• Replies 24 replies
  • Subscribers 79 subscribers
  • Views 4379 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Defining what is AS and what isn't

longman

A widely reported problem on here is the common reaction to someone explaining their autism is "oh i get that too".....etc.

I think because people on the spectrum are relatively isolated, there's little opportunity to chat experiences and get feedback. So people on the spectrum don't know what problems are fairly common in the NT world, and may not be autism specific.

I've just posted on the question of hearing sensitivity/filtering sound on another thread. I've found that the problems I've had are reported by others not on the spectrum, including people with dyslexia.

I wondered if others had found that some things they associate with autism are more widely present in the general population (but not just a matter of degree as with spectrum - tailing off into the general population - but similar levels of difficulty experienced by people not having autism which is otherwise assumed to be an autism characteristic).

If that makes sense.......

Parents

  • For me, AS is:

    Not having ever had any meaningful, long term friendships

    Feeling like I don't fit in, and that the social world of the majority is impenetrable to me

    Being a child in an adult's body

    Constant anxiety and fear

    Preferring my own company

    Noise sensitivity

    Inability to relax

    Uneven developmental profile

    Problems understanding what people mean; difficulty following instructions; interpreting things literally

    Not knowing how to respond when people are upset

    Need for routine, order, predictabilty, and control

    Obsessions

     

    Now, all of these traits can, and do, exist in people without Asperger's, but the difference is that either they are not disabled by them because they are not severe enough to limit functioning, and/or the traits do not occur collectively. But getting across the severity of this complex condition can be incredibly difficult. All I know is that, compared to people without Asperger's, I face obstacles and problems that they can never imagion. I am, however, very careful to disentangle what is directly caused by having Asperger's, what is indirectly related (co-morbidities like my OCD), and what might just be a personality thing: curiosity, perfectionism, verbosity. The latter could also be linked to Asperger's, but the link is tenuous, and so I would not include them under the main Asperger traits.

Reply

  • For me, AS is:

    Not having ever had any meaningful, long term friendships

    Feeling like I don't fit in, and that the social world of the majority is impenetrable to me

    Being a child in an adult's body

    Constant anxiety and fear

    Preferring my own company

    Noise sensitivity

    Inability to relax

    Uneven developmental profile

    Problems understanding what people mean; difficulty following instructions; interpreting things literally

    Not knowing how to respond when people are upset

    Need for routine, order, predictabilty, and control

    Obsessions

     

    Now, all of these traits can, and do, exist in people without Asperger's, but the difference is that either they are not disabled by them because they are not severe enough to limit functioning, and/or the traits do not occur collectively. But getting across the severity of this complex condition can be incredibly difficult. All I know is that, compared to people without Asperger's, I face obstacles and problems that they can never imagion. I am, however, very careful to disentangle what is directly caused by having Asperger's, what is indirectly related (co-morbidities like my OCD), and what might just be a personality thing: curiosity, perfectionism, verbosity. The latter could also be linked to Asperger's, but the link is tenuous, and so I would not include them under the main Asperger traits.

Children
No Data