Nerdiness and Autism

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Nerdiness and Autism are not the same.

I say this because the 'nerdy' rate at my school seemed to be around 10% - 15%; whereas Autism (in its totality) runs at about 1% (with AS even lower)

At school I was acutely aware that I was definitely NOT in the 'cool' crowd, but I didn't belong with the 'nerds' either (nor they me)

I recall 'hanging' with some 'nerdy' groups at school, from time to time, when my loneliness became too uncomfortable...........but I didn't fit in with them either...........and my association with a nerdy group was always VERY fleeting.


How did YOU get on with the 'nerds' at school

I never really had nerds as friends, but looking back I could have easily made friends with them. And I probably should have, as I could have learned some neat things from them. But it was only after I left high school when I realized how important intelligence ended up being.
Now supposedly am one myself. ......

I did not get along well with nerds.

Music was my haven and I was in bands so I was an official non conformist and no one was surprized I wasn't very social.

I think dutch culture is slightly different as well.

Oh, that was the only crowd in school that would accept me... in fact I am still called nerd nowadays.

I'm one! Well, I'm not a tech or anime geek, unlike my nerdy friends, but I was the kid whose face was always buried in a book, and the chemistry-obsessed student not too long ago. It also helped, that the English teacher used to praise my essays because it was then I felt I wasn't so lifeless after all.

My friends tended to be school librarians - nerdy people, or dorks, or geeks, or basically those "normal" people who are ignored by the cool ones. A common feature among better friends is they are intellectual and understanding. Not the top students, but interesting to talk to about politics, etc. In fact, the nerds saved me from social oblivion by accepting me as a friend. And my confidence steadily grew from there and life felt worth living.

I never fitted in thoroughly though, not being an anime fan. But we still had other nerdy homeworky things to talk about.

I think that if you're Aspie it helps to be a nerd whereas it doesn't really for NT's unless the said NT is so brilliant. In the end you're respected for having good grades. NT's will still respect a nonarticulate top scorer than a nonarticulate non top scorer. My college mate (but not friend) is more Aspie than me and is very isolated. She won't talk to anyone unless spoken to - i've tried to bring her out of her shell. She gets bad marks for sciences and math so the rest don't respect her. Even though she reads philosophy and cultural things no one else bothers about.

But since I entered sixth form college things have improved somewhat because the better uni you enter, the more you're respected. So nerdiness in this case is really useful. (We apply to UK universities which don't need extra curriculars so much.)

I fit in with the nerds no better than any other group -- the geeks, band kids, drama kids, etc etc. And I was into computers hugely at the time (high school).

I hear all these stories about nerds finding their fellow nerds, but can't relate at all. It was quickly really clear that whatever they were and whatever I was was different on the same fundamental level as with everybody else.

Nerds are actualy scared of me in my school, its funny.

I was a nerd, for 8 years of my life. I had the glasses, and I didn't have any fashion sense. It turned out that I don't need glasses, and I'm dressing better, these days.

I did try to befriends wish the geeks at my school. They thought I was a freek and "way to into anime" yet the showed up to school every friday in cosplay.

I just didn't do my homework, and wasted my time playing video games, that way I limited my nerdyness, but I still learn more and faster than anyone I know. But well...at this lower niveau people expect slightly less from me, which makes my life somewhat easier.

Funny case: someone says: Hey! there goes a nice chick, jeweetwelwie.
Me: What did you say?
He: DO I need to spell it out for you?
Me: Go ahead.
He: <gets stuck at spelling chick>
Me: helps him spell the word (ofcourse I do that at a high letters/second rate).
He: Ok, you spell it.

Made me laugh

(like it matters that I can spell superalifragilisticexpialidocious while pronouncing the word is hard enough for most people)

I didn't have many friends at all in school but my best friend was a nerd. I was never a nerd. I think Aspeis are dorks not nerds. Dorks have poor social skills, very restricted interest & are kind of in there own worlds. I was the biggest dork in my school

Most aspies are nerdy in some way, but not all do well in school/uni. I hung out in the nerdy group and quite a few were diagnosed with AS. I wonder if most nerds have latent AS traits but not enough to really place them on the spectrum.

Vanilla_Slice, proud to be a nerd.

As nobody wanted to hang out with Slice Junior I spent lunchtimes in the science labs (supervised) with all my other geek and nerd friends. There was science club, chemistry club, electronics club, chess club AND I helped out in the Library. Revenge came in the final year when most pupils passed three or four exams with decent grades and I sailed through all twelve.

I'm now retired at 52, I've won.

Vanilla_Slice

Yeah, I also didn't fit in with either the cool kids OR the nerds. I wound up hanging with other weirdos like myself. I don't think they have any mental conditions though. They just were artsy or into sci-fi and horror

I actually cheated off the nerds' papers in Math class, thanks to me having dyscalculia but not knowing it at the time!

There was once a time, that I'd identify with Austin Powers - the most shagedellic nerd.