The Upsides of Autism

This blog entry comes in response to a comment that was left on my blog that I am about to remove as I feel the comment leans a tad bit on the rude side. However, the person made one important note in their comment. And, that was that I shouldn't use autism as an excuse to be hindered or something along those lines.

Now, the truth is, I don't feel like autism hinders me. In my blog entry, I was trying to explain how I have been impacted and how other people with autism are impacted and how that shapes our view of the world. That entry was not meant as an excuse for me or anyone else with autism to experience life the way we do. I was trying to give the best possible insight into autism as possible.

The truth is that I hate to acknowledge autism as something that hinders me. But, sometimes there are ways that it does, and when that happens I try to figure out why that is and work on overcoming that even if that is challenging and very difficult for me at the time. My mantra is enthusiasm, confidence, and out of the comfort zone. And, I believe in pushing myself out of the comfort zone and beyond the boundaries or what may seem possible for someone with autism. I push myself a lot, and it isn't always easy.

With that said, I do not use autism as an excuse for anything. My blogs are here to enlighten others from my own struggles that I have overcome to get where I am at today. My number one goal is to give other people (especially individuals with autism) the tools so that they can empower themselves to live their life to their best potential.

Moving on, and with all of that out of the way, today, I would like to talk about the positive aspects of autism and how having autism is a good thing.

1. Autism allows us to stay focused--For many of us on the spectrum, we can stay focused on our passion for hours at a time and never get bored. To us, that thing is so incredible and awesome we never tire of it. We also usually approach things from a structured way, and let's say for instance we become a scientist, we can tackle some of the toughest concepts with incredible willpower and achieve amazing results. For me, I feel that having autism has enabled me to really focus on my memoir, stay focused on it and create a beautiful book that many other people will enjoy.

2. Autism allows us to form very deep connections with people--While autism is seen as a social disorder, it is a result of our social struggles that we can form very strong bonds with our friends. For many of us on the spectrum, when we make a close friend, we very much value the relationship. When it comes to intimate relationships, most of us are not playing games. We mean what we say and give the relationship our all. We open our hearts to the people that mean something in our lives and care about those people a great deal. Relationships are important to many of us.

3. We don't allow emotions to get in the way--For most of us, when it comes to weighing in on important decisions, we rarely allow our emotions to sway us. For many neurotypical people, emotions can play a large role in their decision making. I think that some of us on the spectrum would make good judges because we don't allow bias to get in the way. We look at the facts and makes informed decisions instead of emotional decisions. This decision-making process also prevents us from getting into trouble like some neurotypicals sometimes find themselves in as a result of peer-pressure.

4. We have incredible memories--Many of us on the spectrum can remember certain things very well. For some of us, we might remember the names of everyone we ever met. We might remember the capital of every country in the world. For me, I used to be able to recall an incredible array of facts as they pertained to Star Wars. Some of us have incredible near-perfect photographic memories.

5. We achieve what we set out to do and are very good at what we do--For most of us, when we get an idea in our head, we don't give up on that idea until it becomes a reality, no matter how far-fetched the idea may seem at the time. Thomas Edison probably had autism and he tried over 10,000 times to get the light bulb to work. He succeeded. Howard Hughes had incredible visions for airplane designs. He accomplished his dreams. Also, many of us with autism do an incredible job in whatever field we are in. To an extent, many of us are perfectionists, but in certain fields this type of approach is very important and much needed.

Well, that is all I have to say today. I thank you for reading today's blog entry and wish everyone a most awesome day of awesomeness!