Can you be Asperger's and still be "cool"?

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Discuss.

I think that you can be both AS and cool. I'm an aspie and the majority of the people that I know think that it's cool that I like the 60s.

Depends on what your interests are and exactly what symptoms you have, and most of all it depends on the social group you want to appear "cool" to.

I go to any skating rink in the country, wear the right clothes, do some tricks which usually gets me noticed as the best skater there, then everyone thinks i'm cool. They smile at me, clap, nod in my direction, tell me my tricks are cool etc, then the DJ mentions me and more people start watching...

Some of them find me too cool to approach and just watch me.

Some of them come up to me and want to chat but the music is so loud they just shout something at me and i smile or give them a thumbs up and it's all good.

Some of them come up to me when it's quieter, or in the toilets or cafe, or after the session and want to chat, which is when i say something stupid then run away, which kinda ruins things.

And of course when i tell anyone about this, they go "omg you nerd, you skate? lol that's so 80's, do you go round and round on your little roller skates all night?"

But on the whole, i feel cool

Cool is overrated. Get over it.

My mom says I'm cool.

I think I'm cool because I have so many video games. My niece and nephew think I'm a cool aunt.

I don't see why Newton's Law of Cooling wouldn't apply to those on the spectrum as well as those off.

Now, if you're talking about social acceptance... sure. It has more to do with one's comfort with their own differences than anything else, in my opinion. When I could accept and enjoy myself for being me, others started doing the same. I didn't make any wholesale changes or alterations to my behaviors or anything of the sort... I merely worked to quit seeing them as a disadvantage. Remember, being predictable has advantages in many arenas, but it also can work against you when another person chooses to use that against you. Whatever route you take to acceptance, I think that's the biggest barrier to this concept of 'cool'... being overly self aware.


M.

Absolutely. Study a person you consider "cool" (as this can vary subjectively; for me it was leather jacket, white T-shirt, and motorcycle). Script their behaviors, stance, mannerisms, hair/clothing styles, etc. Just memorize it all using the patented AS "rote memory" feature. Record ON!

People have thought I was "cool" for different reasons at different times...It is usually people who don't know me very well..I do play in bands and run a venue....sometimes people think there is something cool about that.

But you can seem cool to some of the people some of the time, but you can't seem "cool" to all of the people all of the time...since (as I understand it)..."coolness" is a matter of other people's perception of you.

It depends really. What is seen to be cool by some people may be percieved as weird by others.

I have AS and I like to draw boldly coloured pictures of birds, which is considered to be cool.

People think my sock monkeys are "cool" too...

There's absolutely no reason you cannot be cool when you have Asperger's.