Maybe there should be Autistic Personality Type

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Thank you! ive been trying to sort all these comments out and i ended up having a meltdown, my dog had to calm me down.

Not only that i was really overloaded with the length of these comments, i cant read them.

Same here. Major overload of huge posts. I probably would have had a meltdown yesterday if I had not thankfully been so emotionally numb last night. Which really probably means I'm going through depression right now.

Anyways seems a few need to put things in better context and take an effing chill pill. Maybe set a little better example for us and mentor us instead of lashing out at us to such huge extremes.

I think life is difficult to navigate, for many people. It can especially be difficult for teenagers. It was for me.

Ultimately, everyone of us comes into this world with certain strengths and weaknesses. Some are visible. Some are invisible. Some people seem to have an unfair advantage. Likewise, some people seem to have 'the deck stacked against them'.

From my perspective, the one thing that each of us can do is to understand ourselves and understand our strengths. And figure out how to use those to make the best of our time on this planet. What other choice is there?

I was told by the so-called experts that Aspergers is a personality type that may or may not be due to autism.

Well, it seems to me that many of the people on WP need to take a chill pill at times (including me), but maybe these people have trouble regulating their emotions. I don't know.

Adults also don't necessarily "become adults" on an emotional level when they get older. I know that I didn't. I kept waiting for me to grow up, and feel mature and confident like the rest of the adults, but it didn't happen.

I can't read the really long posts except when they have paragraphs. When I try it doesn't make any sense to me, and I get really confused.

Yeah, I know I make long posts, too. I have trouble knowing when to shut up. But I do use paragraphs!

People should just say what they think, it is better to know the real thoughts of people than facades.
I love confrontations, being nice and supportive all the time is boring.

Not even the expert professionals really have a handle on it.

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And -

Yup and yup. I agree with you there, Ezra. It's sometimes difficult for teenagers to realise the effects their actions have on others, and doubly so for autistic teens. So some awareness of this goes a long way, which is why I asked some of the questions I did in another topic.
But this too is a two way street, and teenagers or not, you have to be aware yourself that you cannot expect to say whatever you like and have others let you do so without reacting just because you're young. I'm not saying you are doing this, just putting it out there. Adults may be adults, but they're human, they can feel hurt. I think much of the perceived hostile responses you received on these topics stem from that. These sort of responses anywhere in life are part of the way kids learn that their actions have impacts, so not always a bad thing.
For many "high functioning" autistic adults, too, this topic is already a loaded one before you came along, compounded by years of copping crap from people. Many adults may be under fire from both sides - on one hand, you have your very adult neurotypical peers giving you hell for not being up to their pristine standard, then on the other, young autistics telling you you're not as affected as they are so therefore, you must be neurotypical and totally fine.
You're so correct I believe when you say some understanding and concession is needed, but even more correctly, understanding is needed by everyone in the discussion.


Ugh, completely. And it's not just autistics, sometimes I think some neurotypical people just never grew up, despite the fact that they have sexual relationships and work and have kids and do all these very adult-y things in some circumstances, some people just behave like bratty kids. I never felt like an adult.


I've been told I'm guilty of that - I try to keep this in mind in longer posts, but I think the lack follows my thinking process, which is just all go no stop constant.


In my opinion it depends how it's done. I like being challenged and having my views challenged because maybe that will make me think in different ways, gain insight into other perspectives, understand more fully. And of course educate me if I am wrong. A confrontation can be done with compassion, and isn't boring.
However I find attack pointless. The other person is just likely to get defensive and aggressive and I dislike emotionality, and even less likely to listen and consider. You don't have to proverbial "hand hold" and be sickly sweet all the time, but aggressiveness and nastiness just seems counterproductive to progression. All it seems to do is provide pleasure for the sadistically-inclined at the expense of the emotionally vulnerable. Again, not saying you're doing that, just a general opinion.

I am sorry, but this thread is awfully absurd.

*Big Grin*

So is life.

It is indeed.

It almost sounds like your describing the "Little System" except that's already come and gone, though I still adhere to it, if only because that's what was used when I was diagnosed and therefore simplifies things.

When I was diagnosed the team which did it explained to me that to have a diagnosis you must have significant problems caused by the autistic traits they look for. The team leader said that even if you ticked all the boxes for having certain traits and ways of being which are autistic you still wouldn't get a diagnosis unless it impaired your ability to function in the world in a meaningful way. So the way I understand it (from what I've been taught) - people with autism have to have some kind of impairment or they're not really on the spectrum.

Also, with respect to this discussion, I think it's worth being aware that a frequent part of autism is a inbalance in abilities and levels of functioning in different areas. So someone could be academically very strong and yet be unable to hold down a job because socially they cannot cope with the work environment and keep on getting things wrong. Or someone could be very strong at written communication but fail badly when communication is verbal and end up in bad and scary situations because of it. Both of these are true of me. I find maintaining employment very hard because of the ASD and I find having friends and coping with other people really hard too although I really really want to have friends and get on with others. I struggle with simply day to day living and need support to survive but I am still bright academically and able to contribute if I'm supported e.g. at church my minister and others from the congrgation support me and help me understand things which I don't get and I am able to play the piano for the services and help others with technical stuff. I was told that I have a social understanding of an 11 year old but academically I have a Natural Sciences degree and postgraduate qualifications from Cambridge University and lots of technical training too.

I see autism as a hidden form of blindness. It's like I have a gap where people without autism can see and understand social stuff, body language and a deeper layer of meaning in speech, for me that whole level of understanding just isn't there. I make up rules and other algorythmns to try to fill in the blanks but really I'm just simulating what I think might be there for others and I can never know what it is they actually experience. Blindness is a good way of explaining it because - just because someone is visually blind doesn't mean they are not skilled in other areas and just becuase I am blind in terms of social insight and communication ability doesn't mean that I can't program computers or do good work in science.

I am hoping that now I have a diagnosis and understand why things keep going wrong so badly I will be better able to get and keep a job. It's my life's ambition to have a job I can do every day and be a contributing member of society. I really wish I could do that.

You guys said that you're just teenagers just trying to sort things out. Well, so are adults. There is no magic button that says you get a grip on things once attaining a certain age.

I believe Kenobi offers an excellent insight into the nature of autism--the disparity in skills.

It does happen quite a bit in autism--wherein, say, one can excel in theoretical math, yet cannot balance a checkbook.

In my case, it's not "blindness" though, it's more like a fuzziness. The fact that one is able to create algorhithms pertaining to how to manifest social skills is an indication of that fuzziness.

The "fuzziness" is also evident in the theory which purports that autistic people can discern the general outline of a face--but have difficulty discerning the subtleties of that face. This, the theory states, is why autistic people do not have the motivation to socialize. A baby(according to the theory), cannot see his/her mother's face as specifically as "mommy." He/she can only see a generalized face.