Adult with Autism | Dark Side of Autism | Autism Superpowers

I'm learning to become a coder and eventually a software engineer. People say my ability to teach myself coding is my autistic superpower. They overlook the fact that there are neurotypicals who do what I do and have a social life at the same time.

We are not the supermen of the world,we are the Clark Kent’s trying to blend into society very awkward and possibly seen as a bit strange by most people when are mask’s slip a bit 😂

The fact that you can "knock away the nonsense and look at what is left " is your superpower. If only the majority of people could do this, the world would be a far better place.

Where this particularly hit me hard, regarding employment and the difficulties of basically having to negotiate conditions that allow us to function in the workplace, is that the only real option we have is to be self employed. Somehow the best "solution" for high functioning autistic people being employed is to ignore their needs and encourage them to find something within themselves that they can sell. Because we're not worth accommodating, nor are our tremendous work ethics valuable when ethics themselves are a lie neurotypicals pretend they follow when people are looking but so often seek to undermine when they can. This is why I am so adamant about keeping my comfortable just barely liveable job which demands little of me, but also has no real major career progression or value. If I want to succeed in life I need that stability to find what in my skillset is commercially profitable and I can't do that in a workplace that doesn't want to respect that I need a task to perform unsupervised and I will succeed. The "superpower" mentality is so centrally focused around people who have managed to find what they can profit off of, or the conditions to focus, and often both. The average autistic person has neither.

“I can’t socialize. I don’t see the point. I don’t get anything from it” Same here. I was so confused growing up as I saw everyone else socializing and they seemed to love it and thrive off it. I on the other hand, had to force it. I learned good social skills at a young age in an attempt to help me enjoy socializing more - it didn’t work at all. I used drugs and alcohol in my late teens and 20s to help me feel more Motivated to socialize - they did work for awhile . I hate to say it but if it weren’t for drugs/alcohol I would have never had any sort of social life when growing up. I still wasn’t outgoing but I had a tiny dose of social life thanks to the chemicals. I had no clue about autism back then and I really forced myself to talk to people but never enjoyed it and always felt drained by it - this led to quite a bit of depression and detachment as it was so hard to relate to others .. at 38 I realized I had autism . And here we are a year later and still confused by it all

The most repeated phrase I’ve used in my life is “I hate people. Not individual people, well some are ok. I hate people as a collective. People are stupid and irrational.”

One reason why autism may seem like "superpower" is the ability of many autisic people to analyze things and view things without any nonsense. Because, and this may sound harsh and mean, most NT people have only tiny fraction of that capability. They have too much ego, feelings, emotional investment and other weirdness in the way, so they often cant see things as they are. NT people have usually hard time seeing things clearly. But I do agree. If this is a supper power, it comes with quite hefty price ... There was a thing in the beginning of your video, something I needed to comment, but then I watched the whole video, and my mind got fixed to some other topic. What a supper power this is indeed

It would be like trying to explain to someone with dwarfism that they have a superpower because they can fit into small places that most others can't fit; it completely ignores all the other major disadvantages.

I agree. When I was diagnosed it wasn’t anything more than someone telling me there’s a word for how I experience the world. It’s not a superpower, not least because I wouldn’t choose it if I didn’t have it. That being said, I think it’s just a way for some people to deal with the diagnosis. It’s difficult being told that the problems you have will likely never go away; reframing this in overly positive terms seems to help some people. I wish it could help me, but being isolated and not being able to hold down a proper job isn’t exactly going to make me the next Marvel led character.

I'm with ya on pretty much everything man, as usual

Unfortunately the media has only shown an interest in those with a diagnosis of Autism who have a 'gift' or 'superpower' However, these individuals who are savants are few and far between, but because those with autism possess such fascinating neurological processes the media and uneducated latch on to this. The majority of those with autism are just trying to navigate their way through life, most of the time if they are lucky pursuing their interest. Having worked in the field of autism for over 8 years working with adults on both ends of the spectrum I have never come across an individual with a 'superpower'. Thought processes on the other hand were phenomenal that no NT could ever understand. I believe this is where the media and uneducated folk sit at a cross road and label us. However, I suppose labeling someone as a savant is just as damaging! We never actually dive deep and appreciate someone for who they are.

These videos have kept me sane during a really testing year of my life. Thanks a bunch for existing.

Anxiety is the fuel that drives us and those of us who it’s very low energy

44 just realized I am autistic Thank you for sharing. I feel validated.

Im not diagnosed but my wife deeply believes I have autism. To be honest I agree with her. If I do have it I will tell anyone it isnt a super power to not be capable of building deep relationships with other people and to never be understood your entire life. Knowing youll die potentially never feeling a "true connection" with a human being. Yeah some super power -_-

I understand the the feeling of having a superpower! Another utuber described it as if she finaly got the hogwarts letter. For all my live i have hidden myself, i was ashamed of myself. This diagnosis gave me the feeling of not being a shitty human, and the final autism diagmosis is clearly revealing a superpower to me...

Have you read the comic Serious Engineering? The lead character is the most accurate depiction of autism I've read, particularly the road trip scene.

Love this video very well said..💜

Love this video and the points you make about teaching real life skills in school resonated with me so much! As well as being forced to learn about things we could care less about, not to mention being discouraged from deeply learning about the things we are passionate about. But that could be its own hours long video! I agree with your points and it seems rather condescending for a neurotypical person to ask or assume we have super powers. I do have a different perspective to offer on the superpower idea. I think when anybody can do something extremely well and it comes easier to them than the vast majority of others, that is viewed akin to a superpower. Autism comes with many struggles and hardships, doesn’t “socializing” almost seem like a superpower to many of us? Haha! The point is this: because of the way our brains are wired differently, many things that are easy for neurotypical people are sometimes extremely difficult if not impossible for us, but conversely, we can do certain things very well that would be near impossible for them. Common ones are the ability to hyper focus on a task (find me a better researcher than an autistic) and anything related to having overwired sensory circuits really. Having an extremely keen detection of details, being able to smell, taste, hear and feel things others can’t can be useful in some instances as well as frustrating and overwhelming. That’s what I think of when people say superpowers. They are second nature to me so they don’t seem anything special, but I do recognize they are unusual traits that can come in handy. It can be a devastating diagnosis late in life. As much as the relief that comes from knowing “oh, that’s why I do this, that’s why I’m like that” it can also be a dark hole of despair when you realize that all this stuff is just easy for most people and even with your monumental efforts to do some of those things, it still does make the grade. It would be nice to think it has some great upsides and “superpowers” to counterbalance the enormous challenges, so I do see the appeal. But only in regards to us telling ourselves and each other that, not coming from neurotypicals where it only reads as condescension.

Thanks for this video and your channel I’ve been having a look around. This video is sort of where I’m at right now but hopeful. Great to hear your perspective thanks.