Are Aspies Superior?: A multi-faceted discussion

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Anyone who believes that people with AS are superior is delusional.

People believe what they need to believe in order to feel good about themselves. People with AS are no differrent.

I have never come across a bigger group of delusional people than the ones on this board.

Personally, I think labeling anything as superior or inferior is to oversimplify the situation. Let's look at a hummingbird. It is very well adapted to it's niche. But it is terrible at grabbing a mouse out of the field in flight in the dead of night. Owls are much better at that. Is either superior to the other? No, they have different characteristics. There are so many characteristics that compose any given individual that it is really impossible to numerically judge anything to be unilaterally better than any other thing. If we narrow the criteria, we could judge. Who is better at swimming, Lucy or Sally? We can measure who does the front crawl up and down the pool faster. But that is not the same as being superior. That means that Lucy is better at swimming the front crawl fast than Sally. Sally is likely better at something else.

So really, I think this whole idea that Aspies or Neurotypicals are superior to the other is silly. Personally, I do wonder if Aspies are a new branch of evolution. Now, there's this idea that evolution is always going forward, as if it were going toward something. It is not. Evolution is not a path of improvement. Humans are not 'better' than other species, just adapted to a different niche than others. Granted, we're a very generalist species, but we have our niche. I think Aspies may be filling a niche in human society. I wonder if perhaps we're becoming a subspecies, sub not meaning inferior, but obviously we're not an entirely new species. I think Aspies may be able to fill a niche in human civilization. We have our strengths and weaknesses, but they are a bit different from Neurotypicals' abilities. I'm sure that I'll be misunderstood here, but I think I'll leave it at that for now, let you ask questions if you care to.

FreedomG maybe you are an Aspie who was picked apart by the more intellectually gifted Aspies and became bitter and troll-like?Since autism is on a spectrum there are so many different levels of existing and so many different modes of expressing intellect.

True, some on the spectrum have unusual talents others say are superior. I was told I had an above average intelligence at the age of four, after I took several tests at the University of Oklahoma. ( at the age of four I was already taking tests in college that must mean I am a genius, truly) I had to do this just to get into a regular kindergarten class. Most do not have to go through all that just to get into kindergarten. I even had to take another test at the place I was to attend kindergarten. I performed exceptionally awful on this test and was almost denied access to regular kindergarten because of it. My mother to the rescue, par usual. She managed to convince whomever it was administering the test that I was just goofing off and was really brilliant when I chose to be. This worked and I was allowed in.

I still have no idea if this was a blessing or a curse disguised as one. Being accepted into the regular classes lead to constant confrontations, isolation and being picked to death by other kids.

This was my first of many life tests. Over and over again I have had to prove myself just for the priveledge of mixing with the so-called normal ones.

I don't know. You tell me. What does all this make me? Does it make me superior? Better? Stronger? I think these bitter experiences have made me wiser especially in that "streetsmart" kind of way. But superior? I cannot answer that. I do feel better than most because of the experience. I just wish it were easier to convince the narrow minded presumptuous idiots around here of that!

Hiya, just dropped by to interject some personal knowledge..my dad has Aspergers, he is an inventor, he holds several patents. I just stopped by to share that.

Aside from that, I think the people who are superior are the ones that communicate effectively (no matter how they do it) or the ones that listen carefully to those who can't, presume intelligence of the other party, and make great effort to understand others and their differences.

Life would be rather dull if we were all the same? People with AS are all different just like NT people are all different.

anyone want a cookie?

No stake to break them, huh?

Or was the stake offered to you but you turned it down?

Yeah, I win all my games as a result of them.

The prevalent opinion out there seems to be that people on the autism spectrum at the high functioning end, are neither superior nor inferior to NTs. But maybe the question is too broad. Isn't it obvious from all the discussion that NTs excell at certain things and autistics excell at other things? We need to look at specific skills....[and we need to be asking another very important question].

Let's look at social skills. We can make some conclusions within this one variable. There's little dispute that NTs are better at social skills. Social interaction usually gives them both confidence and happiness. Aspies, for whom social interaction is quite painful, may still find dozens of reasons to be happy. But on the social skills yardstick, NTs are superior.

Looking at the happiness parameter, NTs and Aspies being different but equal is a logical conclusion.

Let's look at the invention variable. Aspies in general have more time for invention due to the fact that they spend less time socially. Thinking about doing things in new and more efficient ways is probably more interesting to Aspies than to NTs. On the invention yardstick, Aspies are probably superior. But can we also conclde that Aspies are more creative [a larger category] than NTs? This requires further and more specific discussion.

To say we are equal or different or that we are just different isn't very useful to me. It's more useful to say in which areas NTs and Aspies are superior/inferior.

The reason this discussion is extremely significant is that NTs and Aspies can learn to respect each others' strengths. And that is a huge step forward from seeing the autism spectrum as only a hindrance to 'proper functioning'. The reality is that everyone who is making their best contribution is valuable and needed. Every one of us is remarkable in our own way. NTs who don't feel they are remarkable can be encouraged to do so. Aspies may need similar encouragement to communicate their strengths to the world at large.

How then can we help everyone to make their best contribution? This is the question that needs to be asked. And answered.