Aspies & Public Speaking

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This has intrigued me for most of my life. You see, I've been excellent at speaking publicly. The fact that public speaking is the worst fear in the world doesn't apply to me.

But, lately, and this is what made me consider joining WP, is what if it's the mere fact that I have Asperger's that makes me immune to that fear?

My theory is that I can't pick up the cues that people get before an audience, and that the areas that would be worried don't function.

But I want to know what the general opinion is here from various aspies about speaking in public. I know we suck interpersonally, but what about with audiences?

Personally I have issues with public speaking - I wouldn't say it's my greatest fear, but it's up there. I think there's a real variety here of people who fear it and people who have no problem with it. I can see how the spectrum tendency to lecture and be pedantic would lend itself very well to public speaking, though. What more could we want than a receptive audience?

I am not afraid of speaking in public. I think the reason normal people are afraid of speaking in public is that they're afraid they're going to make a fool of themselves. But me, and the audience both already know i'm a fool, so i don't have to worry that f*****g up will make me look any worse.

When I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to get straight As so that I could be a valedictorian and have a chance to give a speech in front of the entire graduating class. I wanted to give a very insightful speech. My hopes were dashed after the very first semester when I got a B in English I (Challenge).

I love speaking in public, and have done so in many contexts. I've given lectures, I've held courses, I've spoken to kids at my daughter's school. The problem isn't speaking in public, the problem is having to talk to and with various members of the audience during coffee breaks and the like. Small talk is scary, I don't know how to do it.

I think speaking in public works because I don't regard the audience as people, they're just objects, there so I can speak in public , plus I get to talk about stuff that interests me.

I used to be a Civilian Instructor in the Sea Cadet Corps i.e. taught children and had to do many oral presentations throughout my degree, sometimes to quite large groups of people. Although I get very nervous and anxious before I do any form of public speaking, once I get into it I'm ok.

I also love speaking in public, whether it be speeches or lectures. However, it is the one-on-one interaction with people that I have a hard time with. When I took part in Model UN exercises in college, I used to enjoy making speeches, but I hated the negotiations and dealing involved in actually crafting resolutions. As a political science professor, I loved giving lectures, but I was not good at leading class discussions. This is part of the Aspie tendency to talk at people, but not to people. When I talk about something that excites me it is hard for me to tone down my voice.

My son is an Aspie, he is 11. For all the problems he's had with communicating, we've been surprised to see him bringing home 100's (another one today) whenever he has to stand up and give a talk to the class or grade.

According to him talking about something he's learned about or already loves is no problem, the words are all there, in order, in his head. He is just the "conduit". I asked how he scores A's on eye contact - the teachers are in the far back of the room and so he can focus on noses with them being none the wiser.

But yes, afterwards when the principal swings by and wants to say Hi and good job, he's counting floor tiles silently.

We have tried working on small talk with him - like when he gets home from school how was your day, etc. but he just can't get past the lack of importance/logic. He knows that I know that if he had a bad day I'd have gotten a phone call, so no phone call means a good day. How dumb is mom? lol

I know what I have to speak publicly most of my fears stem from what the audience will think. I guess since that's not an issue at least from my son's perspective that's why he has no fear.

I don't care what my audience thinks of me, actually. As far as I'm concerned, they have their reasons to be there, and I have mine.

As a still-new member of Toastmasters, I'm just fine-tuning the public speaking thingy and I see myself going public in the not-so-distant future educating the hoi polloi about AS.

When I was in high school I twice dared to get involved in theatre plays and take the stage in front of almost the whole student body in the gymnasium despite my reputation for being such a geek. And you know what? It wasn't such a big deal. If anything, it won me some respect that wouldn't have been had otherwise.

As the saying goes, boldness has genius and power to it.

It's funny becasue I really don't have too much of problem with public speaking. When I've been up before people I spent most of my energy trying to convert my thoughts to words I don't even notice the crowd.

Sometimes I am okay, but usually my brain freezes, I don't know what to say next and I hyperventilate.

Is Toastmasters any good?

Guardeleon:
That's an interesting thought, and I originally (before I knew any others with the syndrome) thought that my LACK OF ability in public speaking was attached to the other social problems that I now know to be Asperger Syndrome.
I have heard of others with that ability of not being aware of anything scary about public speaking (author of the book, Pretending to be Normal for instance), which is why I had to discard my own theory.
Most people in this room are saying that they are good at public speaking, and I have to admit the limitations that I am under:

1) poor ability with verbal communication. they say that there are two types of asperger people: ones that talk TOO much, and ones that don't talk enough. I'm the latter, and have troubles with verbally communicating. This could also be due to limitation number two...

2) dashed confidence and spirit from parental verbal abuse (mother)

In conclusion, I believe that if I had been able to grow naturally, and had loving, intellectually stimulating, and encouraging nourishment while growing up, it's possible I may have had confidence, motivation, and a great love of giving speeches. It's actually a dream of mine, and I can feel it's bud, undeveloped within me.

Or, not. Who can really know?

I think I'm like a coiled spring when it comes to talking. My mother never wanted to listen to me, so I kept quiet all my life when there were really a lot of things I wanted to say. Or, I would try to say them and she would interrupt or her eyes would glaze over and I knew she would be thinking about something else because when I was done she wouldn't respond but instead bring up an entirely and completely irrelevent/unimportant new topic.

Last edited by Reflection on 22 Feb 2006, 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm OK with it, and apparently I do so well enough at it as long as I don't go too fast or make unnecessary gestures.

Ditto! I'm really bad at public speaking usually, unless it's a small, familiar audience. One of my problems is I'm very quick to start blushing and so everyone takes this as an opportunity to playfully tease me or stare awkwardly at me which isn't any help at all. If I'm in front of a large audience or people who I'm not comfortable with then I speak really quickly so no one understands anyway.
The only time I ever really got a good mark for speaking was when we literally "talked to" the class in English so emphasis was on what you said; not as much as how you said it, and in Ancient History when I felt comfortable with everyone and really knew what I was talking about - plus everyone else was nervous so it made me look alot better then I felt. Other then that I'm appaling.

I'm bad at public speaking. I get stage-fright, I mix up my words, I blush and tremble, I speak too quickly and too quietly. But like a lot of things, this has gotten better for me of late.