Trapped by my Autism

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I am trapped by my naivity

Meh. Some people are just geniuses. My lil sister is probably a genius; we haven't had her tested yet, but she's breezing through schoolwork two years ahead of time and writing novels to relax. She's fourteen... oh, yeah, and Aspie. We don't know how she'll do on her own yet.

There's always going to be somebody out there who's really good at something. If you want to compare yourself to other people, you're going to find the top-one-percent types who, if you judge your value by your skills, make you feel pretty inferior.

Solution: Stop judging peoples' value by what they can do... It's kind of mean to the people who can't do a lot, in any case. The Down syndrome guy who collects carts at the supermarket isn't any less valuable than the businessman who owns it, right? So stop judging yourself by saying "I can't do this" and "I'm good at that"... Nothing wrong with knowing your abilities; but cut the strings between that and your value, because they're totally unrelated. You don't have to justify your existence to the world.

I hate to repeat but it is so much about perspective.

I went through so many phases and realized that those who are told it is a difference are so fortunate.

I just keep that mantra up.........so much of they way we view ourselves is expectation and who we are suppsoed to react.

It is something we each have to figure......I hope you are able to use all the info here to help you formulate a good view of yourself.

I feel better now, but I'm sure I'll start feeling inferior again after a day or two of school. I've already been told a lot of the things people have said in this thread. It didn't work last time. But hopefully the next time I see an aspie who's better than me, I'll remind myself not to measure people's worth by what they can do. Which reminds me: I was going to ask "how do you measure someone's worth if not by their skills?"

The limits are not because of the autism they are because you have been beaten psychologically, until you win the battle you will be severally limited. Break the chains that bind you, and walk upon the unbeaten path that you wish to walk, do not allow others to control you, because only by being free psychologically will you ever hope to see your true potential!

No, there is such a thing as impossibility. Just because Asperger's is mental doesn't mean it isn't real.

What's impossible, though, will be specific things--things like judging people's emotions, staying away from special interests, getting rid of clumsiness, etc. If you have a big goal--say, you want to become a doctor--there will usually be ways around the impossibilities to get to that goal. You may have to do things in an odd way, or modify the goal slightly (say, become a cardiologist instead of a surgeon if you've got clumsy fingers); but usually, with a big goal like that, it will not be impossible.

You DO have to be committed. Thinking up ways to get to a goal when you've got impossibilities to work around does take commitment, especially when it's easier for other people. If you have low levels of will power, you've got to work with that, too.

The thing not to do, is insist you can do something just the way everybody else can, and keep slamming against a brick wall trying to break through, instead of walking around it. If you're thinking "I'm not trying hard enough", you're probably up against a wall, and trying harder probably won't help. Or, if it will help, it's probably that you've got a problem with will-power itself, and have to address that... Just beating yourself up for not being able to will yourself to perform at peak level isn't going to do any good.

"I haven't failed; I've found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas A. Edison.

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. As long as you keep trying, you haven't yet failed. Failure is in giving up. Keep trying, give it another go, come at it from a different angle. You may not be able to change your weaknesses, but if you change your defeatist way of thinking then you'll find that obstacles can and will be overridden. Keep at it!

Yes, and don't keep trying one of the 10,000 ways that don't work!

Grow up. That is all.