AS vs Intelligence

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I know the intelligence discussion has happened way too much here, but I have been formulating some thoughts about myself and wondered if anyone else can relate.

I was recently diagnosed with AS by a specialist after suspecting some autistic traits in myself for a number of years (I am in my 30's). However, I don't think anyone else has ever seen me as being neurologically atypical and some people actually think I am pretty social. The few people I have told were somewhat supportive but generally were in disbelief.

I am a relatively intelligent guy, if you don't mind a self observation, and I've been thinking that there is a scale of level of autism vs level of intelligence that can effect the appearance of AS and autism. That is, the more intelligent one is, the more one can mask the social shortcomings to other people and themselves. The short of it is this, one can more quickly identify certain responses or social cues and learn to react to them more quickly with intelligence, even though it is not intuitive.

As another example, my brother doesn't have a need for a standard calculator (does it in his head) remembers any phone number on the first try, can reconstruct piano concertos after hearing them a couple times, but was the president of a college fraternity. I see many AS traits in him but he is very intelligent; although he is a little odd but people like him anyway.

I keep oscillating between believing my diagnosis and thinking the pro got it wrong.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Yes you mask your condition but at what a price! the acts and behaviours under mask are not really your acts. They are actings non actions. You are never free to be yourself. If you were free to show yourself you could only say: I am a beggar and a fraud.

I consider there to be different types of intelligence. I can think of some people who are in the highest percentage of I.Q., but not "street smart" or not good with people. I don't think one's position on the spectrum is determined by I.Q., but more by "nurture" or, how one was brought up. It is true that one can play the role of an NT, to some extent. One's skill at doing so would probably be more determined by any training in Drama (acting) than anything else. Someone trying to learn acting would benefit from a high I.Q., however.

I don't think the theory will hold up. I am pretty unintelligent but appear to be almost normal yet I am somewhere on the HFA area of the spectrum.

I used to think my intelligence was the main reason that my condition isn't as immediately apparent to people but now I have doubts. High intelligence doesn't preclude someone from having more severe/visible AS symptoms. I now know someone with very visible AS who also has an extremely high IQ. Now I think that some people on the spectrum gradually develop a more NT nature throughout their life while others stay fixed beyond a certain point.

I think not. There are very intelligent people who are very obviously autistic and cannot pretend to be normal. And there are people with average or even lower than average IQ who are not nearly as obvious though their impairments are similar.

I think it has to do with the individual make-up of one's intelligence. That there's only limited relevance of whether it's high or low, but what strengths and weaknesses that person's profile shows.

I, for example, have excellent processing speed, perceptual organization and though subtest verbal scores are low compared to it, very good verbal comprehension.

When I had the greatest trouble with perception and verbal comprehension because I didn't have the ability to cope with the severity of that particular impairment yet, I was very obviously abnormal.

But not these abilities alone help me cope with my autism, but also (a big one:) my individual ASD symptoms and (another big reason why I'm the way I am:) what other abilities I have/have inherited.

I came to think of it as being lucky, because it fits what I want from life. Chance and luck.

the problem with masks is that they aren't perfect, may have to be changed, etc... I think I hide it well, but people do know I am odd. There obviously ISN'T a 1 to 1 correlation between intelligence and the ability to hide it, just as intelligence doesn't mean you can really do anything else.

i do not believe that autism and intelligence are related.
i do not think there is any such thing as "autistic intelligence".

there is intelligence that is harnessed into many subdivisions of concern in NT's. in severely autistic people who have not those harnesses, their intelligence is concentrated into a smaller focal point and there is much illumination within that focal point.

i have above average intelligence, but my ideas are like fireworks set off during a hurricane. my show is blown away by much more important things that always occur.

I think the discussion should take into account what intelligence means. The IQ perspective is completely misleading. If we consider the fact that our mind is composed by different organs or modules or compartments, we should ask which of this organs are the more important? The one for mathematical computation? the one for logical thought? the one for short term memory? the one for long term memory (these are all contained in a PC)? But then there is the one fo reading the intentionality of others, the one for musical creativity, the one for empathy and some of these are severely lacking in AS. And then there is the problem, not yet solved in the theory of mind, of the coordination among all these faculties. Is there a chief for that giving orders and regulating the flow and the traffic (an homunculus as they say)? - I personally don't believe that - or is it a delicate process of systemic balancing? I personally would opt for this. All living beings are systems of which nearly all parts are essential to the survival of the whole (the immunitary system is essential for example and it is influenced by the mind and in turn influences the mind), and their cooperation is one of the miracles of nature.

Not sure if this theory of yours holds any water. I'm slightly above average iq,and sometimes I can be social, sometimes not.
Thinking about those with real high iq, it seems to me that they really struggle on social issues, cause their minds is occupied on some narrow project, that it almost shut the rest off them down, completely

It might also be that, being some of the other outlets closed, the AS is forced to pour all his mental vitality towards some specialized subject.

I imagine about half of people with AS have above average intelligence.

It sounds like your brother is just a really smart guy, though he may happen to have AS. One thing that he is definitely not is a savant.

I guess if you had the exact same sort of autism as somebody else, and one of you had higher general intelligence, then the person with higher general intelligence might be better off. The problem with that is that the level of autism isn't really related that much to the IQ (with the exception of uncontrollable seizures, which are common with autism and would also lower IQ by causing brain damage).

You can have an awfully high IQ and still be very very autistic. On the other hand, you can be only a little autistic and still have developmental delay.

IQ is a measure of problem solving skill, mostly; the kind of intelligence that helps you in school. It doesn't apply very directly to socializing, so the benefits of being good at the IQ kind of problem-solving are probably much more in the area of how well you learn or how well you solve problems with logic, numbers, and words. Social problems don't have a very close relationship to that sort of problem-solving, which is why IQ and autism are probably pretty much unrelated facts about somebody...