60. Identity disorders
The AS's main challenge lies in the absence of a distinct, clearly defined identity with reference points that would give every piece of information a meaning and a place. Most AS individuals avoid gazing at faces, because it would mean entering an intimate space they prefer not to cross into, although a minority do so nonetheless. Furthermore, the AS misinterprets facial expressions and remembers very few of them, because all these faces are unfamiliar: they do not engage and immediately forget them. In conclusion, although the AS picks up a multitude of information, managing it remains complex, and few AS individuals succeed in building an identity of their own and optimising communication.
Identity, a real problem for the AS,
Examples:
The kind of question that does not work for the AS:
“What do you think?” (the AS usually gives no answer) “What do you want?” does not suit the AS, because the AS does not feel involved in the allistic concept of identity. These questions must be rephrased in an open way, unrelated to identity. For example: “What is the best meal, the best destination, the best music at the moment?” Informal second-person address should be avoided if one wishes to establish a genuine dialogue.
Source: Véra Helleman
The AS's refuge
The AS's identity lies in their passions: these are their refuge, their fixed point, their goal and their escape. “I am the sum of my passions; I am my heart's and my mind's desire for knowledge.” Some passions are fleeting, while others endure, sometimes for a lifetime.
Allistic people build their identity differently. It rests on a series of automatic processes linked to opinions, convictions, projections of self-images, and emotions and memories, all repeating according to circumstances. There are also centres of shared thought, along with attitudes and facial expressions that adapt to situations.
The AS, by contrast, does not possess these automatic processes. Their greatest strengths lie in their ability to produce original and independent thoughts and to create in unprecedented ways. An AS identity, if such a thing exists, is therefore characterised by its originality and independence. To illustrate this, let us quote Jacob Barnett…
Jacob Barnett (AS):
“Forget what you already know, look at things from your unique perspective, stop learning, never stop thinking, follow your passions and create something.”
In his youth, Jacob's extreme attention to detail held back his learning: he had great difficulty communicating and even functioning normally. He enrolled at Indiana University at the age of 10, without having attended school, having managed to absorb the vast majority of his institution's mathematics curriculum in just two weeks.