Social Skills & Narrow Interest

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As you are all probably aware, people with aspergers/HF autism do not have an innate social cognition and usually have be taught how to read social cues and behave appropriately in social situations. Without receiving proper counseling, (preferably from an early age), most aspies will never develop the necessary social skills to function in social situations; those that do will most likely remain introverted as, once again, they lack social cognition.

You are also probably aware that people on the spectrum have a natural tendency to focus intensely on a narrow range of (often trivial) interests and little else. In most cases, this seems to go hand-in-hand with introversion as most aspies seem to gravitate towards interests/activities which by themselves require little-to-no interaction with other people (e.g. drawing). It also usually goes hand-in-hand with the exceptional talent/skill/knowledge aspies often possess due to the sheer amount of focus and practice that goes into their field of interest.

Now, let's say, hypothetically, an aspie's interest just so happens to be reading social cues / socializing. If this aspie was intelligent and/or talented enough, could they become a social butterfly without any sort of training? Seems pretty unlikely but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.

You've certainly sucked up a lot of overgeneralizations and stereotypes from whatever you've been reading. First, introversion and extraversion are in-born personality traits that don't have anything to do with whether you are or aren't on the spectrum. If someone is introverted, it isn't because they've failed to learn "proper" socialization. Fact: plenty of auties/aspies are extroverts. Second, unless someone is intellectually disabled and/or otherwise disabled enough to require care/supervision, many are perfectly capable of learning to deal with socialization and other aspects of life. On their own. Using their intelligence and powers of observation. Third, I would hardly call an interest in socializing a "special" interest. Most people prefer to have friends rather than be alone. But I kind of doubt that very many autie/aspies are terribly interested in becoming social butterflies. In fact, I don't think that's an ambition for many NTs, either.

The autistics I've seen with person-oriented intense interests are certainly not socially normal as a result. In fact, some autistics end up being stalkers because of their intense interest in certain people or a specific person.

Not really an interest in socializing per se but an interest in learning how people interact through nonverbal cues. I don't think that seems too farfetched.


Yes but that's beside the point. Would having a "special" interest in studying social cues make an aspie more socially adept than other aspies in the same position? More able to become a social butterfly if they chose to be, in other words.

Anyone who studies social cues is going to be more socially adept. Any aspie who's interested and observant will eventually learn those cues. My impression from what many others have said, is that it isn't necessarily a focused interest as such, just part of paying attention to what's going on around you in order not to stand out like a sore thumb. You also have to take into account the difference between understanding the cues and being able to conform to them. There are some things that you can't change because they're neurologically dictated. For instance, I always have trouble participating in multi-person conversations because I pick the wrong moment to say something and wind up interrupting someone, or being being too late and the conversation has moved on. I realize that it's a matter of timing, but I still can't judge it accurately.

Practice makes perfect

I wished I had a little obsession to get into but it seems that I have to work on getting that.

The bottom line, I hate people and want my autist talents to at least shine to validate myself if they are there.