AS and sense of direction?

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Does people who have Asperger's normally lack a sense of direction. I know one who gets hopelessly lost on every stage in a computer game.

I have a very good sense of direction. I know which way is north in my apartment because I know which direction the Columbia River is. My bf is the one who gets turned around and I get mad at him when he argues with me about which direction because he is always wrong.

I can only speak for myself. I am pretty useless with directions. I wrote about it on my blog last year before I was diagnosed with AS. (If you visit my blog and search for Town House Hotel, you will find the story. I can't post links yet, I am a newbie.)

I think that Aspies may be more inclined to have a bad sense of direction, because those with AS tend to fit the profile of NLD.

Those with AS may have spatial deficits, and verbal IQ > performance IQ.

I am PDD-NOS but very similar to AS and have a terrible sense of direction.

It could have something to do with visual ability, in this sence. Don't feel alone there, as my supposedly NT mother can get lost in a single room in computer gameing. She did it so often in Ever Quest, and still does this in World of Warcraft occasionaly. She's learned to get lost less often, because she's pretty used to it now.

Whatever game you play, some spots are dark, or they look the same distance despite you being far away or next to the wall, so you think your character is moveing when they are not. Then there is the shape of the rooms, buildings and such. Most of them look alike, and one has to first get used to that to the point that their brain learns another method of exploration when progressing stops suddenly. Alot of games are like mazes, even if getting lost wasn't the intent.

Some people pick out the very tiny differences sooner than others. Course some people think about details too much and get lost because of that. That's what my mother does. She thinks about parts that don't need to be thought on, and get's lost as a result. That doesn't just include play either. She gets lost for that reason alone, usualy, so I can see how some Aspies can have that problem. An Aspgergers person, certainly, will choose the logical reaction first, rather than sense of the place or motion, I think.

I have a really good sense of direction (as in, I can find my way around) if I walk somewhere myself. But not if I'm driven or take a bus there, and I can't keep track of larger geography like the towns in my state (at all, even though I've lived here my whole life) and like you, I get lost in video games. XD;; It takes me a loooong time to get so I can make my way around a town or landscape efficiently in a game.

I think I have a pretty good sense of direction. Once, I was in a maze in Hawaii made out of 9 foot tall pineapple bushes. It was round with a central hub that led to many branches. Even when I couldn't see it, I could always just instinctively point the way to the center, and I was always right.

Yes, poor sense of direction here, I think this may be related to the poor short term memory that seems pretty common here

Should probably do a poll

1 I'm Male, Autistic, and have no sense of direction
2 I'm Male, Autistic and have an excellent sense of direction
3 I'm Female, Autistic and have no sense of direction
4 I'm Female, Autisticand have an excellent sense of direction


I would be number 1.

3.5 - I'm female, AS, and have a mixed sense of direction.

When I travel with other people (either on foot or in a car), I completely fail to pay attention and don't learn the route. When I travel alone, I'm fine, and know where I am in relation to other things.

I'm able to picture places (on large and small scales) in my head, but I never know the names of places, especially streets, so I can't give directions.

I'm good at NESW but always have to think about left and right.

When I enter a corn maze I become psychic.

I'm not that good at video games...

I have absolutely no sense of direction. Spatial as well as physical. If I am in an unfamiliar (or sometimes even familiar) building, I can be walking down a hallway and turn around, and it will look like a place I've never visited before. I can't remember verbal directions at all, but I can follow a map OK, if I really concentrate. I used to take karate classes and I was actually pretty good once I learned the movements, but the teacher would always face us as he taught--my brain has no ability to translate mirror images into something I'm supposed to be mimicking, it seems. I have an almost photographic memory of the places I've been though, but it's as if I remember things in a series of individual pictures, not as a moving video, if that makes sense. Like I might remember exactly how a restaurant looks, smells, what pictures are on the walls, maybe even what street it's on, but I'd have no idea how to get there unless I'd done it a thousand times.

Well, it depends. I'm terrible at going somewhere, but I can always find my way back even without retracing my steps.

My mom has described my sense of direction like that of a dog: I get lost easily but I always find my way back home.

Speaking of myself, I have no sense of direction.