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Autistic strengths

Matthew

My support worker asked me yesterday if I have any strengths. I said no, I couldn't think of any at the time. She then asked me something else which no one has asked me before.

Do I have any autistic strengths. 

At the time I couldn't think of anything. Whenever people ask me something it takes a while before my brain can come up with the answers, and as I thought it would, it's decided to come up with them when I should be sleeping.

Thanks brain! 

From what I can gather my autistic strengths are the following.

  • Excellent memory - I only need to watch something once and I never forget it. Same with going to places, I remember it almost photographically.
  • Very honest.
  • Great eye for detail - often notice things others do not.
  • Can mimic other people and TV characters voices with ease.
  • Repetitive - I can watch the same things and listen to the same songs on repeat for hours. I never get bored.
  • I'm like an encyclopedia of knowledge on the things I like and find interesting.

I would love to hear your own strengths.

Feel free to share as many or as little as you want to.

  • Nice list.  Got to have plenty of uses.  Next question is how do you deploy that to make yourself happy and benefit others.

    The biggies for me are the logical, analytical thinking - had a lot of fun with that.

    The other is also the honesty to the point of bluntness and the constant quest for social justice.  To use that effectively, I've learned you need a thick skin, but then I'm a craggy old crone now, too long in the tooth to be a sensitive flower about what other people think. I am what I am.

  • Thanks for this discussion!

    My autistic strengths include:

    • Being very passionate - particularly about my autistic community, I am very enthusiastic about my interests.
    • Very literal thought processes- which is quite funny!
    • Pattern spotter
    • I am very observant 
    • My monotropic flow states - for my interests about autistic experiences
    • The motivation and joy my dedicated interests give me, including possible career paths 
    • Level of empathy for other autistic and otherwise neurodivergent, including anyone who has been misunderstood.

  • That's a great list and I think mine would be very similar. Except maybe the mimicking. I used to try as a kid but everyone told me my Margaret Thatcher impression wasn't very good, so I stopped Sweat smile

    My memory automatically remembers numbers far better than anything else, bank accounts  credit cards, membership numbers, thousands of grocery prices, etc all get stored. Like you I also have a good photographic memory for places, but not faces. My memory for faces is completely hopeless and I cannot get to the end of a TV drama episode without forgetting who is who. 

    Matthew said:
    At the time I couldn't think of anything. Whenever people ask me something it takes a while before my brain can come up with the answers, and as I thought it would, it's decided to come up with them when I should be sleeping.

    I'm exactly the same. Why do people expect answers instantly Confused The only way I can do that is if I know or anticipate the question in advance and can rehearse the answer in advance.

    Usually it's many hours or even days afterwards that my brain finally processes the question and figures out an answer. Not helpful when you're trying to sleep or have moved on to something else. That's why I don't like communicating by speech at all.

  • I relie on problem solving for my job i loot at problems  from my engineering background and sole problems wit exsperiance i rember happy times and people long gone when doing thease tasks it hard for me to work with mean or unreasonable people i get very frustrated and dont like  them near me when people are over critical i carnt always cope and get to the stage i dont want to be near them if somone smells strongly this really distracts me and i need to be left to foucus to get the best results

  • My knowledge of back roads, when driving.

    Willingness to learn.

    Knowledge of the prices of goods.

    Problem solving.