Positive Sides of Autism - Your Thoughts

Yes: at work when someone seems to be angry I assume that it’s about me.  I even said it to them and they reassured me it was not  about me.  

Hi NAS73180, I feel like this also.  I'm glad I've read the other comments about it and I feel less like an imposter.  I seem to be ridiculously sensitive to peoples reactions especially confrontation, even if it's not directed at me. Though it's worse if it is directed at me, as I instantly just stand there and cry if someone has a go at me. 

I'm so happy that your long awaited day is now so close!  I'm excited for you......but then, yea....I hear you brother.....that's some "arrangements" nightmare!  Not long though, and it really does sound like its going to be worth it 10times over....you seem beautifully committed.  Your situation makes me feel happy.

Best regards

Number.

Thanks for your response. To be fair, I was having a bad day yesterday and that coloured my response. I'm getting married in two weeks and am stressing about things that still need to be done! I do feel that the good things in my life are despite autism rather than because of it, although it can be hard to tell e.g. on some level I'm probably with my fiancee because of autism as we think she is also autistic and/or has ADHD, although she doesn't have a diagnosis, and this is why we connect so well. Although there are also stresses from being in a relationship where both partners are neurodivergent, so it can be hard to feel that as a positive sometimes, and it impacts our financial situation in a big way. The alexithymia can make the relationship hard at times too, especially as my fiancee is the opposite in that respect (feels everything very intensely).

Hi Castle! Thank you for sharing. That's good to hear. 

Hi, thank you!  It can take a long time to see everything in a positive way but it's definitely worth it. I found it also made me feel more positive.

I see my ASD more of a super power than a disability now.  Like others have said we are very good where people without an ASD struggle.

Hi Diamond! Thank you for sharing :) 

Seeing people and everything in a positive light is so cool! It's something that people actively work on trying to do (myself included). 

Great idea for a thread!  

My positives are,

I can mimic voices and sounds easily that I hear from tv and films.

Have an incredible eye for detail

Can info dump at ease - good for me, maybe not for others LOL.

Almost photographic memory, able to store what I read and can remember with ease.

Hyper focus.

I love how dedicated and passionate I am about my interests.

And I love how I see everyone and everything in a positive light.

Thank you so much for sharing Luftmentsch. I'm so sorry that there are few/no positives for you at the moment. How you're feeling is completely valid. 

I also went through a period of struggling to hyperfocus after a big burnout where I was off sick from work but it did come back once I was in a better headspace and working environment. So, it may come back later on - though I know that probably isn't very useful right now.

I also have alexithymia traits and scored in the Autistic range on the embrace Autism test for it. I didn't have words for it until recently and it is one of the areas that I have found that I clash with people the most. I completely understand how it could lead you thinking that you can't lead a good life. I hope that you have someone to talk to about your difficulties. You're always welcome to message me on here if you want to talk.

Honestly? I don't feel like there are many/any positives for me. I have a good eye for detail in proofreading... but only at home. At the office, I feel so uncomfortable and bored, I make stupid errors. Really stupid. I'm not sure how much of this is directly due to autism, but if it's not directly due to it, it's indirectly due to it, inasmuch as autism stopped me progressing with my dream career as a librarian. I'm trying to start a career as a freelance proofreader and copyeditor, but I'm struggling with marketing, networking and self-promotion because of (you guessed it) autism.

I used to be able to hyper-focus, but I don't think I still can after so many burnouts. I have little to hyper-focus on anyway. And I know a lot of trivia about stuff that I care about, but I have no idea how to turn that into anything useful (although my fiancee likes it, so that's a plus).

There aren't really any other positives, except one small thing too personal to mention. I don't have the other positive things people here mention e.g. lateral thinking, problem solving (I'm pretty much the world's worst problem solver).

Honestly, I know it's not a popular opinion around here, but I often feel that autism and especially the concomitant alexithymia have wrecked what chance I might have had of having a good life. The negatives outweigh the positives so much.

You are very welcome! It’s so important to be proud of our autistic identities.

Sounds great! I love report writing, it very much suits the autistic brain!

Good luck in your future role, it seems like you will have more responsibility and is very much tailored to your autistic monotropic brain!

 I hope it goes well for you!

I love your response!

Claire said:

Correction! I love how it makes me who I am!

It’s great you are so proud of your autistic identity, I am too.

Thank you! We are indeed :) 

I work within the quality assurance of Higher Education which involves lots of report writing, and policy and process reviewing. My work do recognise my strengths which is great though I'm still only in my first year at this point. I'm looking forward to the next year in the role where I actually know things in more depth and have more capacity to improve processes and procedures for myself and others. 

Hello kitty 09 said:

10. I don’t lead or follow. I go on my own path 

You are an individualist not a conformist!

You are very welcome. You have started a great conversation. 

PetitePip said:

I also question norms which is excellent when revising (and streamlining) processes at work which goes really well with being detail oriented! 

Great, I hope your autistic strengths are recognised at work. What is your job?

 I am glad you feel the same way about this autistic community as I do. We are Ausome!

Hi Alex! 

That makes complete sense. I'm the opposite. I am very effected by other people and praise/criticism can build or break my mood your resilience is really admirable.

Well, autism is a spiky profile and one autistic person can be hyper-sensitive to one thing when another is hypo-sensitive to the same thing (i.e. over responsive or under responsive).

My point on not being affected by others wasn’t that I don’t care about others - I care deeply. And I want to do the right thing by others. It’s more at times of stress if I’m unfairly criticised I can recognise that it’s unfair in the moment and won’t let it affect my self esteem.

On the other hand if someone is trying to lift me up and give me over the top praise, I don’t need it. I know when I’ve done a good job and don’t need external validation, I guess. 

I agree! It was completely coincidental as well. I just so happened to bump into someone who mentioned their diagnosis of ADHD and Autism and symptoms, and I came away from the interaction intrigued as some of the things they mentioned were things that I had difficulty with. I had already realised just before I had AHD due to speaking to someone else. I don't know how long I'd be in the dark for without those interactions and my drive to look into things. 

Thank you

I'm sorry you had to wait so long but I'm glad to hear that you are in a better place now. 

You can be very thankful that this awareness has happened for you at this tender age.  I had to wait until I reached an old and leathery age to "wake up" and stop "beating myself up."

I am pleased for you.