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Aspies who were popular kids?

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jamieboy
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22 Feb 2011, 9:17 pm

Another_Alien wrote:
I was basically 'normal', with an average number of friends, until I was about 15. At that age my Autistic problems began, and I began to become more isolated (though I have friends again now).

I think it depends what 'type' of Aspie you are. If you're the classic nerdish introverted type then its pretty unlikely that you ever had many childhood friends, and you may never have many friends.

If you're more the 'somewhat more extroverted, but very immature for your age' type - like me - then it's quite likely that you were fairly 'normal' until puberty at which point the pressures of expecting to be more mature will probably prove too great for you, and you'll break down in some way. It sounds as though this might have happened to you too OP.


Yes that sounds almost exactly like me. I got to about 13 and was expected to get intimate with girls and start smoking pot etc. That was way too much for me! lol

I think confidence probably plays quite a big factor in it. I've been properly socially isolated and chronically depressed for most of twenties so i'm an entirely different character to the one i was then. Maybe my reactions to the world are just the same but because i'm not a little boy anymore they are far more noticeable as strange than they were then? I did alot of daydreaming at primary school but then kids are allowed to daydream. These days i probably just look lost, upset and confused to my peers.



Jonsi
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22 Feb 2011, 9:20 pm

Middle school and primary school I was popular.

What happened? I realized I was someone I hated.



jamieboy
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22 Feb 2011, 9:39 pm

Jonsi wrote:
Middle school and primary school I was popular.

What happened? I realized I was someone I hated.


Well my initial impression is that you are well loved by other aspies on here! :D



code-e
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22 Feb 2011, 10:15 pm

i was somewhat popular and i have aspergers.
I was just nice to everyone and people thought i was funny.

People like others who can make them laugh.

I still had trouble with social skills though.



CaptainTrips222
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28 Feb 2011, 11:00 pm

code-e wrote:
i was somewhat popular and i have aspergers.
I was just nice to everyone and people thought i was funny.

People like others who can make them laugh.

I still had trouble with social skills though.


Good looks or a good wit. Either one can sort of compensate for social skill problems.



rainbowbutterfly
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01 Mar 2011, 5:55 am

As a grade school kid I didn't always have moments in which I had trouble making friends. I did okay with making friends in my neighborhood, I did well with making friends while in special ed, and I had a brief moment of popularity in 4th grade, once I was mainstreamed. At 1st in the mainstream classroom my weirdness made me cool, before everyone changed their minds and I became one of the most unpopular people in the school. Then Junior High and High School were horrible. However, at the college I went to weirdness was "cool" and I was happy with my social life. I've been trying to compensate for my lack of skills by practicing compassion and politeness.
Though, after looking at the DSM IV, it appears that popularity shouldn't preclude an AS diagnosis, because the failure to develop friendships is only 1 of 4 listed characteristics of lacking in social skills. A diagnosis of AS requires at least 2 characteristics in this category from what I remember. The DSM IV criteria was listed on the following website: www.mentalhealth.com, but I can't seem to access it now.



Kiseki
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01 Mar 2011, 9:43 am

I wouldn't say I was popular but I had friends and got on fine with other kids until around age 10. Then I noticed the other girls being more girly and talking about boys and fashion which I really didn't care about. I just went on playing with my guy friends.

Middle school was really realy rough though :( I wasn't supposed to play with my guy friends anymore. I was supposed to be like the other girls and I wasn't. I did not want to conform to their standards and I didn't understand them either. So between the ages of 12-14 I became pretty withdrawn.

I am back to my elementary school self now though! Just with lower self-esteem :(


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Velociraptor
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01 Mar 2011, 9:53 am

I have an accent and people were interested by it when they heard me talk, a lot of people knew me as that English kid. I wouldn't count that as popular though.