Every person with ASD is unique, but we are all affected by similar traits, such as difficulties with communication and socialising, understanding how others feel, and sensory issues.
I'd like to point out before I start that this might all make no sense, given that I can never tell how good my own writing is. For a more professional look at autism, follow the link in the words Autism Spectrum Disorder above. It goes to autism.org.uk, a great site for information.
Social Difficulties
We often have difficulty understanding of social cues such as body language and facial expressions, which often lead us to misunderstand people or be pushed out from social groups. We don't always 'get' things like personal space, often accidentally intruding because we simply don't understand that we're not supposed to be standing two inches away from you. We might start a conversation about our special interests, and not even realise when the other person is bored out of their mind (sorry friends, I know I do it a lot!).
This also happens the other way round. Often, what we say isn't quite what we mean, and we feel misunderstood and frustrated that people don't seem to get us. We can feel cut off because we're stuck in our own little worlds where, even surrounded by people, we can feel completely alone. In fact, for some of us, being surrounded by people could cause a meltdown from overexposure (more on that in a bit).
There are also non verbal autistic people, who simply can't speak around others. They can be perfectly capable of communicating and indeed be as high functioning as anyone else, but the words just don't come out. These people often learn to communicate with written words or pictures.
This also happens the other way round. Often, what we say isn't quite what we mean, and we feel misunderstood and frustrated that people don't seem to get us. We can feel cut off because we're stuck in our own little worlds where, even surrounded by people, we can feel completely alone. In fact, for some of us, being surrounded by people could cause a meltdown from overexposure (more on that in a bit).
There are also non verbal autistic people, who simply can't speak around others. They can be perfectly capable of communicating and indeed be as high functioning as anyone else, but the words just don't come out. These people often learn to communicate with written words or pictures.
Empathy And Emotions
For me and a lot of others with ASDs, it is difficult to express our emotions properly, in a way that can be understood. It is even hard to understand them ourselves, so we often don't quite know how we're feeling, past a few simple emotions like 'happy' and 'sad'. This can be down to a condition called alexithymia.
We can also have problems controlling our emotions, possibly because we don't know what they are. Sometimes, this results in anxiety, extreme frustration, or anger, which can cause a meltdown. A meltdown is when we just lose control, and either end up lashing out or withdrawing into ourselves and hiding away. Sort of like an exaggerated fight or flight response.
Empathy is another issue. Often, we have problems with cognitive empathy, the ability to work out how others are feeling and what they are thinking. This is linked with the social difficulties, and makes it hard for us to understand others. However, there is also emotional empathy, the ability to sense and share other's moods without needing to think about it. Usually there are no problems with this kind of empathy. In fact, it can be very strong. I can sense the mood of the people in a room as soon as I walk in, but I can very rarely work out what an individual person is feeling or thinking unless I share their thoughts.
Routines, Special Interests And Stimming
Possibly because of the unpredictability of the world, we tend to like safe routines, which we can always rely on to provide some comfort. These could be anything from having the exact same routine every morning when getting up, to organising a pencil case. If they're changed, we can get anxious and upset that our comforting things have gone.
Many of us also have special interests, almost obsessions, which we can become extremely focused on. This can be a good thing, especially if it happens to lead to a career. For example, I'm extremely interested in computers, and plan on a career in the software industry. Having these interests is again a comforting thing, a place to go where we don't need to hide our social difficulties.
Stimming, or self stimulation, is something a lot of us do as well. These are movements or sounds that we make, almost like tics, that help us to stay calm. The repetitive nature of these movements, such as hand flapping or foot tapping, is what calms us down.
Many of us also have special interests, almost obsessions, which we can become extremely focused on. This can be a good thing, especially if it happens to lead to a career. For example, I'm extremely interested in computers, and plan on a career in the software industry. Having these interests is again a comforting thing, a place to go where we don't need to hide our social difficulties.
Stimming, or self stimulation, is something a lot of us do as well. These are movements or sounds that we make, almost like tics, that help us to stay calm. The repetitive nature of these movements, such as hand flapping or foot tapping, is what calms us down.
Sensory Issues
Imagine walking out onto the street, and realising that the sun is so bright you have to squint, except it's still in your eyes because it's reflecting off cars.You can hear every car in the street individually, revving and changing gears, along with the sounds of people talking, and stepping on an annoying paving slab that keeps moving and making a sound. You'd probably want to go back in, right? Well, that's what the street sounds like every day for a lot of autistic people with hypersensitivity.
I'm lucky in that I'm not that sensitive, though I do still have some sensitivities. We can be both too sensitive (hyper) and not sensitive enough (hypo), sometimes to the same sense at different times. I find deep pressure like a tight hug very soothing and calming, but I hate being tickled or touched lightly (most of the time), because I'm sensitive to touch.
Some Other Stuff, And The Good Bits
We tend to have very good long term memory, able to recall events from years ago with brilliant accuracy, and also remember everything about a special interest. But our working, or short term memory can be very poor. I always forget to do things. I'll walk upstairs, see something and immediately forget why I went up.
We tend to be very honest and open. We tend to make very reliable and loyal friends, as we'll readily accept anyone who accepts us. We're very unlikely to be racist, ageist, or anything -ist at all. For a great list of advantages to having Asperger's, have a look here
This page will probably be updated quite often as I discover more, or reword things to make myself clearer. I hope you've learned something though, come back soon!
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