Could Asexuality be associated with NVLD and/or Aphantasia?

[DanceMacabrex3]

I am a person who suffers from a learning disability called Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD), and a condition called Aphantasia.  Aphantasia simply put means I am unable to mentally visualize images.  NVLD is a lot more involved, but is often described as having many similarities to mild autism.  I recently came across an article talking about the prevalence of asexuality among the autistic population.  Knowing data has shown that NVLD and autism are both associated with a decrease in the size of the corpus callosum, I was interested in hearing other's insight on whether there maybe a link between my two conditions and asexuality.  Any information or opinions would be appreciated!       

[ButterflyBlues]

I myself am asexual with high functioning Asperger's Syndrome. Sorry if that's not much help 

 

 

Edit: Oh I forgot to add that while I don't have aphantasia, I do struggle with visualizing things

[NickyTannock]

@DanceMacabrex3 I don't have any information or opinion on it, but I'm Asexual and do have Asperger's.

[Philip027]

Also aspie here.  I'm not a very imaginative person at all, but I don't think I have aphantasia; I'm not completely unable to visualize things.

 

There may be some degree of correlation, but just keep in mind the whole adage of "correlation does not imply causation" with things like this.

[drivethruwhale]

This is the first I've heard of there being a link, so it's something I'll keep an eye out for. If it helps I'm asexual with Aphantasia and what the doctor described as "Aspie tendencies" (meaning they wouldn't diagnose me autistic but felt I was close I guess?)

[Sally]

Nope -- I'm very visual, don't have aphantasia, am not autistic, and have been asexual all my long life.

 

Most things are not related to asexuality, just as most things are not related to heterosexuality or homosexuality.  

 

[everywhere and nowhere]

But correlation doesn't mean either that every asexual person should also have aphantasia or NVLD or that every person who displays signs of aphantasia or NVLD is also asexual. It's just about a larger probability. I think it's similar like with autochorissexuality/anegosexuality - not all autochorissexual people are asexual, but libidoist asexuals are much more likely to be autochorissexual than allosexuals. Or, perhaps, it's also quite similar with the transgender spectrum - most trans people aren't asexual, but the percentage of trans people among asexuals seems definitely much higher than among allosexuals.

I'm not sure if there is indeed a link between asexuality and aphantasia and/or NVLD, but if there is, it would probably work in a similar way as the asexual-autochorissexual or asexual-transgender link.

[Guest]

Im diagnosed mildly in autism spectrum, but i need to see things/hear things in practice to learn. 

 

Theory is hard. I learn by doing things. And thus am visually oriented. 

 

Idk if that is NVLD?

 

 

[Anthracite_Impreza]

I am autistic, but am very internally visual.

[Tintinfan]

I am dyslexic which is linked with a increased is corpus callosum size and aro ace 

[Marlow1]

I dont think any research has been done in this area, and I cannot think of any test that might prove or disprove if there is a link. My wife is highly visual, and she experiences all of her senses, almost as equal to real life, in her minds eye. When memorising events she relives the feelings from the time and can feel touch, her emotions etc in her body. In other words she has a very very active minds eye. She can read non-verbal queues more correcty than I can, but we have noticed that I do OK, except it seems when the body language, gestures and so on are sexual, or sexually related, eg I do not recognise when people are flirting??? This has caused some problems between us in the past

 

I may well be missing other subtle non-verbal communication too. Saying this though, I am social and empathic too. 

 

Watching musicals and romantic movies have helped me regarding all this. My wife and I watch them together (usually in half hour blocks), she tells me everything that is going on, and then we watch them again and again and again. This works for us because, well with me, I forget a movie within a month or two, so I can watch them over and over and not get bored, and she absolutely loves this kind of thing. 

 

Anyway, long story short, this movie thing has helped me understand better the love, sex, romantic, jealousy stuff (I dont get jealous, another story lol). And it has helped me realise more of what I am NOT noticing. Gosh, it is hard to describe something that we are NOT seeing, as opposed to describing what we are

 

Honestly, only three years ago, I had no idea at all about all the stuff that other people are actually seeing. I smply did not know that they are seeing what they are seeing. I absolutely had no idea that I was not seeing the world as other folk do ???

 

[LeChat]

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 12:38 AM, Sally said:

...I'm very visual, don't have aphantasia, am not autistic... 

It's the same for me, too; I haven't experienced any problems imagining things.

[Dreamsexual]

.

[secrethamster]

I can easily visualize things, so no aphantasia here. A couple people have mentioned I may be slightly autistic, but I do not have a diagnosis. I do not always pick up on social cues or understand interactions between people. This causes me to be more distant and not always engaged in conversations or social situations because I am often either confused or bored. Maybe this is partly responsible for my asexuality because I'm usually not interested in people in general, much less sexually. Who knows? I've chosen to stop worrying about the cause, if there is one.

 

I think there have been more questions regarding the correlation between autism and asexuality than aphantasia. 

[GoneForGood]

I am autistic but I am only nonverbal under stress. Also, I think in pictures and video. I am only one individual though and I am unsure how they might be related.

[starweb]

I can visualize things and as far as I know am not autistic but my brother probably has Aspergers. My family was screwed up anyway. Mom was probably a narcissist, dad was a social phobe, had a cousin who was probably an undiagnosed schizophrenic (what's weird is how we never thought anything about cousin Nell hearing voices and seeing dead people. We thought that was just her way....) and another who is a pathological liar who lives in the castles she builds in the air. 

 

So my growing up with all that might mean I have some other issues going on...

[everywhere and nowhere]

I can't really know how exactly do other people think, what exactly is happening indise their heads. So I don't really know how do other people imagine things. Do they really see anything? I can think about how does something look like, but if "visualising" is "actually seeing in mind's eye", then I don't - when I close my eyes, I only see darkness. While I can "see things" under the influence of certain substances, the psychedelic experience is for me definitely much more philosophic than visual. I'm also an extreme verbal thinker - I "say" whole sentences in my thoughts when thinking about something and can switch to thinking in a non-native language I know well enough (particularly English or German) - I'm mostly thinking in English when writing on this forum.

But I also believe in nurture more than nature and there are important factors here: for example, having learned reading early, combined with being rather a loner, combined with, for example, not being a physically fit person (which meant that I had relatively few opportunities for "adventures" as a child and instead only experienced them in literary form) - this made me have more contact with printed text than spoken word, this made me see much more words than places... Such factors cannot be free of any influence, so I don't necessary believe in any inborn tendencies in this case (and don't believe anyway that inborn is "better", more "genuine").

As for the autism question... this is tricky. Though I doubt autism specifically - maybe based on stereotypes about what is autism - because, for example, I'm very emotional. And one of my idees fixes is that "emotional" and "intellectual" / "thoughts" and "feelings" are NOT opposites! They are aspects of the same continuity of Experience and dividing it into such parts will always be artificial and a simplification. For me that are no unemotional thoughts and no unintellectual feelings and the same spreads to other aspects of internal experience or sensation, such as perception, memory... everything is experienced in a continuity.

Hence, of course, the word "thoughtfeeling", which I use occasionally to emphasise that I don't believe them to be separate phenomena.

On the other hand, something must be going on. I get hysterical easily, I have been accused of being mad literally hundreds, if not thousands of times. Yet, to be honest, I just fear psychiatrists. I'm afraid of a scenario in which my mom would "grab" on to a diagnosis which explains things to her well enough and would force me to take some medication which would make me just a calmly glad person and deprive me of Intensity. And I'd rather not live than not experience Intensity. So, basically, it seems that nothing has ever been diagnosed... I have only talked to specialists in children's psychology at an appropriate age and was anyway very distrustful because they would hold on to things I said even when I said them in a non-serious way (for example, for a short time I would call parents "the toxics" after reading a book in which one of the protagonists would keep talking about a psychological book which "explains" how parental influence is supposedly toxic... but I personally never actually meant it, so it was stressful having the psychologist expect me to explain something I anyway didn't agree with and only used that phrase as a kind of joke), because I - well, not without reasons - saw them as collaborating with my parents on changing things I don't necessarily want to change...

[Tunes]

I don’t have aphantasia and as far as I know, I don’t fall on the autistic spectrum. I do have problems socializing at times - in a similar way to those on the autistic spectrum (though this seems to be the only shared symptom), but I also had an abnormal childhood (socially speaking) and the symptoms can directly relate back to these experiences. As such, I have had to learn many social rules that are taken for granted much later in life than most people, so make of that what you will, I guess. 

[Marlow1]

@DanceMacabrex3 I repled earlier but I have just realised that I did not mention in my post that I have Total Aphantasia. I guess I sometimes assume folk know this about me since almost all my posts are about my Aphantasia and how it influences my sexuality. If you have any spare time please use the search box at the top of this page. If you type in Aphantasia and then my name, Marlow1 at the part where it asks for author, you will then find many posts that explain why I, and others, feel there is a link between Aphantasia and the way we relate to other folk and situations. There really does need to be some research into this area, I myself, have gained a lot of understanding both reading the posts and sharing my thoughts here at AVEN

[Marlow1]

On 12/19/2018 at 10:05 PM, Dreamsexual said:

I can visualise stuff.  But how would I know if my visualisations are as vivid as other people's??

There are some Aphantasia Tests, here is one

 

http://aphant.asia/have-i-got-aphantasia

 

I personally have Total Aphantasia meaning, I dont experience the other senses either, no sound, smell, taste, touch etc, and I do not have the voice in my head that so many other folk that have Aphantasia talk about

 

I cannot relive my past, I just know what happened. I do not relive the feelings from the time, instead I recall how I felt and then have feelings about that

 

When reliving their past some folk relive the feelings in their body, I do not experience this either

 

Not much research has been conducted regarding all of this. Right now we can only really go off what folk are saying, and this is subjective, of course

 

At this thread folk go into detail about what they are seeing, hearing, feeling etc in their minds eye when recalling stuff, in the present moment and when imagining the future and so on

 

 

[QueenOfTheRats]

Asexuality is correlated with autism, but all the info they gathered to come to this conclusion was off AVEN....which is a very autistic site to begin with,.

 

As for myself, I think I might have some sensory processing issue that contributes to my asexuality.