u/Cosmic_Beard

I was went on a tangent in another thread and decided I’d like to make a specific thread about this as it’s been bugging me:

There are some autistic cognitive patterns that I definitely relate to and others that I’m critical of. Some that I relate to are:

-bottom-up processing: I relate to this and feel like it’s undoubtedly a positive thing to have a tendency towards. I blame top-down processing on a lot of the false conclusions people make. It’s confirmation bias maxxing

-taking things “too literally”: yeah I can see how I do that. I would maybe argue that saying what you mean avoids confusion, but maybe that’s a bias because that’s how I communicate. This one makes sense to me.

-justice sensitivity: “If you have the capacity to tremble with indignation every time that an injustice is committed in the world, then we are comrades.” -Che Guevara

Then there are a few that I’m critical of and would like to hear other autistic people’s thoughts and experiences about. Autistic people are accused of these but I feel like neurotypical people are equally if not more guilty:

-categorization: I often hear that autistic people like to categorize things into neat little boxes. I’ve been unable to relate how this is specific to autistic individuals. Neurotypical people often talk like “kids these days are just x.” That’s a very simplistic categorization of a demographic. I often see neurotypicals struggle with concepts that can’t be neatly compared to another thing. The topic of autism, for example, is usually watered down to “awkward” or “slow” by neurotypical people unless they’ve really studied the topic.

-black and white thinking: I’ve been told many times that I have black and white thinking, and I’ve been trying to figure out where this is coming from for a while. I am positive that I understand nuance. I’ve been angry with people that I love, and felt both of those things at the same time. Ironically, I see black and white thinking more often from neurotypical people. When they get in an argument with their spouse it’s often “I hate that bitch” and their retelling of the argument is very one-sided and without nuance. It’s usually (sometimes religious) neurotypical people that I hear talking about good and evil. Good and evil language is also often used in (American) politics. My current working theory is that I don’t think in black and white, but something about the way I communicate is somehow conveying that. For example, I often get called an idealist for thinking a better future is possible and thinking outside the box, but my beliefs aren’t idealist. They involve a lot of realism, nuance, and historical context. This is how I frame that idea in context.

I’m dying to hear other thoughts and experiences with these ideas. I’ve been diagnosed for 3 years now, and the first 2 or so were a full blown identity crisis. I’m still trying to figure things out, and these are some things I’ve been unable to reach a satisfactory understanding on. Sorry for the novel and thanks for reading :)