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Just Curious

FWS195

So, I have an addiction to pretty much anything with an engine. This has led me to want to pursue mechanical engineering as a career path. I have researched random things that I've heard that's related to the field. Some of it takes a little bit of time to understand, because my reading comprehension isn't the best. However, I almost always get it. Yet, I can't get other things that are seemingly simple. Electricity, for example. I can't comprehend how I can get shocked by a spark plug, but I can't get shocked by a mechanical mod vape that quite literally uses the body to complete the circuit. Is it normal for people on the spectrum to be smart at something that seems difficult to most people, but dumb at things that others find basic knowledge?

  • in reply to aidie

    That's basically how I feel. I can remember everything I've read about racing techniques, but if someone gives me instructions to do something, my brain just shuts off and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm also bad with money, but only because I'm impatient. 

  • FWS195 said:
    Is it normal for people on the spectrum to be smart at something that seems difficult to most people, but dumb at things that others find basic knowledge?

    i have seen this is the smartest person i ever met. He had a photographic mind and could quote from any part of a book he had read. I met him at university he had grade A/A* in many subjects but like u said he have very bad common sense ---

    he was easy fooled, made fun of,  and didnt understand how to shop, cook food, do anything practical, or look after himself.

    He couldnt handle money and was easily conned into over paying for items he wanted.  

    He left university to join the army as a private soldier !   he was capable of such much more. 

  • FWS195 said:
    Is it normal for people on the spectrum to be smart at something that seems difficult to most people, but dumb at things that others find basic knowledge?

    You'll find that applies to everyone - ASD or NT - it's just you haven't had it explained in a way that makes sense to you.

    With electricity, it's all about current and voltage - high voltage will make you jump but it's high currents that make you burn - and things that require you to make the circuit use very low voltage and miniscule current so you don't notice it.       A spark-plug has very high voltage and enough current to really hurt!

    If you're into engines, look at 'I Do Cars' and 'AgentJZ'  on youtube - lots to learn - if that comes easy then you're probably a visual person so reading books will be harder to comprehend..

  • Yes, I seemed to have issues that other people seemed to get, and vice versa. In high school, the teacher told us about the z-coordinate that makes things "pop out" into 3D (the x, y, and z coordinates), and it was simple for me to grasp the concept and it was nothing new to me, because a simple cube is length, width, and height, and that's basically xyz in my mind, but the rest of the class was clueless, scratching their heads, and could not understand the concept, and could not visualize it, even when they basically live in a 3 dimensional world. 

    But the rest of the time though, I struggled with things that seemed so simple and basic to everyone else. I think I really wanted practical applications to what they were teaching me, but instead they just showed us a formula, didn't explain much about how the formula was created, what it's used for, and when we would need it in our lifetime. People often told me that I overthink, which was overcomplicating something that's simple to understand, but sometimes simple things don't stick in my mind as well as something that's really complicated. 

    This really shows how we on the spectrum think differently from those who are NT, not that we are any better or worse, but we understand things that they might not yet grasp, and vice versa. 

  • It can be said the autistic mind is a specialist mind, extremely talented at a particular interest and fixated to it at the cost of being not as good in other subjects.

    Just like a neurology specialist will be a specialist at neurology, but not as knowledgeable in other fields.