What are your biggest weaknesses?

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I'm curious to hearing how Aspergers directly affects other Aspies' lives and what is holding you back. For me, it is a number of things.

Limited capabilities: I was in the advanced classes in high school, so I'm not exactly dumb, but too much work or too many new concepts thrown at me at once and I'm unable to deal with it. This really shows up in math classes (geometry, calculus, etc.) and advanced science classes like biology or physics. In an english or language or history class...you're given things to read and told to memorize facts, dates, come to conclusions in novels, etc., but anything with numbers or numerous definitions, and my mind is blocked.

I graduated community college just fine (other than speech class, which I was given an exemption after proving I couldn't handle it) but when it came time to transfer to a regular college, the classes became more difficult for me, in part due to lack of interest in the subject matter and the classes being harder in general and not being able to do the minimal work and get by with a good grade without putting in full effort.

The limited capabilities also comes through in the job force. I'm not efficient. Incompetent would be a bad word to describe me because there are things I can do, but inefficient is a good word to describe me. Even in the things I'm good at, I take forever to do them. When I'd get As or Bs on essays in high school and community college, I spent all night getting it done. That won't cut it in the work force.

My other problem is that I'm easily stressed. When things are fast-paced or choatic, my head spins. For example, today I was at a local sub shop, and it gets pretty busy in there during the afternoon. I had to wait an extra 10 or 15 minutes for my order despite calling it in and waiting the 10 or 15 minutes they said it would take to make the meal. Just as a customer, I felt overwhelmed like I wanted to get out of there, even though my social anxiety is minimal now and I was just at a loud rock concert standing up for 2 hours with no anxiety. But something where it's fast paced and "something has to get done now"...even viewing it, let alone being a participant, is too much for me.

The easily stressed thing also comes into place when dealing with difficult people. No decent person likes dealing with an a$$hole, but for me, it's not an option. I used to take it personally, but even watching an a$$hole bully someone else is too much for me. So a difficult supervisor or boss has and would still do a number on me.

With all of these things I mentioned, it makes it next to impossible to find or hold down a job. I get the impression if my parents weren't as nice as they are and didn't expect anything imminent out of me, that instead of trying to make it on my own I would go to the local hospital and tell them I have Aspergers and live in a group home, even if the conditions were less than favorable.

I tend to be very machine-like. Plenty of ability to work & get things done, but no desire to deal with emotions; either mine or anyone elses. I can kick myself in the rear end to do anything regardless of how comfortable or confident I feel.

The problem with that is other people sense that lack of emotion & are repelled by it. My input for completing a task is valued, & I'm often invited to help, but I stay really focued & hardly socialize. This makes most people uneasy & they stop requesting my help after a while. They feel they are just using me or something, but in truth, I'm usually fine with the arrangement.

So way too often I sit, with plenty of energy & abilities, yet nothing to do with them.

OK the worst:


Easily stressed*Do not let go of the past*Do not take rejection/criticism kindly

Am not into societal pecking order/role playing/gossip

Need to be in control of my life/destiny but I never get any power - at least not for long

Do not read people/been used too much hence am totally mistrustful of most people nowadays

Cannot take being treated neutrally - I need you to either love me or hate me - I cannot stand being ignored

Have such neutral facial expressions people read the wrong emotions into me and think of me as arrogant/angry

Do not present my true character/potential to the outside world due to not being polished enough and too honest

Talk too much about my special interests yet do not know how to do give and take in convos, nor do I know what to ask to get others to keep the talk going, nor do I really care about what they have to talk about most of the time - as what most people have to say I find utterly boring unless it relates to common struggles or hobbies/interests

It takes 10 good things to neutralize one bad thing or I'll stay depressed for days at time reflecting on my failed life

1) i value animal life over humans (i woulndt call that a weaknes, i just found comfort in animals when nt's exculeded me at a young age)

2) every negative experience haunts me and in some points brings me to the brink of rage

3) i get overly stressed over repetetivity, inability to describe something,and loud noises

4) when i get angry, i get really angry. but i rarely get angry

1. i have social anxiety disorder.....it's bad.
2. i porcrastinate, and things confuse me very easily. also easily distracted or distracting.
3. i do get incredibly angry as well. i rarely do, but i can get pretty psycho if enraged, and say awful things i dont mean
4. dont like dealing with people much. i sometimes do, but im very off and on about it.

Low stress threshold

horribly horribly disorganized no matter how hard I try..

Slow and clumsy

extremely scattered except when focusing on what i WANT to focus on

Extreme difficulty changing habits, no matter how badly I want to...

1. I can't talk to people at all beyond passing "hello"s and such. I'm always frightened that I'll do something I don't realize is wrong and the person/people I'm talking to might lash back at me in some way, so I just avoid getting into it in the first place. Though I never have this problem on the internet, just in personal conversation and planned social situations (presenting things). The only way to really talk to me is to catch me off guard, and I'll try to play along until I get the opportunity to duck out of it.

2. I can't remember anything. I always simply lose random information regardless of importance or time since I learned it. This one gets me in trouble a lot... I only seem to be able to take most stuff in if I take pains to memorize it over and over again until it sticks. Sometimes it happens so fast, I'll be watching TV and a commercial will come on, whereupon I will immediately forget what I was watching and spend the next few minutes racking my brain until it comes back to me.

3. Procrastination. I always wait till the last minute to do something, and usually by then, I've forgotten about it. Once again, gets me into a lot of trouble, especially with school.

4. Daydreaming. I always end up staring off into space, thinking about completely irrelevant things, regardless of the situation, and completely lose what I was doing before the train of thought led me away. I always have friends that need to shout my name or something to drag me back to reality because I zoned out in the middle of a conversation. I consider this a major concern though, because it has happened more than once while I was driving! (no, I never crashed, but I have pulled into the wrong lane without realizing it). Of course, if it's something I REALLY want to focus on, like World of Warcraft (probably should be another of my weaknesses), I'm too into it to even realize what's going on around me anyway.

5. Eye contact scares me. It feels intimidating, so I always look away as fast as I can if I accidentally make it. The fact that sometimes I come back from one of my little 'zoning out' trains of thought and find that I've been staring at someone for several minutes.