Separating AS from personality.

Post Reply New Topic

I'm having trouble separating AS from my personality. I read that AS isn't supposed to define me, but I can't figure out what does.

What is personality? Give your own example.

I find that I have many facets to myself, depending upon the situation.

I'm struggling with this too...there are parts of myself that others have admired. I always felt proud of them. I would think, well I'm terrible at all these things, but look how good I am at these other things. Now, I'm wondering if it's not that I'm good at anything, it's that I'm autistic. It is a terrible crisis I'm going through, but I don't know if there is a difference really? Aren't I still good at these things, and bad at these things?

I feel that, regarding this issue, I'm in a cloudy tunnel with goggles that come and go without warning.

Add to that the self-doubt that I should continue trying to accomplish all of the things that I was planning to accomplish. I would like to understand these things better (personality and autism), and look forward to others' responses to this thread.

I have a hard time with this also.

I've been wondering about the same thing these last days. I think ASD defines my personality, and I like it, even though there are things I find difficult.
I think what people usually mean by "AS/ASD is just a part of my personality" is something like "I'm autistic, but I'm also a Christian". It's the way I've found to explain it.

You folks scare me.

I have also been wondering about this. What is due to Asoergers and what is me? Can one be separated from the other? If it was all down to AS, we would all be the same, and we aren't. We are very different from one another, and have different POVs, interests, skills and weaknesses.
So do NTs for that matter. Another interesting question there: what does the line go between being NT and what their personality is?

Differences in the brain can change you, which is why strokes and tumors can change your personality.

I don't know where one ends and the other begins.

I love to laugh, comedy is my favourite form of entertainment. If I meet a person I like- I tease them; it's how my family shows affection.I like drawing and looking at art. My family is very important to me. I'm extremely passionate about injustice and inequality. I have a lot of pride in my native background. I've been told I'm creative. I have an explosive anger for certain things, never been a fashion person, my hair and clothes is a "wear and go" look. I've also been told I am wise beyond my years. I don't wear shoes normally and sometimes walk around the reserve (or even city) in my PJs. I love animals. I'm a Diet Coke addict and think very critically of things around me. Also sonic. Lol he's apart of my personality now.

Cool. So this is what a personality is.

It's gonna be quite an exercise describing myself like that. Never had to think about it before.

The complexity of this topic seems to me immense. Consideration of the fascinating issue of the where-of-separation between AS and personality is further complicated by the potentially huge impact of past traumas on personality, and the strange web woven of these interacting facets that comprise the curious being we call the Self.

It's very interesting.
See- lots of people say "your autism doesn't define you" , but if autism is a brain thing and your personality your likes dislikes and such are all derivatives of your brain architecture interacting with you surroundings... and that is filtered (or not lol) through the lens of being autistic/your autistic brain... then I mean seriously what is left after that?
Saying autism doesn't define you is like saying your brain doesn't impact the way you process things...
Once you take ur brain's way of processing things out of the equation- what are you left with?

On another note- it might help to define the term personality- what do we mean by that- what IS this so called personality in our selves and others that we are looking to define?
If you mean a set of dislikes/likes or preferences- those are determined by your genetics which are then shaped and determined/reinforced and such by your environment.
So basically what are we defining a personality to be?
What is a personality- once you do that I think you can get a better idea of how to separate things out.
This is it according to wikipedia:
Personality has to do with individual differences among people in behaviour patterns, cognition and emotion.

It's all me.

Don't be scared.
I´m glad to see that, at least, some other people's answers have helped you

What scares you?

That so many individuals are unable to:
1. see their unique self separate from [whichever form of autism]
2. determine exactly what it is that makes them the person they are, apart from [whichever form of autism]

I do lean toward the behavior patterns definition, however separating self from AS behavior model becomes difficult. In my case AS models my behavior very accurately apart from just a couple distinctions:
1. I dislike repetitive tasks (I admit it's possible I do them without realizing)
2. I disagree that I lack empathy, though I do admit I have difficulty reading what's on people's mind

My autism has never been about my full person. It's been a huge part of my life but it doesn't dictate it. There are many things I can not do or things that make it very difficult for me but it's not all that I am.

To me autism is just a set of things that cause impairments in my life or makes me atypical. It's not an identity.