Difficulty Using Everyday Items

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I have trouble using certain everyday items (i.e. cell phones, gas pumps, and vacuums) if they are different from the ones that I learned to operate. It seems that if I cannot reference a past experience in a situation, my mind draws a complete blank and I end up looking like the bumbling idiot who lacks total common sense.

Does anyone else have the same/similar problem? Is this a common AS/HFA trait?

I don't have that problem. I wouldn't think its a trait of asperger's.

Logically, it COULDN'T be an AS trait. AS people are supposed to:

1. be good technically.
2. be logical.
3. sense patterns.
4. interested in technology.
5. like playing with things.
6. be tenacious.

To tell yu the truth, I am the kind of person that usually doesn't read directions. I figure things out. I used to read SCHEMATICS and figure out how things work. So NOPE, it isn't an AS trait.

I'd have to say that 99% of the time this list would apply to me. In fact, I love to take things apart and then put them back together to see how they work. I use only visual directions and most of the time I don't need them. Yet, for some unexplainable reason certain items, especially cell phones, totally baffle me. Maybe it's because some things aren't designed very logically, while others are (i.e. a Hoover vacuum vs. a Dyson vacuum)?

I don't think its an AS trait. It sounds more like you are from the older generation that doesn't adapt well to technology.

I'll be 28 next month...very old indeed One of the problems that I do have is keeping up with technology because it all changes so fast!

Last edited by Plutonian_Persona on 23 Sep 2007, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I agree with Jutty.

Tim

Thanks for your input and clarification everyone! I guess this is just one of those many instances where I'm behind the times.

Yeah, I guess I'm younger than you! I'm only in my forties!

YEAH, It went round circle! It seems like only yesterday I was in church, and 28, and someone said that to ME!

I'm probably the opposite, if i see something just observing is for a few seconds i can usally work out how to use/work/build it.

This could be just because of the novelty of the new mechanism. Since you have AS, you know by pattern, sequence, image, etc. I bet when you learn the new mechanism though, you'll be quickly proficient. Practice, practice, practice.

DISCLAIMER: Unless it's say, a microwave, don't 'practice' with a metal plate piled with marshmallow, for ex. Guess you already knew that......

Very true - I am the same. I bypass the instructions and have an intuitive understanding of mechanical/tech. 2ukenkerl, I read, with interest, that you're really good at power tools (carpentry) at a remarkably young ago too! This is concurrent with your superior spatial abilities, analytical mind, assembly/designing, etc.....I am the same too. I had my carbide snow tires mounted, car winterized....anyway, the mechanic, whom I liked and spoke to, even said he was impressed a female was so fluent in mechanics. Note: I am not a mechanic and I there's much I do not know, but I intuitively just 'know.'

it tends to affect further down the spectrum than up,so not sure whether it would affect those with aspergers.
Temple Grandin actually wrote about this in Thinking In Pictures,haven't got the book with am in this house,so can't look for the part it's mentioned in.

LabPet, you have hit the nail on the head! Since I do learn from patterns/sequences/images when a slightly different one presents itself my mind simply does not recognize it. However, as you say, once I've figured out the new mechanism's pattern (which takes 2-3 times max.) I'm very proficient. My major problem is that since technology is progressing at such a rapid rate, having to learn new patterns repeatedly is rather frustrating.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was the SAME way. Well, I AM, but you said they didn't expect a female to do so well.... Well, with ME, they didn't expect a kid to do so well. One time, I was given a reference kit for a digital VOM. The idea is they give you parts for a simple product that demonstrates the use of their chip. This chip was a VOM chip and the kit had the PC board, sockets, LED matrix, chip, resisters, capacitors, diodes, etc... I bet they thought I would fall flat on my face. I didn't, and they seemed surprised. When they came back for lunch, I had a brand new volt ohm meter! Hey, I considered it childsplay and, as a child, it kept me occupied! I used to while away time trying to imagine new circuits, etc... It is a pity I never patented some things, or had a chance to actually make them. Some of the stuff was put into ICs by others. Oh well, I decided to move to computers.

When I was a kid, every product had a schematic, and most used relatively discrete components. I'm not even sure if they do that anymore. I am going to have to get back to where I was. MAN, I wish there was a how to manual to the human brain, you know...? Ironic, but I am not even up to my old potential, let alone beyond that. There are some things you can do that I HAVE done and time to time do, and I would LOVE to reliablly do them. But at least I understand you when you talk about intuitively understanding some technical things. 9 times out of ten if I don't understand an electronic or mechanical thing, it is a SCAM!

As for a manual to the human brain, I guess I understand the basic ideas, etc... better than most. I have read dozens of books. I even read Isaac asimovs book! But they just don't understand much. 8-(

2unkenkerl - you are very precocious!

re: the NT mind - they do not come with a downloadable instruction manual....and one here on the forum said (about my comment), "Yes, and if they did, it would be obsolete." True. Plus, NT minds are clouded with emotions which are indecipherable and I cannot possibly untangle those variables. Seemingly, emotions follow no pattern, plus they change unpredictably, and some NTs can truly be mean. So, I prefer mechanical since it's fluidic/logical.

Somewhere there is a quote (in paraphrase): "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Well, this is in fact how NTs operate! What are the implications of that? <Separate thread, probably>

So, I'm certain you're a proficient with computers; an extension of your mind.

Thank God (minus religious aspects) we're not Wal-Mart greeters, guidance counselors, professional 'people persons,' etc. I would be so fired.