How NTs view the world vs how Aspies view the world!

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It mentions in Tony Attwoods book that people with AS view the world much differently than non autistic people. I know even amongst non autistics it can varey as well.

It would be nice in this thread if i could get some input from NTs as well as Aspies on how they view the world to give me an idea............

My theory is that people with AS view life and the world in a much more colorful way than NTs do.

not sure if worldview is the place we differ.

i always felt that i didn't belong, but it was up to me to invent a reason why. i had to make sense of the world. (in practice, i made several of them#.)
when NTs are alienated*, they always know exactly why--even if they can't do anything about it. so the world still makes sense.

even those who adopt a philosophy like existentialism, have rational arguments in its favor. they don't say things like, "when i was a kid, i thought i was a space alien left on this planet by mistake." they think they are above people who still have a need for the world to make sense to them. it's something they've outgrown.

* e.g. those who are a minority of some sort ( which is how, i think, civil rights analogies don't completely work): if they could be given their rights, they would no longer mind the world they were in.

#like the hermit crab, i have inhabited different worldviews, shells i picked up & made my own. is this one the truth? or the next one?

Can you narrow it down to something specific? I would love to answer but "how do you view the world?" is just too vague a question.

Through my eyes

Well like from an NTs perspective is the world a less complicated and more easy place to adapt to than it is for an aspie?

i also first thought the same. but maybe that is just an aspie way of viewing this question - going into the details - and it would be better to find a more general view of it.

anton

My 'world' view has always been very utopian. I could never understand why people couldn't acheive that place of peace and understanding and unity. Why people waste so much effort and emotion in hate and bigotry and bias. Sure, this dream is usually attributed to spiritual gurus and the like but I've always felt practical about it. I've been called naive, a dreamer, and other not so complimentary things.

As much as I do NOT understand why people persist with negative self destructive beliefs and behaviors, I'm also fascinated by it. In any movie, I identify with the villians. I'm enthralled by psychological studies of psychopaths and sociopaths. I am drawn to the 'dark side'. The depths of depravity the human speicies is capabel of does not surprise me and it gives me very little hope for us as a species.

At least, it'll be an interesting ride as we race towards self destruction.

Many NT's do not understand how I can entertain and try to live by utopian ideals yet still be a nihilist. To me, it makes perfect sense. Expect the best, prepare for the worst. Keeping working towards what I want yet, be realistic about what the rest of humanity is capabe of. We are an immature, childish species. It will be a miracle if we survive ourselves long enough to mature.

Not sure ANY of that has anything to do with being an aspie of not - but there you go.

Judging from posts here, social interactions are less complicated for me than for many here. But there is more to the world than social interactions. And just because I understand an interaction doesn't mean that it is a positive interaction. But I spend far less time thinking "what just happened between me and that person?"

Is it more easy to adapt to? Again, judging by posts, yes. Since I don't have sensory sensitivities or executive dysfunction, adaption is easier.

This does not mean my (or any) NT's life is smooth sailing at all times with no problems. It just means my problems are not the ones posted here.

What do you mean by don't have problems with sensory issues jannisy?

she doesn't have AS, she is NT (see her profile) ... but nevertheless, she also got her issues...

btw, what kind of issues do you have?

anton

Pensieve wrote a post several weeks ago about sensory issues and how sensations persist and persist and persist for her and she can't tune them out. She suspected that NTs acclimated to sensations faster. This made me realize a phenomenon I decided to call "sensory fade" in myself (and probably other NTs) versus "sensory continuence" in Pensieve (and probably other Aspies). When I feel something, my senses register the information. But if that sensation persists and persists, my senses eventually acclimate to it and tune it out. My nose stops registering the smell. My ears can still hear the annoying noise but hear "around" it and so on.

It is my guess that sensory fade rather than sensory continuance has spared me from having sensory issues.

I have issues with my height becuase i am not very tall and of course communication and emotional problems.

off topic sorry, but the first nt I have noticed here - Janissy, do you look people in the eye when you speak to them or does everyone really pretend?

How I view the world: People everywhere interacting, me in amongst them, trying not to be seen but wanting to be part of it and working very hard to look like I 'chat' the same way as everyone else, minus the obsessions over celebs and reality tv (I notice there is a lot of that!). I am not sure if that is the sort of answer you were looking for tho?

I do look people in the eye when I speak to them. This is one of the most puzzling things for me about autism. I can't understand how looking people in the eye can be painful or difficult. But so many people say this is so that I simply accept that it is. I file it under "true things I'm not wired to understand".

For the record, my autistic daughter has no trouble looking people in the eye. This fact about her is something that delayed her diagnosis. In fact she seems to really enjoy eye contact and she and I sometimes have staring contests for fun. We go nose-to-nose so our eyes are only centimeters apart. To most posters here that probably sounds less fun than setting yourself on fire. But she likes it. Go figure.

I am mostly NT. I am interested in how other's think and why they think that way. I may not understand it but I want to see if I can put myself in their shoes. I do see the world full of people that act in a way I cannot imagine usually related to politics and religion. For day to day life, I often cannot understand how people can live such easy lives. Every day is a struggle for me. I have 2 kids on the spectrum and feel like I am moving through mud to get anything done. I am not very organized myself and my house is a mess.

I do look people in the eyes but look away often. My daughter could not look anyone in the eyes when she was younger but did with me sometimes. She can now look me in the eyes and sometimes I look away.

I actually like staring contests even though I have trouble making eye contact while having a conversation. For me, though, it's just that I like to compete and I'm good at staring contests. Initially, when I would see eyes, they'd scare me, it'd kind of hurt to look at them. I managed to desensitize myself to my own eyes and now I don't really perceive anything about eyes. I mean, I perceive them, but I also perceive the purple brush on my desk and the giant blue clothespin on my lamp. But I get the feeling that I'm supposed to see them as important somehow, like, more so than the rest of someone's face. Really expressive or important or something. "Windows to the soul" or whatever. That always makes me wonder if people can read my mind if I make eye contact, which doesn't make it any easier.