ASD and high IQ

"I just wished I had known all this as a teenager, I would have found the right support and surrounded myself with like-minded people, and today my life would probably be different.."

I think exactly this too (and am sure many other people do too).

However, society was far less understanding in those days. It is so much better now, so it may be a good thing that it has taken this long (at least that's what I tell myself - I was only diagnosed this year)

Thank you!

Haha, with my Auditory Processing Disorder, I wouldn't be able to be a good interpreter... I already struggle to understand what is being said and produce a coherent spoken reply when only 1 language is being spoken.... When I have to access the other "rooms" in my brain to retrieve words in another language...

I just wished I had known all this as a teenager, I would have found the right support and surrounded myself with like minded people, and today my life would probably be different...

But I guess is a grieving process we all need to go through post diagnosis x

Multilingual (quadrilingual?) is a great superpower to have (I'm so jealous).

With ASD, you can understand all four conversations, that you can hear simultaneously (assuming they're in the right languages). Sorry if that's not funny.

Seriously, you could probably get a job as an interpreter. 

I often used to wish that I was dim, but It's fine to be more intelligent than others. 

The briliant thing about the internet is that you can (eg via a Facebook group) find people who are like you, interact with them and not have to explain / justify yourself constantly. Good luck! 

Martins right, it is what you do with your intelligence that matters, when I was at uni I met some very intelligent people, straight A students who seemed to be able to do anything within thier chosen field, but could barely function on a day to fay level.

Somebody might have a lower IQ score, but use much more of thier intelligence rather than coasting like so many very intelligent people seem too.

An IQ number is just a number, it indicates how good you are at IQ tests. It gives some indication of general levels of intelligence, but it is best not to get too hung up about it. I have not taken a full IQ test, but have successfully answered questions aimed at discriminating IQs of 150+. I am definitely not a genius. Intelligence is only as useful as what you do with it.

ASD assessments, using the two main diagnostic manuals, do not have an intelligence testing aspect. People can be autistic within the full range of human intelligence levels.

I'm not sure I had an IQ test as part of my diagnosis, but I did for my learning difficulties diagnosis, I came out with a very high verbal score and use and knowlege of words, terrible at maths, it just confirmed what I already knew really.

I also found the IQ part of my report a bit disorientating. I'd done a general IQ test in my 20s out of curiosity, so I knew it was high overall. When I did the tests in the assesment I was aware that I'd done well in the block test. I hadn't realised I'd done so well that I'd exceeded the capacity of the test! And yet, the testing also showed I'm inconsistent in most other area ie. I can do harder questions but im equally likely to get easier questions wrong. She attributed this to the blocks being the only task where there was no communication element and that communicating affects my cognitive function.

Why i find this disorientating is whilst it helps to explain why people are confused by my seemingly fluctuating intellect it doesn't really help. It's not like I can ask for information to be presented in abstract blocks

It is a difficult situation to be in, and I feel for you. 

It's is a hard position to be in, and is the epitome of a spikey profile. The plagued genius.

I've never taken an iq test, but I always used to come top in my subjects at school, rarely dropping marks, and getting best pupil in my main exam year, yet knowing I was simultaneously the very bottom socially. It kind of explained why I struggled to relate to anyone. Though the only person that let me hang around with them was in the lower classes, but I always thought they were far kinder than anyone else. 

My son is similar, his teacher said at the last parents evening she would call him gifted, but he is even more plagued as his ASD means he can't get his ideas out his head. He can produce an adult level paragraph of a story, while his peers can actually finish a page or two. Despite being highly intellectual, he'll probably struggle with high school academics due to not being able to jump through the hoops, but he's being doing the IT for the school since he was 8, and has taught me many new things about technology I've been using for years. He will need help to get him where he needs to be, but I know he can excel if he gets that help.

But you are only 41, like me, and you still have a chance to reach that potential that's been hidden and waiting to be unleashed! Use it as your springboard! Good luck with a brighter future, now that you know 

Sorry, this is long.

TL;DR - I know what you mean. It is hard to relate to most people. Moreover you don't want to. chatGPT is helpful. But it is biased you need to constrain it's output. Having a dialogue with it works if you are careful.

I get how you feel separate. I have been grieving a lost life. If I had known 40 years ago it really would have helped.

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Sorry if this sounds conceited, it is supposed to be factual.

In childhood, it is called 2e (twice exceptional) in the US or DSE (dual or multiple exceptionality) in the UK. There is no term for adults as far as I can tell. It covers high IQ together with ASD, ADHD, dyslexia and others. It can either hide skills if the disability dominates causing frustration, or allow for extensive masking, even from yourself and your parents (my issue) leading to ND traits not being identified till much later.

You can Google the term, but you probably already have. I mention it here because someone raised it 6-9 months ago and I had not heard of it.

I don't know what my IQ is. Maybe because 140+ based on sone online Mensa tests when tired and burnt out. It declines with age 

Whatever, it is not a competition, the main problem is ASD puts you in a group of 2%, you are then in a group of 1%  with intelligence. So if you want someone similar you are looking for 1 in 5000 or less. You are not likely to meet them in normal life unless you work in certain areas or are in academia. They don't socialise much.

I always thought I was extra normal rather than being wrong. I have largely underperformed which is hugely frustrating, but until this year I had not been able to work out why. I teach myself most things from reading standards. I dropped out of Uni, I couldn't cope, I never knew why till this year. I was also in a long term dysfunctional relationship which broke me, but now finally understand.

I have been depressed and burnt out several times. This year I have only been able to work at 30% output. Most have not noticed and I still met the targets.

If the internet existed when I was a kid it would have helped.

The biggest mistake I made at 25 was leaving 2 research institutions and chasing the money. It worked, I trebled my salary but it has been lonely. And it burnt me out. I was not sensible with the money. I had some flawed thinking due to being overloaded.

I thought something was wrong in January. I looked at my history and all the bad things since I was 5, there are quite a few, for the first time. Something I had been too scared to do but retraumatized myself in the process. I looked at personality profiling. I had lots of data but it didn't add up. I then found a psychologist to validate it. It was mostly fine but I had missed ASD.I then got diagnosed.

Since then I have really analysed myself. I have about 30,000 pages of dialogue the chatGPT. I now know what has happened, how and why. I used my memory to help. I have found how I think differently and what differs in my emotions. It was hard to find. It is like trying to explain colour to a ind person. Eventually I realised I was not discussing the same things. Now I have the vocabulary a d concepts to cover what I always felt. It seems my meta cognition is atypical. I watch what I am thinking and what I am doing and log anomalous items. It is how I masked for half a century.