You Might be an Aspie if...

Post Reply New Topic

Yeah, but for some reason they label you when you do it. Maybe I should just get a t-shirt that says "Don't bother, I don't fit in and I won't get it."

Hey all you NT's out there! Any of you wanna tackle this one? Can ya offer us something more meaningful than "Eew!" or "I sure wouldn't let my kid go out looking like that." Or maybe you could explain why fashion is important, and if it's so important, why is it a moving target?

I'm going back to the nudist club. Their attitude is the only one that makes sense to me. Problem is that I'm just as out of place there as I am anywhere else.

Grumpy mood.

Fashion is important because it generates money. That's all there is to it.
People are convinced they have to buy new clothes, so they just do it.
NTs don't seem very bright if you ask me...

it's another meaningless social thing. if you can't jump through all of society's little hoops then you are clearly a "failure", even if you are very happy XD

(i'm obviously not NT XDDD)

They use to call me Columbo at a job I had because I never ironed things. Still don't.
If it's a total wrinkle mess I'll just let it hang for a while and most will work themselves out.

I just don't understand the practical reason behind it, if I'm clean, smell clean, don't offend anyone why do they care if my pants have a perfect crease.

Maybe they do. It's one of those things that just really bothers many NTs. I think it's because of bacteria and stuff. When I see smears of peanut butter and unidentified substances that have been there for an indeterminate amount of time I think off all the stuff that could be living in there that could make people sick, especially my son who will rub the spots and put his hands in his mouth.

NTs are just as quirky as ASD's it's just that we currently outnumber you so NT is considered "normal" which is just as offensive to many of us as anybody. I HATE the label NT because I'm am not typical, I'm just not quirky in the same way.

Now, if you could create an antibacterial garment with a camoflauged pattern that could conceal the presense of spots I think you'd have a winner for all of us.

Kiley

Well, that's definitely part of it. There is also an aeshetic component and many NTs like change which partially explains the moving target thing. We also like to decorate ourselves and camoflage the parts of us we don't find attractive. It might seem more logical to reduce cookie intake or get some exercize...but we like cookies.

Back to the jokes....

You might be an Aspie if...

You can draw a completely accurate picture of a mechanical device that interests you (like, say, a P-41 Airplane) down to the last bolt in perfect scale without missing a detail, but you can't write your own name legibly and your school makes you use a portable word processing device so your teachers can read your work.

I don't. I'm anti-ironing, waste of electricity. I also don't care much if you match. I care if I match. It's the dirty smeary stuff that icks me out.

YMBAAI:

..."oh thank god no one noticed my mistake" carries the same emotional impact as "oh my god I just won the lottery!"

...dating carries the same emotional impact as having tea with a T-rex!

...your nightly mantra is "tonight I'm gonna get to bed in time to get a good night's sleep," which you repeat hourly until sunrise.

...nobody makes a motorcycle helmet big enough to fit you.

...you know very well that shocking people, proving them wrong, or showing them how smart you are NEVER WORKS as a strategy for making friends, but you watch yourself do it over and over and over again.

...every time you close your eyes you see something fascinating.

...every time you open your eyes you see something baffling.

...messes take care of themselves, right?

...you keep track of your belongings by grid coordinates (e.g., Grand Funk CD at 3, 4, 9 means your Grand Funk CD is located 3 feet from the south wall, 4 feet from the west wall, and 9 inches up from the floor).

...you'd rather smell someone else's poop in a public restroom than air "freshener."

Thanks Kiley! I really value NT perspectives on social customs, though I know you can only speak for yourself. This forum and my therapist's office are the only two places I feel comfortable asking those questions. (Hooray for WP!! !) I like what you said about NT quirkiness too. Too true! We aspies have no monopoly on quirkiness!

I never thought about stains as areas for germ growth. Take comfort in the fact that peanut butter is stable in the open at room temperature.

On the other hand, we really have too much fear of microbes. Nearly all of them are harmless, and their very presence tends to squeeze out the less robust yet more harmful ones (competition for the same ecological niche). A psych professor of mine had a colleague who treated severely phobic people in their homes. He usually started out his first session by removing his shoe and licking the sole in front of his client. (He didn't do it if he'd stepped in dog poop though.) He never got sick from it. (He might have been an aspie... ) The advent of indoor plumbing was also a major factor in the polio epidemic. Toddlers used to gain their immunity naturally by toilet training in the dirty outhouse. (Very young children don't get sick from the poliovirus, but they develop the antibodies against it.) Clean bathrooms mean less exposure to helpful bugs. Maybe the same applies to clean shirts?

Antibacterial soaps, detergents, and other products create the same hazards as indiscriminate use of antibiotics. They drive the formation of resistant bacterial strains. The data's pretty good on that one. (We have a short video about it at the Science Museum of Minnesota where I volunteer.)

I'm aspie-ing.

I can probably outdo you on the anti-bacterial soap rant but as a non Aspie I am able to refrain, and that's before the Concerta has kicked in. I make my own soap because it's much better at killing....Oh, there I go. I can refrain. I can refrain.

Stains don't pose a threat at all. They don't bother me, other than sometimes it's hard to tell if they are just discoloration or a fresh smear of food etc. I try to avoid stain free clothes only because they upset some people, and even though I don't care about the stains I care about the people and would rather them be happy...most of them anyway.

If you saw my house you'd know I'm not extremely phobic about germs and I agree we can overdo it with cleanliness. Still, boogers, ketchup, peanut butter (which you're right is probably OK if it's not filled with aflotoxin), etc still icks me out.

Most of the world is happy to have one set of clothing and doesn't care if they wear the same thing day after day. For me as long as clothes are clean and odor free I don't care if you wear them for a week. My kids can't wear clothes for ten minutes and keep them clean and odor free.


I will try to think up some more jokes to make up for being off topic.

Kiley

I can probably outdo you on the anti-bacterial soap rant but as a non Aspie I am able to refrain, and that's before the Concerta has kicked in. I make my own soap because it's much better at killing....Oh, there I go. I can refrain. I can refrain.

Stains don't pose a threat at all. They don't bother me, other than sometimes it's hard to tell if they are just discoloration or a fresh smear of food etc. I try to avoid stain free clothes only because they upset some people, and even though I don't care about the stains I care about the people and would rather them be happy...most of them anyway.

If you saw my house you'd know I'm not extremely phobic about germs and I agree we can overdo it with cleanliness. Still, boogers, ketchup, peanut butter (which you're right is probably OK if it's not filled with aflotoxin), etc still icks me out.

Most of the world is happy to have one set of clothing and doesn't care if they wear the same thing day after day. For me as long as clothes are clean and odor free I don't care if you wear them for a week. My kids can't wear clothes for ten minutes and keep them clean and odor free.


I will try to think up some more jokes to make up for being off topic.

Kiley

You might be an Aspie if...

You push the break petal when someone tailgates you.

At least I do that

Wait... doesn't every driver do that?

When I had a car I did, but never on my moped. (I'd never win that one.) In the 1980s when I got my license, the MN Drivers Manual said lightly tapping the brake pedal was the proper thing to do. Not slowing down, just lighting up the brake lights.

I can't!! !! ! LOL!
I'm newly diagnosed! I have a valid excuse! I've got a note from my mom!

I should really make my own soap too. I can't stand the chemical smell, I mean "fragrance," even in soaps like Ivory. I spent $4 for a bar of real, plain, organic, genuinely stink-free soap last time at a co-op, and I love it! So clean I can't tell whether I've just had a shower! (BTW, soap washes the germs down the drain instead of trying to kill them too. I haven't yet learned to refrain! )

Ok, relate to topic. Ahem:

YMBAAI:
...you ever seriously considered a career as a scientist studying the human perception of disgust.
(My advisor brought it up to me in grad school. It's a whole field of research! Probably the only opportunity I'll ever really have to understand the dirty clothes rules.)
...you're in your room online, and you want to scream at the person who just walked by your door because it was SO DISTRACTING!! !
...your therapist suggests trying to go to bed two hours later every day instead of just going to bed earlier, because we both know that ain't gonna work.
...your therapist gave you a card to give to the nice policeman along with your drivers license explaining what autism is, and that I really don't mean to be mouthing off to him. (Did I do that one once before?)
...you've ever programmed your dad's computer to type in Tolkien's runes instead of text while he wasn't looking, and then wait for hours for the payoff. (It was 1982, before fonts and windows, when it really was impressive to a high school kid.)
...you've ever translated anything at all into Klingon.
...the Sign of the Prancing Pony will make you feel warm & fuzzy and you start purring.
...you spent prom night at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which you'd already seen a dozen times.
...you regard A. G. Bell as an enemy of humanity for inventing the telephone... that keeps ringing!
...you've been up for 50+ hours for no real reason.

I can't believe how easily these are coming to me! Maybe mine aren't always "ringers," but it's like a lifetime of misunderstanding I can finally say (type) out loud!

...You love the space shuttle, but can't name a single STS mission astronaut.

..Your favorite Star Trek characters are Spock, Data, Odo, The Doctor, and Captain Archer's Beagle.

....you own 3 mobile phones but never use them for receiving or making calls.