Published on 12, July, 2020
Do we really lack imagination?
I see this so often in the literature
Looking at the web pages on "understanding behaviour" - "Anxiety in adults....." it says "To understand emotion you need imagination. One of the areas of difficulty for people with autism is not being able to imagine things"
But further on, under psychological signs, it has "thinking constantly about the worst outcome". How do we do this without an imagination?
It it more about type of imagination? Or too much imagination making subtle imagination harder?
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?
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.