The Pool

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One of the things that I find really interesting about AS is my personal concept of "the pool".

I can relate to about 60% of the specific traits of aspergers that all of us have, but when I look at our entire population, there is another 40% of things that seem to be hit or miss. To be more specific, I see it as 2 pools, one where we all draw the same traits from, and a second that contains a much broader list. It is almost as if, based on personality or experience, we act in various ways. It is always similar, but not always exactly the same. For example, some may have sense issues with sound and others with touch, but in general we are all bonded with sense issues. Well, that and the rest of it all.

I just want to say that I think this makes us cool, and in the grand scheme of mental differences, time and time again, people will say that all of this is not a deficiency. It's not. We are just different; from the majority, and even better, from each other.

p.s. This may all be based on my inability to empathize. Anyway, if I am being silly, remember that I just called you cool. That's the important bit.

Interesting.

I'm very impaired by my autism but I think it is because we are in a minority. If most of the world had an ASD would society still run the way it is?
You see flashing lights, hear loud noises and see cluttered shops everywhere. Not to mention that getting a job usually depends on your social IQ.

I also have a theory about types of thinking and our sensitives. My worst sensitivities have to do with sound and vision and I think in sound (a speaking voice in my head as well as a detailed auditory memory) and vision (pictures).

For me, every Aspie trait is just another thing that an Aspie may or may not have. Obviously there must be a correlation, so that if somebody is DXed as Aspie then (as long as the DX was done properly) statistically they'd be quite likely to have any particular Aspie trait you care to mention, but I don't see it as particularly unusual for an Aspie to not have this or that trait.

It might be interesting to compile a list of what the "core" traits might be, i.e. those traits that most Aspies have, but I think it would be hard to draw a sharp line - maybe a better approach would be to assign a probability to each trait, and leave it at that.

I don't think anybody who has been diagnosed with AS should automatically assume that they have every known trait. It's just a good pointer to what stuff they might be having trouble with.....the only way to know is to observe the client carefully.

I suspect that for every "full-blown" Aspie there are several "half-Aspies" who would probably never be DXed because their scores aren't high enough, yet the traits they do have will quite likely screw around with their lives if they're not taken seriously.

Most aspies are introverts and may not display such an immediate reaction that some aspies do. For example, all this sensory overload crap. It just makes me lock up and unable to think, I don't flail around or anything. So for me, it's not that noticeable. But the things add up and can come out in unusual ways. Aspies also learn to compensate or get used to things over time.

Yeah I believe there are a core set of things we all share. And I like the way you describe it as two pools. There is an outer one that we have learned our unique way of dealing with. Sometimes that may mean an aspie has overcome a particular trait and so does not exhibit that trait anymore. But the core stuff is what binds us. Yeah we are cool.