NT introverts vs Aspies

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I think that most people with Asperger's or autism who aren't schizoids will need and enjoy socialization. It's simply a question of how much and how adapted they are to it.

There's a lot of different theories, from what I've seen, on what makes a person with AS/ASD different than an NT person. Personally, my pet theory (amongst many differing pet theories) would be that you need to fulfill the following criterion for AS/ASD people:


1.) Sensory issues are a large cause of your poor socialization. It's not lacking a theory of mind, it's that sensory issues in how your brain responds to other people causes you problems. The stimulus of certain things will, in general, cause people with any form of autism problems. The overwhelming sensory input when an AS person interacts with another person is what causes them to not be able to narrow in on the relevant information being conveyed. Which leads to #2:

2.) Your brain processes information differently. Obviously related to #1, but here I mean that the AS brain does a poor job filtering what is relevant information, which is often why we need a little extra information when interpreting things. The AS brain basically seems to parallel process all the information, and if there's too much information, it starts to "crash".

3.) I think that in order to be autistic, you really need to have an "autistic world." In other words, you have your own little world that you will frequently "disappear" to. Like a very intense day dream. Usually this relates to their special interest somehow, where they can analyze and obsess over the details of their special interest.

4.) I think that it's important that people with AS/ASD have at least a semi-rigid way of doing things. This relates I think both to the very rigid, logical thinking of an AS/ASD person as well as freaking out when things deviate from their preferred way of doing things.



I could be very wrong, but I feel that these are (at least some of) the core differences between a person who's an extremely introverted, nerdy NT and a person who has AS/ASD.

I feel that I can relate to good friends and feel more comfortable around them and feel more comfortable around family also. No I can not be an introverted NT even though used to think I was a shy and introverted normal person. I am not normal since my brain is that of a person with NLVD & maybe ASD. My agoraphobia in crowded malls may be due to a visual-spatial Deficit I have learned & it's interesting that the cause has a physiological/neurological type of reason.

I think I may be an NT introvert (still not convinced I have an ASD) and I don't just feel like an outsider, I feel as though I am a completely different species of human but in the same kind of body as them. There world is the twilight zone to me.

I felt like this a couple of years ago. I had stumbled across an article about introverted people, had my wife of 49 years read the article, and we both agreed: That was me.

I felt really good about this discovery until, after a few weeks of study, I began to notice slight differences between myself and a strictly "introverted" description. The main difference I found was introverted "only" people actually and commonly HAD FRIENDS. Further study showed me what struggles introverted people had but, although chosen with care, introverted people had no particular problem making friends. But in school and etc. I had had NO friends; so I began to learn about Asperger Syndrome and the difficulties that define the syndrome. And they pretty much (90%+) match me and my life. After taking some tests I was convinced.

I was at home more than I'd felt my entire life. This was about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago.

I can connect to other people most of the time. It can depend on my mood and what's playing on my mind at the time, but emotionally I don't have much trouble with connecting. I just feel too shy to express it, because of the fear of no-one listening to me or somebody interrupting me or somebody judging me, etc. I have a fear of feeling ''silly''.

Being socially awkward does not always mean being shy/introverted. A person (Aspie or other condition) can be really loud, confident, high self-esteem but still be socially awkward. It's just that introverted people (especially Aspies) are easier to exclude, maybe a lot of people don't ignore us on purpose, we just let ourselves get pushed into a corner and not feel part of the group because our shyness makes it hard to get a word in edgeways, where as louder Aspies, who are still socially awkward, will probably get heard more because...well, it explains itself.

i feel so absolutely, completely, disconnected and detached from the herd, and i dont for one second, nor did i ever, have a pack mentality.
also, some nts are introvert, but they dont flap their fingers like me, do they? they dont jump at noises, hyper sensitive to some pain and numb to others, and a million other things, the list goes on and on...

I'm introverted myself.

I assumed I was just an introverted NT for years and years until I realized I simply don't have that pack mentality and find it nothing short of bizarre. I know plenty of introverts (most hockey goalies are high on the introversion scale) and they do seem to have that pack mentality even if it isn't so obvious at first.