Do you speak your mind?

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Im presuming Im not the only one who almost never does this, because I would expect most introverts (Im assuming most are) to keep their opinions to themselves. At most stages of my life Ive never given my opinion about anything, even things which directly affected me. Im not quite sure why but I always felt afraid to speak up and be counted (I guess it could be related to social phobia and never fitting in).

During the rare times that I do, it seems as if no one takes it seriously and that they expect me to be submissive and never disagree. I notice that my cousin who is autistic is exactly the same and passively accepts the happenings around him and hardly ever expresses himself.

Does anyone else feel like that? And do you find it easier to speak your mind say.. on this website as opposed to everyday life?

I give my opinion in writing (here for instance) and, verbally, to the few I know exceptionally well. I give them toooo much opinion at times.
People I don't know too well usually stay strangers. I don't say much of anything to them. I have a difficult time talking with anyone I don't know well. I also have a difficult time talking with neighbors, because of the past.

Yep.

quite common.
many/most AS lack assertiveness.....most think that this description of lack of assertiveness doesnt apply.

it does, it is common.

I find it easy to speak my mind, often without others actually asking for my opinion (or caring about it). I just seem to blurt it out, must be due to my lack of impulse control.

Certainly, in fact speaking my mind has landed me in trouble lots of times. It does however have certain benefits, telling a woman straight to her face that she has the most wonderful eyes can really brighten someone's day.

VS

Oooooh yeah, I speak my mind way too much. It has a tendency to get me in trouble pretty often. I should learn to keep my mouth shut really. Teeheehee.

I have to water down my opinion so I wouldn't be a dead man walking.

I also tend to express myself much more easily on wrongplanet/the computer or in writing. Verbally I keep my thoughts to myself usually. With people I know well, I express myself much more and can sometimes speak my mind when I should have not spoken.

My technique: I think a lot and write. Then I speak in avery eccentric and pedantic way my mind. But I am better writting because I hate interruptions. And in letters nobody interrupts you.

I speak my mind when I can do it in writing or one on one. I rarely speak my mind when there's more than 1-2 people around, unless it's really important. When there's more people around they almost always either ignore me or interrupt when I'm speaking. I hate talking in the first place. I find it much better to communicate in writing.

No I don't speak my mind, nothing like it. It's just way too risky, I get so many negative thoughts, it wouldn't be fair to share all that - most of it turns out to be rubbish anyway. Yet I can barely stop myself from unloading my entire knowledge on a subject when it comes up - I guess that kind of content isn't likely to be offensive exactly.

Ordinary people hide a lot of bad stuff too, a lot of them are extremely polite. Sales people probably feel like strangling awkward customers but they don't usualy let it show. People are more critical of each other when they're not around to hear it. Human ego is sensitive, perhaps too sensitive to deserve brutal honesty.

I don't know if I speak my mind less than the average person. Certainly I feel the strain of not doing. When I'm safely away from them I can articulate my criticisms of them in a way that seems quite civilised, but when I'm with them the same words seem a little too prickly.

Alcohol is reknowned for switching off the diplomatic faculty, if anybody wants to experiment. But I wouldn't recommend it.

I have to work at not speaking my mind because my natural inclination is to find out what I'm going to say at the same time everyone else does (when I say it).

So for years I have been working at keeping a lid on less than productive and constructive commentary. It does not help that often it turns out I might have been better off if I had spoken up. It's a bit of a conundrum. I prefer one rule stuff but 'speaking one's mind' is apparently contingent (sometimes you should, sometimes you should not), and I am at a loss as to how to work out when I ought to speak up and when I should practice self-editing.

I can speak my mind rather easily online - because I can't see anyone's faces. In real life, though? No way. I can't say I never speak up for myself because when I'm cornered and pinned down for my opinion or just to gve somekind of answer, I will. Otherwise, I'm too much of a conflict avoider to speak up when I know I should.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I used to speak my mind but I much too often spoke it to the wrong person, and so now I make it a daily practice in not doing that.