Such A Spectrum

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Talking to a local aspie male, along with my observations of another 3 aspergers/autistic local people has made me realise just how much of a spectrum it is, and how co-morbids can make such a difference.

He has severe OCD
I have ADD

He is totally obsessed with maps and America
I am totally obsessed with Titanic and psychology, but nothing especially deep right now.

I have social anxiety...he, evidently does not.

We both talk to an older female who works in the local store. I was stood talking to her, and she was going on about amethysts when suddenly, aspie guy comes rushing up, butts right in to show he some printouts of a certain area of the USA.

And suddenly, I go totally quiet, a little annoyed with him for butting in, and then both of us stand there talking loudly.

But he has the aspie stare and I cannot make eye contact.
He stands pretty motionless, my arms are all over the place and I don't know what to do with them as standing still seems unnatural.

He asks me which of us I think has AS the worst... I say it has to be him because he butts in and is totally obsessed with maps.

It just made me realise how different each of us on the spectrum is.

I'm guilty of that too. With me its cars though, so i have a pretty decent base of people that will listen to me yammer about my obsession. I can go down the strip on a friday night and atleast a few people will willingly listen to my commentary about whichever cars are racing at the moment.

The problem with me is I find it hard to put things into words and to stick to a topic, so I will end up swinging wildly and if I notice something around me, I will go from talking about something to saying suddenly, 'Oh, I like her skirt', and it drives people mad, I think. The ADD I guess. I am more prone to talk about people I am obsessed with than specific topics.

I get distracted easily too. It might be partially an as thing.

you're

sounds like a fantastic time. cheerio

I've dealt with "nerds" before and if I didn't want to hear them go on and on about something, I would just say "my time to talk" and I have never met a nerd/aspie who had a problem with letting me change the subject on them.

You obviously haven't met very many of them then.

Graelwyn, you're lucky to find different aspies around. The only ones I know of in real life are Macbeth and his son. And they're very similar, as is he (Macbeth) to me. So the only diversity I see in the spectrum is on here. I'd love to meet others.