I wish I knew how to mimic!

Page 1 of 1 [ 7 posts ] 

zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

26 Feb 2010, 8:04 am

I hear the issue with girls getting diagnosed is we learn to mimic others. I don't remember ever doing that! I wish I knew about AS years ago it would of saved me alot of distress now!! ! I just toss myself out there but from reading posts here on WP I'm considering toning it down some. Keep quiet more etc. but the idea of having to change my behavior feels so daunting and hard and stressful!! ! It's like me walking normal (I have a crooked leg or whatever) and I'd have to consciously THINK of walking straight just like I'd have to consciously think of behaving correctly! DAMN IT!! !! !! ! Please tell me there are other Aspie girls who suck/never mimicked others. :-)



Aimless
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Apr 2009
Age: 67
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,187

26 Feb 2010, 8:17 am

I never did because I thought their behavior was bogus.



Lecks
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,987
Location: Belgium

26 Feb 2010, 9:58 am

An example that might help: when I was younger (about 9) I noticed people moved their arms when they walked, I never noticed before and it seemed odd that I didn't do this (note that I only heard about autism much, much later) so I started to swing my arms when I walked.
It looked unnatural and a few people took notice, after a bit more observing I noticed that the movement of the arms follows the movement of the leg on the other side (left leg goes forward, right arm goes forward, right leg goes back, left arm goes back) so I started doing that. It took a bit of effort to keep track of my arm movements, but by the time I started high school I did it automatically.

It's little things like that keep adding up that makes blending in seem so daunting and nearly impossible, but just take it 1 step at a time and you'll get there.

I'm not a female aspie, but I've mimicked people all my life quite successfully and it's not as stressful las it might seem. You can turn it into a game to make it easier.


_________________
Chances are, if you're offended by something I said, it was an attempt at humour.


Apera
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 871
Location: In Your Eyes

26 Feb 2010, 10:31 am

Observation is key. In the pacific islands, during WW2, troops would give food and stuff to natives as a sort of bribe for building air bases on their land. After the war ended, the troops all moved out. But the natives sat in radio towers with headphones that they constructed out of bamboo and whatnot. You see, they thought that by mimicking base operations, they could get stuff again.

Another example would be the story of the scientist testing how far a frog can jump. He nudges the frog, and it jumps 4 feet. Amputates one leg, nudges again, 3 feet. This continues until the frog has no legs, and does not jump when nudged. The scientist concludes that a frog with no legs is dead. I know of an alternate version of this, where the conclusion is that crickets hear through there legs.

Basically, just eliminate the variables and you're more likely to get it right.


_________________
When I allow it to be
There's no control over me
I have my fears
But they do not have me


tweety_fan
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Oct 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,555

26 Feb 2010, 10:27 pm

I don't remember mimcking people when I was younger.



Jellybean
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,795
Location: Bedford UK

27 Feb 2010, 5:03 pm

I don't mimick people and I never have. I have never behaved like a girl 'should'. Frankly seeing all these girls getting p****d out of their minds and ending up with a bloke called 'Steve' the next morning pregnant doesn't exactly attract me to the idea...

Of course that's not to say ALL English girls do this!

I think that girls find it easier to learn social skills than lads, maybe not mimicking but learning things like basic body language/facial expressions and learning not to talk about rabbits all the time... Yeah I was REALLY unpopular for that... Of course we go back to the main argument that we are all different!

I am a cliché!


_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite ;) )


SilentScream
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2009
Age: 54
Gender: Female
Posts: 405
Location: UK

01 Mar 2010, 7:09 am

I don't actually deliberately mimic others. But if I meet someone whose grasp of the English language is less than mine, I do seem to cut down my vocabulary to match those within theirs.

Additionally, I also very naturally start to match their speech pattern and pronunciation if they're markedly foreign. I don't do it deliberately, but I know that I seem to have quite good success with communicating with foreigners, and they can find it quite easy to talk to me.

The downside is that some peoplethink I'm making fun of them(funnily enough, it's native English speakers who think that, not the foreigner I'm talking to) , but I'm not, I just seem to be using whatever I can to be able to communicate to that person.