theory for being content with autism

Post Reply New Topic

Glider got his excess musical talent from me, I have none, and people get upset when I say I can live without it. I got the technology, and come what may, we all get 100% of something.

The bulk of people are at the 50th percentile, in a close grouping. They cannot imagine being any other way as being a whole of another form. We can imagine what thier life is like.

When I walk alone in the mountains, I feel no lack of being, I am, and am part of a whole Universe.

I am alone in the best of the world because the rest huddle together in towns, and drive cars through parks. Some will adventure to campgrounds, with power, water, tables, even walk some of the close popular graded trails.

I get to walk beyond marked trails, to places where meeting anyone would be strange and rare.

A whole world is mine, I watch the sun set and the stars come out, I am up before dawn to welcome the day.

It is the best of life till I have to go back for supplies, then the first thing out of people's mouth is I am going to be eaten by bears, hunted by wolves, mountain lions, or run over by a deer. If I had their fears I would be, but the animals I meet are civil, and try ever seeing a wolf, prints a few times, but wolves have sharp senses. I have seen cayotes, and they were very embarassed.

My childhood and education was people claiming I would be eaten by bears, for not being them, I was young, they did not say how they were different from me. It seemed the most important thing, I should change to be something they could not describe, from something they could not describe.

It was not till many years later when I asked the bears, I had been introduced by the deer, for I do walk up on them, say hello, and go about my business. After a while rabbits show themselves, birds come right into camp and squak, Stella Jays are bold, Ravens are smart and playful. It seems the whole forest wants to get a look at me.

A doe with fawn walked less than ten foot from me, down wind, silent, so the fawn would know the scent. I saw them from the corner of my eye, but did not turn, just greeted them. It was after that that the bear came, he stood about eight foot, and was in his prime. We had crossed trails a few times, but humans kill bears, so he did not let me see him. I greeted him, gave welcome, and he looked me over. He put out a paw and I touched palms with him.

It was then that I learned how I was different than humans, I am like the bear, just living, with something that will hunt me, try to kill me, because of their fear. He had to meet the human that fit in to the mountain, who greeted all as friends. Bears are not hunters, mostly they eat roots, berries, some plants, he was the biggest thing on the mountain, but the deer did not fear him. He came and welcomed me.

No, I am not like other people, I can fix computers. I can be part off the mountain, and of the stars.

I am still not very good at being part of people, but some of them are coming around.

What I am part of, is much more than what I am not. I also have exclusive use of a lot of it.

Viewed from human relations, I am a mess, they say I do not care, I am still looking for something to care about. None of them tell me how they see things, or ask how I do.

What I love about Wrong Planet is that is a continual conversation here.

I may as well be deaf to music, yet I learn of the love and talents about it here. That is Gliders mountain.

Nothing with much meaning has come from me dealing with people before. I survived by developing myself, my way, and it has turned out, at least for me, for I am even stranger to most.

I know of the feeling we had growing up in a different world. But here I am finding that through it all we survived, followed our own stars, and are a collection of partly exceptional lives.

That exceptional bit we share here, where it is our deep strength that keep us going, can be understood, and perhaps what is lacking is being able to convey that to more people.

We are strange, have social conflicts, but we have something else that we never part with.

It was not what parents, teachers, peers, saw, nor Psycholigists, but it is the unchanging core of our being. We have lacks because some of our 100% is outside of the grouping at the 50th percentile. So it will always be with them.

But from the part outside comes a greater human, be it music, just belonging on the mountain, or one of many talents and perceptions. Here I think they are understood, can be shared, and fill out a greater range of being human.

I keep hanging around on the only forum I ever joined because I keep learning what has been missing all my life, how others think, feel, something the mass demanded I should just know.

My just knowing ranks with my musical talent. Here it is explained to me.

This WP concept is five years old, a first for exploring autistic thought by the autistic, and it is bearing fruit. We struggle with it, and we have superpowers. It supplies the main thing we were lacking, a peer group.

As was pointed out, it is not just autistics, some that have NT social skills also have superpowers. We are exporing the full range of what it is to be human. We are the odd lots and loose ends, but the talents belong to the whole of humanity. I did identify inventors as autistic, but everyone understands and uses the patents.

We can hope to resolve our pasts, make now better for our type, and be a halo of thought around the species.

http://www.sengifted.org/articles_social/Silverman_TheMoralSensitivityOfGiftedChildren.shtml (Of course, coming from giftedness or asperger it don't change the fact that your son is AWESOME!! !! )[/quote]

I think that it's possible (as I've seen in other posts) that some AS actually "care" more than NTs. I think that the main trait of AS is being "over" being over is also being "over" sensitive, in those forum pages I see very simpaty. I really like to make a statistic on how many violent crime like murderer are made by AS people or how many of them are care-parents and things like that. Usually AS lack understanding of others, not simpaty.

Wow. I can't believe that I almost completely missed this thread! That's what I get for being on less frequently...

The key for me really has been to embrace life to its fullest, whatever comes my way. I was fortunate enough to have learned this from a very early age. As a result, I don't think I struggled as much as many did to fit in. Rather, I was content with not fitting in for a long time.

Which abilities of mine come from being autistic versus just being human, I don't know. I do know, however, that I can just completely dive into something for hours and digest information at a rate of speed that many cannot. While that's not exclusively an autistic trait, it is commonly associated with the autism spectrum.

I don't know if I agree with the 10% savant number. I've heard that it's believed to be much higher, actually, something closer to 50% across the spectrum. I guess the question is how realized those abilities are and how well the individual is able to express them to others.

Thanks for the thread, glider! I wonder if this thread is the neo-"Wonderful World of Autism" thread!

Tollorin asked a good question a few posts ago.

"How can you know glider18 that you're prodigious abilitie come from asperger? Through history there is some NTs who had show such ability and obsession with music."

First, let me say that my savant type is what is called "Talented." There are also the prodigious (about 25-50 in the world today), and splinter skill. The estimate I have usually heard is that 10% of we autistics are savants that fall into one of these types. Fiddlerpianist suggest it could be as high as 50%---and I am in agreement with him on this. I am willing to bet that half of us with autism do fall into one of these savant categories.

So the question, how do I know? Well, by definition of the talented savant, that is what I am. Without lessons, training, and in little time (from a day to a week) I have been able to play any musical instrument I have become intensely fascinated with---and play it well. I also display the memorization techinique of this type of savant in roller coaster statistics. Without trying to learn them, I had every wooden (I wasn't that interested in steel coasters) roller coaster's statistics memorized like a computer by the time I was in high school. Anything I read about old wooden roller coasters became a part of my self (my mind). Those roller coasters live in me.

It is true that NTs can be savants too. And, some people have become a savant after a seizure or a head injury. As far as my AS being responsible for my savantism---I display the special intense interest associated with the criteria of AS, and it is that fascination with certain musical instruments and roller coasters that have made them a huge part of my life. That is part of my narrow focus beam. I didn't play those instruments as much for my love of music as I did for my fascination with the gadgetry, shapes, etc. of the instrument---the AS in me. I have focused so intently on these things that I have not had the social life of those around me. Even on my first date, I lectured my date on the history of roller coasters---I didn't know what else to talk about. She evidently loved me because we have now been married for nearly 20 years. We have two sons, one of whom has been diagnosed with autism. He listens to me play songs, and then he copies me on the piano.

I havent found anything really positive about it either. Sorry! And I'm right on the VERY edge of the spectrum, apparently. If something impairs your ability to do something you want to do (socialise) it can't be good at all. If you don't want to then it's ok. But being so close to normal but not quite enough to be accepted is the worst form of disability you can have. It gives you just a TASTE of the good life then takes it away and says 'you can't have this anymore'.

Also disturbing to me is the fact there's so many people here with AS children and AS fathers. It sounds extremely genetic. How would it feel to have children of my own knowing theyre almost guaranteed to go through the same problems that i did?? I dont know how i would cope with that.

As for gifts... Everyone has SOME kind of gift. Having AS doesnt make me more gifted than a 'normal' person.

Wow, I sound really negative there. But if you're having a good life, dont let me get you down! Some people have different experiences to others!

The Gift chance of AS is 30 times greater than NT chance (I don't remember the source sorry).

I've Asperger, my daughter is probably HFA. I'm happy, actually I'm probably happyier. One of the things I always thinked while my wife pregnancy was "I hope that she takes my brain".

Thank you Nightsun, truly a fascinating and interesting look at autism. You have definitely studied autism.