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The advantages of my autism are... (Whinge free zone)

A+B-C

Whats your advantage?  One of mine is the ability to do a very rapid data mine on a subject in under an hour on the Internet and sound like I know what I am talking about afterwards... Oh your into candle making!  Crack a few wick jokes, wax eloquently and remember the info for ever, even though I cant remember where I left my keys!

  • "One can go so far as to say that on this planet "normal" equals insane." (Eckharte Tolle) I feel like being neurodivergent has given me a slightly better chance of maintaining an authentic individualism while staying more sane than most, discomforting though it often is, when the prescribed collective madness has the vast majority unconsciously in its grip, of necessity. In a way there's potentially more freedom accessible to autistic people. The iron price for it is continual invisible suffering, anxiety, exhaustion -  as our compromise between masking and not buying in wholesale to the ultra-orthodox causes a hard to quantify level of friction that never goes away. A foot in each of two worlds for the 'high-functioning' among us, while being judged in 100 different ways for both feet not being more firmly planted on the more well-travelled path.

  • Hmm...  Something which has, at earlier stages in my life, felt like a very mixed blessing at best.  Now, though, I regard it as a strength.  My sensitivity.  I'll admit I found it of little advantage in office or corporate work.  But working in a support or therapy role, it's been an asset.  Likewise empathy (or should that be hyper-empathy?) 

    Of course, in some situations I've been accused of "over-sensitivity", but within the right environment, I think it's an asset.  I'd previously just been matching my qualifications to the role (i.e. I had the necessary qualifications for a role and I was scared to go back to the poverty I experienced in childhood), but once I took a more holistic approach, things started to work a lot better for me.  :)

  • Because I can get very involved in a project I can continue working on single tasks for a long period of time in one go and so finish large quantities of work very quickly and effectively.

  • Unusual focus means I can devote myself in a useful way to my job which I love.  My hobby is funded by my employer.