Aspergers traits

[walkerbretm]

I went from a high level management position that I despised to this that I loved. Big fan. Someday I would like to be able to be my own boss, but never have found a marketable skill.

 

[LoneHeart]

Hey walkerbretm, how are you in terms of dealing with confrontation? That is something that usually bothers us aspies, does that factor at all into the job for you?

 

[walkerbretm]

Confrontation gives me a lot of anxiety, but I have learned ways to cope. If I have a chance to plan out what I will say it helps. In my present job I operate from a position of authority which helps. I also have a very strong sense of justice. This also helps. Most confrontations are simply me telling them to do something and they comply. Big thing is to earn their respect to some degree. Life becomes easier.

 

[142857]

Back to the original question, I used to have that acute hearing that many of us have, where I would hear things that nobody else could. Unfortunately me and all my siblings are becoming slightly hard of hearing as we get older (we inherited that from our father), so now my hearing sensitivity is probably a little worse than average for my age - but I doubt I will need hearing aids or anything like that for another 10 or 20 years, if ever.

Numbers. I am good with numbers. Working in IT I can design solutions around numbers pretty well. I freak people out a little bit by doing fairly difficult mental arithmetic in next to no time.

Memory - I can rote learn things quite easily. In my final year of high school we had to study TS Elliott for our final exam, and the main poem we had to study was "The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock". Whereas other kids had spent the whole year learning a handful of quotes from the poem to use in their exam, I simply memorised the whole poem over the course of 2 days a few weeks out from the exam. I was bored at work a few years ago, waiting for some work to do, so I decided to see if I could join that club where you had to memorise Pi to 100 decimal places. I got to 100 then decided to go for 1,000, but I only got as far as 120 and someone gave me some work to do so I never got back to it. That was over the course of a week or so where I was doing other things as well.

I am good at breaking down seemingly complex ideas into something much more simple.

 

[grapesicles]

Confrontation gives me a lot of anxiety, but I have learned ways to cope. If I have a chance to plan out what I will say it helps. In my present job I operate from a position of authority which helps. I also have a very strong sense of justice. This also helps. Most confrontations are simply me telling them to do something and they comply. Big thing is to earn their respect to some degree. Life becomes easier.

Lots of respect to someone who can do that kind of job!

My skills are language and words - I would be amazing on Countdown! I'm great at spelling. My mind works in seeing patterns and works through visual association, so it always amazes me when some people I know with high levels of qualifications can't spell a lot of simple (in my mind) words, because I can see everything in my head. I have trouble remembering figures and strings of verbal information, but I can remember colours and shapes and certain places so well in my head.

Lately I've been made very aware of how mature others my age seem to be, while mentally I'm a lot younger. My mum always gives the excuse that "you're the youngest in your year" but since I've technically been put down 2 years at school, most of the others are at least a year younger! I think it's good in a way, because there's no point rushing into feeling like you need to grow up quickly and be a certain way just because everyone else does.

 

[Warwick C]

Why would you want to grow Grapesicle, I am sure happy with your current age within

 

[Judge]

I think it's good in a way, because there's no point rushing into feeling like you need to grow up quickly and be a certain way just because everyone else does.

Absolutely. Savor those years. Enjoy them while you can. When they're gone, they're gone.

 

[grapesicles]

Why would you want to grow Grapesicle, I am sure happy with your current age within

Exactly I hang out with my 13 and 15-year-old cousins - it's so bizarre to think we're not the same age since we get along so well & like the same stuff! We're planning on going to Playlist Live together next year & I'll probably be the oldest there by far, & I'm so excited! I've definitely noticed in the last couple of years that other 22-year-olds seem miles more adult than me, but like I said, it's nothing that particularly bothers me anymore.

 

[Warwick C]

I am sure your internal age will grow as fast as you want it to

 

[tlc]

I am a mechanical design engineer. One thing that helps out is being able to visualize things on paper that others overlook. Often the boss calls me over to get another set of eyes on a drawing to see if he is missing something. It's just tough when he goes over a big list of to-do's, but thankfully expects me to come back since I can't get it all at once. And my own work is more thorough than the rest of the engineers, I hear that from the shop guys all the time. Meetings are tough and extreme anxiety when I need to say something but thankfully meetings that involve me are rare. It's amazing all the times people come to me and ask how to spell something because their spelling isn't even good enough for spellcheck. And since I can't stand the whole standing around socializing thing, it means I'm already working when others should be working. They've gotten used to me and called my office the cave because I had the window blocked and all but one light functional but that's how I like it.