What makes you proud to be an aspie?

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I didn't list something earlier that autism has done for me---and some of you might relate to this. When I was 6 years old, my family took me to Coney Island (amusement park) in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I rode my first roller coaster---the Teddy Bear kiddie coaster. The following year, after Coney Island closed and Kings Island opened, I rode my first full-size coaster---The Racer. Roller coasters became an incredible special intense interest in me. I read everything I could and daydreamed and lived roller coasters. Shortly after, I had memorized the statistics (height, length, ride time, designer, builder, year of construction, etc.) of every roller coaster in North America---without even trying to memorize them. It's like an intense focus beam of autism probed so deep into this subject, that it etched itself onto my brain. In school, I was known as a walking encylopedia of roller coasters. This, along with music, helped me with my confidence as I awkwardly made my way through school and into adulthood.

Today, music and roller coasters are still with me. I now collect blueprints to old roller coasters. Just three feet away from me right now is a nearly completed HO scale model of a 1928 designed roller coaster I am building out of balsa wood. Because of my drive with roller coasters (because of autism), I have an interesting hobby that I can look back on and say, "I accomplished something." The blueprints for this coaster I got from a collector. It turns out they are the original design drawn on linen cloth paper in the actual pen of the designer. They never got past this stage (to the blue blueprint paper) because the park's plans folded and the Great Depression followed a year later. I have the only known plans to this 1928 coaster. I feel very lucky. My ultimate goal is to build this roller coaster for real---what a dream. It will probably not happen. But, I can ride the coaster in my mind. I know every part of it. It has become a part of me.

Anyway, sometimes our special intense interests (through autism) allow us to memorize a great amount of facts. I think some of you can relate to this---because it is thought by some researchers to be more common among autistics than some think.

It's not a disability. It's just a different way of perceiving things. I can't even imagine how much harder life would be if I could not focus as well as I do. The way I look at it is, I can always learn and develop social skills, but if I was born an NT, I would never, no matter what, be able to have the patience to do what I have been doing ever since I was a year old. Having AS isn't something I'm proud of, but it isn't something I look down upon either. I know I end up saying this too much, but it is what it is.

I'm proud in the sense that I've come this far in my life and accomplished what I've set out to accomplish. I think it is hard to go through life as a Aspie however it has given me my amazing talent in the arts. I agree having Aspergers does give you a way of seeing the world differently, this helps alot if you are pursing a job as an artist or something art related. Seriously, this isn't a bad thing, why is there so much negativity in this thread?

As an Aspie, I can see things objectively when others can't, like the proverbial kid who saw that the emperor was naked. I am very rarely swayed by the emotional arguments that others fall victim to. I don't subscribe to "proper", "mature", or "politically correct" notions that others zealously preach to me, and I am frequently reprimanded for it.

For example:
I see that a suit & tie has nothing to do with professional ability: If you changed your attire you would still perform just as well.
Diamond rings have nothing to do with commitment: If there were no more jewelry shops, lovers would still love eachother just as much.
Expensive coffins have nothing to do with how much you love the deceased: with no functioning nervous system, comfort is irrelevant.
I can trample on the feelings of "professionals", lovers, and grievers, because I can see these obvious truths.

I see that art simply is as beautiful or ugly as it appears, no matter who created it or when.
If a statement is true, it's still true, no matter who says it.
If an act is evil, it's still evil, no matter who commits it (Obama, Israel, I'm looking in your direction).

NTs are reluctant to admit this, and if they do, they seldom live by it.

It is part of reason I have specific interests, enjoy and do specific things. It lets me notice details and patterns or retain information that many wouldn't. I see and solve problems in different ways then most people would. i have worked a 38 hour day and enjoyed it.

Even if I'm not proud of having AS, I am proud many things that I probably would not have done without it.

My hyper focus is something I pride myself on. I can study an entire day away and hardly even notice. It yields good grades and generally keeps me a step ahead of my classmates.

I am proud of things I have achieved that I believe I have done in pretty typically autistic ways. I mean, not that one needs to be autistic to do them, but that they were easy for me to do in a particular atypical way because of how my brain works.

I don't see the point of denying that it's a disability, however. I find it less logical to claim that AS is not a disability than I do to be proud of being AS. Being a difference - a different way of thinking - is not exclusive from having impairments.

I am actually proud of who I am, which does include AS. I am not proud of myself in spite of any of my disabilities or because of any other traits. I can't precisely cut myself into pieces and pick the parts I like the most.

nm.

I can't say I'm proud (though I don't exactly hate having it) about having AS, as I almost never tell people I have it, but I do appreciate being able to just absorb reams of knowledge about my hobbies, very useful for Warhammer 40k, as I can recall huge amounts of the back-story and rules with hardly a thought. Its great being able to lose yourself researching interesting things sometimes, satisfying my often spontaneous curiosity.

Actually, there is a lot to be proud of in being an aspie. We are in the same demographic group as some of the greatest people of all time! Mozart, Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Marie Curie... They were all aspies just like us! I am very proud to be an autistic individual, but not in an arrogant way of course

One really good thing is that I'm not as dumb as people wish I was - I don't get taken in by scams, marketing, consumption culture, credit offers, peer pressure, etc. Saves me a lot of money!

despite not getting invited to any parties while in college I did have a professor confide that I made him have to work harder, because I would always pull out some fact or detail that he had missed otherwise.

we can count in that I can play a half dozen instruments, have raised a generation of seahorses & pipefish, can use Max msp or pure data to make a computer do anything I want it too


wouldn't trade it for the NT life if you let me start anew

Absolutely nothing.

Knowing that there could well be something in the indigo / crystal child theory and that we are all here to change the world for the better.