Is autism just extreme nerdiness?

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Long before autism and aspergers entered the public consciousness, there existed the stereotype of the nerd: A socially awkward physically uncoordinated guy with an obsessive interest in math related concepts. The stereotypical nerd sounds like someone with mild or borderline autism, and indeed a disproportionate number of autistics seem to have parents who work in nerdy fields like engineering or computer programming. However a key difference between nerds and autistics is that nerds tend to be smart and rich (Bill Gates) while autistics are often disabled and unemployed. So my theory is that there's an optimum amount of nerdiness needed to be intelligent and successful, however too much nerdiness impedes intellectual and/or emotional development to the point where it's a disability we label autism. So while autistics are too nerdy for their own good, the relatives of autistics will regress to the mean in nerdiness, and if they're lucky, they will regress to the optimum amount of nerdiness needed to be smart and successful.

Well I don't view myself as a nerd so I don't think having AS would make me one.

Maybe, maybe not. Nerds are often classified under bap which is not technically true autism.

What's bap?

If you are a female autist, chances are you don't resemble a 'nerd'.

I think of a nerd as someone (male, generally) who is very into maths, engineering, computing etc and has bad social skills. That could cover an awful lot of people, most of whom won't be autistic, and in addition there are all the autistic people who are not into one of the subjects about, and all of the ones who have issues with social skills but hide them.

If "nerd" means "interested in esoteric topics", and "has bad social skills", then there is probably a lot of overlap.

But if "nerd" means "smart" or "does well at school", it isn't necessarily true. People with autism are not necessarily particularly clever.

Broad autism phenotype, means someone's a bit autistic but not quite

i dont know if you realize how many over-generalizations you made here. yes there are some similarities between 'higher functioning' individuals with autism spectrum disorders and the stereotype you speak of. there may be a case that many individuals with aspergian or broad autism phenotypic traits contributed to the forging of a stereotype. however what you are neglecting is that it is a STEREOTYPE . it is an uncomprehensive and relatively useless term that has no place in civilized discussion. i dont understand why you would bother to make a theory about it.
i bolded sections of your words that to me define a coalescence of ignorance.
I would like to in particular respond to your assertion autistics are often disabled and unemployed. This is rather insulting in the context you presented it, whether or not you meant to be. If this was not your intention perhaps you may take this as a learning opportunity to be more mindful in the future. there are plenty of neurotypical white trash who live off unemployment for no good reason too. I'd be mildly interested to find which condition constitutes the majority of government money collectors, i suspect that the autistic might occupy a negligible percentage of this total population.

also real quick to preempt any response to my useage of the term 'white trash', i am here invoking my right commonly recognized that members of a particular group are allowed to use the derogatory terms for their group without fear of repercussion. Jews can make jew jokes, people of more recent african descent can use the n word (though we are all of african descent if you evaluate the evidence), and so on. I am half white trash from my fathers side. And this is not to insult my father, he actually became a business man against odds, and possibly with some credit to his autistic tendencies and proficiency with numbers.

Nah, I'm not smart enough to be a nerd.

Most people I know with autism don't come across to me as nerds.

90% of autistic people are unemployed. This is a simple fact - how is it insulting?

It's not hard to see the difference between the "nerd" and someone with autism.

Now, Aspergers on the other hand might be harder to differentiate from the "normal nerd". Seeing as it's hard to spot if someone has Aspergers unless you know what you are looking for.

Yeah, I believe this whole "autism/Aspergers is just a form of nerdiness" is really just more bluster from simplistic thinkers who refuse to accept that the world is more complex than they would like it to be. Some just want everything to be black and white, good and bad. Those who work hard succeed, everybody else is just a whiner or lazy. The fact that some of us are genuinely different and face challenges due to the wiring of our brains is seen almost as a threat to their simplistic world view. It was far easier when they could just say we were all possessed by demons.

Anyhow, that's my rant. And I have never been considered a nerd. I did well in school, but I rarely studied (I could barely sit down and concentrate long enough to read a page or two). I've always been on the stronger/fit side and the taller side, so I don't fit into the category of nerdishness. I also like sports and the gym and the outdoors. And I work in a creative field instead of as an accountant r engineer.

But despite all those trappings, I have also always been incredibly socially inept and thus aloof. I can barely stand to make eye contact, and when I do, despite my efforts (and perhaps also because of them) people almost always address whoever I am with rather than me. And I fixate on topics others find tedious - and if I corner you, watch out! You might just be bored into a catatonic state. But seriously, just because I might not act the part of a nerd, I do act the part of a aspie. And I know others who are the same as me. So while many nerds might have some aspie characteristics and while there is some overlap between the two groups, this does not mean that we aspies are really just a bunch of slacker nerds who need to "try harder"

I for one have tried harder every day of my life - to make friends, to navigate parties, to network in my career, and to succeed at my job,. Despite all this, I remain an aspie, and I remain seriously hindered by my social ineptness. We can be smart people, kind people, fun people, even brilliant people. But because we lack the software that NTs have, every social interaction they approach on autopilot is a tremendous struggle for us, and it takes a huge amount of our resources just to come of as "normal". It's not a simple situation, but it's the one we were stuck with, and many of us make the best of the hand we were dealt, the good and the bad.

I would picture "nerd" to require to axes on 2 different scales...

So to be defined a nerd, you would probably need a specific amount of traits related to autism... That's just how the term is defined, and part of the definitions include traits associated with autism like symptoms.

So to start I am saying that I dont think Autism is a more extreme example of being a nerd, but the other way around... that Nerd is a different subset of being similar to autism (even though they may not be for the same reasons or be far deep enough in the spectrum to be diagnosed with any disorders)

The other axis would be intelligence. Someone can have just a little bit of autistic traits and be dumb and not be a nerd. That type of person might just be a little bit of an outcast or something like that...

So I would think that a highly intelligent person with Asperger would be much more likely to be defined as a nerd because they fall in the higher functioning side of the spectrum.

I heard there's a spectrum for NT's as well. I think the extreme end is a disorder called "Wilson's Disorder" (I think that's what it's called?) But about the other, I totally agree with you. My husband is a computer programmer. My younger son is highly intelligent but socially awkward like his dad. My first boy is more like me. We APPEAR NT but when you live with us for a while, you'll see a difference. But it's only noticeable when there is day to day co-existing. You'd have to be up close. I feel that my husband and younger son are actually more psychologically stable than the older boy and me even though they appear more dysfuntional on the surface. The younger boy will sit and have an intelligent conversation with you with his hair all messed up and half dressed. The older will not have a hair or thread out of place but....how can I describe it...the light's on but nobody's home.

There is no such thing as a bit autistic.......I swear if people think that it will soon be common to hear things like 'oh sorry I'm late I'm a bit autistic.' 'oh you're a bit autistic too? that's cool.' then the person serving the meal who happens to actually have autism comes up to take the order and goes about it awkwardly and walks away then the other two say 'what is that waitress ret*d or something?'

So yeah no kind of autistic and don't ask me why someone with autism would want to be a waitress...lol