Answering two questions - First

In my absence from my blog I have had two questions from two different people. I’ll try to answer them as well as I can. Today I’ll answer the first one

What are your strengths that most people without autism don’t have?

Okay, first I want to point out an important word in this sentence: “most”. So if you’re thinking “That’s wrong! I have autism and I can do that too!” Then read that word again.

Autism comes with many strengths actually. I’ve answered most of this in an earlier blogpost: Positive

In this blogpost I’ve posted a list that lists a small portion (not everything) of the positives of autism. I’ll repost this list here:

•  Factual knowledge
• Logical thinking
• Great sense of detail
• Very honest
• Live in the moment
• Passionate
• Very hard worker
• Very punctual
• Hyperfocussing
• Analyzing skills

In the past few days my sister and I have been arguing over the amount of money we raised for the AutismFund. I was sure it was 643 euros. She claimed it was 648 euros. We both stuck to our version of the amount. Happily, my sister took out the piece of paper on which we wrote the amount after we counted it. It said: “643 euros.” She was big enough of a sport to congratulate me for being right. Then she jokingly said: “You and your autism brain! Your memory is too good!”

After that we joked about autism being a superpower and that now I’ll be named: “AutiGirl”

Of course autism isn’t a superpower, but sometimes it can be very useful!

So that’s one of my strengths. Some things (not everything) I can remember in full detail. I can even remember some things from when I was very young. I even asked my mother one day what my memory about being in a stroller and seeing loads of legs and being with an acquaintance was about. My mum looked surprised and told me that was a memory of an expo that she went to with that acquaintance and that I should’ve been far too young to remember that.

I can also hyperfocus on tasks, especially when I really like the task at hand and/or when I have to really concentrate. This can help me go on for hours (usually on the computer, as my chronic fatigue will just stop me when it’s a physical job) and get a lot of stuff done. (This also makes for such long blogposts… So sorry!)

There is so much more, but most of it has been answered in my other blogpost, Positive, which I have stated before. I’m not sure if this has been answered properly now, I feel like I’m missing a lot on this subject. You know what? A CHALLENGE! I want everyone to comment something positive about autism. There’s bound to be a lot that I’m forgetting, as autism can actually really be a superpower sometimes.

Let the commenting commence!