New Here-Anything good about being an Aspie?

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I want your avatar to be my friend.

Well, I'm not sure whether I am an Aspie or not, but I'll answer the question as if I were. For one thing, I don't waste my money on status symbols and going out; unlike most NTs I know, I enjoy silence and solitude; I take a childlike pleasure in the simplest things (like colours, or eating a sandwich); my interests and obsessions fill me with a degree of joy most NTs only get from socializing (meaning their happiness is dependent on other people's whims); I can identify with lots of people living "on the edge" for one reason or other; and as a child, I received praise for being more cautious and sensible than other children.

Not really.

I may or may not be on the spectrum, but I like being me.

That's about all I can say.

Maybe you are confusing Asperger's with william's. William's basically knocks down all intelligences except musical which is increased, and makes the person elfish.

You know, just like anything else, there are good things and bad things. You have to take both. Yeah, the complete lack of social skills is a problem. The intelligence and not caring much what others think is a plus. The more confident you are with yourself and who you are, the more good things that you find. The more bad things sometimes, too. But the better you get with dealing with yourself on this planet, the better you are able to deal with some of the negative things.

It's all in what you make of it. If you chose to dwell on the negative things then what you will get is negative things. If you chose to be a bit more positive then the negatives don't matter as much.

love: the peculiar creativity and intelligence as well as some of the interesting sensory abilities.

if you have any intellectual curiosity whatsoever the right kind of university setting can be an
excellent career choice. there are quite a few people with aspie characteristics and typically
(but not always) a desire to accommodate differences. i think you have to find a path of
study that is one of your obsessions, then respect comes from what you do (and not as much
the socializing crap).

think outside of the "normal" academic subjects and you will find an amazing array of odd little
areas to work in (turf management? entomology? prosthetics? book design? poultry science?
history of maps? video game design?). you also need a mentor or mentors that find your ideas
and way of operating worth investing in. look for iconoclasts, aspies, and other sympathetic types.
maybe not the majority but they are there. you gotta be able to get stuff done, but if it is an
obsession that probably won't be too difficult. yeah you might have to talk in front of people
or teach, but if you know what you are talking about you can get respect that way.

fg

Not as much as you might think. You merely suffer from a psychiatric disorder that is often characterized by extreme introversion and a rather fluctuous self-concept. My suggestion is to avoid letting it bother you, but they wouldn't put us on drugs for it if it were as easily said as done.

Remember, though: delusions of grandeur beat dysthemia any day of the month. Aspirations for world domination tend to work wonders on your moods. Unfortunately, I'm not sure as to whether aspirations for world domination are still fashionable, and I've been too busy studying to keep track of these damned fads.

Okay. You only think that other people don't like you because, due to your psychiatric condition, your self-concept tends to be fluctuous. Most people might like you, but they're too self-absorbed to take notice of you until you've done something to draw their attention. Unfortunately, most things that you can possibly do to draw a complete stranger's attention, no matter whom you may be, tend to form a very bad impression.

Let me give you a guarantee, then: if you can manage to form a good first impression on a person, I guarantee that you could get him or her to like you a great deal.

Logical conclusion: for the same reason that it is so difficult to attract positive attention, you will notice yourself either finding other people disturbing or believing that they somehow find you offensive. Take it as advised that this is all in your mind, for the most part.

Tip: making outrageous claims can get you laid in five minutes.

Contrary to the diagnostic criteria and probably your own misguided beliefs, you are a great deal like most people in one simple respect: you long to have a place in which you belong and feel as one with others. Rather than conflicting with your introversion, though, it actually is perfectly feasible for one to coexist with the other.

Well, first take into account what constitutes a disorder. If you hit two out of three, seeing a psychiatrist might be warrented. This is what they teach at universities, by the way.

1) Deviancy: are your ideosyncrasies noticably out of place in the society in which you live? For this to be a component of a disorder, it must be so pronounced that it can't simply be dismissed as a "harmless eccentricity." Most people are more tolerant toward eccentricity than you would think. For something to be considered deviancy, it would have to deeply interfere with your ability to integrate with society. Many Aspies manage to integrate loosely with those around them, and, as such, it is not standard practice to consider them necessarily disordered. They may have a behavioral trait, but it would be unusual for them to be put on medication.

2) Distress: does your condition cause you or others some level of distress? By distress, I mean severe emotional distress, whether for you or for others. There may be aspects of your life with which you are dissatisfied, and you may not be universally well loved by others: this does not constitute clinically significant distress. I am referring to the kind of distress that would be caused by a nude leper on a crowded bus.

3) Danger: does your condition make you a danger to yourself or others? For example, are you so uncoordinated and absent-minded that you would be fearful of getting behind the wheel of a car? Do you ever destroy the property of others during meltdowns? This one should be pretty obvious.

Also, does it impair your ability to function on a basic level? Does it interfere with necessary activities of daily living?

This is what I was taught in my psychopathology class, in any case, and the guy teaching it actually works as a professional therapist as his day job. I KNOW I'm exaggerating with the severity actually required for diagnosis, but I really want to drive home the point that you shouldn't consider yourself disordered just because you may meet a lot of the diagnostic criteria. The CENTRAL diagnostic criteria for ALL disorders, no matter what their symptoms may be, are pretty much spelled out above.

This doesn't mean you aren't an Aspie, though. It just means that Asperger's Disorder isn't really the correct term. If you find that you have the strength to rise above your shortcomings, then, rather having a disorder, you have a gift. Most people really can't do that. You'd be surprised at how many people really just don't make it.

I like the daydreaming. I don't know for certain if, strictly speaking, it's an Aspie trait, but I find that I like it. Aspie careers can vary from top to bottom, though. I suggest just following your heart. It sounds really cornball, but it's good advice.

Well I have always loved being an aspie. But I have been extremely lucky in which symptoms I have.
There are plenty of positive symptoms, including extreme loyalty and/or devotion, intelligence, sharpened memory,honesty, open-mindednes and optimism (Although I haven't seen many with this particular trait, except for myself )

I have found that the social problems associated with Asperger's can be beaten with enough determination, and that there are people out there who enjoy the company of a logical loyal and caring individual. You may not get as many friends as the neurotypicals, but the ones you do make will be true friendships.

Welcome to WP

Thanks alot Griff. I think my AS would be more of a gift than a disorder. It's definitely true about people, unless you've done something really great, they could care less about you, often putting you down. I had quite a few friends who would stop at nothing to get me to hang out at these social functions I wanted no part of, and call me lots of names, and I'd obssessively think about everything they say. Which as of late, I've deliberately sabotaged friendships with people like that that mean me nothing but harm. I've never been happier!

I think the distress thing is pretty strange. I'm not sure if it happens to other people, but when a friend I feel comfortable enough with to open up to them (Not usually directly in their face, as I clam up and don't know what to say) and they give me positive affirmations on a daily basis, but one day they aren't quite like the day before, I start to obsess about everything I might have done to make them mad at me or what I could've done to change our friendship.

The danger part, I usually keep that to a minumum. I'm pretty much extremely careful everywhere I go. And I used to be really angry, but I found ways how to keep that bottled up and relieve it on things (not that I'm angry very often in the first place). But one time my mom made me really angry, and I punched a hole in the wall, which scared me. It made my anger. But anyways, I'm pretty convinced yes I am an Aspie, but I'd love to try just about anything I can to get over social anxiety.

Also, anyone else do this? Like you think about what exactly you want to say, but it comes out really strange and you have to repeat yourself more coherently? Like a few days ago, I wanted to say: "It's as fun as painting walls." Which is what I thought would come out. But it came out more like: "It's as walls as painting fun." In a slightly garbled way. Is that Aspie behavior? I do that often when I have a lot to say.

A fairly grumpy lot this morning. I view it as just another personality type, with pluses. At 16, where you are going in life has to do with education, which we are good at, avoiding the social party scene, that leads to failure, which we are good at, and being Black, Aspie, with good grades, can give you a good ride up.

When we are good at something we are very good. We have persistance.

In my own life, the mechanical speaks to me, Science makes sense, reading an memory have lead to writing books. I have my own publishing setup, and marketing on the Internet is easy.

It is a big world, trying to become like most people, NT's here, is doomed, we are not wired for it. Taking what you have and developing it works. Besides persistance, I am a lifetime learner, my old technology is five years, I stay current.

You will never be anything but what you are, so like it and develop it. I too was skinny, eating more helps. It is a feedback loop, skinny because I am hyper, hyper from not eating enough, because I am hyper. Food, pushups, not so hyper, larger, stronger, calmer.

Where to go from here has to do with your tastes and talents. In general, eat! Get good grades, one talent is we relate better to adults when young, so teachers, mentors, are open to helping. Shoot for the best high school, most are daycare, seek education.

Where you are, what your interests are, have a lot to do with what you can do now.

This can be applied, my plan for world domination is small, I only want to make as much as a hundred people. Money cures lots of things.

What I would like to know are your likes and talents. It is your direction in life, and the thing most important to build on. I was 16 in 1961, nothing is the same. You are looking to become the best at something that will happen in twenty years.

My background in science, mechanics, photography, computers, are all obsolete, but the foundation for digital printing which I do now. There I am the leading edge.

So welcome to Wrong Planet.

There is always room at the top.

Welcome Obstinate!

I'm glad you can find the good things about being an aspie.

Inventor, my background, my niche, is definitely music and videogames. Computers were my first love, ever since I was a kid. I was born in '91, and my mom first bought us a computer in '94, and I still remember that like yesterday. I spent my 4th birthday at this Disney place, it costed my mom a lot of money, and I had lots of family around. What did I do? Spend the whole time on the computer playing Tonka Construction . I'm guessing what I'm really great at is building up systems from the ground up, like in Simcity 4 or Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. These types of games are ones I can spend upwards of six hours on any given day.

And aside from that, above all, music. I spend hours a day looking for new music, categorizing all the stuff I have, listening to whole albums, talking to people about music, and playing all sorts of instruments. I even started a Music Club at my school, where I am the president (Thank God it's not me up in the spotlight in front of everyone talking for a really long time).

What sort of careers can I build off those? Like one where I don't spend too much time interacting with people who don't see eye to eye with me on things that really interest me, that I make lots of money, and the schedule is rather flexible, so I can take time to let my inner battery recharge? Oddly enough, these are things I've been researching obessively the past few days. I even have my dream university picked out (Brown!! !), and what exactly I'll have to do to be able to go there. I just can't rest until I have an idea of what to major in.

it has a lot to do with whether or not the AS symptoms result in troubling issues.
i don't really care if i have a lot of friends, so i'm pretty neutral to that end of it.
i do mind that i can't seem to take care of myself, though, so i am working at it. that said, there are people out there who are worse than me and don't have AS to claim as their reason, nor do they endeavor to improve. so i figure i struck even on this point, as well.
i'm studying to be a CPhT - certified pharmacy tech. i'm really enjoying the coursework and topics.

I take a "no news is good news" attitude toward this. If nobody is interested in me either way, I know I haven't seriously stepped on anyone's toes. That's actually a start to making a positive impression. All I have to do from there is make an effort at saying something witty or interesting to break the ice. I'm not the best at it, but I have my share of triumphs.

Personally, I have no respect for slander. I consider it...puny.

Pick your friends carefully, your nose discreetly, and your enemies wisely. That's good advice for anyone.

Aspies do tend to have trouble with change. If there is really no way to keep yourself from feeling distressed over this, I would suggest putting a little check-mark next to "distress," and it can legitimately be attributed to AS traits.

I really wouldn't bother with the psychiatrist, though, unless it becomes clear you can't resolve certain issues on your own.

However, psychiatric medicine may be changing soon. Eventually, psychiatric care may be brought into line with the rest of medicine, and it will be considered as essential and normal as going to see a family doctor. One day, we may have boosters that can protect against acquired learning disabilities, for example. It may become common for people to have a biannual MRI; might even become a requirement for insurance. We're not at that stage yet, though, and I still consider psychiatric medicine, as it stands today, more a second to last resort than anything else. I really really don't like how it is today. This isn't because I don't respect the idea of psychiatry, though. Conversely, I feel that psychiatry, as it is today, is an insult to what psychiatry should be.

Brown is a great choice, with the Rhode Island School of Design thrown in. You are first wave, the first generation who grew up with computers that had some fun aspects, music, games, art programs. My first job in computers involved punch cards, I was a CPU. I came back for the second wave, Windows 3.0!

It was 2002 before good desktop publishing machines came out, and I was waiting.

If I was to guess where all this was going, I would say within, Virtual Reality. Brown has The Cave, thanks to Thomas J. Watson, it is only just starting, I can see Doctors running nanabots in Virtual Reality, wandering about inside their patients looking around. Fire Photon Torpedos at that cell, I do not like the way it is looking at me.

I like the concept of VR, we are still hardware short, and expensive, but that is coming along, then we need the visual connection. My printers, and CNC tooling run set programs, but freeform is coming, and as a musician you know what fingers can do, and how to train them.

The main first use, where the money is, is medical. The next step is passing operating by microscope, our current limit, and going after an elephant sized cell, with something you can position, with the power to cut, sew, weld, laser, and perhaps even teach, "what I did to this cell, continue doing to all others that fit the profile.

Something like the Sims, in Biology. Medicine is coming along, computers are doing fine, and we are still stuck with joy sticks and keyboards. The human/computer interface is key to what next.

Our brains deal best with visual, and all control comes from our fingers. Sound is most likely the best feedback, so it will be some visual music thing.

Eyes, ears, fingers, and the ability to reach inside a single cell. The visual should be 3-D, so for off hours and fun, you can run it backwards and play images, like when Fry on Futurama took up the Holophone.

This qwerty keyboard is 100 years old, we need something better. The best control work being done now is in video games.

So games, computers, music, design, are going to lead us into the machine, and I think it a world where the Autistic will excel. We do not need social cues, we can operate alone. Someone has to go first and make it user friendly.

Besides medicine, inspection, I have an Olympus SZ4045 binocular scope, often used for electronics inspection, but you only get one view, can't wander around and look from another angle. and chips are getting smaller. We need to get into the picture, with freedom to move, and a multimeter would be useful. The limit of our technology is what, with the aids we have, we can see, measure, and at the leading edge, it is crude.

I want Nanavision and Phasers, I don't want to just see a problem, I want to micro fix it.

All of this comes down to connecting the human. We can do better with eyes, ears, and fingers, once someone shows us how.

The Doped and multilayer substrates in chips are limiting, something built molecule at a time, could use the elements themselves as componants. We could teach a machine to do it, once the machine existed where a human could build the first few. Atomic structure is like Lego, but the parts are different sizes, and only bond in some orders. Building matter as art, will take better art supplies.

Your Major could be using The Cave for a personal video game. As it came from Tom Watson, IBM President, and was custom built, one of the few good ones, I would think they are still involved, and looking to develop new VR stuff.

It makes an interesting Degree proposal, Doctor of Atomic Music, but it does have to happen, and even if you do not get the Patents that will rock the world, you do sound better suited than the medical profession, who does boring media, to present the training aids they need. It does pay well, few in the field, and when a Doctor gives the project to a Computer Geek, we get double boring.

A musical gamer with some art and design could get between the science types, and the computer types, and call the tune.

Video gaming will also move into VR, so get there first. The right proposal and you start life hooked up with IBM. They missed out on IBM compatible PCs, mostly they live on high end near custom designs, they built The Cave, they just need people to figure out what to do with it.

From what I gathered, a quick study, it is one of the best on Earth, and runs a couple of set programs, then sits dead most of the time. This is not what IBM had in mind. It is a prototype for the home model, with stops at hospital, schools, shop, and they want those applications.

Want a multimillion dollar gaming rig?

It is a great time to be a young Aspie gamer.