What I like about being on the autism spectrum

Stephen McHugh
This post was last updated on
August 17, 2022
Category :

Being with autism can bring with it difficulties regarding socialising, communication, language and speech development delays. However, as I got older and a better understanding of it, I began to recognise several positive traits to it. The traits that I like about it in relation to my personal circumstances are outlined below.

Attention to detail

I like to read about subjects I’m passionate about, astronomy being a good example here. It is here where I may pay attention to obscure details which very few people are likely to know. Details could include the names of the nearest star to the sun, star clusters, the locations of various stars and constellations(star patterns) in the night sky. 

Visual skills

Being a visual thinker helped me to understand the concepts of fractions in mathematics better. See the link here to the post about how you can teach maths to children with autism. You should get an idea of what some fractions look like compared to others visually.

Expertise

Being able to do difficult sums without a calculator, which lots of people may find very difficult themselves.  Some things I did included calculating the number of hours, minutes and seconds in a year. In addition, being logically minded helped me to be good at learning foreign languages, since they involve grammatical rules when putting words together to form meaningful sentences. This leads me onto the next trait below. 

Absorb and retain facts

This is another way which has helped me to become good at languages, being able to recognise what certain foreign words mean in English. In addition, I’m able to memorise the written music for certain songs and play them on the piano from memory.

Methodical approaches

During one session on a computer course I once did, the group I was in were given a model of a lift connected to a control box. We had to get the lift moving, which was the easiest part of the task. The hardest part of the task was to get it to stop at a particular floor, no matter which level it was called from, which I managed to figure out by getting the system to recognise when the lift was at a certain level.

Creativity

Thinking up ideas for and writing stories. In addition, I can come up with creative ways to overcome certain limitations. An example here is on a computer where I recognised that one can put different shapes together to make recognisable objects. It is in the image for the blog post concerning how children with autism could be integrated into mainstream school. It is here where I used squares in combination with triangles and put them together to make coloured pencils.

Tenacity and resilience

There have been difficulties in relation to my language development delays, which have had an effect on my education. This had meant it would be harder for me to understand and apply new knowledge, and to achieve grades I’d be satisfied with. It is these difficulties which fuelled my determination to improve myself here regarding my language and general understanding. I now feel confident enough that my language improvement has given me the confidence to put my creative mind to use in the form of my own short stories.

Strong connection with nature

Being in a quiet area and listening to the birds and other sounds like the wind helps me to be calm and collect my thoughts together. It is in situations like this where my creative juices can really get flowing. Pin

I sometimes get opportunities to photograph weather and nature related photos, especially where there is plenty of colour, as a scene of a variety of colours for me represents the beauty of the autism spectrum, which includes the wide range of abilities and personalities of us on the spectrum along with challenges we face. This has also helped me to appreciate and respect how we’re all different and unique in our own right.

Loyalty

By devoted to various causes. An example here was when I joined a music group at a local church where I would remain for many years until the church closed and the parish was amalgamated with a neighbouring parish. After this, all parishioners from the old parish went to different churches in and around the local areas.


Leave a Reply to Marios Solomonides Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 comments on “What I like about being on the autism spectrum”

  1. This is refreshing to read. So often, autism is regarding as a deficit, when in fact it can be wonderful as you have shown here. I will share this with everyone I know!

    1. Thanks for your comment Marios. You're very welcome to share this with other people you know. I hope plenty of others can benefit from this.

Expand your Horizons

May 13, 2021
My personal poems of hope

New Hope Dawns In the dawn, a new day is born. May birds who sing, in the morning light, symbolise a spring, futures so bright, full of delight, with each new morn. Keeping Your Hopes Up As your hope soars, may my inspiration and positivity, continue to be yours, always opening new doors, even when […]

Read More
September 8, 2021
A letter to my younger primary school teachers

Dear My Younger Primary School Teachers I’m writing to you to explain the concerns you’re having with Young Stephen regarding his education. He is a completely new and unique case, affected by something not very well known to the general public yet. It is a condition which causes him to interact and communicate differently with […]

Read More
July 18, 2023
Autism and learning how to do laundry

One thing I’d like to talk about here is regarding some ways about how I’ve learned to do laundry, which is to do with washing clothes and bedding sheets too. It is one of those things that is very important for us to do.  Below, I’ll do my best to give you an outline about […]

Read More
envelope linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram