Comments on: Words, Truth, and Literal Thinking

By: Isabel

Isabel — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:50:09 +0000

Since I wrote this comment above I have come across readings and research that mention “wiring” issues.

For example, the book “Asperger Syndrome – A Gift or a curse?” http://umass.worldcat.org/oclc/57965882 summarizes a lot of the research along this line, although nothing seemed very conclusive.

And I am now reading about it on this blog: http://aspectsofaspergers.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/the-levels-of-why/

By: Isabel

Isabel — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 10:32:57 +0000

I can relate in more ways than i have the energy to write about. I’m not a literal thinker in the classic way either – I love metaphors, stories, nonsense. However, I can take words so so seriously – I don’t let them go. Right now I’m having an issue with a metaphor I am seeing in the Asperger literature and community – the idea that the Asperger brain is “wired” differently. I get stuck on that word – it is wires of some sort? Actually physical connections that are different? I actually looked up a few articles on Aspergers and brain and found more references to the “color” proportions in our brains than to wiring. Lots of talk about amount of gray matter versus white matter.

“Women with autistic-spectrum disorder had a smaller density bilaterally of grey matter in the fronto-temporal cortices and limbic system, and of white matter in the temporallobes (anterior) and pons. In contrast, they had a larger white-matter density bilaterally in regions of the association and projection fibres of the frontal, parietal, posterior temporal and occipital lobes, in the commissural fibres of the corpus callosum (splenium) and cerebellum (anterior lobe). Further, we found a negative relationship between reduced grey-matter density in right limbic regions and social communication ability.” http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/191/3/224

By: Kian

Kian — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:41:35 +0000

I always find myself taking people literally and when I get this feeling that we’re having two distinct conversations, I feel like an idiot. Sometimes I can figure out where the miscommunication occurred, but much of the time, I just feel lost as to what people are really trying to say, so I just shut down. I think I need to accept that I will never understand language the same way that NTs do, but I really like knowing how other people think, so I keep trying and trying. It’s freaking exhausting to have to translate while conversing. Speaking of translating, the seeing letters in your head thing is something I try not to do because I seem even more spacey to people when I do it. However, if I want to remember the words, I must see them in my head. For instance, when I learn someone’s name, I ask them to spell it, so I can read it in my head and file it away for later. If I don’t know how to spell it, I can’t remember it because I can’t see it.

By: bluedancer

bluedancer — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:14:22 +0000

i’m beginning to see a pattern of extreme anxiety in myself when someone is either lying or being extremely inconsistent (ex.: words and behavior not matching.) even when i can only identify the lie in retrospect, it tends to trigger anxiety in the moment it’s being told—i can usually go back and see that i spent a lot of time feeling hyper, frightened or “stimmy” without knowing why. i wonder if that doesn’t have to do with the fact that my AS brain is constantly picking up the inconsistencies and trying to sort them through.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:56:10 +0000

Hi Angel, and welcome! It’s always amazing to me when another person says, “Hey, I do that, too!” I don’t know why it should still amaze me, since I know I’m not the only Aspie out there, but it does, and I’m glad it does.

I can relate so much to what you say about your church experience. I’ve had similar ones in a synagogue environment. If you haven’t already, you can read about my experience at:

http://www.aspergerjourneys.com/2009/05/18/toward-a-new-sense-of-belonging-part-2-my-experience-with-organized-religion/

By: Angel

Angel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:31:10 +0000

I cannot thank you enough for writing this. It cleared up so much for me. I haven’t found any articles articulating this for me and I have been trying to figure out why I do this. Seeing that I am not the only one brings me great peace and clarity to my mind.

Me finding this blog is perfect timing because in the last year I have left a church that constantly changed things, never spoke what they meant, and would ridicule me when I confronted them in anyway about their inconsistencies or flat out untruths. To read this now clears up a lot of lingering doubts that I have had.

Side note: Through my son I discovered that I too am on the spectrum and it has made my life so much better. Finding this out cleared up so many issues and everyday I am gaining understanding into our world. The final straw for me leaving that church was that one lady told me that “God, shut my sons mouth because I needed to have more faith”. (the funny thing is when we left that church he actually began to communicate a lot more and is now starting complex sentences, he was barely speaking at all at the time) That took a while to get through. Talk about confusion. And then I was told that he was not the way God intended so they were praying for his “healing”.

Being in a mixed state during that time I went round and round basically having the same conversation in my head as you wrote above and finally I am at a place where I can say they are full of it! However, I still find myself confused and sometimes doubting myself when I see them or hear about something they are doing.

At least now I don’t waste as much time on it.

Thank you so much for your blog!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:36:59 +0000

April,

Telling me that I’ve mirrored your experience so well is all the thanks I need!

By: April

April — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:49:30 +0000

You’ve so completely put my own experience of “taking people at their word” into words I don’t know how to thank you!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:58:10 +0000

Oh, Millie, I’m so sorry. I can’t stand it when adults laugh at eager, innocent children. I would have done just what you did.

Well, perhaps the law of karma is at work, and he’s come back as a snail.

By: millie

millie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:30:45 +0000

I might add…..
When i was a kid, the neighbour at the back was collecting snails from the garden floor and the leaves of tended plants in his damp and dark garden. Snails. My sisters and I asked him what he was doing. He said he was collecting snails for cooking. I beleived him. i do not think the other kids did. they knew he was joking. But he did add he would give us each some money if we collected up all the snails in his garden. I diligently set about with this task…believing every word of it and believing he would pay me money for the snails that would end up in his pot for dinner.

Eventually, i took a load of snails to him. Lots. He laughed, took the snails and then told me he was joking about the money and about eating the snails.

I found it appalling he would lie like that, and to this day i am disgusted that he used me to rid his garden of munching, slimy pests.