Do ppl think you're intelligent?

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People have told me that I come across as intelligent, and I'm not sure why (maybe because I wear glasses?). In fact one person told ne they thought my intellect accounted for my odd behaviour.

Has anyone else encountered this? Why do you think we come across as intelligent?

Yes.

is that it? :p

No. And then Yes.

A few times I have gotten the distinct impression that people, when they first meet me, think I am dull, boring and a bit of a mental slug. It is only after they get to know me a bit that they realize that I solve problems quickly, know a lot of stuff about a wide range of subjects and have a sly, sharp wit.

I speak with a somewhat slurred monotone voice which doesn't exactly make people think I'm the sharpest person around, but many people who know me comment, to the point of embarrassing me, about my intelligence.

Yes, but then, I AM intelligent. Maybe my glasses make me look the part more easily, but that's not why people think I'm smart. I think logically, and don't pepper my speech with "ya know"s and "like" and I have a fairly extensive vocabulary, and I'm well educated and able to reason in ways that many other people can't. Of course, they may also think I'm a weirdo, but that doesn't cause people to assume I'm intelligent either.

Yes, they do. However, at the risk of sounding awfully unhumble, I believe it's true. That is, in comparison to the general populace of the same age. I find myself constantly surprised at how little people know. Just a week back I had to point out to someone how Vietnam was not, in fact, in the Middle-East.

The above says it all, both yes and no. But the times when I get the impression that someone thinks I'm not all there it can just be my inner paranoid android thinking for me.

I believe I come across as intelligent because I'm highly rational and speak in facts, i.e. when someone asks about the meaning of a word I tend to give a definition instead of an explanation. I do often try to be intellectually neutral, but it can't be helped. Operating at a higher level of intelligence compared to most around me does have that effect.

People tend to either assume I am a genius or that I am mildly ret*d. The odd thing is, it's actually both, in different areas, and everything in between, so they're only half wrong.

I know where the "genius" thing comes from; it's because I use very precise words to express myself, and that often means using words most people don't know.

Yes, they often do. I think people with Aspergers are often quiet and seem serious, and talk about factual things rather than superficial small talk, and this can create an impression of intelligence. In some situations I'm quite light-hearted and joke a lot, and I've noticed in those situations people think I'm not so intelligent.

Also, something I've noticed about UK culture is that most people like to downplay their intelligence and use self-deprecating humour, because being intelligent isn't cool, and expressing awareness of your intelligence is even less cool. But being straightforward, I don't do that. I dive into deep conversations where others hold back.

Yes. I have splinter skills, act nerdy, and stood out in chemistry. Also I helped a few friends with their university personal statements.

People think quiet people are smart, so yes. People think I'm a genius because I'm always lost in thought and I fit the absent minded professor stereotype. My IQ isn't that high but I just seem to enjoy thinking more than most people. I'm also very intuitive. I like looking for connections in things rather than just ingesting and regurgitating lots of information.

In all probability because asperger's gives many of us an enhanced ability to focus on something and study it in depth. and that focus leads to insights that others might miss and that insight allows us to innovate ways to deal with our preferred interests.

I never thought of myself as particularly way above average but as an engineer and a college professor my depth of knowledge and innovation was often commented on by others and my eccentricities were also tolerated.

Engineer and College professor are high on the list of good professions for Aspies to get into. I found that college professor was easiest for me because of the iconic stereotype of the absent minded professor, That fits me to a T. However now that bureaucracy and departmental meetings and lobbying for research money are the prime attributes of college professors and teaching is about a 3rd rate attribute, that is changing.



Well that is probably close to the truth but it may be turned around backwards. I think that in my case it is my odd behavior that has aided my development of my intellect. At least the odd part of my behavior that gives me the ability to "hyper-focus" on what I am interested in. I am highly distractable and need a quiet place to think and work, however once I am in hyper-focus mode I become highly resistant to distractions and seem oblivious to what goes on around me. My time sense vanishes and I work for hours without much sense of how long I have been at it. What I am calling hyper-focus is probably the most outright autistic thing I do. On the other hand my ability to multi-task is abysmal, and my desk and filing system are what I refer to as "organic" (as in, "it looks like a compost heap ).

Some people think I'm intelligent but most NTs close to my age think I'm an idiot.

Yes. But that's because my memory is keen when learning things like language and math. But I don't think that's reflective of intelligence, just a type of data/image retrieval. I don't feel very insightful - as in I draw very few of my own conclusions about things.

I'm told all the time by my family just how smart they think I am. But I certainly don't feel or think I'm smarter.

I think we appear to be more intelligent is because we retain more specialized knowledge of areas than others. Example, a norm might know how to fix a car but not how it works and an aspie could tell them how a car works but not be able to actually fix one.

Sometimes...
I am reserved/ quiet, have "big words" in my vocabulary, and am an "outside of the box" problem solver, so some have told me I am smart; however, when it comes to social intelligence, I look like a complete idiot. It seems to me that social intelligence is a huge factor on whether or not people deem you as intelligent - especially with first impressions. I've had two different people who, after getting to know me, tell me that they thought I was a "ret*d" at first (I don't like that word either, that's what they said).