Have You Gotten Good at Hiding Your Asperger's, or Adapting?

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Wilma
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09 Aug 2012, 11:39 am

I don't think its about hiding, it's about getting adapt in order to survive in the society . Personaly I don't pretend to be something im not but I also don't go after people telling them "- hey hello my name is ......and i have aspergers" . If it happens in a random conversation I may mention it for example I was talking with a woman ( she wasn't a friend but we just had a good relationship as we were living in the same area ) she mention once that her cousin had asperger and I told her about mine . I don't make a big deal of it to other people .



CyborgUprising
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09 Aug 2012, 11:46 am

For the most part, I've gotten by with others just thinking I'm quirky or strange. Only a few people have suspected I was on the spectrum. I can only attribut this to a conscious effort on my part to study "normie" human behavior and alloting time to stim/behave how I normally do or finding ways to conceal my stims and odd quirks. For the "emergency" situation, I will find a way to remove myself from the situation and go to a quiet place if necessary.



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09 Aug 2012, 1:58 pm

Yes, I would say I've gotten reasonably good at it...I practice good eye contact, people are always commenting that I'm very nice and polite, and I'm even able to carry on with small talk when approaches me and wants to have a conversation. I also don't go on about my special interests the way I used to (unless the topics present themselves, of course, and then I'm off to the races :wink: ) Occasions in which I get emotionally overloaded and burst into tears the way I did when I was a little girl are very rare.


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ADoyle90815
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09 Aug 2012, 2:15 pm

I can pass as NT, but sometimes people could tell that while I might look "normal," there's still something different about me. I wasn't diagnosed until I was in my late 20's because Asperger's wasn't known about during my childhood and teenage years, and I spoke too much for an autism diagnosis, plus I was a female who never did any toe walking or stereotypical stims. I've also practiced eye contact my whole life, so I tend to look people in the eye more.



Aquais94
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12 Jul 2014, 9:43 pm

I usually hide my Autism Diagnosis, but I only use this when If it's an emergency. I hid my diagnosis to new friends. But if they're going weird about myself, I would tell them about my diagnosis.

Also I'm 15% weird, because I show Grungy Behaviors which I'm a Grunge. But I am sick and tired of my mother telling on the phone about my Diagnosis, Because I know how to make 1-800 Calls, which I made a lot of 1-800 calls when there is a Problem. and I have a Fine Living Skills, Moderate Social Skills, (Boosted after Developing Social Anxiety due to the bad incident). Also I can Manage my own money and Finance, Also I have a good working Memory. I can Speak and I have a good Self Esteem. And I am very Independent, and have an Academic IQ of 87 and a Speed IQ of 74. When I was a child I follow few Developmental Milestones, but I started talking when I was 5 1/2 years old. But I am having a Teenage Rebellion against my parents, because I had a bad Relationship with them since I was a child. Which I suffered from Psychological Trauma along with Severe Anxiety, and Panic Disorder. Also I'm Hypochondriac. Also I'm sick and tired of my parents being overprotective to me. I am old enough to take care of myself. So I'm Rebelling against my parents to stop overprotecting me. Because I'm not that Autistic anymore. I'm more like Neurotypical than a Aspie. But I still have a good grades in School. But I just Graduated with the Highest Honors. But I am always lonely in the Real life, but on the Internet, I am not, I am a cyber-person. I am a Computer Geek also. Also I'm practicing my past time vocals to try and hard to sing like Kurt Cobain and Shaun Morgan. (I started to pick up Shaun's Accent)

Sorry for the off-subject paragraph on the second part of it.


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LupaLuna
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12 Jul 2014, 10:43 pm

For the first 10 minutes, really good. After that, it starts to get exhausting. Being NT is like holding you breath. you can only do it for so long.



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13 Jul 2014, 12:21 am

i've had people that say "you seem so normal!" and such when i tell them i have aspergers, which isn't often. also i've had people who wouldn't have been less surprised when i tell them.
i don't really try that hard to hide my traits. only one person has asked me if there was anything "wrong" with me.
but i think i've gotten pretty good with eye contact, and nodding. i nod a lot. i've been practicing small talk quite a bit but i still find the bulk of it pretty dumb.


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Sweetleaf
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13 Jul 2014, 12:35 am

No I have not, but I don't really have much desire to seem 'normal' most people I get along with aren't exactly what society defines as 'normal' anyways.


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Moondust
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13 Jul 2014, 12:59 am

I can never pass as NT, because the more I succeed in passing as NT, the more doors open to me in more complex social scenarios, and at some level I inevitably fail. Eg I'll be hired for more politically-demanding job environments, I'll have friends who are "more NT" and have more NT expectations. The more I find myself in more complex relating environments, the bigger the challenge and the faster the "fall".

This, coupled with the fact that the more we pass as NTs the more expectations of NT-ness from us, and there's a point, if you've been really successful at passing for NT, where you can't, just can't disclose autism as the reason for your failure to meet expectations, so your fall is accompanied by hard accusations of doing whatever you did "on purpose", and you can't even defend yourself. You not only lose that one environment, but your reputation goes down the drain also outside of it (eg the job market). Eg if you happily accepted a prestigious job representing a government, in diplomacy say, you can't just after a couple years on the job say "But I'm autistic!"

I do my best to pass as NT at work so I can keep a job for as long as possible, but outside that, I'm careful not to pass as NT, to avoid the escalation of expectations and the ensuing hard fall.

I think the answer to "Do you manage to pass as NT?" is always NO for an aspie, and if anyone answers differently, it means they never reached an environment with a higher level of relating complexity where they crashed. Eg: how many of those who answer YES have thrived or at least endured, in a cut-throat, man-eat-man workplace or social circle?

So I believe at some level we all fail relations wise. Otherwise, we're not aspies.


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Last edited by Moondust on 13 Jul 2014, 1:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

FireyInspiration
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13 Jul 2014, 1:02 am

In a comfortable environment, no problem fitting in. The less comfortable I am, the harder it is



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13 Jul 2014, 10:12 am

I like to think I've gotten very good at hiding my aspergers, it takes a great deal of strength; but I can make eye contact. Make convincing laughter at things I don't find remotely funny and hide my obsession with computers, FiM, Majoras Mask and writing. But my parents still think I'm a socially awkward derp since my aspie side comes out in the evening when they're around and no-one else is... :(

Then again, I am very mildly affected - and pretty much outgrown it alltogether.



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13 Jul 2014, 12:53 pm

I am not able to hide anything.


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13 Jul 2014, 3:09 pm

I've adapted to the extent of being able to do jobs that require a lot of interaction with people, but it's not "hiding" anything or adapting so much as just suppressing my natural behavior. I can do that in a job or business situation because there are definite rules or guidelines for how I'm supposed to act (ie, professionalism) but if something random or unexpected cracks my exterior, the real me comes out with a vengeance. In a personal situation I have a poorer ability to suppress or filter my behavior, and I don't really want to anyway because I want to be myself. I just tend to avoid situations where I would have to suppress myself a lot, because it's not worth it unless I'm being paid to do a job.



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13 Jul 2014, 3:13 pm

I can function socially well enough so that the vats majority of the people I interact with do not suspect that I have autism.... but people will still notice that I'm a wee bit 'off', a fair bit more aloof, a little bit quirky, what have you.

People who are familiar with autism in one way or another (either they have it themselves, or they know a relative or friend who's autistic) may figure out I'm on the spectrum a bit easier.


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Coolguy
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15 Jul 2014, 10:52 am

It's really hard for me to say whether or not I'm good at hiding my AS, as I have no way of knowing what others think of me. I think as long as you're able to hold down a job, and have friends that you do things with, it's safe to say that you're alleged AS is not an issue, which is the case with me.



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15 Jul 2014, 4:27 pm

yeah i've definitely improved since i was in middle school. i learned some new social skills through time, and have a better idea what i shouldn't do in a social situation, but theres always mistakes being made, and i still don't think 'm quite at a NT teenager level yet.


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