
I have a broad range of intelligences,that if I apply myself to the task , I will accomplish it, it is the applying part that can be difficult..
I can be funny in my responses and views...while being 100% honest..
To enjoy life without all the emotional baggage
 
Last edited:
Logic thinking
An eye for detail
Thirst for knowledge and ability to focus, so I learn easily and fast.
Critical, analytical and independent mind. No need to follow the herd, able to see past the BS. I do my own thing.
Good long term memory and pattern recognition, which enable me to learn facts and foreign languages easily.
 
My favourites are -

Being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound
Impervious to bullets

Nah... not really, just all the stuff everyone else has mentioned before me ;)
 
Analytical skills. gathering data, seeing what's important, useful and interesting. Then turning into a something meaningful. And also using it when debating with others. I have strong sense of logic, backed up with evidence and practicalities. Once I see something that makes sense to me: then single minded willpower gets the results that I want.

Memory and knowledge: especially with facts and figures. Member states of the European Union, train times, bus routes, international telephone codes, capital cities of the US and of the World. Makes for great party tricks or helps with debates or helping others when they need to know fast. There's Google for everything. But if you can talk while instantly recalling facts and figures, that give you the knowledgeable lead.

Integrity: I like schedules and accuracy. Arriving somewhere at about 6-ish isn't good enough. I arrive at 18:00. Yes, I like the 24 hour clock. None of the am/pm confusion. I plan my trips. I like to be honest. I want to be reliable. You can count on me.
 
Everything I do well as an Aspie, many NTs also do. I see nothing that is beneficial about always being the odd man out, weird, never on the same wavelength, sticking out like a sore thumb at a large gathering......I consider Autism nothing but a huge handicap. Of course lots of Auties and Aspies are nice people, but also, so are many NTs. It's like someone asking what's good about being blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, physically disabled----all handicaps. Possibly, because we are so often devalued we are aware of how difficult any handicap can be to live with and it may make us more tolerant. Still, some NTs are also tolerant. I can't be at all happy or feel lucky for having AS, damnit!
 
The humor I find in taking things literally, even when I know I shouldn't take them literally. "That's sick" all of the inanimate objects and intangible things that I can envision vomiting when I hear or read that keep me smiling all day most days. "Get your butt in gear." A gear shift on someone's rear end LOL. "I'd forget my head if it weren't screwed on." Whomever's head being unscrewed as if they were a Frankenstein like monster. LOL

My quirky, off beat sense of humor. I tend to be an equal opportunity insulter and pick on everybody - especially when I can intentionally take something literally that they don't mean literally, or twist a phase to the risque - another of my dubious talents. (I know Aspies don't have a sense of humor, well I do, it's just weird, like me.)

My keen hearing, while annoying when the wrong sounds are happening around me, it's great to hear faint sounds, nuances and details that others miss most of the time.

My ability to focus on information or a task and block out all distraction for hours.

My ability to read or hear information and make unexpected but valid connections.
 
I don't know if this is an aspie thing or not. But I have extremely good analytical skills. I just wish I had a short term memory to go with it that was equally good. my STM is really bad. Irregardless, It still doesn't get around the fact that socializing is still an unnatural act for an aspie and the exhausting struggles it take to make it work. Even if you're lucky to get that far without screwing something up.
 
I can take solace in the peace and quiet.
I have a vivid imagination.
I see things from a different perspective and have great analytic skills.
I may not be able to actually judge distances (like, in a measurable distance such as miles, feet, or inches), but I can calculate based on the rate at which I am traveling and that at which someone else is traveling at which point in space we will meet. Believe it or not, this can actually be really helpful, especially when I do not feel like interacting with someone.
I am honest and punctual.
I am keenly aware of my surroundings (though sometimes when sensory issues are involved this isn't so great).
I can store retain massive amounts of information for later use and can retrieve this information very quickly.
I think very hard about what I will say before I speak.
 
Aspieistj said:
Everything I do well as an Aspie, many NTs also do. I see nothing that is beneficial about always being the odd man out, weird, never on the same wavelength, sticking out like a sore thumb at a large gathering......I consider Autism nothing but a huge handicap. Of course lots of Auties and Aspies are nice people, but also, so are many NTs. It's like someone asking what's good about being blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, physically disabled----all handicaps. Possibly, because we are so often devalued we are aware of how difficult any handicap can be to live with and it may make us more tolerant. Still, some NTs are also tolerant. I can't be at all happy or feel lucky for having AS, damnit!
Click to expand...


Pretty much covers how I feel, to be honest. I cannot think of one advantage in life that AS has given me. I'm fairly intelligent, but thanks to an unholy combination of depression and ADD have been utterly unable to make any use of that intelligence in a real world sense: hence why I'm unemployed and have never had a career at the age of 40. I crave human connection, but my inability to socialise ensures I rarely make a connection with other people.

Basically, my negativity and cynicism about having ASD is what has deterred me from trying to join the AS community. I cannot see anything positive! I also have Crohn's disease, and am a member of a Crohn's forum. No one rightly praises that awful disease, but if I could go back in time and choose one or the other, I would choose Crohn's over ASD. At least Crohn's only ruined 10 years of my life, as opposed to 40.
 
mw2530 said:
What are some of your positive effects of being an aspie?
Click to expand...

I read what everyone else wrote with great interest.

I would have to say that my positive effects include:

The Ability to Role Play: Many years before learning that I was on the ADS spectrum, I developed a coping mechanism to help me face my first class. Terrified that the students might ridicule or ignore me, I developed the persona of a teacher by adopting the attitude and mannerisms of a teacher whom I had liked and respected in high school. I wrapped myself in this persona and wore it like a mask ... and it worked. I have been channeling my inner teacher ever since I first stepped into a classroom back in 1982 and doing this has allowed me to pursue a highly successful career as an educator.

The Ability to Sort Information: I love information that's related to anything I have an interest in such as politics, ancient history, military history, the Victorian and Edwardian periods, sociology, Culinary Arts, and restaurant operations. Whenever I encounter new relevant information, I'm like a magpie, all aflutter over a shiny bauble. I'm a news junkie, a lover of esoteric facts, and I love breaking information down into component parts and sorting them into different patterns. As a teacher, this trait has been very useful because I can take complex information, break it down into smaller "bite sized" parts and create an instructional unit complete with sequenced lessons, reinforcement assignments, hands-on practicums, skills assessments, enrichment activities, quizzes, and tests using diverse instructional approaches and multimedia tools.

The Ability to Convey What I Know: Coupled with my love of information is my ability to share what I know. Although I would quail at the idea of attending a large party, I have had no problems with delivering lectures or lessons to a a thousand people in a crowded auditorium. So long as I have my teacher persona in place, I can teach anything that I'm certified for.

Project Oriented Blinders - Other people in this thread have commented about how they are project oriented. I am too. Most of my projects are work related and involve creating lessons and supporting instructional materials (such as video imagery, power point slides, or worksheets). Once I get started on a project, I don't allow petty distractions to bother me and I can be extremely productive within a relatively short period.

Caption.10.jpg
 
I've always been a good judge of character. Probably because I don't let someone's "charming" personality be a basis for what I think of them. I judge people by their actions, words and motives emotions play very little into it.

I really excel at 3 dimensional thinking, I can see a 2D drawing and almost instantly understand what it should look like. (Probably easier to understand if you have blueprint reading experience)

Last but not least is the ability let mind go into warp speed. When I'm at work my mind will go into hyper speed and I begin to process information quicker. This is likely due to the years of doing what I do. I can understand the whole picture and direct 10-30 each in a task to quickly finish the project. When I'm working alone I can see how every second is wasted and maximize every movement I make.
 
1. I have an excellent memory for numbers.
2. I have an excellent memory for past events.
3. I also don't get lonely.
4. Super sensitive hearing (though mainly a curse) - I can tell if something's not right, so for example my dad's left the gas on before and I could hear it from the other room.

Edit:

I'm faster than smoke alarms. I noticed our tea light had caught fire. Here's a visual:

Normal tea light
aluminum_tins_for_tea_light_candle.jpg


What our tea light was more like
ADG-001Gel_fireplace.jpg


Scary as it wouldn't blow out. A bit of water calmed it down enough to blow it out. Made a very strange noise with the water. Not really sure what caught fire but I'm glad I was downstairs to notice it because my mum was unaware.

I guess I have higher awareness of my surroundings which may have prevented a house fire. Or maybe it'd have gone out by itself. I don't know but I didn't want to find out.
 
Last edited:
- I can get really into certain activities and interests.
- I enjoy being by myself and spending time in my own head.
- I have a strong sense of justice and fairness.
- I have unique taste in music.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom