Is Asperger's Syndrome a curse or a blessing?

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I believe that if 100% of the population were perfectly normal, our technological and cultural advancements today would not have been possible. I believe that the deviants and the eccentric people are the ones who progressed humanity to what it is today. Without Thomas Edison, an addled genius, we would not have the light bulb. Without Einstein, we wouldn't have nuclear power.

Although I feel that I am cursed with the inability to socialize, I progressed more academically and financially compared to my friends and classmates. Because of my poor social skills, I spent most of my time thinking and contemplating about the world and my future. I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to make sure I lived comfortably.
Would my socioeconomic status still be the same if I did not have AS? Better or worse? I'm not too sure, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Do you believe there are advantages to our condition? Is it strictly a bad thing?

Last edited by stratify on 10 Apr 2010, 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

To me, it's been a blessing, all the way. I know not to hurt people, because I've been hurt by all kinds of people, growing up. I also have a love for the 60s, that will be unspoiled, by the younger generations to come.

What are the advantages?

1. Knowledge about special interests: um well, there are a lot of NT people who become knowledgeable in their field of knowledge.
2. Honesty: while, from an ethical and moral point of view, honesty is a real virtue, in the real world it unfortunately pays to be dishonest.
3. Less likely to be in relationships: therefore less likely to abuse parnters, get divorced, or have rows?
4. Often, very punctual for work. Good at working on own initiative. Meticulous in performing routine tasks.
5. Doesn't participate in office politics or talk about people behind their backs.
6. Trustworthy; unlikely to be a criminal or a sociopath.

Well, to be honest, it's a developmental disorder. A development disorder means a setback, disability or disadvantage.

My opinion is that you don't build your strengths on the back of your AS; you build your strengths of the basis of your whole personality, you overcome your weaknesses, and you function fine in this world - and you have the added distinction of having overcome a disorder that most other people never had to deal with.

I think it's both.

It leaves us with difficulties and makes things harder for us. I couldn't get a man in real life but I was able to online. I had to overcome my inflexibility.

And it's a blessing because it leaves us with advantages. We view the world different, think different, we tend to remember things people wouldn't normally remember, we tend to focus on our interests, it can give us good sense of hearing, smell and taste (thought it can be a pain at times and some people off the spectrum have above normal hearing, same as having acute sense of smell), it cane make us hyposensitive (though it can be bad), honesty (though NTs can have it too), notice patterns other people can't see.

I see it as both personally I'm happy to an Aspie.

It may come for some hard times but I love myself for who I am.

Thomas Edison never invented the light bulb. He bought the patent and claimed credit. He was actually a rather unscrupulous inventor, but few Americans want to hear that becuase they have so little history that they fly off the handle when anyone says anything against their so called "American Heroes."

I agree with the rest of your post though.

I agree with League Girl above. It is both!

I think it's a collection of traits. And many (most?) of those individual traits can be good or bad. Depends both on circumstances, and what one does with them. Same with the overall pattern. So, both, and neither.

For me its a blessing as iam very passionate with trains and cricket but also have a good memory for road maps and flags. The only disadvantage is my social skills but im working on that and it can be improved nothing is rosy man.

On even-numbered days it's a blessing, on odd-numbered days it's a curse

The ASS part is a curse.

The BURGERS are the blessing.

both.

I have talents but all my life, tasks declared as normal tasks were difficult. As I grow older I've taken on the challenge of multi-tasking, trying not to cave in around group settings, attempting to talk to random people but I won't lie, I don't have it down yet.

I see it as a mixture of both. Sure, the social problems are a big downside, but I like the talents and the special interests it gave me. If I didn't have the special interest in Rugrats when I was a child, I would never have had a talent in drawing. (I loved drawing Rugrats characters.)

Or the atomic bomb, or the nuclear arms race.
I kid. Einstein was a brilliant man. He changed the way we saw science.

As for is AS a blessing or curse? Even Harry's scar was a blessing. It was of course left there by a horrible curse but he could see what Voldermort was up to because it was there.

AS for me means I'm going to always struggle with social interactions, keeping a job, or even living on my own. Oh and let's not forget about those sensory issues.
What is good about it is that it's made me an honest person, who will never pick on another, I'm imaginative and very artistic. Sure NT's can be artistic though the ones around me aren't.

Blessing. I personaly believe that if it were not for autistic traits, the human race would still be living in caves.

Curse. It's stolen so much of my life from me, and it still keeps me from living up to my potential. I work very hard to overcome/compensate, and I've made great strides, but it still isn't enough. Maybe I will feel differently this summer after I get my sensory integration issues assessed and get into occupational therapy. If everything and everybody weren't so loud and fast and busy and chaotic, maybe I finally would be able to make use of the good things that AS has given me.