Empowering thread: what's your aspie special powers?

[Guendolen]

I have been researching and researching and dying buried down a tsunami of misery. Aspies can't do this, can't do that..socially awkward blah blah. I am useless on 60% of things that are easy for normals. But there are things i can do and they can't. I am starting and please share yours too!

1. Very good short term and long term memory. I am a vet student and it takes me 2-3 days to memorize a semester's teaching material. Saved me countless times since i am unorganised, chaotic and have often meltdowns.

2. Communication with animals. Animals are one of my special interest since a child and i always felt we understand each other perfectly. They are so much easier to understand than humans.

3. Writing skills. I won one of the highest awards in teenage writing competition in my country and i was on the science department.

4. Hyperfocus. I am sure many aspies have that but it is always helpful. When i am on the animal clinic and i am focused on taking care of the patients i can stay 2 days without food or sleep and be totally fine.

I don't write this in order to self praise or sound narcissistic. I have very low self confidence actually. But i believe that unless we try to focus on the positive use of our strengths instead of ruminating about our weaknesses we will never move forward.
What can you do?

 

[MicroWeiss]

Hey thanks for this post.

1. Mind reading. Through deduction, smell, word cues. People think I am creepy and clairvoyant. I don't think so.
2. I can sense people in a closed environment and find them. I never lose someone in a store. I can sense what direction they are in and when they are ready to leave and meet them on their way to the exit. I just think: "walk towards the person", and then I walk towards them.
3. Hyperfocus yay. I can sit and stare, or work on one thing for 8 hours straight.
4. I can sense things about people instantly, probably from the catalog of information in my mind, but I can't tell when a person is lying.
5. I have a voice in my head. I tried to turn it off once. It was a bad trip, but I hear it less now.
6. Mathematics. Numbers, equations, they calm me.
7. Music sounds like drugs sometimes.
8. I can sense prevailing thoughts and emotions associated with places. If a place causes a lot of anger and people think curse words, I sense that it feels cursed. If a building is occupied by stressed out people, I can sense the tension. If a kleptomaniac has recently stolen something I can sense the insane desire to steal things when I walk through the scene of the crime. I find the discarded packaging of stolen items after looking around. I sense feelings that I don't even have names for in some places. My emotions are dancing through the now empty ballroom of the world with the ghost impressions of the former dancers.
9. ASMR. Not sure if that's a good thing. I used to think so before I went and overdosed on it.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Systematic thinking
Unusual perspectives on things
Deeply process thoughts and ideas
Become unemotional in a stressful situation
Hyperfocus

 

[MicroWeiss]

1. Very good short term and long term memory. I am a vet student and it takes me 2-3 days to memorize a semester's teaching material. Saved me countless times since i am unorganised, chaotic and have often meltdowns.

Frikkin good one.

 

[Suzanne]

I shall try:

My long term memory is fantastic. My husband likes me to be his witness, because I can call back to mind, the whole conversation. I remember things I have read and often have the satisfaction of seeing people go whoa you have a great memory there. If someone wants to call to mind something that read, all it takes is a few words and I can then, relate the whole thing.

I am dedicated when on an obsession and yes, I can work at something non stop and have to be reminded to eat lol

I am VERY in tune with reading people's faces; Fantastic with human psychology.

I guess there are other things, but I am still learning new things about myself.

Thank you for this post

 

[Slothra]

I'm usually not all about these kinds of threads. They feel braggy. But undoubtedly, a lot of us have splinter skills & hyperfocus on certain things.

I'm hyperlexic, my long term memory reaches back to age 7 (although I can't explain yesterday), and I've been hyperfocusing on communication. My verbal IQ says I'm a genius, the other factors disagree. C'est la vie.

 

[royinpink]

Seconding you on #1 (and 2 and 4)--studying is so easy when you can just remember the book. But I do find that I read just a bit more slowly than most people. It's like I don't move on until I can clearly visualize everything, because that's how I remember it.

So that's mine to add: visualization. Being able to see concepts clearly and manipulate them, or run through mental videos of past or hypothetical future events. Literally seeing inconsistencies in logic.

Relatedly, synesthesia. Because words are better in color!

 

[Vanilla]

Just a reminder to please refrain from using language that is prejudice against NTs. Thank you.

 

[On the Inside]

This is helpful, I'm having a bad day, so a little focus on the positive will do me some good.

Many of my strengths are related to being very observant. I notice things others don't, patterns, things that don't belong or are out of place.

I have a very strong visual memory, and strong visualization ability, the old thinking in pictures thing.

I can find things people have lost, there is a logic to losing things that I am particularly aware of, not that that helps me not lose things. My observation skills also help with this.

I used to be able to keep my cool in unusually stressful situations, but that is no longer the case, don't know what happened there.

I am a very good listener to someone else's troubles. I can help them see the other side of a problem. I have a different perspective, and can recognize when emotions are getting in the way.

 

[Vinca]

I have very few memories of peoples faces from when I was a child but I can remember and, very much enjoy remembering

-the repeating geometric patterns on the carpet of family that my family was friends with
-the rise and fall of the grass and the back of my home, which I reapeatedly rode my bike over to experience it
-the angle, height, colour and texture of the low brick wall at the front of the driveway leading to my home
- The constuction of the seed pods from a silver birch
- The texture of the concrete poles that the washing line was attatched

I enjoy being able to visualize materials and figure out how to manipulate them in order to achive a desired effect.

I enjoy being fluent in visual language.

 

[Tom]

Hmmm...

After my wild early days the evaluations I got in the military used to mostly list reliable, honest, resourceful. If I was placed in a spot and told to wait there, but then was forgotten (they do things like that), you could come back 100 years later and see the Gillagin's Island-type fort I'd made and find my bones.

 

[IAmParadiseSeekerJW]

Thanks for this thread

I have a pretty good long term memory. I can remember things that happened when I was about 2-3 years old. I could give you a pretty detailed description of events that happened including colours of walls, words said, what I or others were wearing.. I can devour information and recall it fairly easily. I am one of those kind of people who can recite almost every line to "Titanic" almost word perfect. Ah.

Although on the inside I panic, I can stay very very calm in very difficult situations. Maybe through practice..who knows.

My language skills have always seemed to excel any others that I possess. I find creative writing very easy and enjoyable as well as writing essays. I also enjoy and do well at learning other languages.

I'm a very observant person and can provide many details of what others have missed regardless of the situation.

Hmm

 

[Warmheart]

The suffering that ASD brings has provided me with profound compassion. This truly is a cherished treasure I would never wish to lose. The nature of my ASD is barriers to communication and socialization, making it hard to express my nurturing and compassion.

I am grateful for my aspie superpower, which arises from my primary special interest. I treat people with reiki, a type of energy healing. I've worked with energy since I was three. There are no words for the joy I feel in having the profound, humbling honor to compassionately nurture and care for another soul on such a deep level.

Due to communication and socialization issues, ASD to me is: compassion, caged. But in my case, I am fortunate. ASD solves it's own conundrum, and provides me with joy and fulfillment.

 

[Keith]

1) Memory. I have the ability to memorize something quickly if I try hard enough. I'm memorizing Casey at the Bat for a talent show and I memorized a quarter of it in two days. Also, I remember things my parents have long forgotten, even things I swear they said but they deny they ever did. My memory also helps me be good when we watch Jeopardy.

2) Completionist. I get upset if there's a problem on an assignment or test I can't figure out. Ultimately I just force myself to ignore it or try my best to provide an answer.

3) Diligence. It bothers me if I leave a task unfinished. If I take a break during a task, I am constantly thinking about getting back to work.

4) Perfectionist. Only a little. I have a "Wrong! Do it again." mentality sometimes. If I make just one little mistake, I feel I have to do it all again. Such a mentality can cause problems, I know. However, it can help with memorization and rehearsal.

 

[Keith]

Thanks for this thread

I have a pretty good long term memory. I can remember things that happened when I was about 2-3 years old. I could give you a pretty detailed description of events that happened including colours of walls, words said, what I or others were wearing.. I can devour information and recall it fairly easily. I am one of those kind of people who can recite almost every line to "Titanic" almost word perfect. Ah.

Although on the inside I panic, I can stay very very calm in very difficult situations. Maybe through practice..who knows.

My language skills have always seemed to excel any others that I possess. I find creative writing very easy and enjoyable as well as writing essays. I also enjoy and do well at learning other languages.

I'm a very observant person and can provide many details of what others have missed regardless of the situation.

Hmm

That sounds like me. I remember a time when we were shoe shopping and I even remember the color of the floor! I've also memorized an entire commercial verbatim. Also, somehow I adopted the erre sound without realizing it. I also understand how to pronounce Rs and Ls in French.

 

[JuniperBug]

I've never really thought about this before but I like the topic.

I think I definitely have the ability to hyper focus.

I can remember conversations based on where we were.
So, for example, I catch myself all the time saying something like "No, I remember you asked me when we were in the library and you were facing the bathroom and I was sitting on the table so I was taller than you and facing the computer. And I remember you said your bag was blue because there was a book sticking out that as blue and you were wearing a blue hairbow too. Also, that's why i'm eating blueberries today because I've been thinking about blue stuff the whole time since we talked yesterday." And the other person is even more confused. Haha! Whoops!

I'm very empathic and in tune with energy. I can walk in a room and tell if someones upset or mad or whatever without even seeing who is in the room. This generally makes me a great partner in bed, though sex has its complications too of course. Now, knowing what to say to an upset person is a different story.

I'm great with kids! I don't know if that's an Aspie power or not, but young kids respond really well to mirroring their movement and general goofball behavior. They also tend to exude positive energy which makes goofing around natural and fun.

I'm sure I'll think of more with time, this is a fun thread!

 

[deema]

Lke a Skywalker, the aspie force runs deep in my family, as I am , at least, a fourth generation aspie. I wield "logical thought" like a jedi, enabling me to become, literally, not figuratively, the most powerful man alive, within the desktop environment.

Logical thought from multiple shifted perspectives at once, the result of the "aspie skew". i refer to this as quantum logic

I use the Star Wars references because, while Lucas did not realize it, Anakin/Vader is 100% the personification of an aspie. It is really astounding, actually, that he unknowingly did so with such accuracy.

 

[epath13]

don't want to brag
It's hard for me to see characteristics as positive or negative, too many questions arise if I start thinking this way. There're characteristics that I like about myself and there're the ones I find challenging and, sometimes, bothersome to the extreme.
I'm not sure if it's possible to generalize and say that all or most people on the spectrum are "something-something". I think it depends on many different factors. That's why I don't like reading articles or any type of material stating something like: "what do people on the spectrum want you to know", "how does it feel to have Autism" etc. Yes there're a lot of similarities but it is also very individual. I'd rather them say: "my experience is", rather than:"this is how Autism is like".

 

[deema]

don't want to brag
It's hard for me to see characteristics as positive or negative, too many questions arise if I start thinking this way. There're characteristics that I like about myself and there're the ones I find challenging and, sometimes, bothersome to the extreme.
I'm not sure if it's possible to generalize and say that all or most people on the spectrum are "something-something". I think it depends on many different factors. That's why I don't like reading articles or any type of material stating something like: "what do people on the spectrum want you to know", "how does it feel to have Autism" etc. Yes there're a lot of similarities but it is also very individual. I'd rather them say: "my experience is", rather than:"this is how Autism is like".

Yes, generalizations, in general, are not a good thing to do. Less so with folks such as aspies. And I will assume that the first comment was referencing e, understandable. But, to be clear, I take no pride in it. I didnt make me so it would be foolish for me to do so, I simply state, matter of factly, as the evidence speaks for itself and is available to all. MY aspieness, while it allows me to see things that others cannot and does wonders for me, career wise, is an awfully lousy thing, for me, personally. I experience no joy, in life. And if I allow any emotion to come in, I am ruled by it. So I keep myself from having any, as much as I can. Further, I am designing 20+ hours a day, everyday. As soon as I break from that, my mind goes immediately to mortality and "non existence", for myself, my family, my cat(s), which started a couple of years ago after my first experience with death. It is the only concept that I am unable to grasp and so it will forever be the one thing that I go to, in order to try to understand it, which I never will, which will keep feeding the cycle, as I cannot accept not understanding something.

My point is that while I am very, very arrogant, none of it is derived from a place dealing with emotion and, therefore, is far from something that should be taken in the way that most feel about arrogance. I will likely never marry or have children. For no other reason than that that would either/and/or be unfair to me or to them, as the project at hand is the only thing that i can immerse myself within and be "doing what I am here to do". My entire existence, everything I do, is driven by and toward furthering civilization along the evolutionary path, since I think the ultimate goal for a species is ascension to a higher plane and that it will not come for billions of years until after I am gone. If I cannot live forever, I want to be sure that I play a role in helping the future folks get to that point.]

Wait, I do have joy, at times with word play. A clever use of words gives me a chuckle. My lack of joy and the fact that i feel the weight of future society on my shoulders and constant thoughts of mortality very much make me "wish" that i could be oblivious, like most of the world, about many things of which I am not, so I could find peace and just "relax" Despite all the benefits of being very observant leading to knowledgeable, i sometimes, many times, just want to be ignorant, just a big dummy. Ahhhhhh, sounds delicious.

Boo hoo, me. Bla bla. I have no doubt that many of you wish similar, as with great power/knowledge/understanding/insight comes great responsibility, even when it is unwanted

 

[Tia Maria]

I have been researching and researching and dying buried down a tsunami of misery. Aspies can't do this, can't do that..socially awkward blah blah. I am useless on 60% of things that are easy for normals. But there are things i can do and they can't. I am starting and please share yours too!

1. Very good short term and long term memory. I am a vet student and it takes me 2-3 days to memorize a semester's teaching material. Saved me countless times since i am unorganised, chaotic and have often meltdowns.

2. Communication with animals. Animals are one of my special interest since a child and i always felt we understand each other perfectly. They are so much easier to understand than humans.

3. Writing skills. I won one of the highest awards in teenage writing competition in my country and i was on the science department.

4. Hyperfocus. I am sure many aspies have that but it is always helpful. When i am on the animal clinic and i am focused on taking care of the patients i can stay 2 days without food or sleep and be totally fine.

I don't write this in order to self praise or sound narcissistic. I have very low self confidence actually. But i believe that unless we try to focus on the positive use of our strengths instead of ruminating about our weaknesses we will never move forward.
What can you do?

G, just my 2 cents but ... You wrote, ".. I am useless on 60% of things that are easy for normals. But there are things i can do and they can't. ..."

SO WHAT that you are useless on 60% of things that are easy for non-aspics .... & of course you can do things that non-aspics can't ... & vice versa. I'm NOT being critical or harsh, I'm saying, THAT's OKAY that you can't do some things people without Aspergers can do. I don't know your age, but did you know that MOST NT teens have very low self esteem? Especially girls. Even very pretty, seemingly cool girls who have everything going for them including good friends & nice families. It's shocking actually. But it is true.

I am NOT diminishing YOUR own lack of self confidence or the FEELINGS you bravely shared. I affirm them & you. I just hope that it gives you some comfort to know that other people you might perceive as having it so much easier (& in reality they do have it easier) & maybe you could even feel a tad envious over that at times .... but know that they have issues & struggles too, just different kinds. And often for whatever reason, inside themselves they may be equally self-doubting & also lacking in self confidence.

I think an important thing to remember is that you are NOT competing with anyone else. Your worth is not measured by what % of so-called 'normal' things you can do or not do. You are right that you can do things that other people probably cannot do & as you described, you surely have special attributes & skills. Either way, you're equal, just different. Everyone should be valued & appreciated for their uniqueness.

I hate to "preach" .... but I have a strong nurturing & Mom instinct .... & when I see/hear/read someone short changing themselves ... I want to scream "hey, don't be so hard on yourself!" And it is NOT disingenuous. I see it all the time IRL. People who do not FEEL their true worth.

Anyway, I think you nailed it - "focus on the positive use of our strengths instead of ruminating about our weaknesses". And it is good to toot your own horn sometimes!