Survey to better understand how autistic people think!

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How do you think?

In words?

In pictures?

In sounds?

As a combination of all of the above?

Do you think in an inner dialogue?

How do you know what you're going to write? Is writing easy or difficult?

Do you visualize what you’re going to do? In what way? Playing it out like a scenario?

Can you make a decision that you can’t visualize? “I can’t see myself doing that”

If you didn’t have any friends growing up what do you think the reason was?

What confuses you?

If you read the word. BLANK

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way? Are they visual or verbal?

If you read the word BLANKET

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way?
Are they visual or verbal?

When you describe the two words above are you thinking of to turn those descriptions into words?


When you think of something do you sometimes get off track and start thinking of a lot of other things that get in the way? Are those other thoughts verbal or visual? Something else? How would you describe the way you think about the past? Flashbacks or verbalized descriptions like someone telling a story?

What do you think makes an autistic mind autisict? How they think, how they understand what they think, or what?


If you're autistic or have asperger's syndrome. What do you think has happened to you, or that makes you different from those who are not functioning or function at a different level? What has happened in your life that has made you function at a higher level? (movies, instant messageing, music, comics ect.)

Do you think the varing degrees of functionality of autism is because of their individual brain or because of how they were raised? Meaning - do you think that the people who are more functioning are that way because of what they have learned or because of how affected their brain was by the disorder? If both, then to what degree does each matter? nature vs nurture..

Have you taken any drugs? Both legal and not and how have those affected the way you think? Why have they helped or hurt you?

What has been the single biggest thing that has helped your throughout your life?

Do you keep or have you kept a journal? If so do you think it's helped you?





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Answer the questions as completely as possible. If you can think of any other questions that would help me understand how autistic people think vs non-autistic people please add them! I'm trying to figure out what makes an autistic mind different than a non autistic mind. If it's a different way of thinking that requires a differnt way of learning, or if it's just certain parts of the brain being damaged or limited for some reason? Every responce is appreciated!

I have some questions for you.....


How did you come up with your questions,of what relivence are these particular questions to your understanding of the autistic mind?

How to did you come to the conclussion that there was such a thing as an "autistic mind"Are you aware that autism is a spectrum and that one persons answer will give you exactly that...one persons answer.

Why do you want this information and what are you going to do with this information.

Do you realize that a lot of individuals on this site also have ADD and will never make it through your questionare and will there for be under represented in your understanding of the "autistic mind."

Are you aware that being able to use this web site,in it self,infers the respondants are on the "high end of functioning in writen communication" and there for misrepresent the whole of "autism".

In response to your end statement....

"Do I think that is because certain part of the brain has been damaged or limited?"

NO....I dont consider myself and others here as brain damaged or limited.



Could somebody provide this person with a link to "NT disability" web site....?

OK.....that was a little harsher then I intended....I didnt realize,until I saw another post of yours,that you were asking for yourself and not as some requirement for a psyc. paper...

I can't answer the questions though,to complicated for me.

I can definately do it, but I'll need a day or two because I like to write things well and check myself thoroughly.. Or you could just pm me and do it interview style.

Pictures and sound.

I think that puzzle the guy posted awhile back where you count the "F"
and people who sounded out the OF to "OV" missed those "F"s. I was one of
those people. I notice my errors in my writing envole words that sound alike.
(like above is it "where" or "were" here)

Oh just to day I heard "fissile" material in relationship to North Korea an "fish oil" popped up in my mind. So no question I learned langauge by sound (the way expert say a kid should) To learn it graphically as many people with learning problems in the past have will lead to greater langauge problems.

In my mind if you say "the" I hear the sound not a picture of the word "the".

If you say a visual object I 'm may see it and/or hear it as a sound.

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Oh the number of question you asked is so f***ing wrong.

I can do all these thinking styles, but I have a high IQ and I'm technically NOS.

I don't think auties are "damaged" but they do get wired up a little differently. After birth, the brain continues to grow at an incredible rate. I think neuro-pathways develop almost randomly. The ones that serve get reinforced by repitition. The ones that don't serve don't get reinforced. But something different happens in the autie's brain. They all get reinforced, and you get HFA, or none of them do and you get LFA. Or something else happens. Add to that the psychological adjustment problems that arise from difficulty interacting with the eviornment and the people in it...

This is pure speculation on my part based on my education in Child Development and observations of very young children I've known.

disablity?


Here you go:
http://isnt.autistics.org/

I'm trying to better understand autism and find out what is actually making them different from people who do not have autism. I do not think for any moment that autism is a dissability or a handicap but actually a new way of thinking that might be advantagous if used properly.

My main goal is to find out how autistic people think in relation to people who do not have autism to develop a way to better educate them to understand the majority. I'm not saying that the majority is thinking "Better" but obviously to operate in the real world you would have to understand how other people think. I was never really able to do this until recently and I think i could help other people with autism better understand the world if i could figure out exactly what makes them different.

When i reffer to "damage" i'm meaning what is the mechanics inside the brain that is making them think and understand things differetly. I theorize that they might ONLY be able to think in pictures, and this would explain why they think so different. Either because of a difference in the brain structure, or possibly needing to understand the world in a different way.

Like the very title of this web site "wrong planet" I think raising an autistic child would be like raising an alien - meaning the parents and teachers would have to know how to raise them before they could do it correctly. There is obviously a huge range in parenting styles and only some of those would be benificial to an autistic child. If we could figure out what that form of parenting and education is that leads to higher funtioning autisics then we could possibly get all of them to a higher level.

If no one knows the WHY behind autism, it might take understanding what makes autistics different from one another and then everyone else to figure it out. That's what i'm trying to do. I definitely DO NOT think it's a disability but would be if they're not taught the right way! But that wouldn't be the autistic persons "fault" But the parents and teachers lack of understanding.

Sorry to offend! I'm almost sure I have autism and am going to be diagnosed soon. I didn't even know what autism was until a couple days ago so i'm just trying to figure it all out. I would have a very unique perspective if I got to 23 years old without even knowing! If I could explain how I did it, then I could help others. That's my only goal!

Sorry to offend! I'm almost sure I have autism and am going to be diagnosed soon. I didn't even know what autism was until a couple days ago so I'm just trying to figure it all out. I would have a very unique perspective if I got to 23 years old without even knowing! If I could explain how I did it, then I could help others. That's my only goal![/quote/]

It's nice that you want to help people with autism.If you have made it to 23 without an noticeable "problems" and you have autism,that would indeed be unique.I am 42 and was just DX with AS but I had A LOT of problems while growing up.At the time there was no general knowledge about AS and no" official" listed DX for it.Before 1994(and even years latter as the psyc community played "catch-up" with the whole concept of Aspergers)A person with my "traits" would be labeled with social anxiety,social phobia,depression,PTSD,Bi-polar,Borderline,Narcisism,PPD,ADHD.etc.They would basically selectively isolate the most "harmful trait" and ignore any others or lump several others together.If an individual was not to disruptive in class and had decent grades,there would have been no intervention for "inability to maintain friendships or sensory over load."

In a way,I am glad nobody "interviened" with me.I was miserable and lonely,often confussed and depressed.But I am glad I wasnt forced into taking anti-psychotic drugs or ABA therapy or stuffed in the "special" kids groups.As long as I was quite about what was happening internally,I was left alone.
I did spend some time in the principles office and school counselor but I didn't start fights and had good grades because I really enjoyed learning and found it easy.(I skipped a lot of classes but still graduated)



I credit some of my "success" with my innate desire to "understand" and learn.It gave me pleasure,so it was its own reinforcer...not the grades,my parents harping or peers approval.I also think I have less severe sensory issues then some people with AS and less "focused gifts"...I have a very poor memory
and average intelligence.I think some of the memory and intelligence gifts come with a trade off in ability to function in an NT dominated society.

I think the more you learn about AS by reading what others here have experienced,you will gain the same insights I have from this unique group of people here.The diversity of experience is amazing to me as is the commonalities of some of our experiences.

I credit all of my success with an inate desire to understand. I think it's almost a necessity for someone with autism or else they wouldn't have any desire to understand any other world than the one that is in thier head. I feel i've had to constantly try to understand everything, but also prevented me from doing the things that didn't help with that understanding.

It's like i've spent my entire life trying to grasp what makes everything work so then i could understand how I am suppose to work myself. I've also had bits and pieces of different problems but always seemed to work my way through them. I think it was the desire to understand why i was having the problems that lead me to being able to fix them on my own. If I am autistic (which i'm almost positive after reading through this site and others) then I have a complete documentation of how I conquored the problems autism brings in my journals. They are literally thousands of pages long for each year starting after high school.. I think the most important thing besides writing in a journal was watching movies, comics and instant messaging. Thety allowed me to experience the world without having to actually experience it myself. I've probably watched thousands of movies, read thousands of comics, and had a freakish amount of conversations online - writing.

I think the other thing that has helped me understand emotions was having a best friend, a girl, who would sit and talk about every single thought and emotion she had about every single thing over and over and over for hours on end. At first I wouldnt understand the things she did or why, but slowly - I started to "get it" and realized not everyone thinks in such a logical and yes or now way that i always did. I took a lot of time and effort to be able to understand how other people think..

My memory is very selective. I can remember vivid memories from throughout my life and as far back as 2yo but I can't remember my multiplication tables or peoples names very well. There seems to be a certain trigger that has to happen in my head to remember something or not. If i could unlock that I would probably be like the rain man who could remember everything! That would be nice - maybe.

I think it's hard to measure intelligence, especially in someone with autism because the ways in which intelligence is measured is based on a non autistic mind. If we really do actually THINK in a different way, it wouldn't be able to be measured by anything currently available. I also credit my memory and progress by keeping such intense journals. How could someone learn about themselves and the world unless they kept track of what was learned? - especially if they have a selective memory in the first place! I reccoment keeping a journal. I'm actually writing a book about how to keep a journal and write your own biography which i feel is important for everyone to do. I'll send you a copy when i'm done! haha

Hmm... Interesting topic. Here is my very longwinded response:

How do you think?

I think almost exclusively in words. With great effort I can construct mental images, but it takes most of my concentration. I occasionally think in terms of sound, but I am not very aurally.


Do you think in an inner dialogue?

I am unsure of what you are referring to by inner dialog, though I do not “converse with myself”.


How do you know what you're going to write? Is writing easy or difficult?

My writings are my thoughts transcribed. I write as easily as I think.


Do you visualize what you’re going to do? In what way? Playing it out like a scenario?

I have attempted this in the past, but with a few serious fevers (a separate factor entirely from my Aspergers) my mental visualization skills have diminished.


Can you make a decision that you can’t visualize? “I can’t see myself doing that”

I don’t visualize most decisions. I am not a visual thinker.


If you didn’t have any friends growing up what do you think the reason was?

Numerous reasons: Parents moving before I could find friends, poor social skills and blaming a personal “inner evil” for the lack of friends and when I did find friends, things happening so poorly. An extreme example of this caused me to give up for more than half a decade because I was so scared of myself and what I thought I had done without realizing it, when it was instead the other person’s issues. Learning to accept that other people’s problems have nothing (or little) to do with me is something that has only been possible with progressing age, and in my own person achieved only very recently.

I am in my mid 20s now, and now that I have come to the realization mentioned in the previous paragraph (the process began almost exactly one year ago) finally have some friends. The prior times that I had friends were middle school (loser’s club), the first half of high school (a fellow nerd for one year, and a kind and wonderful girl who tried to get me to open up and be more sociable who I knew for two years in high school, and have recently met again), and kindergarten and first grade.

Now that I have the mental discipline and growth to analyze my past and present mistakes, I am learning how to make friend far better than I ever have. It is still very difficult, but I have met some understanding people, and their help has greatly aided this process.


What confuses you?

The arcane constructs of interpersonal communication. I acknowledge that most people are illogical in their personal dealings. I find it extremely fortunate that I am at a tech school where a larger than normal percentage of the people are nerdy/introverted making my initial forays into the world of socialization much easier.


If you read the word. BLANK

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way? Are they visual or verbal?

Blank. A gap. Gaps within my own mind primarily deal with memory. Much of my life is mostly forgotten. Again, this has more to do with fevers than Aspergers, but some of it is possibly PTSD related (I was brutalized extensively in the schools). My memories are primarily visual, with a secondary conceptual component. If the visualization process was less difficult for me my memory would probably be less fleeting.


If you read the word BLANKET

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way?
Are they visual or verbal?

Blanket. A physical object. The blanket I first think of is the one on my bed at this moment. Also sharing the moniker is a graphic novel that I hold in high regard.


When you describe the two words above are you thinking of to turn those descriptions into words?

This question does not make sense. But I assume you are referring to the translation process beween a visual or conceptual thought into written text. In my case, my thoughts themselves are already verbal and unneeding of such translation.


When you think of something do you sometimes get off track and start thinking of a lot of other things that get in the way? Are those other thoughts verbal or visual? Something else? How would you describe the way you think about the past? Flashbacks or verbalized descriptions like someone telling a story?

When I get sidetracked, it is primarily glimpses into the subconscious where items regarding my current or past situation slip through. The thoughts are almost entirely verbal. Memory itself is typically conceptual or visual flachbacks. When I attempt to write down actual memories, I typically need to translate these visual flashbacks into verbal information, which typically results in the form: “I talked to ____ or I went to ____ when I attempt chronological transcription. Instead of such (boring) descriptions of my own actions, I primarily attempt to write about what I am thinking, rather than doing, because no translation of thoughts is required.


What do you think makes an autistic mind autistic? How they think, how they understand what they think, or what?

I do not believe that I am qualified to answer this question.


If you're autistic or have asperger's syndrome. What do you think has happened to you, or that makes you different from those who are not functioning or function at a different level? What has happened in your life that has made you function at a higher level? (movies, instant messageing, music, comics ect.)

The bulk of my current level of functioning has resulted from the shift of my focus to be almost entirely understanding and transcending my current situation. I have spent the entire last year dedicated to understanding myself and the world around me, the social constructs within, my family, and to a lesser extent, my academic studies. My lifelong obsessions of gaming and computers, and my quarter-lifelong obsession with anime have fallen to the wayside as a result of this process. The self actualization process is wholly consuming, but it is nonetheless an essential undertaking if one truly expects to transcend the inherent deficiencies delievered as a result of Aspergers syndrome. Also, the level of focus afforded by the syndrome makes such a thing possible.

Finally, it is the length and severity of my isolation that has greatly enabled the process. Only by experiencing the depth of isolation, frustration, depression, and single minded indulgence into my obsessions was I able to truly comprehend how damning they were to myself as an individual. Only with this knowledge firmly in place have I been able to put forth the kind of dedication necessary to succeed in the societal reintegration process.


Do you think the varing degrees of functionality of autism is because of their individual brain or because of how they were raised? Meaning - do you think that the people who are more functioning are that way because of what they have learned or because of how affected their brain was by the disorder? If both, then to what degree does each matter? nature vs nurture..

Aspergers is genetic. My entire family has Aspergers traits, but only myself and one of my uncles are diagnosed. My father made an observation that in both cases, it was the middle child who had Aspergers, so there may be an environmental aspect to it. An early exposure to my current lifelong obsession, a computer (and by extension gaming and programming) no doubt caused me to find my focus at a young age.


Have you taken any drugs? Both legal and not and how have those affected the way you think? Why have they helped or hurt you?

I have taken no drugs besides alcohol (which only makes me quieter and my depression worse. I don’t think I’ll have any more, especially with my genetic predisposition to alcoholism), caffeine (which makes my insomnia worse), SSRI medications (Zoloft nearly killed me, Paxil drove me insane), Ativan (BAD BAD BAD side effects: blackouts, total loss of sex drive (returned with cessation of medication)), sominex (GREAT... for the first two weeks, went worse after that, and terrible soon after).


What has been the single biggest thing that has helped your throughout your life?

My Aspergers! It made a lot of things incredibly difficult, but the drive granted by it is absolutely essential. While it is frustrating that I am having to abandon my largest obsessions, it is probably worth it. The largest contributing external factors would be my current friends, two of them have been around since the near the beginning of my own awakening one year ago, even if I don’t interact with them nearly as much as I’d like.


Do you keep or have you kept a journal? If so do you think it's helped you?

Has it helped? TREMENDOUSLY! I don’t think I would have been able to think through nearly as many of my own issues as I have without getting some of the material of my blog out of my system. I also keep a journal (which occasionally shows through in the blog, but not often), which has also been helpful. But it is the blog, the exposition of my thinking process that is much useful. Writing it and therefore getting the material out of my system and freeing my subconscious mind to process additional material has been immensely beneficial.

How do you think?
In pictures I suppose, but more like animated pictures, and with sound, because they have audio too. But I'm also not immeditely a visual thinker, more a conceptual one. For example, if there's a drink driving ad involving a horrific and gory crash, I happily eat away.

Do you think in an inner dialogue?
Not really, any inner dialogue I usually say out loud, except when that'd be inappropriate (such as when you smell a fart in an elevator).

How do you know what you're going to write?
By playing out what I think is good as I'm writing it. Sometimes I keep it in my head so that I can think about it, but only by writing it out can the true editing begin. Get's annoying if you're writing a 65,000 word long story like I am.

Do you visualise what you're going to do? In what way?
Kind of, I mean even for this answer I give it a short pause for thought. As I'm a conceptual thinker, I often go back and edit what I've just done, if possible. I edited this answer to make it sound right, for instance!

Can you make a desicion that you can't visualise?
Yes, but I have to think about it before I can perform it. It's shown in the split-second pause I usually have before lying (not often, though! ). This question could use a bit more elaboration.

If you didn't have any friends growing up what do you think the reason was?
I had a couple of friends as a kid (I'm only 16), and those were the one who cared about me. If it wasn't for them, my odd walking style and way of approaching social situations probably would've scared everyone else off. Good thing that guided me in the right direction!

What confuses you?
Nothing, and yet quite a lot. I just can't think of anything right now.

If you read the word BLANK what do you think of?
Well, I see the word BLANK, but I relate it to nothing, which is essentially what Blank means. To go off-topic, I think of me, because that was my nickname for a while!

If you read the word BLANKET what do you think of?
I think of a blanket. I think of a blurry image of a blanket. The blurry comes from being a conceptual thinker.

When you describe the two words above [what] are you thinking of to turn those descriptions into words?
I think of the actual object. Because I'm a conceptual thinker, if I'm asked to describe something, only the really stiking features stand out, such as a wipe-over hair-do or some scaffolding on a black building.

When you think of something do you sometimes get off track and start thinking of a lot of other things that get in the way?
Well, yes, this was proven during a Science Exam today! I got bored at the end and thought of one thing, which led to another, and so on until I became aware of it or something jarrs me out. I've noticed that when I do this my eyes tend to focous on nothing, so everything in front of me is blurry.

What do you think makes an autistic mind autisict [should be autistic]?
Chance, really. It just 'pops' up in people. No cause, just chance. And when it happens, it happens. It also seems to be genetically inherited, too, but the original person who started the chain had a 'pop' incident.

Do you think the varing degrees of functionality of autism is because of their individual brain or because of how they were raised?
No, I think it's all in the brain and how it's been wired. However, as everyone knows, nurture can alter the perspective, such as the way they veiw the world (take America for instance, there's a lot of propoganda theorists over there). Due to the AS/Autism, however, this can have varying sverities of effects.

Have you taken any drugs?
No, although I might have to cure my Epillepsy when I was younger. Because I'm cured, it helped me!

What has been the single biggest thing that has helped your throughout your life?
My hands. They helped me draw, they helped my play Playstation, they typed this message! Without my hands I'd be nothing.

Do you keep or have you kept a journal?
No, not at all, I just lose interest in them. I've never had a real need for them before.
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So that's it! Just one question: Does conceptual thinking actually exist or is it something I made up to help myself explain my thinking process?

How do you think? i'm assuming the next three options are to go with this?

In words? in my mind, i'm verbal....though

In pictures? sometimes...i can get pretty visual

In sounds? like i said...verbal..which means i hear the sounds of words and not simply just the concepts. also, i almost always have music going on in my head be it a rhythm that has come to mind, a song i heard in the past day or two, or some of my own music that's just come into being.

As a combination of all of the above? certainly

Do you think in an inner dialogue? constantly...though there's other chatter in the background...imagine being in a crowded restaurant...that's what it's like. there's always at least 5 or 6 things going on simultaneously...though that be more the ADHD than AS.

How do you know what you're going to write? Is writing easy or difficult? when it comes to writing an essay or anything like that...an assigned thing, it's extremely hard to write and get started on it and start moving. i can think ahead of what content i want in it but not where to start.

Do you visualize what you’re going to do? In what way? Playing it out like a scenario? i do visualize what i'm doing as i'm doing it....think of it like a 3rd person shooter almost...though my mental image rarely reflects realtiy.

Can you make a decision that you can’t visualize? “I can’t see myself doing that” whenever i do something i can't see myself doing...it's a trip...it's really weird...there've been things i couldn't see myself doing and it just happened that they didn't happen...tends to go like that a lot.

If you didn’t have any friends growing up what do you think the reason was? i had a couple friends...looking back on it....it's cause i didn't have a clue. literally had to learn how to act socially and i'm still learning and still failing a lot at it.

What confuses you? humanity. but to be less philosophical....one thing that definately confuses me is the mating ritual...formal dating...having to buy cards and stuff like that to show affection rather than simply expressing it.

If you read the word. BLANK

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way? Are they visual or verbal? your question leads me to want to think of visuals so the way you went approaching this has rendered the question useless with me....i can't help but now look to recall a memory or a visual for it. though trying to recall my immediate reaction to blank....nothing comes to mind. :p

If you read the word BLANKET

What do you think of? If you’re recalling memories then which ones and in what way?
Are they visual or verbal? again...same thing...though i will say recalling on my immediate reaction was about 5 or 6 different things...a visual of my old blanket from when i was little along with the feelings of being under a nice blanket and being comfy.

When you describe the two words above are you thinking of to turn those descriptions into words? the internet is a strange thing....it allows me to connect more easily to my brain..which is both good and bad...i'm an aspie who kinda lacks a filter a lot of times...which is my big flaw that i try to work on along with the completely shut down of my mind under stress in terms of verbally expressing myself. i wouldn't really say i have an immediate problem with words...but more in different situations and how to react and act under what's considered normal.


When you think of something do you sometimes get off track and start thinking of a lot of other things that get in the way? Are those other thoughts verbal or visual? Something else? How would you describe the way you think about the past? Flashbacks or verbalized descriptions like someone telling a story?

for this....my thoughts sometimes run a lot like browsing through wikipedia...in fact going to that site sometimes ends up occupying me for hours at a time because it is so condusive to how i think. again....visual vs verbal...it's both...sometimes more visual than verbal...sometimes the other way around. the past is definately thought about through flashbacks....non-verbal entirely.

What do you think makes an autistic mind autisict? How they think, how they understand what they think, or what? i can speak for no one but myself. it seems that people with asperger's have similar problems as i do though they're manifested differently...considering i'm a performer, was an active member of the punk scene for a while..i tend to speak a little too much and shoot off my mouth too much which ends up getting me in trouble...though i know others who are much more introverted.


If you're autistic or have asperger's syndrome. What do you think has happened to you, or that makes you different from those who are not functioning or function at a different level? What has happened in your life that has made you function at a higher level? (movies, instant messageing, music, comics ect.)

hahahahahahahahahahaha. that's like asking someone if musicals turned them gay....you are who you are. it's not necessarily that certain things make you that way...maybe it's more condusive to who you are but they define pieces of you....those pieces don't necessarily dictate who you are.




Do you think the varing degrees of functionality of autism is because of their individual brain or because of how they were raised? Meaning - do you think that the people who are more functioning are that way because of what they have learned or because of how affected their brain was by the disorder? If both, then to what degree does each matter? nature vs nurture..



it's definately both. i think if i had gone through some kind of therapy/treatment, i probably would function a little better now than i do but i still work on it on my own. still won't change how i think and how i respond to stimuli. so i'd say it's a little of both but more nature than nurture....nurture is more cosmetic in my case.



Have you taken any drugs? Both legal and not and how have those affected the way you think? Why have they helped or hurt you?

i have taken both legal and illegal drugs. the drugs prescribed to me by psychiatrists only hurt...probably because i was being prescribed pills before they realized i had asperger's and not depression and social anxiety....those were more products of me not being able to cope with the asperger's at the time. so those hurt...it made me feel a lot worse while i was on them.

edit: i notice i didn't cover the illegal drugs. those were for recreation and not for any kind of inner voyage if that's what you're alluding to. they're a great way to cope and just relax. i'd hardly call it theraputic or any such. if you'd like a list, it's just weed and tried shrooms once. i'd say they didn't help or hurt...they helped as any kind of recreation would but i'd never take it farther than that. anyone who does is a fool.


What has been the single biggest thing that has helped your throughout your life?

my friends and being able to express myself artistically....even if i'm not great at guitar or writing poetry...it's still very much a release for me and a coping mechanism.



Do you keep or have you kept a journal? If so do you think it's helped you?


i write in a livejournal and occassionally post on various message boards(including this one) and on my myspace blog. i'm a very expressive person when the mood strikes me. i think the journal has helped in terms of being able to get thoughts out when i have too much going on in my head at once and i need to just let it out and come to some conclusion with the thoughts instead of just having them on a loop in my head.


i'm definately the most qualified to let you know about me but i'd never really say that i can truely speak for everyone...maybe you can find some similarities as responses come in. but make sure to compare and contrast this with normal people to make sure that you're not mislabeling something.

I think you will get a good understanding how people here think by reading through all the different threads, but I wouldn't expect one single 'Autistic way of thinking', everyone is different whether they are on the spectrum or not. And feelings are important too.

I think in the colours Red, White, Blue, Black and Silver.