imagination

Everyone has an imagination. It's one part of being human.

And it can be exercised, grown, expanded, tapped into or ignored. It is the vehicle used to make sense of sense-perception, to conceive ideas, to encounter language in every form. We might not have an awareness of it's incredible capacity and how we use it everyday, but anyone saying otherwise is lacking in a sort of intellectual understanding of how this immaterial structure shapes everything in our lives.

There are a few things which can sever awareness and access to a deeper and more creative imagination, and the first is Trauma. Another major force which will hinder one from actively growing the imagination is economic circumstance which robs our resource of Time. 

The imagination is a powerful place, metaphysically speaking. One requires an imagination to look at a set of steps and to follow those instructions whether building Lego or understanding how to lay out a garden.

I have a feeling more often than not, it seems Autistic Children are barred from free play which engages aesthetic: submerging one self in colour palettes, playing with shape, desiring functional toys rather than ones which do nothing, and as this study concludes: echolalia, which is the gateway to poetry. cdn2.psychologytoday.com/.../what_is_play_published.pdf

A larger problem is being surrounded by a social collective who simply don't understand all the forms of Play and Imagination. After all, emerging technology requires an imagination to problem-solve or dream up, to see patterns and make wild connexions in ways only the imagination can. 

Thank you, Fantasy. Yes, maybe as I become more familiar with this site and read more posts, I'll develop a wider understanding as you've done through this site. 

I have not yet had the opportunity to meet anyone else who has Asperger's, but I'm trying to find a way to do so. Here in India, openness can be considered taboo.

Throughout my life, and especially as a teacher, I've frequently encountered neurotypical people saying things like this about themselves:  "I don't have an imagination," "I don't know what you want me to draw," "I'm not creative." It's ironic that people with ASD are labeled with these traits when in fact they seem to be the default settings for much of today's general public. 

During the time between my earlier post and this reply to Fantasy, I finally found a source that seems to provide clarity about Asperger's and the creativity issue. If I'm allowed to post links here, I'll share it. 

I find this author's explanation brilliant and clear. And helpful. She is not a trained professional, but so far, it's the clearest source I've found. But I don't know what the professional arena would say about it. The author's experience seems to come from being the mother of ASD twins. 

Anyway, I'll share the article if I'm allowed to do so. 

I think it depends on the individual in question however I would say the majority have a good imagination from what I've read of people's thoughts and ideas on this forum.

I've read how some people can't really imagine anything and others have an overactive imagination, I do too, which is great but also works against me because my anxiety abuses it.

Lol.

I think the way see things and the way we think is different compared to the neurotypical brain but we do have imagination but do possibly describe it differently?

I'm 55 and I was diagnosed with Asperger's three weeks ago. To be more specific, the doctors say it is "Asperger's with Savant Skills" (not to be confused with Savant Syndrome). India still uses this nomenclature, and I realise in western countries my diagnosis would likely be ASD Level 1, but I'm not certain. 

I'm struggling to understand my diagnoses, and my three doctors have helped me a great deal. I am cautious about the online sources that I find, and I do my best to study only those that I feel are reliable and avoid stereotyping. 

One of my greatest points of confusion is that I frequently encounter these notions that Asperger's traits include difficulties with imaginative skills, abstract thinking, lateral thinking, and so forth. I'm the opposite. I live in an inner world of philosophy and imaginative thinking. My degrees include Studio Art and Philosophy. 

Although I share many of the Asperger's traits I encounter in the DSM and other seemingly-reputable sources, I'm confused by particular discrepancy. I know each person with ASD is unique, and I accept this as a partial explanation. I'm confused and still learning, and I hope I haven't said anything that might offend any of you. I'm new here, and I am still building foundational knowledge and am far from a nuanced understanding of Asperger's, my diagnoses, and even my inner self.

But I will say that this diagnoses is making my life--past and present--make sense, and I have a great sense of relief. I won't get into details here about what my five decades of living has been like; for now, these notions about constrained imagination and problems with abstract thinking are matters I feel I need to reconcile before I can continue to develop my understanding of my inner self, my diagnoses, and Asperger's in its more general sense. 

I will be grateful to anyone who can help provide clarity about this. 

When my son was diagnosed as autistic, we were told there were three main areas which lead to this conclusion. SOCIAL imagination, SOCIAL interaction and SOCIAL communication was the way it was put. I personally think this was very well done, but not being autistic I cannot really comment. Do people who are diagnosed with autism/aspergers feel this is a more accurate/appropriate description?

High anxiety because of an overactive imagination seems to be quite common.  I have that problem too.  I have also written a couple of stories, and I used people I know as I didn't think I would be able to create characters.  I could make up quite fanciful SF scenarios though.

I think I agree: we have quite powerful imaginations, except for the part about understanding other people's emotions.  Is that imagination at all?

Thanks Jim V-mod. If I can elaborate on what Hope said about putting oneself "in someone else's shoes" and reading fiction, I encounter several situations that make me wonder about imagination concerning "others".

I can write well factually, including several books. I've tried many times to write fiction (in the vain hope of making my fortune instead of the tiny royalties for fact) but my characterisation always seems painfully flat.

I struggled with art at school (three attempts at Scottish Higher getting complimentary Os). I could copy/reproduce what was in front of me very well. More creative art, patticularly figure composition, was very hard. My drawings of people, when I didn't have a model to draw from, were always static, clumsy and lifeless. Yet I could do incredibly detailed drawings and water-colours (which I seem not able to do so much these days).

So I think imagining others as beings is hard. But there must be a lot of imagination going into spiralling anxiety (though I control it better now) working out totally illogical multiple outcomes and escalating disasters. And being driven as a child and teenager to solitude, my imagination was my refuge. So in that sense I'm perplexed about the suggestion that people on the spectrum lack of imagination (OK OK maybe I'm atypical - as usual), and the connection between that and lacking emotions as a cause of anxiety.

Cheers for the comments longman, it'll be interesting to see other views on the same subject. 

Once people are back after Easter I'll raise the issue of imagination and see if I can get a response for you about it's use in our content.

Many thanks Hope, I couldn't have put it better myself. My perception of others on the spectrum I've talked to would follow this line.

So why is part of the NAS website saying that it is difficult for people with autism to imagine things? It certainly isn't in most text books.  There's no such hint in Attwood's Complete Guide, indeed the opposite.

It seems to crop up in clinical texts based around the Triad of Impairments, trying to read too much into that diagnostic. However Olga Bogdashina in "Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome" p117-89 refers to classic studies arguing that high memory in inversely proportional to imagination.

What do other people on this forum think?

And please NAS, could you revisit that bit about adults anxiety being caused by lack of imagination.

I think that people with asperger's simply have a different type of imagination, rather than having a straightforward deficit in this area.  I certainly lack the ability to intuitively know what someone may be feeling and to put myself in someone else's shoes, which is why I struggle to understand fiction and subtle innuendo. However, I see the world in a different way to other people: I do not think that I am so hemmed in by convention and the status quo, and I find that many neuro-typicals actually lack imagination themselves. For example, many people hold very bigoted views about minority groups and have certain prejudices. Because I know what it is like to be excluded and discriminated against, I can identify easily with other minority groups and I always see the individual behind the category.