Do you consider your Asperger's a blessing, curse or indifferent.

[Rasputin]

Hello all. I am new to your forum. I was diagnosed with Asperger's about 3 years ago. I had about a 17 year job history where I was technically proficient but lost job after job due to either meltdowns or poor social interactions. After my diagnosis, through research and practice I was able to change a lot of behaviors that got me into trouble and improve my social skills.


Here's the thing. I look at this as a curse. It's not an unmanageable one . It's not overwhelming like it was in the past but it's still a negative in my eyes. I view it like I lost a hand at birth. A definite disadvantage but can be overcome with planning and effort. Maybe that will change but that's how I view it now.


I feel I live in a world that was built around people not like myself. I find myself at a disadvantage at social communication others take for granted. I wish I was born differently but accept the cards I was dealt.


I was on an unrelated forum and two people stated they'd never heard of a person with ASD who considered their syndrome a curse. Am I the only one? How do you see it?

I consider it a curse as well. Also, I left my previous job due to a meltdown.

Welcome.to this forum!

 

[aspieoutlaw89]

Regarding "autism acceptance", it means for the society/NT to accept autistic people, right? How about the opposite, does autistic people accept other people (NT, society, etc) as well?

the way they are treated by them ? probably not !

 

[Autistamatic]

Lol lead me to wherever those people are.

As I said, I talk to such people every day. There are a few autistic extremists on both sides of course. Those who act as if there's no downsides to being autistic at all, and those who pursue futile goals of cure, dominance or segregation. They are by far in the minority. Most people recognise that their autism has positives & negatives, even if they feel their personal experience veers more in one direction than the other.
Very few things in life are black & white, but those who DO hold extreme points of view would prefer it if you believed that there were only two alternatives and those in between are the minority. It allows them to identify you as a friend or mark you as an enemy and they go to great efforts to make you believe their polarised viewpoints.
Most of us occupy the middle ground, whether we actively work to pursue change or not. What we all want is a more realistic public understanding of what autism is - right across the spectrum from the highest support needs to the lowest. From that comes better acceptance of those who need the least support and most easily integrate with existing society along with better provision for the very real needs of those who find it most difficult. It's a long road and most of us alive today won't see the full benefit of the work we're doing now.
If you catch anybody online saying "autism is not a disability" you'll find countless people challenging it, but the same people, the people in the middle ground you aren't seeing, will challenge those who claim supremacy, apartheid or the hocus-pocus-cure are the answer too.

 

[Judge]

Do you consider your Asperger's a blessing, curse or indifferent ?

Answer: "Yes".

 

[Fino]

Anyone else here think that their ASD really messes with their life and wishes it was gone but doesn't think a cure is possible and does not want to join movements that search for one?

This describes exactly how I feel but I would rarely ever bring up an exact or similar explanation with the thought in mind that since I'm stuck with it I'd rather talk more about the positives, and so I'd likely come off as seeming to believe it's an entirely good thing and that I'd choose to have it. That may be the case for many, I don't know.

 

[AGXStarseed]

A video from Youtuber HeadphonesUK (real name George) as he goes into Autism and how it affects him, comparing its good and bad points as well as going into other points and his own family and history.

I thought it was interesting and decided to share it.

 

[Wolfgangus Faldestolius]

To me it's a blessing straight out. What's wrong with being faced with having to "manage my life"? More "NTs" should try that at home !!!

There aren't hard and fast value-related delineations to our constitutional configuration.

If characteristics were mapped against axes like a population density map of a town, I'm merely from "a little out of town". With my perspective comes responsibility, to look out for them in case they are trapped in something.

 

[Manidomakwakwe Ma'iingan]

I consider my Autism to be fairly neutral. There are many aspects of it that are disabling that are a result of being in a post-industrial capitalist society with particular social norms that don't allow a place for people like me to thrive. In a different society I might be less disabled, but other traits that are not disabling now might be more disabling, whether for me or for other people. There are some aspects of my sensory differences, like misophonia, which are just hard to deal with regardless of context, but having some aspects of how you live in the world be difficult isn't unique to being Autistic. I wouldn't want to give up some of the positives of my sensory differences just to eliminate the negatives. I would absolutely accept a cure for my sleep disorder though.

 

[Manidomakwakwe Ma'iingan]

Regarding "autism acceptance", it means for the society/NT to accept autistic people, right? How about the opposite, does autistic people accept other people (NT, society, etc) as well?

I think that on general principal, having an understanding of other ways of thinking and being in the world is a positive thing. So, if trying to understand people on their own terms and have grace for them when they don't do things the way you would want them to, is acceptance than yes we should accept NT people.

But the point of Autism acceptance is to push back against the stigma and prejudice that NT people and the dominant society attach to Autistic and other neurodivergent people. NT people are already considered the norm. They aren't stigmatized for their way of thinking, perceiving, and existing, in broader society. A few Autistic people turning the stigma we face around, and turning it back on NT people, doesn't have the same weight of social power behind it that anti-Autistic stigma has.

That doesn't mean embracing an "us against them" view and rejecting NTs is the best, or most productive, way to handle things. The bottom line is NT's don't need acceptance at the broader societal level the same way that Autistic people do, because they already have it. If an Autistic person, or even a group of Autistic people choose to be prejudiced against NTs that doesn't change the societal acceptance that NTs experience, it just means that that particular Autistic person is choosing to be rude to them.

 

[Chrysanthemum]

I'm not diagnosed with Asperger's (I had significant speech/language delay) and I can't really make sense of my life but different professionals had different opinions in regards to diagnosis (i.e. ASD and not ASD). However in a way I'm glad I experienced language delay as a young child even though I can't remember then, because if I come across a young child with language delay I don't think that that their language would never improve and would want to see beyond that. So I'm glad I experienced what I did, both what I could and could not remember, because I feel that might have influenced me not trying to "predict" a young child's future and to remember that there is much more to children than their challenges.