How to "show intellect" in a comfortable way?

[tree]

I'm not smart enough to have to worry about concealing my intellect.

What concerns me more is making sure that any one I need to communicate with
can understand what I am trying to say. I believe it is my responsibility to make
what I say understandable.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

That's always been the issue was any of us on the autism spectrum. Reason for being here feels great to finally be able to communicate with others who think like me.

 

[Nitro]

It takes all sorts on neurologies to make things happen, often with the guys who are directly involved in a process who see things from a different perspective.

One example of that was the manufacture of replacement polyurethane bumpers for Stanley Bostitch pneumatic hardwood flooring staplers.
They were a round ring about of about a 1.5" ODx1" IDx .600" thick with 2 cross cuts 90 degrees to each other on each side.
The bumpers were cylinder end stops that were slotted to exhaust the air from between them and the piston.
The slots were to be clocked 45 degrees to each other on opposing sides.
Originally, the fixture had a single spring loaded pin located 45 degrees to the cut axis in it to reference the slots.
The machine operator was to slot two opposing sides of each bumper to establish the 45 degree clocking.
They did a first operation on them, often in quantities of 10,000 units per month then were instructed to relocate the pin to another location in order to finish the run.
The operations were clumsy because the part had to be flipped twice to cut 4 slots, which took up time.

One of our operators who was at the bottom of our payscale asked me why we didn't have two pins in order to do all of the operations in one shot.
He thought it could reduce the flip to just once per part.
I didn't have a good answer for him because I trusted the guy that engineered the fixture.
The method worked, maybe over millions of times, so why question it or him?
Big mistake, and as the head honcho, it was my fault for never questioning it either.
I made him a second pin and damned if it didn't work.
In fact, it seriously increased his production.
A couple of weeks later I gave him a raise for thinking outside of the box and increasing our revenues.

He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but sure showed me that sometimes it didn't matter if someone is intimate with a procedure

 

[KimS]

There is some great advice above.


3. As an aging autistic, you will have had many, many "special interests",...and with that, an ever increasing "library of knowledge", to draw upon. You might be seen as an irritating "know-it-all",...or a friendly resource. How you go about your day and interactions is up to you, but it does take some discipline to pause a second, know who your are dealing with, how are you going to add to this conversation in a positive way, and decide whether to open your mouth or not.

Thanks for sharing this. Your whole post was filled with wisdom I wish I would have heard when I was young. That might have prevented so many of my r/iamverysmart cringey moments I still ruminate over.

 

[Neko]

Encyclopedia Britannica? I have fond memories of those.

My memory is good but not eidetic. Hopefully I can train it further but we’ll see how it goes.

I’m happy to report that I had a wonderful evening with my sister and her husband today. I was able to be myself, for the most part because they are both brilliant as well as obviously love me.

I feel so much better that I now have at least one person in my life face to face I can be real with.

Thank you so much everyone!

 

[Progster]

You could also try asking the person first if they are into philosophy or computer science, and then base the level of detail according to their reply.

If they ask you what you do, give your job title, if they want more information and/or are interested to know more, they will probably ask.

I actually worry about the opposite problem. I'm not that good at expressing myself verbally, or sometimes my memory fails me when put on the spot, and I worry about coming across as dumm.

 

[Thinx]

I think many of us experience some areas of slow processing, or different processing, which unfortunately raises invisible barriers. I call it the Bermuda triangle of communication. Be aware that this can be part of autism, so we don't always know all the variables in an interaction.

 

[Neko]

Thanks for the suggestions Progster. I’ll do more work on judging how interested people are.

I’m sorry to hear you worry about sounding dumb. I have to speak slowly sometimes and forget things too, especially on topics I don’t find very interesting. I also need to interrupt conversations to “fix an immediate problem (like finding my keys)”.

I’m sure people at the grocery store and similar places think I’m a bit slow, but I don’t mind too much because I know better.

 

[Progster]

Thanks for the suggestions Progster. I’ll do more work on judging how interested people are.

I’m sorry to hear you worry about sounding dumb. I have to speak slowly sometimes and forget things too, especially on topics I don’t find very interesting. I also need to interrupt conversations to “fix an immediate problem (like finding my keys)”.

I’m sure people at the grocery store and similar places think I’m a bit slow, but I don’t mind too much because I know better.

My main issue seems to be that I don't process fast and so often find it hard to have a fluid back and forth conversation, especially in social and group situations. I'm not sure whether it's an audio processing problem, or another cognitive processing difficulty, but I'm slower to respond than the average person and find it hard to join in conversations. I think that might give the impression that I don't know much or I'm not that smart, though I'm educated to postgrad level, so I'm sure I can't be that dumm

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

One of my friends i a university professor when people ask him what he does for a living he says teacher.

 

[watersprite]

For some reason, this thread reminds me of the movie,
As Good As It Gets.

 

[paloftoon]

An easy "rule" to follow is limit your answer to 1-3 sentences. If you aren't sure what "3" sentences are, then start with '1' sentence. Your next question can be do you want to know more about (insert subject here)?
If so, then say 2 sentences instead of 1. Pause and see if other person wants to talk.

Another thing you can do is ask a person more about themselves. People generally like to talk about themselves a lot.