Do people often think that you are dumb or "a little sl

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I am male and 17 with ASD/AS and I don't know why but other people my age think that I am slow or stupid for some reason I don't know why. I am always told that "your a little slow" or that you are "kind of stupid and I wonder why do people make assumptions about me like this?


I am always being called idiot or slow like sometimes I would make a stupid remark and someone would say to me "Dude, your slow" or "Dude,your a idiot" or "Im smarter than you" I don't know if they are just saying that to pick on me or if I am actually slow or stupid. I am often shy and quiet and I don't have many friends and everyone is kind of mean to me my age I don't know why. I often wonder if I am slow because I notice when someone gives me a problem to a question it takes me like 5 to 10 minutes to come up with a answer and my brain feels like it has a headache or I feel like I'm tired or something. I am also dosing off into space when someone thinks that I am slow and I wonder if that could be why? I wonder am I the only one that is like this?

Hi there:

First thing your not the idiot, but they are the idiots for saying that to you. Just becase your slow does not mean that you are smart or dumb. It doesn't matter if you are fast or slow, but that you come up with the right answer.

I can relate to what you are saying. For me I'm slow not because I cannot figure out the answer but trying to express the answer is hard. It is hard for me to take what I think and put it into words for various reasons. Some people misinterrupt it as me not getting it, being dumb or just not paying attention because I didn't answer in time. It also seems like I waste a lot of time thinking and not doing.

My advice would be try to ignore the people saying that. Accept that being slow is not the same as being dumb. Try to figure out on your own or with a therapist why you are slow. If you can understand the reasons then it goes a long way to becoming faster. Last bit of advice, have a bottle of aspirin handy for those headaches

I usually make my mission to make the person who says that about me look like an idiot infront of co-workers and friends the first chance I get. Nothing better than having their peers laugh at them for being an idiot.

People have thought that I was dumb or slow. I tend to have a hard time processing things when too much is coming at me... like if I am in a noisy or crowded place, the noise and the crowds short circuit my brain and it becomes impossible for me to understand what people might be saying to me. I am at my worst in situations like that and people always want to seem to talk to me in situations like that... so I do come across as flighty or shy or dumb. I have found that when I silent or off in my own world it can be easy for people to dismiss me as unintelligent while they continue on in their fast paced discussions that leave me far behind. Perhaps that is what is happening to you... silence and delayed reaction time is obscuring the picture of who you really are to others?

I try to not let it frustrate me. I understand that my processing speed and ability to comprehend is impacted by such things, but it does not make me unintelligent... despite what others might occasionally think.

people know that i can calculate, but they do not know that i can live.

life is more important to them than sterile perception, and i allow that they are correct.

but i am not as sad and displaced as anyone i know, so they can have life while i will take perception.

i know i am alive, but my life is a very small flame that is the pilot light that energizes my sterile perceptions, and it is not big enough to overflow into their worlds of importance, so i remain quite content in my own self contained reason.