Strengths? Empathy, numbers. Driving.
Weakness? Structure, budgets,
Depends on the day and how the wind blows, reasons known only to The Man Upstairs? People skills, hospitableness...obviously, working on it, nobody is perfect, no, not one.
Then the Asperger brain tells you you must strive for this...
Very interesting! Truly amazing how the mind works.
Since we are sharing, I don't believe I'm on the spectrum like others in this thread, but definitely stood out (and not necessarily in a good way) from my peers when I was young. According to my mom, Engineering families tend to have some Asperger-esque traits. My BIL just finished his MD in Psychology, and he's made some observations about our family.
- I'm not great on the empathy front; I'd say I have low empathy, generally, but it is something I'm aware of and try and work on. I suffered a significant loss (my best friend and cousin) when I was 12 (cancer) and I'm not sure if that was a contributor or not.
- I've always been able to take things apart and put them back together with extreme ease. Also have a knack for being able to rapidly troubleshoot and fix things.
- I'm physically chaotic. I tend to keep everything (might need that!) and so I have a lot of clutter. I get into fits of cleaning, but they don't last long. On the other hand, I keep my computers (file systems, e-mail...etc) quite organized. Dirt and mess bother me, but clutter doesn't.
- I was an extremely early talker, and in full sentences. My parents have a recording of me at less than a year rambling on.
- I had trouble learning to read in school (this would be a common theme, school and I didn't get along very well in many cases), so my mom taught me (she was a teacher). I was reading at a 4th year University level in weeks, this was in grade 2.
- I was diagnosed with ADD in grade 4.
- I started attending my dad's University courses, and participating, around grade 7 or 8. I also skipped grade 9 science and, along with a good friend of mine, who was very similar, took grade 10 advanced science instead. I loved (and love) physics and engineering but wasn't big into chemistry or biology.
- I started taking university courses (computer related) in grade 9
- I was formally tested (due to wildly varying academic performance) in grade 10 and ended up scoring off the chart, which was more frustrating than relieving for my parents.
- I have a very hard time applying myself and paying attention to anything that doesn't interest me. Contrarily, I can absolutely bury myself in something I am interesting in, to the complete exclusion of everything around me. A good book is totally immersive, it is like I am living the story.
- I'm awkward in social situations. I don't like to be around large groups of people and generally don't like people, if I'm being honest. I'm very content with being alone and an absence of human interaction to me is comfortable, rather than maddening. I also don't like being around people I don't know in a social setting, I find it uncomfortable and can be stressful/tiring. Attending something like a concert is OK though, because I'm not there to speak with or interact with others.
- I absorb facts and statistics and can do calculations and analysis in my head quite easily. I'm extremely logically driven and tend to be pedantic, as I feel nuance is important. I find people that struggle with understanding what I consider basic concepts frustrating, and that's something this forum has helped me work on, as I consider that a deficit.
- I am AWFUL with names. Like I will forget your name in less than 30 seconds. I trick myself to remember names by associating them with other things like band members that have the same name for example, or other people I know whose name I've managed to retain. I've known people for years whose names I still forget. This is far easier if I see the person's name in writing, so that's another trick I'll use, putting somebody in my address book, reading it back, which can then make it stick.
- I can't forget a face. I'll recognize somebody I knew in grade school immediately.
- I can easily retain complex strings (product keys for example) and music/lyrics.
- I need directions to be explicit. I'm not good with vagueness or allusive statements in the spoken word. I'm better with this in writing, as I seem to process that differently.
There's more, but I don't want to over-share. I expect the above won't surprise most people who have interacted with me on here.