Why would someone pretend to have aspergers?

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Seems unlikely to me, personally.

Without pretending to have ASD while knowing that self does not have ASD, person can be mistaken about self having ASD due to lack of understanding of ASD, which person who is mistaken about self having ASD would have due to not having ASD. So once person who thinks that self has understood ASD without understanding ASD thinks that self has ASD based on lack of understanding of ASD, it becomes difficult for person to break out of the loop to realize mistake about self having ASD. IMO, kind of person who is extremely adamant about self definitely having ASD without ever having seen professional for any reason and feeling that self never ever needs to see professional and can definitely determine that self definitely has ASD by self and feeling that self does not need help anyway so what is point of seeing professional is kind of person who is most likely to be mistaken about self having ASD, while kind of person who is not sure and does a lot of research and goes back and forth on issue of self having ASD and wants to a see professional to get professional opinion if only for peace of mind not even for help due to ASD obsession with knowing truth but not being able to decide by self due to knowing about bias of self is kind of person who is likely to have ASD and likely to receive confirmation once professional has been seen.

You continued to suggest that I find work when I told you two or three times that I am actually considered to be unemployably disabled and will possibly be getting SSI soon. In fact, that I said "SSI" instead of "SSDI" means I don't even have a work history, at least not for the past seven years. The truth of that matter is that I have worked less than 24 months over the past 21 years, and this has been caused by a few factors - I can't get any job I interview for; when I get a job, I burn out in 4-5 months if I don't get fired sooner for something I don't even know I'm doing (on one occasion: I was apparently too rude to customers. This is out of three jobs total over the past 21 years); after I burn out, it's extremely difficult to do much of anything, often for months at a time.

Fear doesn't hold me back from wanting to drive. The knowledge that I have multiple difficulties that complicate driving to the point of "dangerous to myself and others" keeps me from driving. Just as spending years searching for work to find myself underemployed in a minimum wage job for a few months that will leave me with meltdowns and shutdowns galore (I actually had a couple meltdowns on the last job I had) and probably another 6-12 months of recovering from having the job in the first place, only to repeat the cycle all over again does not appeal to me.

Personally, I highly doubt that (m)any people with AS are geniuses. Some are more socially functional than others and their special interests make them quite successful in their line of work. But I always have reasonable doubts when I read about celebrities who supposedly have AS, unless they have confirmed this themselves.

Here is a great article titled "Undiagnosing Gates, Jefferson and Einstein", written by an autistic person: http://www.jonathans-stories.com/non-fi ... osing.html



This Times Magazine article, and some subsequent speculations by Temple Grandin on Bill Gates' youthful appearance and alleged lack of social skills, is the only connection between Gates and AS. He has never confirmed these speculations, and the Wikipedia article about Gates doesn't mention autism because there is no official statement or other fact-based information source.

As the author of the above-linked article points out, Bill Gates has been highly successful not only in his professional but also in his personal and social life. Gates made many good friends in both elementary and high school (among them Carl Edmark, Kent Evans and Paul Allen), his classmates remember him as a fun person with a sense of humor, and he had a variety of girlfriends before he got married. Gates also had great salesmanship skills, personally dealt with customers, and has demonstrated great people and leadership skills in his time as a CEO.

All of this makes it somewhat unlikely that Bill Gates would be an aspie, imho. As for Einstein and Jefferson, both of them were rather social persons. Jefferson was a politician, which requires great social skills, and Einstein was (among other things) a social activist who gave public speeches promoting pacifism and liberalism. It appears to me that their posthumous AS diagnoses involve a fair amount of wishful thinking and idle speculation.

There are people who qualify as geniuses on this website. I doubt there are more than the general population, percentage-wise, but we do exist.

I think it is good to know and accept your limitations. I've had a very similar experience back when I took driving lessons. I couldn't coordinate my feet while I was steering, couldn't pay attention to the road and the instrument panel at the same time, had an abysmal reaction time, and often got lulled into a daydream by the scenery. Even when I drive a bicycle, I sometimes fall into a trance-like state, but I didn't have a major accident as of yet (Northern Germany is very bike-friendly, almost like the Netherlands). I've caused a lot of angry honking though

I remember one life-threatening incident during a driving lesson. My driving instructor repeatedly told me to turn left, but I was lost in thought and didn't react. When I finally realized what he wanted me to do, I had already missed the exit. But I nonetheless turned left because he was yelling at me and I was terrified. It was sheer luck that there was no oncoming traffic on the other side of the road. I headed right for a line of trees, panicked and frozen behind the wheel, and didn't react when my instructor yelled "brake!! !" He stepped on his brake at the last moment and told me to get the hell out so that he could drive back. I think the poor guy almost had a heart attack, and so did I

I still somehow managed to get my driver's license after one failed attempt. It was a bit of a miracle really. I only kept trying because my parents told me to and I also didn't want to be ridiculed by my peers. But I never got behind the wheel again after I got my license, and I never will.

Geniuses in terms of IQ, yes. My guess is that the percentage of high-IQ aspies is similar to the percentage of high-IQ persons in the general / NT population. But there aren't many publicly recognized, successful geniuses and nobel prize winners with AS as far as I know.

I have no doubts that there are a few, but I think they are successful despite their autism rather than because of it. Professional success nearly always involves social success, which means that high-IQ NTs will likely always be a few steps ahead of those who aren't as good at navigating office politics.

Edited to add: In my opinion, linking autism to exceptional intelligence is a bit like trying to link genius-level IQ to neuro-muscular dystrophy because of Stephen Hawking.

Last edited by CrazyCatLord on 25 Jan 2012, 9:22 am, edited 2 times in total.

My high school's driver's ed teacher told me and my parents that I would never learn to drive. I was terrified in that class. I failed it. Then my mom got me private lessons and I finally learned, but I'm still scared when I drive, especially if I have to go somewhere I've never been before.

My dad tried to teach me to drive a manual transmission car after I had finally learned automatic; no way - I couldn't do all of that coordination. He started yelling at me in our driveway that I was grinding the gears and I just broke down crying. I couldn't learn it.

Do you ever forget left vs. right? I always have to think about it : P.

Yeah, it's those moments when you've driven your instructors to the point of terror and/or rage. I know I'm particularly good at that. Which is why I'll probably never get a license.



This is likely true. I don't get "networking" at all. I didn't even really grasp it as a real thing until recently. Without that, it's fairly difficult to get far in anything, and when I was writing for pay, I was fortunate in having a couple of friends who basically did my networking for me.

When I was reading CrazyCatLord's anecdote, when he described turning left, I visualized him turning right. I caught it quickly, but... Yeah.

I had a similar problem relearning how to drive manual (I was taught twice, but only learned once - the first time. Couldn't apply it a second time). I couldn't manage to do anything but grind the transmission. The main reason I think I couldn't do it the second time was it was a different car and I couldn't generalize from the first one.

I do that too I often look to the left when people say "right" and vice versa. I usually imagine myself using a mouse to remember where my right hand is

As a kid, I used to tell people that right and left made no sense at all, because it would be exactly the other way around if I faced the opposite direction. But I also have problems telling East and West apart on a map When I started playing text-driven RPGs like Ultima back in the day, I wrote W and E on the sides of my monitor frame with permanent marker.

I found it relatively easy to tell left and right apart when I was driving, because I was on the right side of the road and sat in the left seat of the car. When I sit at my PC, I also always know where right is because my mouse is on that side. I only get confused when I have no reference points to go by. I can't count how often I've heard "on your left... no, the other left..."

I understand - I almost never drive a car other than my own....not because I don't have those opportunities, but for the same reason you couldn't apply it the second time to a different car.


I wrote "almost" because for a short while I had been forcefully promoted to a manager at my job and I had to travel and had to use rental cars (terrifying experience!)....omg, those months as a manager were some of the most stressful of my life. I hate air ports and traveling, and while I know my old job very well, I never wanted to manage other people who were doing my old job. Also, I know I'm not good with people skills, and office networking and politics are still foreign concepts to me.


I had to request (beg for) a demotion to go back to my old job. Luckily, they agreed. I was so happy! (I agree with knowing your limitations, and it helps to know what you want to do)


Now that I think about it, I think my former boss who hired me had AS and he was my mentor. I never had to do a typical job interview....but that's another story

I usually have to process both directions and pick one - I am usually correct, but it's not automatic. Sometimes this process hangs and I get stuck trying to figure out which way is left and which way is right.

I try to use my dominant (left) hand as a point of reference. Sitting at my computer doesn't seem to help more than that.

My grandmother, however, was much worse. I don't think she ever managed to get it down.

Also, I liked your explanation for why right and left made no sense. You know about port and starboard?

Me too. *lol*

I've never understood why boaters can't just call it left and right Why complicate things even more?