What actually makes aspies (anyone with Asperger’s syndrome) different from neurotypicals (any person with a typical brain structure)?
This question is very deep so I’ll actually be doing this in parts. This first part is actually going to be covering how aspies are similar to neurotypicals in how they handle stress, rather than focusing on how they are different.
In a multitude of ways, aspies are very similar to neurotypicals. Let’s check out one of them 🙂
Handling Stress
When a person encounters a stressful situation, it is incredibly common to look for comfort in a wide array of ways. Perhaps this happens by going to something familiar, or perhaps talking to a trusted person, or even eating ice cream! Countless numbers of things can help relieve stress. Even wringing hands and shifting around is a sort of comfort (even if a small one) when preparing for something scary like a speech of some sort.
Well guess what? All of the things I just mentioned as ways of dealing with stress are things that aspies use to relieve stress as well! The key difference is that the source of our stress is very commonly “invisible” to neurotypicals. Generally, this is a result of aspies typically having an extreme sensitivity to sensory inputs. Because of this, a perfectly normal situation as perceived by a neurotypical might be incredibly loud and uncomfortable for someone with autism.
All this leads to the aspie “acting oddly” only because he/she is trying to be comfortable and less stressed by doing what any neurotypical would do under stress of the same caliber!
Never stop asking why an aspie (or anyone) is doing something! Never assume. There are so many more perspectives far outside of your own.
Feel free to ask any question you have regarding Asperger’s at “wouldaspie@gmail.com”