Notes on Asperger Syndrome and Long-Term Relationships

This is an old read, decided to go through and skim it again to see if any of my thoughts have changed over time – I found that a lot of the things I highlighted from before, no longer apply. Maybe over time, things have just improved.

As I read this, I think about how a lot of the things mentioned about those with mild autism exhibit traits like:

• Preference for structure
• Depth over variety
• Difficulty in social situations

A lot of these things sound like something an introverted person would prefer. Maybe just a correlation there.

The book mostly focuses on marriages between an Aspie and Neurotypical, and reads to the neurotypical. The variation is major, showing scenarios where the AS partner is pretty reasonable, and then having them be very hard to deal with.

Some other takeaways:

• Aspies tend to stick with their first impression (I find this accurate)
• Having a home is important for an Aspie, as it serves as a place of comfort.
• The focusing tendencies of an Aspie makes for a double edged sword – easy to choose a single direction and move forward, but can cause tunnel vision.
• Aspies don’t have a strong drive for socialization – which leads to a drive for less social activities.