(Part 1/3) A Summary of My Asperger's Syndrome - Lack of Social Understanding

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Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist. My case of Asperger's syndrome is different from others'.

A lack of social understanding, limited ability to have a reciprocal conversation, and an intense interest in a particular subject are the core features of [Asperger's syndrome].

- Tony Attwood, The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, 2007, p. 12

That sentence above is what I lazily (怠惰に/たいだに) tell most people because for me, Asperger's syndrome is so complex and full of different "parts" that I could talk about this for hours.

But having one or more of these traits (katangian; 特徴/とくちょう) show in normal people (普通な人) can happen, especially in this time of social media addiction.

So what makes me different from these normal people? These traits are much stronger in me. And I will explain them in more detail.

Tara, turuan kita. それでは、説明しましょう。

—

Sticker from Genshin Impact

Often, I don't know what to do when talking to people.

I see a group of classmates or coworkers joking around and I either don't know how to join in or I'm just not interested.

Speaking of "not interested", people with Asperger's syndrome are direct. I usually don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but I just can't 100% "stop" being direct. From my point of view (POV; pananaw; 観点/かんてん), telling the truth lets people clearly understand what I think so they won't get confused. Hindi sila malilito. 難しくないですね。

I also have super strong morals (道徳/どうとく). A good example is I like writing paragraphs to people because I believe it makes me honest and hardworking. I think simple replies (単純な返事/たんじゅんなへんじ) like "ok" (intentional bad grammar) are lazy and rude.

An example of someone I can't make friends with because of my morals are people who drink too much alcohol and/or smoke. Yes, I know drinking parties/inuman/飲み会 are important in the Philippines and Japan but I just don't care. I hate the taste and the bad health effects of alcohol and cigarettes.

Many people, however, are not direct. It takes me a long time to, for example, see if someone is not interested in talking to me anymore since they're so good at pretending to be interested.