Please help a psychology student understand

[rollerskate]

OK, I'm going to try to take a stab at this again....

Hey everyone,
I'm a psychology student studying how people with autism and/or asperger's use forums and how it helps them. It would really help me understand this more if you all could answer my questions. I'd be really happy if you could help me out!

1. Where are you on the spectrum?
High functioning/verbal

2. Are you a kid (your age is less than 13), teen (your age is 13 – 21), adult (your age is 22-60), or elderly (your age is 60+)?
Adult

3. How long have you been using online forums?
Since the mid nineties

4. Do you interact with people better on the forums as opposed to in real life?
On these forums, yes, very much so

5. Has the forums helped you in real life interactions? If yes, how?
I'm pretty new here still but they are helping me become more aware of behaviors NTs find unusual and become more mindful of how I communicate with NTs

a. Has it helped you improve your behavior?
I can see it perhaps helping me communicate with NTs better and explain my own behavior to them better in the future. Perhaps with adapting better with some other symptoms. I don't really see it helping with non verbal communication though.

b. Has it helped you understand other people’s viewpoints?​

Not really... In fact, I'm not even sure that's possible...

6. Are there any other ways you think the forums have helped you?
I think I mentioned them already

7. Are there any difficulties that you have in the real world that are overcome or not there when you use the forums?
So far I haven't accidentally sparked any arguments, confusion, resentment, or anger here

8. Do you like that you can interact with other people who have autism/Asperger on forums?
Yes

a. Would you like this as much if you were interacting with them in real life instead of online?
I don't know

b. Do you prefer this online interaction to real life interactions?​

Yes

9. What other forum websites do you use?
Hobby related forums when I can manage to avoid drama there

10. Are there any rules of the forum that a new person to the forum wouldn’t know? By rules I mean courtesy things like pointing out if sarcasm is being used, or how to use acronyms, or how to use smilies (emoticons), etc,.
I don't really know. I do know I used some sarcastic humor the other day without thinking about how it translated and it wasn't understood. I just learned my lesson and moved on, so I wouldn't say there's a rule about it, but I did make a mental note to be more obvious in the future. An NT in my place though probably would have gotten upset thinking the other person thought they were stupid and gotten defensive about it, which may have hurt the Aspie's feelings for not realizing they were being humorous. So I suppose for an NT, this would be an unspoken rule here to avoid drama...

Is there anything else you think I should know?
I want to challenge the idea that autistics don't empathize with others. I don't know about everyone, but I do it to an extreme, always analyzing whether or not I may hurt someone or trying to figure out their feelings or how I can help them. My five year old son who is also on the spectrum is incredibly sweet and empathetic, to the point he will hug a stranger just because he sees they're visibly upset. I just don't really know how to express it, and also get preoccupied a lot with everything else going on around me or inside my head so that it will take longer for me to notice or I may miss or forget it.

 

[Sparticus]

Excellent post Ste11aeres. You would make a great moderator! Thank you for your advice and I agree with you.

I don't have a problem with these questions or with the student's intentions in posting them. It's quite possible that this is in order to fulfill a requirement for a class, or something. None of the questions are offensive, and i actually like to see people with curiosity about ASD. Better than the people who just think it doesn't matter, or it's some made up thing.

 

[Spinning Compass]

1. Where are you on the spectrum? High functioning, was diagnosed at around 8-9 years old with perceptual disorder (the way you perceive things is not the way they really are, have not been rediagnosed since, but Aspergers seems to fit best
2. Are you a kid (your age is less than 13), teen (your age is 13 – 21), adult (your age is 22-60), or elderly (your age is 60+)? Adult, late fifties
3. How long have you been using online forums? About 3-4 years
4. Do you interact with people better on the forums as opposed to in real life? Sometimes yes, sometimes no
5. Has the forums helped you in real life interactions? If yes, how? I don't think it has had any effect because I have been functioning in mainstream society for a long time without it
a. Has it helped you improve your behavior? No
b. Has it helped you understand other people’s viewpoints? Yes, some
6. Are there any other ways you think the forums have helped you? To see that there are other people out there who are struggling with some of the same things I have struggled with
7. Are there any difficulties that you have in the real world that are overcome or not there when you use the forums?
8. Do you like that you can interact with other people who have autism/Asperger on forums? Yes, it helps me understand better
a. Would you like this as much if you were interacting with them in real life instead of online? I am not sure because we are talking about two different kinds of interactions
b. Do you prefer this online interaction to real life interactions? It depends on the interaction
9. What other forum websites do you use? None
10. Are there any rules of the forum that a new person to the forum wouldn’t know? By rules I mean courtesy things like pointing out if sarcasm is being used, or how to use acronyms, or how to use smilies (emoticons), etc,. For some of us older people who are not digital natives some of the acronyms and emoticons can be hard to understand.