Are you on the "autism spectrum"? And if so, what are your + and - skills?

+ on the technical mind
- on the social skills

As I get older, it's getting better

Eventually you realize that no one is perfect, and everyone else has something going on

I've been called enough things by enough people to get the hint

From Bright to Rain man, I've heard it all

They shoved every SSRI down my throat as a teen because I got bullied quite a bit

Did more harm than good IMO
 
I'm not sure that comment was appropriate.


Remember though.... Dishdudes on here too...

So he admits he is on the "spectrum" too.

Candidly I thought that comment was kind of funny.

Jim.... I think you are fine. And nothing abnormal about how you are socially... We all have our individual ways about is in terms of social interaction.

I'm quite gregarious and talk to just about everyone. When I worked at the gym I knew many, many people rather well. My co-workers said they could have called me Norm from Cheers.

Strange in a way because as a kid I was actually really rather quiet and shy and introverted.

Though if and when I got comfortable around some people who I thought were cool them I'd open up.

I know not everyone is like me in terms of social interaction. I also know that people who are quiet, different and or have difficulty interacting with other people can be quite interesting in getting to know. I enjoy interacting with them as well.

Everyone has weaknesses and strengths.

All we can do is recognize our weaknesses and attempt to try to improve upon those areas. And that can take a long long long time to do. That's ok too.

I remember your pm to me one time about a post I put on here. That was really very well written and stated. I really appreciated your msg.
 
My sister called me 'Cliff Claven' from Cheers. Because I am a font of obscure and mostly useless knowledge...


That's quite funny...

My sister Tracy says the same thing about me knowing a lot of "useless information".
In my family we used to play Trivial pursuit every holiday season. Guys vs the ladies. Guys won like 9-1... Sports was the ladies Achilles heel. But the guys we had every topic covered quite well. My sister mentioned me being the one who knew too much "useless information" during those matches.
 
One time when I was in college I had a bad tooth ake and got a dentist appointment. But there was a problem with when the appointment was. We had a big test in radio electronics that day, and the appointment time required me to leave the class early to get there on time. I ripped through the test. Walked up to the teacher and gave him the test and whispered an apology saying that I an sorry I have to leave early and can not stay for the remainder of the class after the test, but I have a tooth that is killing me and a dentist appointment I have to rush to. And then left while everyone else in the class was still taking test. The next day the teacher returned the grades test and said to me that he thought I was giving up on the test when I handed it to him, but was surprised when he corrected it to see that I had finished it and got the highest score in all the class.
 
I think everyone's a bit 'on the spectrum' about certain things in their own way. I can be hyper-focused on tasks that enjoy, like fixing things and just using my hands in general. But I'm also ADD as hell when it comes to doing tasks that I don't like, like reading anything on a subject I'm not interested in. It gets pretty tedious when I have to read each sentence three times to absorb it because my brain is thinking about something else I'd rather be doing... ANYTHING else I'd rather be doing.

I was one of the 'smart kids' in school but I barely graduated because I basically declined to do reading/writing assignments. Kids in my day were told to just say no to drugs. Well I just said no to reading Great Expectations, The Catcher in the Rye, etc. or writing anything about them because it was agonizing to do so, so I didn't. Back then I was labeled as just being lazy and a procrastinator which always infuriated me and strained my relationship with my parents. Recently I asked my Mom, knowing what she knows now, if she now thinks I would have been diagnosed as having ADD back then. She thought about it for all of a half-second then said 'Oh, absolutely...'

My nephew has full-on Autism which is heartbreaking knowing he'll need to be cared for the rest of this life. I don't take Autism being made fun of lightly (not that that's happening in here really) but I'd much rather it be discussed and awareness be made so it's not such a misunderstood, uncomfortable subject to talk about.
 
Diagnosted or not I have everything.
LOL, I think most of us do, its just that a tiny fraction of people have one or two quirks that manifests them to the point of causing problems functioning in life. Mental affliction definitions are very loose and they overlap a LOT. Fortunate people, like myself, become aware of their challenges and learn to manage them. I was diagnosed with OCPD decades ago and I am so fortunate to have learned to mostly accept and manage it. Something like my current quest to choose new kitchen flooring is still a challenge. 1,000 choices, they look different in store lighting vs. home lighting, quality differences, spousal differences....... mind exhausting, LOL. But, one cannot change the floor as easily as wrong wall paint.

My nephew is autistic. At 16, he functions reasonably well and we believe he will be able to have a career of some sort in the real world. He won't attend college. Maybe trade school?
 
Actually I think many people who excel in mechanical or engineering aptitude probably are on the Aspergers spectrum to some extent.
The group who excelled in my engineering class were all pretty normal guys (in those days they were all males). There were a handful of Aspergerish types but they weren't at the top of the class. And no-one in my medical class was Aspergerish.

I also visualize designs and problems in 3 dimensions, and score in the 99th percentile in math, but also function well socially. So I don't think 3 dimensional thinking or excelling in math or science or engineering is exclusive to spectrum people.

But then again I'm not particularly good at facial recognition and I can't remember names (never could) so we all have our weak spots.
 
My wife has mentioned I probably am on the spectrum, and/or have ADHD/ADD (she is diagnosed with ADD). I have many of the same “symptoms” as you; mechanically inclined, love electronics, terrible at social situations/reading facial expressions, science was my favorite subject in school, math was my least favorite though, I still count on my fingersbut I can do the trig required for being a machinist no problem… except I absolutely loved reading.

In 6th grade and forward we were required to take Lexile tests, which measures your reading level, I was reading at a college freshman/sophomore level. In high school I read a 7 book series (~130-200 pages per book) in 5 days, the librarian didn’t believe I was actually reading the books so she tested me on them before she’d let me check out another. After that she’s let me check out 4-5 books at a time so I didn’t have to keep going into the lib

My biggest problem is… motivation I guess you’d call it? If I don’t want to do/learn something, it is almost impossible to being myself to do it, and I wish I wasn’t like that but I don’t know how to bring myself out of that “this sucks, I’m not doing it” mentality. But if I want to do something, nothing else matters, that thing is getting done right now. That has caused some friction between my wife and I, she’ll say something and I’ll start looking it up immediately/go to find the object she’s looking for and she’ll be like “can’t it wait, we’re talking!” I’ve gotten better, but she says I’ll start “vibrating” because I need to know that piece of information/get the thing and it’s clearly bothering me lol.

My organization skills though… best described as “loosely controlled chaos.” I know where my stuff is, but to anybody else it looks like I just put it down and forgot about it. But please don’t move it even a foot because then it’s gone forever and I’ll spend 30 minutes looking for it.
Do not listen to your wife, people with a diagnosis of anything, project that diagnosis onto others.
 
What's wrong with my comment? We obsess over something meaningless. Something clicked in me from the time I joined this site to today, I no longer have a desire to preserve my vehicle in pristine condition. I use it as it's designed to be and trade it in a couple years. I keep it nice, but I don't get a penny more over proper care vs. obsession.
dishdude, I agree, and I am not sure about obsession per se but it sure is habitual.
 
I treat patients "on the spectrum daily" - that term means almost nothing because the spectrum is HUGE. I still know people who think all people with ASD are like Rain Man. Some of my patients with ASD seem completely neurotypical and only a really skilled professional could pick up on the subtle signs of ASD - these people will likely lead "normal" lives. For many of my patients, it fairly easy to tell they have ASD, there are obvious social and cognitive deficits but with TLC they do just fine - these people will needed assistance their entire lives but have a good chance of leading a mostly independent life. Many of my patients with ASD are non-verbal and combative - these people will need life-long and constant care.

Few have "special abilities" and for those that do it tends to simply be a function of an obsession and no really special ability - ex. they know everything possible about The Beatles because they obsessively read and listen to The Beatles. I have yet to come across a true "servant" and I have several hundred patients with ASD and have been doing this for +15 years. This was one of the disservices of the movie Rain Man.
 
If you're a member of this site you're on the spectrum.
Hahahaha! Too funny.

What ever I am, I've always been happy with me. I'm quite sure today's diagnosis of child-me would include some terrible-sounding big words. However, none of that matters to me. I've always been able to competently accomplish what ever I want, with good spirits, kindness and an acceptable level of intelligence.
 
Hahahaha! Too funny.

What ever I am, I've always been happy with me. I'm quite sure today's diagnosis of child-me would include some terrible-sounding big words. However, none of that matters to me. I've always been able to competently accomplish what ever I want, with good spirits, kindness and an acceptable level of intelligence.
I think in general, being somewhat on the spectrum of autism does make someone a great person. It just makes it harder for them to socialize with some people... whether they be not at all on the spectrum, or well into it.
 
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