Well hell, I'm LFA

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An IQ of 60 is not as low as people think. I read one book published in 1972 (Matarazzo, something to do with the WAIS) that talked about men with stable personalities and IQs in the 40s holding down jobs and supporting families. It's possible that most of those jobs don't exist any more, but still, you'd be surprised what people can do when they're motivated. You start to run into real problems if you can't read or write, or if you can't reason abstractly and you're in an environment where you need to be able to.

It just has to do with how fast and accurately you think. that's all. You take longer to get through school (but can still get through it up to a point, depending), and you don't do as well in fast-paced intellectually challenging work environments. But you wouldn't anyways, with autism, because fast-paced tends to be a nightmare even for the smartest autistic people.

It does mean, though, that you're not going to get into med school. Hope your heart wasn't set on that.

At least have some fun confusing Attwood's!

It is different. You're not to be defined by how you think outside. Someone who couldn't pass it in a home situation or another place does not have the same capabilites as you do. You're very intelligent, whether you test it or not. Could you communicate the way you do here if you were always as overwhelmed as you were outside? You've built a life that accustoms you, and that's a good thing. The IQ score is low because you were overwhelmed, yes? Even the questions that you could read but could not answer would be part of being overwhelmed; it is difficult to come up with answers when your brain is stressed. But you are not always overwhelmed, and that allows you to live in a way that would not be possible if you always were in that state.

As an aside, I cannot define most of the words I use either, even the simple ones (like "simple"). I don't think many people can.

However you do it, you manage to get the message across extremely well. Even if you don't know the meaning of individual words, you certainly seem to know the meaning of the phrases and sentences you're saying. What you say is far too clear for me to believe it's gibberish.

I'm selfdiagnosed and very high-functioning (as they say) (my neurological profile is so unlikely I probably don't exist using the professional terminology, which may be part of the reason I pay no attention to it - I only listen to other autistics) but I can't support myself so I have to come up with creative solutions to stay alive.

One thing I did last year which helped me a lot was when I volunteered (doing gardenwork and painting mainly, in exchange for room and board) at a residential home for adults, three of whom were autistic. They were very handicapped by their autism, in very different ways, more than anybody on WP. They were all very intelligent and two of them exceptionally so, but they lacked the ability to communicate that intelligence to others deliberately (people noticed it though, or some did). I think that may be one of the key difficulties for some people on the spectrum. I think you know this too Daniel.

They taught me millions of things about autism and about being human but it would take too long to find the words for any of it. One thing I will say is that you need to run your own race.

In my opinion the concept of 'intelligence' or 'IQ score' is quite meaningless.

I came to this conclusion after having done an IQ test myself. I have a good university education while my IQ is merely average and initially I was very disappointed about this. But the reason for my mediocre result was I scored very badly on certain parts of the IQ test while I performed well above average in other parts of the IQ test.

So now I'm inclined to think that an IQ score is merely the sum score of an arbitrary set of unrelated capabilities.

Mmm, yes I think you might be right.

The IQ stuff is somewhat mythical so do not put much stock into it. someday they will figure out the correct way to 'test' us but until then we get a pass so to speak so enjoy it while it lasts as we have yet to 'prove' our worth to society.

All it is is a number. People with higher IQ'S can have more difficulties, people with lower IQ'S can have less difficulties. I don't get how numbers can illustrate something as complex and amazing as the human intelligence, and oversimplify it into 'above a certain number is gifted, genius, bright, smart, clever, and below a certain number is dumb, slow, stupid, ret*d, moron, idiot ETC.'

It's baffling.

Good question. The answer is, yes. Except for times when I lose words completely, which can happen outside and at home, and that transposes over my writing and speech (as well as reading). My example of not understanding single words was showing how I've learnt to read and write by remembering the overall phrase; it's like echolalia, but I'm using my decent memory to apply communicative phrases that get my point across.

No one,

Of note, and something people tend to forget of those with autism, I did score really high on one sub score of the test; I've come to the conclusion that this portion of my brain takes up the slack in many ways.

I don't care what IQ I have, I just like knowing the factual truth; whether 160 or 60, I just care about the accuracy.

I don't apply any negative connotations to mental retardation, or the new term "learning difficulties"; it's just one facet of existence. Just as I don't see any negative connotations to people who're short, fat, clumsy, motor delayed, "ugly", etcetera.

But would you? I mean, would you want to, and therefore do such?

I do do it, so the answer is of course yes. This is typing here.

Outside of the 'net, I don't really communicate, but that's evident.

You misunderstand me, I think. I meant that if you were constantly overwhelmed, would want you to talk here?

Yes, and I do talk here when I'm overwhemed; I'm probably just as much overwhelmed here as I am not.

Ok. Well, then that kinda ruins my point, but you know.

I tend to do that a lot.

But anymyway, I think a lot of people underestimate those who have a low-IQ. IIRC, Donna Williams [who has autism] has an IQ of 70 (that's borderline MR), and she went to university and has written numerous books; she's "world famous" too.