Intelligence / Social Skills / Both / Neither??

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It seems to me that the case with a lot of Aspies is that they are insanely smart instead of having social skills, some are incredibly lucky and have both, NT's have Social Skills instead, and some of them also have both. I on the other hand feel as if I have neither. So I struggle very hard socially, but have no incredible 'Einstein-yness' to make up for it, except for having a good morale and kindness (I don't know, on here I could seem not so nice to some people but, IRL, I assure you I'm very kind).

This isn't a great big downer thread on myself, I'm glad about what I have that is good about me , I'm just wondering if anyone else feels the same. Basically, "I don't have any social skills, so why don't I have amazing intelligence to make up for it like other people do?"

I love your signature! LOL Jingle All the Way is CLASSIC!! !

"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is King"


Just wanted to let you know that I am one of the gifted ones, but don't forget that the gifts come with a curse. Yes, I feel lucky compared to many here that are worse off than myself and have nothing to compensate. But back in RL I'm still a freak with no social skills and little hope of ever having a love life. I'm still no more than a one-eyed man to them.

I'm not incredible smart (My IQ is around 115) and I don't have really good social skills either. I have neither too.

meeeeeee! No Einstein but completely socially inept! You are not alone!

I have some intelligence but nothing out of the ordinary, and I have some social skills but generally they are rather poor. So I have a bit of one and a bit of the other, but still I don't have enough of either to get me either a career or a social life.

i cast my lot with all of you. i have neither also.

I used to have the stereotypical set of techie/computer-y skills, but those went away, so I don't get to argue about being useful that way, anymore: "I'm weird but really good with computers, so I'm not totally worthle... oh wait, I can't do that stuff anymore, nevermind. What? No, you cannot harvest my organs for more 'useful' people."

I think the genius stereotype is exaggerated, though. I think that the way that society works leaves people with no other way to think of themselves as having value, so it's that argument or nothing (so, the "genius == worthwhile to the world" argument is all we ever hear).

I was considered gifted as a young kid, but everyone else caught up and I didn't keep up with them, so I've never tested that way since. (I blame it on being hyperlexic and able to read at an age where most kids can't, when I was tested.) I don't know what intelligence is, but I lack the ability to be abstract for very long, if that's what people mean by it. I can't hold a lot of ideas in my head at once. And I'm certainly socially inept. But my autism-related problems (which go way beyond social issues, into a lot of self-care issues and difficulty understanding the world) are such that I'm not sure any amount of what most people call intelligence, would help me do much better than I do now.

Some people have told me that I'm a pretty intelligent guy or at least above average but this is usually after an exchange centered around things that I've taken an interest in. Outside of my areas of interest I usually perform quite poorly; and what is intelligence but the concept of a generalized capacity to excel. I've actually found my ability to understand/perform various things to be decreasing with time; I'm not sure if this has something to do with AS in general, depression or an increase in responsibility/stress but there is certainly some sort of downward trend taking place.

I don’t really have any social prowess to compensate for any of the deficits in the intelligence department either. I find my conversational skills, including vocal control and physical gesturing to be pretty crude. Everything I attempt in communication feels forced and this isn’t lost on my audience who have difficulty maintaining interest in what I have to say; which I really can’t blame them because I’m usually so anxious about my social ineptness that ill often comment on something obvious in order to break the silence. The lack of animation and creativity in my ability to communicate are something that I face every day, as I work in customer service; so, this lacking something to counter balance my deficits is something that I totally relate to, as I think about it often.

I have very bad social skills & I can be very unintelligent as well sometimes

I remember being told I was a genius all the time when I was younger, but I really don't think I am. Everything I say or do is thoroughly planned out, I spend a lot of time thinking about things. I have come to notice that not everyone does this. Most people believe what they are told, and do not process the information or question it. I don't think I have some special intelligence that most people do not, I think I just use what I have more than the average person.

Then again, sometimes it just blows my mind how unbelievably stupid people can be. I just don't understand how people don't understand the simplest of things. Go ahead and call it egotistical sublime, but it is true.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I am surrounded by people everyday that are extremely dumb, I really don't think I'm the next Einstein by any means.

Maybe I really am that intelligent, and I'm just downplaying it, honestly I have no idea. At the same time, I can't help but think that I'm just full of myself, and I really do have average intelligence. I probably look like a basket case writing this, but it's true. There is no easy way to know if someone is gifted or not.

I have decent social skills and average intelligence. If it was different I probably wouldn't like it, but I wish I excelled at one or the other (intelligence is what I would rather be known for).

The problem is, what is intelligence. People think I'm smart because I can real off reams of data, and because I'm not an idiot I can actually interpret that data. But I don't think my actual thinking process is anything special. I notice that many NTs seem to be able to figure things out faster than I can, and some of them are what I call clever, usually con artists. My rule is, if they are talking too fast for me to interpret they are probably trying to get over on me, and I walk away.

So I think I'm more like a old, slow, out-of-date computer that someone put a huge new hard drive in. I take issue with the concept that intelligence is just a compendium of data. The actually thinking process has to count for something.

About my intelligence, it's not particularly high, but higher in some ways than the average. I can understand ideas others not. My social skills are rather poor. I struggle with narrative. Most of the time I can't uderstand social interactions and feel somewhat drained by them others deal with ease. I always thought that if I had better memory (capacity and reliability), faster thinking, it would have classified me for a carrier in sciences. My memory and speed of thinking is average at best.

Despite I feel and always felt the urge to cope with my life independently, I just can not do that without significant help from friends and my parents, thus I'm not independent in my life.

I tested high on IQ tests when I was in school, and I did well in school. However, none of that seems to mean anything in the real world. I am totally lacking in social skills, I have difficulty communicating, and I really don't feel any more than average intelligence. There are some threads in this forum that go way over my head.