In what ways do you have AS? In what ways do you not?

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Ways I Have AS
*I could read at age three
*I didn't really talk until age four (aside from reading but I said my first word at one)
*I get some major obsessions that can last from months to years
*I have a high IQ (132 last I checked)
*I am horrible with names
*I'm even worse with faces
*I'm always the one that gets singled out no matter what
*Although I'm good at balancing, I couldn't ride a bike until 15
*I'm bad at sports even though I'm built for it
*I'm really good in the subjects I like and horrible in the subjects I don't
*I'm very creative
*I have major meltdowns
*I don't like people telling me what to do
*Once I start something, I can't stop
*I can't stand IMing or chatrooms
*I could care less about celebrities and gossip
*I'm totally lost when it comes to love
*I can be a bit of a perfectionist (but not completely)
*I look too deeply into things, such as movies
*I can become very paranoid at times, even with my outgoing nature


Ways I Don't Have AS
*I'm very social and outgoing
*I'd much rather be with people than by myself
*I don't stim
*I don't have sensory issues (except for pain)
*I don't typically take things literally
*I am excellent at understanding sarcasm
*I'm horrible with math and science
*I hate schedules and routines
*I love talking to just about anybody, need it be phone or in person
*I absolutely love fashion and trends
*It's easy for me to make friends
*I have no problem with eye contact
*I love reading fiction
*Museums bore me to death
*I love shopping! The mall is heaven to me
*I am not blunt (and I can't stand when people are)
*I can do sometimes even four things at once


That's all I can think of for now! So what ways are you AS and not AS?

BTW, I'm getting another diagnosis in November. When they dx'd me, I was going through the toughest time of my life and things have greatly changed since then.

Last edited by Lightning88 on 10 May 2007, 11:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.

oooh, tricky question-I'm not sure you mean criteria wise or just things people have found they have in common with each other here... but I'll give it a shot:

Ways I have AS:
I could read prescription names and pronounce correctly at 4
I didn't talk until I was 3 (skipped words went from babble to sentences)
I am constantly switching obsessions (some are things I NEVER thought I'd get interested in)
I don't remember faces of even some of my closest friends
I make lists for EVERYTHING
My lists are even organized with index tabs
I don't know my neighbors well at all because I don't bother to even say hi
I don't understand fashion or trends
I cannot ride a bike, roller skate, or skateboard (or anything else like that on wheels)
I cannot stand plans being changed last minute
I hate people I don't know touching me or getting too close
I forget what I'm doing within seconds of starting it if I'm asked one question
I have no sense of time
I have no sense of direction
I HATE the phone (feels yucky on my ear and the ring gets on my nerves)
I can't stand going places (even family get togethers)
Stims
I need directions for everything-my concrete roadmap
I can duplicate almost anything I see (drawing wise) unless it's a person-but can't imagine anything new
I have no clue what actor was in what movie, and can rarely remember the names of the songs I know all the lyrics to, or who sings them
I get absorbed into things and am oblivious to anything else going on

Ways I don't:
I can get by if need be in a social situation, and sometimes feel comfortable and enjoy it (but it's rare)
I love chatting on-line in any form
I'm usually pretty good at getting jokes
My IQ is around average (which I guess doesn't mean much)
I love fiction-I just have to read it slow to fully understand
I cannot get a routine going for the life of me
I'm not good with comps, math, science, history-that kind of stuff
I don't always take things literally and look at them from many many many ways before asking someone what they meant
People flock to me for some reason, and I do wind up with a lot of acquaintances that I could call friends-in other words, I don't mind some of them so much However, most I could live without, lol
I'm very empathic when it comes to certain things
*****************************************************
Wow, nevermind, reading over my "ways I don't" list and there are still exceptions to some of them that sound a lot more AS, lol

Ways I have AS:

* I am terribly uncomfortable around people, especially strangers
* I tend to get ultra-obsessive about one thing at a time, such that I have little to no energy for anything else.
* Poor face recognition
* No interest in trends
* Excellent at math and logical thinking in general
* Lousy sense of direction
* I forget things that were told to me 2 minutes ago... but remember everything that happened 6 weeks ago.
* I had a very hard time with subjects I wasn't interested in
* I pace a ton, play with objects constantly, and generally just can't sit still for the life of me. Especially when I am anxious
* I feel the need to regenerate alone after being with people for a significant amount of time.
* Very sensitive to light and sounds
* I do not like being touched by anyone... have not had physical contact in years
* I get very anxious in new situations
* I started talking when I was 4 (note, this actually was the reason I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS rather than AS - read the DSM-IV definition of AS).
* Poor eye contact
* Much better at written communication than verbal communication
* Lousy at reading people

Ways I don't

* I have pretty good coordination... a bit clumsy and weird looking, but I was good at sports.
* I suck at routines.
* I'm very sarcastic... and decent at understanding sarcasm.
* I don't hand flap
* I'm very disorganized
* I like lots of different foods, and like trying new foods.

Last edited by DougOzzzz on 10 May 2007, 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ways I am AS
umm.....Some of these are in a grey area....and/or might just be ADD traits..and some are downright iffy....

Very bad with eye contact
walk on the balls of my feet..or my toes
Have always had trouble making and mantaing friendships
Prone to crazy narrow obsessions..like making sock toys
poor coordination
Am very good verbally, (except for spelling)but am horrible at math...beginning to suspect discalculia (sp?)
Stim alot, physically and verbally...
Have trouble telling left from right
have difficulty recognizing people I don't see every day
Very very tense in social situations
Prone to meltdowns
Swing between intense hyperfocus and complete lack of attention span (ADD?)
Sensitive to loud noises and loud people
Don't like to be touched/hugged..most particularly by people I don't know
Have weird visual memory for weird little things
am very sensitive to the my my everyday clothes feels..must be very soft cotton cut necks out of all shirts
Get along better with children and animals than people my own age
Am 31 but feel and act about 15
make a zillion lists
am extremely disorganised
Actually have above average IQ but it is seldom obvious
I do not drive a car and likely will
I did horribly in school but aced the standardised tests...I more-or less taught myself on my own time
I was bullied by students and teachers for being different
I have spent large portions of my life in an oblivious haze
I collect things (quilts, homemade toys, clowns (which overlap with homemade toys) rubber stamp alphabets, Used to obsessively collect hats
Have low stress threshold

Ways I am NT

umm....

I dont like eating the same foods all the time and I am not very picky about my food
I don't ALways take things literally...I can usually tell when someone is joking...there have been instances, however, where this was not the case
Am not good at gathering large volumes of information on a single subject...instead, I just collect things (see above)
um..I have always done things that would be concidered more suitable for someone more outgoing than myself...Have been in bands since I was 15......help run music venue..which involves lots of social interraction....and listening frequently to musical frequencies that drive me insane...I also used to put on these tribute concerts to raise money for a pirate radio station I was once involved with..that meant interracting with lots of people...unfortunately I had multiple problems with recognising alot of them from one encounter to the next..and many of the people eventually got the idea that I was a bit of a wingnut from the way I would hurl myself into each production....so i guess it belongs in the above list...

I found a website with a list of Aspie qualities, so I'm using their wording for many of these:

Some of my Aspie qualities

Participation in gifted program, during school

Difficulty accepting criticism

Low or no participation in groups

Bluntness in emotional expression

Discomfort manipulating or "playing games" with others

Unique sense of humor (seems like no sense of humor to NT's. I have a difficult time laughing at their type of humor)

Problems expressing empathy or comfort to others (It's not that I don't feel it. I just have a difficult time showing it.)

Fixating on bad experiences with people

Difficulty adopting a social mask

Using social masks inappropriately

Abrupt and strong expression of likes and dislikes

Rigid adherence to rules where flexibility is desirable

Difficult (impossibility) in forming friendships

Intense concern for privacy

Stim - Biting the inside of my mouth

Difficulty expressing anger, except with my husband and kids.

Uncomfortable with eye contact

Elevated voice volume during certain times

Difficulty in expressing emotions

Mental shutdown in response to multi-tasking

Low understanding of the reciprocal rules of conversation: interrupting, dominating, minimum participation, difficult in shifting topics, problem with initiating or terminating conversation, subject perseveration.

Dependence on step-by-step learning procedures (disorientation occurs when a step is assumed, deleted, or otherwise overlooked in instruction) This is a big one for me!

Difficulty in understanding rules for games of social entertainment

Compelling need to finish one task completely before starting another

Day-dreamer

Difficult with unstructured time

Excessive questions

Very low level of assertiveness

Often viewed as vulnerable or less able to resist harassment and badgering by others

Avoids socializing, "hanging out," or small talk on and off the job


Some of my NT qualities

Interest in fashion

No problem with change (I, actually, prefer to have things change. I get bored, otherwise.)

Fairly good at recognizing faces

No strong food aversions or preferences

Never had a learning disability

No difficulty with writing or reports

I also love fiction!

I'm not exceptionally good at math

I forgot one of my biggest Aspie qualities:

Excessive use of hand gestures while speaking (I don't realize what I'm doing, until I see the other person looking at my hands more than in my eyes. That's when I start to realize that they're finding it unusual.)

Ways of having AS

- I could talk and go potty until 3
- I could draw as a profesional at age 4, but later lost the ability completely
- I don't understand people attitudes toward specific things, NTs and even aspies
- I don't understand the rules of how to properly socialize
- I don't know how to start a conversation
- Being bullied, I don't know how to defend myself physically and verbally
- I don't understand why people laugh at something I said
- I hate dancing, parties and crowds
- I don't show sympathy or empathy properly then being misinterpreted
- I enjoy company of a few little children because they are innocent.
- Feel uncomfort when someone rings the doorbell
- I am awfuly badly at sports
- I have bad motor skills, althought I can do simpler tasks (eg. I can tie my shoes but I can't coil a chord)
- Night terrors (when being touched at sleep), this one started recently
- Fears, I have several fears like:
Fear of Balloons, the noise they make when they burst
Fear of fire, I can't light a match or cook for fear of being burned
Fear of doctors and dentists
Fear of dogs and animals
Fear of being scared
- High sensitive to criticism
- High sensitive to pain
- Social Anxiety
- Feeling frustrated and upset easily
- I am very boring, if you are with me you would be sleepy
- My heart beats harder and I shake a little when someone is making fun of me in a meaning way or when I am being bullied, and they noticed.
- I can't swallow pills
- I can only do one task at a time (no multitasking) if I have to do something right I have to ignore everything else.
- Don't have sense of direction (I get lost if I go out)
- I don't have good memory
- I love Star Trek (Its science fiction plus the utopian future)
- I prefer science over religion and supersition.
- I always have any obsession
- Stimming:
The need to move my legs when lying in bed to sleep (RLS)
Walking around and clap on my stomach with hands when excited about something
- Cannot sleep with anyone else in my room, probably due to stimming and night terrors
- Suffered from asthma and indigestion as a kid
- I have the mental age of a child while being an adult
- I get tired quickly


Ways of being NT

- I have good eye contact
- I can read facial expressions sometimes
- I am not sensitive to light or sound
- I don't have high IQ
- I am not good at math
- I only take things literally when I don't understand the social meaning of it, sometimes I understand a joke.
- I am not much into video games
- I am very messy
- Sometimes I have good empathy
- I can recognize people's faces
- I don't have a perfect vocabulary
- I don't have obsessions with food

as characteristics

horrible at eye contact (except with my kids )
have only one friend who really doesnt mean much to me
very loyal to family
cant remember faces or names
awful at time organization
bad sense of direction
constant stimming
despise the word "multitasking"
obsessions can go on for quite a while or stop suddenly
considered "gifted" at school
never went to the prom, social functions

i know most of these are negative, but then again, being pessimistic can also be considered an aspie trait


as for any nt traits... ill get back to you when i find one!

EDIT: Long enough? Reading this... Wow, I'm really screwed up XD.

Ways I have AS

- Started talking late.
- Can't read people all that well.
- Bad timing, not just in conversation, but in general.
- Awful Eye contact.
- Quite good verbally.
- Mathmatically challenged.
- A mountain of stims and a couple twitch and verbal tics.
I pick scabs and zits(filthy I know, but I can't help it.)
I can't sleep without my Dog Molly.
I can't sleep without a blanket over my eyes or a blindfold.
I hold my nose when nervous.
Occasionally I repeat annoying things my dad says without even realizing or remembering they annoyed me and catch myself afterward even further infuriated.
As for tics, various extremeties twitch occasionally. Mostly my neck and arms. My legs are restless too.
- Highly anxious in social situations initially(I do eventually calm down, and melt in.)
- Hiding in plain sight. In social situations, I position myself as if interacting, but don't actually interact, as if this would actually keep attention off of me.
- I CAN'T STAND being stared at.
- I have significant meltdowns.
- I've had a shutdown at least once.
- Highly creative and imaginative... so much that I can't actually express what I'm imagining as just trying to record something small opens the floodgates and I lose the ability to record anything at all.
- Can't stop a task until I see it as perfect, or get too frustrated with it.
- Can't stand being ordered around, especially by my father.
- Very rare anxiety attacks, and a constant feeling of anxiety.
- Fear of Failure. Fear of Success.
- Mild Perfectionist.
- Biggest idiot on the planet when it comes to courtship.
- Some difficulty with names.
- Selective balance. I have an odd gait that occasionally becomes incoherent and awkward when I'm tired(and thusly unable to concentrate on walking straight.)
- Considerably clumsy.
- EVERYTHING I do requires a significant amount of concentration to do and maintain doing.
- I have lifelong obsessions.
- Socializing, while enjoyable, is a chore for me and takes a bit of effort and concentration.
- I take alot of things literally.
- I have difficulty keeping my back straight(although that might just be scoliosis)
- Hate talking on the phone.
- I despise celebrities and all the crap that comes with them.
- Difficulty catching subtle sarcasm.
- ALOT of hand movement and exaggerated body language while speaking.
EDIT: remembered some more.
- Inability to remember things I'm not interested in if I don't write them down.
- Bad Hygeine.
- Few sets of clothing.

Ways I don't have AS
- I can do well in social situations and Do enjoy it.(It just takes alot out of me, the concentration issue. It's a chore.)
- I can successfuly "small talk."
- I can be outgoing.
- I love the internet, and the various forms of communication is offers.
- Absolutely love Fiction. Part of the challenge is understanding it too.
- No hand flapping.
- Blatant sarcasm is understood, and quite often used.
- Well mannered, and I greet everything with a smile and "hello"(Or variation thereof) if I'm in a good mood.

On the Fence.
- Organized Disorganization. My life is a series of piles and messes. Carefully organized and catalogued messes.
- Empathy. When passionately speaking, I'll go on about whatever it is I'm talking about without any regard for anyone's feelings... UNTIL someone makes it known their feelings are hurt. When speaking normally, I constantly watch and tailor my communication to makes sure no one could possibly get hurt by it.
- Though I understand deception, I often cannot perceive it in other people, and am rarely able to use it myself without considerably guilt.


Can't think of anything more off the bat... but don't be surprised if I edit something.

Last edited by RadiationHazard on 10 May 2007, 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

Do you know what the web site was? I wouldn't mind running through the list for myself.

I love fiction too. (And I'm not really clumsy or anything, which is always listed as one.)

See DSM-14-TR under Autistic Disorder; every letter and number.

How I have an ASD:
Nonverbal cues are lacking; eye to eye, facial expressions, body language; I fail to exhibit these and I fail to notice these, I’m getting a little better at noticing them though
I didn’t talk or communicate to anyone for a long time, I did speak to my family though; but only briefly
I am extremely introspective; I never sought to share interests with anyone, I never sought friends; happy with own “mind”
Non-existent social reciprocity
Liked doing the same stuff over and over again
Hate change; like order, hate chaos but like predictability
Cannot handle situations where there’s many people, causes great pain
Cannot handle social situations, causes great pain
Cannot handle learning things I’m not obsessed over, causes great pain
Cannot handle certain visual and auditory stimulation, causes great pain
Self-harm; burning, picking, pulling nails off and whatever
I'm afraid of everything
My “intelligence” has been all over the place due to the extratextual environment; genius to moron
Emotionally immature
I wear the same stuff always
I pay little attention to the status quo
I'm unable to understand deception; I cannot lie
I rarely listen to whatever people tell me; actions mean far more than words
I’m naive, i.e., I’d lend you a book if you asked for it and I’d assume you’d return it to me how I lent it to you; people rarely return stuff at all
I take things literally
I always assume the best of people
I cannot judge people
Motor skills good
Many of the billion and one little things that people before and after me have listed


How I don't have an ASD:
Nope
Hand flapping...is that like trying to fly with your arms?

Last edited by Danielismyname on 10 May 2007, 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Lightning you sound more HFA to me. But I could be wrong. What you describe reminds me of my husband in quite a few ways.

Ways I have AS:

Poor social skills
Difficult with eye contact (it hurts!)
Sensory overload - pretty much all the time.
Social overload.
Meltdowns / panic attacks
Stimming (rocking back and forth, digging nails into my flesh, jigging leg up and down)
Recognised letters age 18months - 2, could read age 3.
Had echolalia as a child.
Dyspraxia
Dyslexia
Irlen Syndrome
Don't understand NT behaviour and conventions at all.
Don't understand why people are so illogical
Was bullied throughout school and also in some places of work. Didn't understand the bullying or have any concept of how to make it stop.
Get distressed by change.
Find it difficult to cope with conversation - it can just sound like noise - like loads of dogs barking or something.
Can't cope with people trying to talk to me when I'm watching TV or listening to radio or on the phone.
Don't really like people talking to me at all - for examply my Gran saying 'good morning' - I would rather I could just avoid her in the mornings.
Struggle with non-verbal communication.
Can't remember names and faces.
Can't see conseqences of things sometimes and can't understand why people feel a certain way (I guess that would be 'lack of imagination'.
Can't do small talk and hate futile conversations.
Don't understand jokes.
Don't understand or like teasing.
Don't understand the need for socialising that NTs seem to have.
Don't understand why people speak when they can email or IM.
Have multiple phobias - and it's more to do with sensory issues or lack of understanding or control than 'problems in childhood'.
Don't know when people are lying or joking and don't know how to make people believe me - I don't understand the choreography of body language and facial expression is required and I don't understand why this is necessary - why isn't just telling the trugh enough?
Don't understand systems in society.
Get frustrated by people who don't walk as quickly as me.
High IQ and excellent grades throughout education.
Focused and in depth interestes (I don't like using the word 'narrow', I find it derogatory and from and NT point of view)
Can concentrate for up to 40 hours at a time - and resent having to stop for food etc.
Have trouble with day-to-day looking after myself and organisation.
Am good at organising non-abstract things.
Struggle with the abstract.
My things are usually disorganised on the surface, but they are organised to me and I know exactly where things are - I only lose things when other people try to impose their idea of tidiness and organisation on to me.


Why I don't have AS:

er.........can't actually think of anything right now.

Lightning, you may have been misdiagnosed. You just sound too comfortable to me to be an Aspie, or at least to any great extent. I'm too tired right now to make my own list . . . .

Ways I Have AS
*I didn't really talk at all even though I could at age 2/3
*I get some major obsessions that can last from hours to months
*I have a high IQ depending on what type of test I do
*I have trouble remebering names and faces
*I couldn't ride a bike until 10
*I'm realy bad at sports
*I'm really good in the subjects I like and hopeless in the subjects I don't like
*I'm not very creative
*I have major meltdowns
*I don't like people telling me what to do
*Once I start something, I can't stop
*I could care less about celebrities and gossip
*I'm totally lost when it comes to love
*I am a bit of a perfectionist
*I stim
*I have some sensory issues
*I'm not very social and outgoing
*I typically take things very literally
*I prefer schedules and routines

Ways I Don't Have AS
*I'm horrible with math and science
*I've learned to cope with all the above and hide the associated difficulties

Ways of AS:
Can only do ONE thing at a time
Difficulty taking criticism
Fixate/obsessive
Rituals
Thumbsucking
Little social contact
Problems with relationships, maintaining friendships
slightly flat affect
poor hand eye co-ordination
forgetful
disorganised
clumsy
light sensitive
acute hearing
only wear soft fabrics
captain faux pas
no concern over trends
no drive
inertia
procrastination
poor at decisions
few friends
perform to fit in
good at problem solving
literal
chicken salad every day
same clothes!
LOATHE LOATHE smalltalk
intermittent eye contact, bit poor
social phobia, panic attacks, depression, body armouring, poor sleep
big anger attacks

Non-As Traits
Big sense of humour
quite intuitive
language delay not really
precocious intelligence: non
poor at maths and languages
empathy to a degree
good face recognition
no prosody of speech
no very strong lifelong obsessions
no great talents
Imaginative
Creative