Are you always slower than others?

Post Reply New Topic

I think it's obvious that they do have way less of a hard time with it. I've noticed this in several schools I've attended. First the NT subject hater will complain about how much he/she hates for instance maths. Then he/she would sit dutifully down and do it while I couldn't get into it at all. I couldn't focus at all, I just fidgeted, too bored to keep my mind alert.

As I learned about AS only a few years ago, it was a complete mystery to me why they could, while I couldn't. Finally I just accepted that they didn't know what it meant to hate a subject and that either my attitude was more genuine or my feelings were stronger.

I wonder whether neurotypicals really know the meaning of the phrase "mind-numbingly boring" like we do? For me, my brain really does seem to go static at such times, so that however willing I force myself to be, I just can't focus on the stuff. It's almost as if neurotypicals have a way of overriding the autonomy of their own brains and turning them over to the will of the teacher, like they're under hypnosis. They seem to decide to "just get on with it" and fudge their way through....how? I remember practically falling asleep just trying to memorize the Gas Laws. The problem was that they weren't about me....if I'd been trying to design a machine and needed the equations for that, I expect I'd have just absorbed the info effortlessly.

That's what I am like, very slow to respond verbally but I am intelligent and extremely capable of doing stuff. Yet I get overlooked for higher level stuff at work because I'm not one of those who can speak easily and comfortably with people, so to be honest, people really think that means I can't do the work. I can do the work, but since when is being able to 'shoot the breeze' any kind of way to show ability? If I'm rushed by someone or in a hurry to leave, everything falls apart and I can't remember anything, i get really scattered.

I'm actually much quicker than most people.

This is very dificult for me to say not just in words mind you..Anyways, before I acquired my diagnosis of Aspergers I had the unfortunate luck of not only suffering a very significant injury but, relevant and pertinent brain damage followed.Nowadays, I have trouble both with my memory and other related functions though, I live indepenently and so forth but, it's not been easy..Actually, I've often been seen as mentally ret*d or dare I say borderline atypical autistic..Anyways, trying my best in all that I do in life especially friendships that have much difficulty I've never called it quits...

I always work slowly... Back in school I was always among the lasts to finish tests, it didn't prevent from having good scores though. So far I was thinking being from asperger, but from the comments I guess it must be something else.

no

That's pretty much how I am.

I am a slow and messy writer...but I always score well on my exams in college despite being one of the last ones to finish.I did tell my instructors that I know the stuff but I am slow in my penmanship..

What really irks me, is our real estate instructor marks us for our penmanship on our files in the checklist area...while others get an easy five percent...i get an automatic five percent decrease in my overall mark because I have horrible penmanship.


That is why I prefer to go into litigation, personal injury law, and criminal law...you don't lose out due to having the inability to write at par with the instructors expectations for penmanship.

Maybe as kids. It seems that NT kids complain a lot when they "have nothing to do". Maybe that's the one time they feel it? Or maybe they're just loud...
Of course when I had/have "nothing to do, that's when I could/can retreat with my own things and so am at my happiest!

Absolutely. It's the story of my life. I was always, always, always the last one out of a classroom. My AS son is the same way. Luckily, he has an IEP, and his teachers are supposed to give him some leeway about that stuff. I don't think they quite get it, though. I mean, he doesn't exactly get in trouble for walking into the room late, but I think one of the teachers sighs heavily, or otherwise lets it be known that she is annoyed. It's just a little thing, but it all adds up and makes life kind of hard for my son. Getting the papers into the binder, the books and binders into the backpack, pencils put away, jacket zipped up...all that stuff takes time and space. He ends up scrunching stuff into his backpack, because there's not enough time to do it correctly. Then they get on his case for having stuff scrunched. When I was in school/college it always amazed me that people seemed to be able to do it quickly and effortlessly, especially while socializing.


A more current example for myself is at the check out counter. I've got it all figured out, to make it as quick as possible. I get my debit card out as soon as I can, and swipe it as early in the process as I can. Still, as I'm opening my wallet back up, they are handing me a receipt, paper money, and change, all at once. So then I've got all that stuff to put away. And they try to hand you your bag of mechandise. The cashier is waiting. The person behind you is waiting. Sometimes I feel pressured, and wad it all up and stuff it in my pocket. I hate that, though, because I want to be more organized, not less. If I do anything differently, in an attempt to speed up the routine, I end up leaving my merchandise behind, or something like that. All. The. Time.

Edit: Oh, I forgot the part about being intellectually "gifted". My son certainly is. My mother has made allusions to my "genius IQ", but I don't remember ever being officially tested. But yeah, I'm pretty intelligent in certain ways, but really slow in others.

At the risk of going on too long, I'm going to add something else. Just now, I had to make a few phone calls, which I've been putting off. Things like calling my health insurance to see if eye exams are covered for my kids (NOT! ) and calling another parent to see if a kid can come over to help celebrate my son's birthday. Aside from the three weeks it's taken to just buckle down and make myself do it, it took me all morning to look up the numbers in the phone book, get my insurance card out of my wallet, get a pad of paper to take notes on, write my "script", and all that. Then the insurance phone call thing had me talking to a machine, where you say, "Member services" and "Coverage". It kept asking me for people's birth dates and that kind of thing, and just when I'm trying to translate the knowledge in my brain into words coming out of my mouth, the recorded voice interrupts, saying, "I'm sorry. I missed that. Tell me the date of birth of the person you are asking about."

Years ago, I was hired for a specific job assembling bits of electronic, but then they decided that I should be doing tasks that involve talking to people on the phone. It would take me all day to do ten minutes worth of work, because I can't just pick up the phone and get the thing done. It's stuff like that that kind of makes me wish I had an AS diagnosis, or at least appeared more obviously autistic, because I think mostly that kind of stuff just makes me look like I'm lazy or trying to slack off and get payed for doing nothing, which is not true at all. Intelligent, articulate woman who takes all day to make a single phone call--it must be an attitude problem.

I find that I'm slower to get things done, than most people. I guess that I have a slower, more peaceful version of the human body, even though I'm highly intelligent.

I'm the same way. Why do they always insist on handing you everything at once when different items must get filed away in different locations?

Do you get frustrated as well? I often feel like hitting or throwing something when I'm pressured. I can't ever seem to let go of the agitation I feel when there are people waiting, even if it would be more appropriate to just relax and let them deal with it.

Slow and steady means consistency topic

This is me.

Yeah. I'm often the last in queues, the last to finish something (which has led me to being allowed to get extra time in exams/tests), and also being the last to accomplish stuff in sport. I'm even physically slow, as I can't run fast at all!

I don't feel like hitting or throwing something, because that's not how I get when I'm pressured (until it reaches an extreme point). Mostly what happens is that it's like a wall comes up around me, for lack of a better way of putting it. I become completely focused on what I'm doing, and oblivious to the people and things around me. Michael Jackson could come floating across the ceiling, and everyone in the building could start dancing, and I wouldn't know it, because I'm completely focused on the zipper on my handbag. When I get home, I realize that I've left my bag of groceries behind.