Aspies For Freedom

glad u finally have a dx

Why is it so hard to get a diagnosis?

I'm one who strays slightly from the typical Male Aspie profile in that:

1) I don't take things apart and try to figure them out
2) I'm extremely stifled by Math
3) My interests aren't that "scientific"
4) I don't have major stims

However, I can say that my *brother* completely fits the above profile.

I seem to be more of an "arty Aspie"--if such a thing exists?

What do you think?

"The math genius thing is an autism cliche, not reality."

It's not that most Aspies are math geniuses, but that many math geniuses are Aspie -- that's where the stereotype was born.

On the other hand, my Aspie boyfriend has a PhD in Theoretical Physics (emphasis cosmology) from U C Berkeley, so he's certainly doing his part to boost the cliche.

And  Theosoph, Calculus IV may not sound brilliant to you, but -- damn -- I'm glad I teach Algebra I, because I really struggle with Algebra II. So you sound like a genius to me...

I don't think you understand.

Perhaps it would clarify it to say that I took an extra year in high school *because* I very nearly got a 10% or lower in INTEGRATED MATH 3 in my senior year!

For me to have gotten even a C in that class, I would have had to work on that nutmeg-dumb kind of math at least an hour every night.  Since I didn't, I didn't understand anything.  I was a complete fool, and decided I would be a foolish rebel and get almost a 0 on every quiz.  I nearly fulfilled that prophecy.  Because of the deluxe F-minuses in math, I had to take an extra year in high school, because I didn't want to do summer school (how logical is that?)

Then in Super Senior Class, I took Integrated Math 2--I actually went backwards from the class of yesteryear!  Integrated Math 2 was intended for sophomores, and also freshman who wanted to test the waters.  I took it in my extra year, and averaged a C !

Here you are talking about Calculus IV, in college.  I don't even think you can *begin* to grasp my level of difficulty with Math.

I am Extra-deluxe-hyper disabled in Maths.

All this talk about higher level education, and teaching, and so on, is making me feel really dumb.

I must be one of the less-intelligent Aspies, because I didn't just suck at school.  I was actually *horrific,* a complete mess.  Although social anxiety seemed to affect a lot of it, since I could barely bring myself to do presentations.  I would have paranoid breakdowns the day I had to do them.

Eventually I decided that I would skip presentations, and ask the teacher if I could do something else, like write a paper, instead.

But you know what?  I also sucked at writing papers (despite high verbal IQ), because as they say with AS, there's a problem with "central coherence."  That says it all, with me.  Nothing I do in life, or school, makes sense.

It seems that I had also been self-taught.  For example my abilities in verbal subjects, like English, felt "automatic."  I didn't need to think for a much of it.

But that all changed in high school.  There was much more "gray area," and I couldn't emulate things fast enough (as you pointed out.)

It seems you learn like I do, but you have a faster processor.

Which isn't fair.

But then, how did you make it through college?

I mean, you tend to make it seem like you're not "that much smarter" than me, in terms of abilities that school requires of you.  But you clearly are *that* much better with scholastic intelligence.