I was wondering if there’s any other autistic people on here and what’s your experience of it?
I was diagnosed in my 30’s and it’s not provided the relief you read about in The Guardian

Nope, can’t draw for shit

🙂

Lol, I fell for that and double checked my spelling

Yup, diagnosed with Aspergers 2 years ago

I definitely have a lot of autistic traits but no formal diagnosis.

This is STW.
The question should be – “how many of you are not autistic”.

The question should be – “how many of you are not autistic”.

Most.

2 year wait for the test/diagnosis here….

Boy2 is autistic.

The more I learn about it the more I see traits in myself. I wouldn’t diagnose as on the spectrum, but I have a lot of borderline tendencies and struggle with certain aspects of “normal” life.

I can empathise with some of my son’s difficulties, because I’ve had to learn how to cope and for most of my life hide the same things. I’m not anywhere near the level of serverity that he is though.

My daughter was diagnosed a few years ago with Aspergers. Going to the information evenings I recognised many of the signs in myself. No diagnosis though.

o/

No but do struggle with spelling words and it’s getting worser

I did some reading up and testing and believe I am undiagnosed mild ASD. Certainly the reading up was a lightbulb moment ” now I understand why sometimes I don’t understand”

No point for me in going for a formal diagnosis now. I retire soon and I have my coping strategies. What the realisation has done is allow me to hone my coping strategies and also to realise that other folk really do not think like I do.

At what point does “normal” become ” a bit odd” become “downright eccentric” and become worth a label of “autistic”? I am sure if I went to school now I would come out with a few labels. would it hve helped me? I am not sure.

Nowadays its considered a spectrum disorder so a wide range of disabilities from folk who function fine in the world with occasional WTF moments to profound disability

It’s a pretty open question how many adults would, if they were kids now and going through school, be diagnosed as ASD. Not me, I’m just a prick. But I work a lot with kids with aspergers/high functioning autism and other developmental conditions and even though it’s not for me to diagnose, there’s people I know that I’ve really no doubt.

@Northwind I’ve wondered that, given how our understanding of it has changed over the years

Also just improved awareness and understanding in schools- I’m from pretty much the last generation where dyslexics were often written off as thick and where ADHD kids were just assumed to be wee shites but I guess a generation or two before anyone knew what aspergers was so they were still thought of just as being weird. And not so long after left handed kids would be forced to learn to write with the right.

It’s pretty interesting seeing our kids react to this stuff- say what you like about millenials, these things they hold to be self evident, that not all people are born equal and that trying to treat them all the same is fundamentally stupid, but that doesn’t mean just writing people off or trying to batter square pegs into round holes. It’s amazing the progress that’s been quietly made, it’s not perfect but not one of these will let their kids be told off for being who they are.

Eee, a remember when a were a lad, all these were just called mongos.

In the original question are you talking about proper autism or aspergers/autism spectrum disorder as they call it now?

Certainly the reading up was a lightbulb moment ” now I understand why sometimes I don’t understand”

I think lightbulb moment is a perfect way to describe what I felt when I first realised what aspergers was a few years ago, it was like suddenly there was an explanation for every thing I did and felt throughout my life. I only sought help as it got to the point where it was causing big problems with my girlfriend, I managed to get referred by my gp for a diagnosis which was an 18 month wait but I thought that might be the light at the end of the tunnel.

It didn’t turn out that way though and despite having lots of the traits they needed evidence from my childhood for a diagnosis and I’m pretty sure my parents just went into the bit where they were interviewed and said there was nothing wrong with me and I was fine as a child. I think about everything in a pretty black and white way so going from that lightbulb moment where everything suddenly made sense to being told I wasn’t being diagnosed hit me fairly hard for a while and made me question myself a fair bit.

I still have times where I find things really hard but I’ve got to the point where I’ve probably got my coping strategies pretty much sorted out and I’m quite lucky that I’ve got an understanding employer and my work is quite specialist so being the way I am is actually an advantage in my job I think.

Probably rambled on a bit there, it’s strange how I can get that lot out to a load of strangers the internet yet can’t talk about it with any of my friends or family.

I appreciate autism is a spectrum and a suite of behaviours rather than a single thing. However, as a high school teacher it looks to me as if the bottom end of that spectrum has become very blurred and that we are in danger of using it to pathologise normal* behaviour.

I have a number of pupils with official diagnoses who show none of the traits one would expect and some schools are further muddying the waters by telling teachers certain pupils have ‘some autistic traits’ or other such vague and unscientific labels.

From reading around I know this is something that is a concern for some autism campaigners too.

*You know what I mean.

My son was diagnosed aged 4 with Aspergers and after witnessing all of the aspects of life he finds difficult there is little doubt in my mind that I feature somewhere on the spectrum. A few years ago both myself and his Mom went through the Signet Training which has helped him enormously through adolescence but also confirmed the suspicions about myself. I don’t feel the need to get a formal diagnosis but being much more aware has helped improve my life. It’s a real shame there wasn’t the structures in place when I was a kid.

Whenever these threads come up I read the descriptions of Asperger’s and the experiences of those diagnosed with it, and recognise a lot of myself in those descriptions.

But, I suspect I’m just a bit shit at social interactions.

With a son who has a diagnosis – high functioning autism, – and that has definitely raised the thoughts in my head too. How I behave (how I have always been) and react to situations, what I like (and don’t like), and character traits – not all of them good …

So quite possibly on the spectrum (as, I do now think, was my dad…)

definitely rubbish at the general social stuff. And I can’t draw/paint, either 😉

Not me.

I’m just a good, old fashioned weirdo.

Spin – I very much agree. Those who like me recognise some traits in themselves – do we have ASD or are we like Northwind and Perchypanther – just pricks and weirdos or a dork like me? Or are we all “on the spectrum” somewhere.
This amused me:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dxriGm]46210869_2301832976706479_4975574489766035456_n[/url] by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

I am, what used to be called aspergers but is now just on the spectrum.

Negatives
Poor social interaction – lack of small talk (even at 8 years old remember asking my mum what is the point of making small talk), inability to make new friends
Direct and blunt approach to others (which obviously comes across as rude)
Can deal with certain noises (just someone eating crisps next to me means I have to move away)
Obessessions with things (i.e. cycling) and ability to bore people senseless talking about what I am interested in

Positives
Very focused and organised
Got a well paid job in IT (like most of the others in my department!)

I know my behaviours and over the years have managed to deal with them better and better. For example up until my twenties I couldn’t look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

Of course this is easy when you are a high functioning person but not an option for those with more severe autism and calling it all autism is not really helpful.

For example up until my twenties I couldn’t look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

We have a SW engineer like that, I specifically don’t say hello to him when I arrive, as I realise that probably ruins his morning!

I have Kerley’s negatives, without the positives.
I only “found out” when my missus suggested I was “a bit like” Saga Noren!
Who knew?!
Then I researched further and happened to have a retired neighbour who (still) works for a local authority with child diagnosis and confirmed that I am indeed “an old fashioned weirdo”.
I hide it well.

I only “found out” when my missus suggested I was “a bit like” Saga Noren!

I have been known to sit in my underpants at work drying my shorts and socks on the radiator in an open plan office, after getting rained on. Does that count?

I score very highly in any “Reading the mind in the eyes test”, so I doubt that I am. Likely just a bit of social anxiety, I only fail to look people in the eye when I’m nervous/a bit manic – being good at reading people seems to sometimes contribute to the nerves depending on what mood I wake up in – other days it means I can be really social. The friends who have known me the longest think I have ADHD though. I ended up in the weirdest role for someone who can be disorganised and easily distracted….

Un-diagnosed high functioning probably Asperger here.

Had the realisation last year when watching C4’s programmes on ASD.
Had a bit of weight lifted, i understand now what my triggers are that overwhelm me and what i need to do to decompress
Told a couple of friends, one’s response was just “Well no sh*t”, not had to talk about it again, it’s just accepted

Definitely footflaps. Ha.
Btw there was an interesting doc with Sir Chris of Packham which is worth a look.

Somewhere there “on the spectrum”. As is eldest offspring, I think.

Throughout teens and twenties I genuinely thought of myself as subnormal / deficient, because clearly everyone should be an outgoing super social wizard of interaction, and I’m not. At all. The lightbulb moment for me in late twenties was just realising I shouldn’t GAS about “fitting in” or what anyone else thought.

Relationships are obscenely hard. I just don’t “get” what is going on a lot of the time and have to have it spelled out. I can’t pick out words if there is more than one person talking, but with music I can hear most every phrase and tone. “Medium” levels of noise can be painful. I remember numbers and tech data easily but day to day things not at all. I eat many of the same things every day at the same time. Quiet time alone is almost always preferable to social time. I’m happier in routines and not when out of them.

I’m better at coping with norms these days. I’ve learned, somewhat mechanically, how to interact, to a reasonable extent. It is always difficult and always tiring and always feels a bit scripted.

I’m lucky to have wound up in (shock) software and engineering, so I get to earn a crust without having to feel stressed about my work.

Getting a diagnosis either official or unofficial won’t be an instant relief, but you can use it to start finding out some life strategies that have helped other ASD types.

For example up until my twenties I couldn’t look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

I have exactly the opposite problem. I break into a cold sweat if I have to have a conversation where I can’t look someone in the eye…. I despise using the telephone and can’t hold a conversation with someone in the next room or even if they’re sitting in the back seat of the car whilst I’m driving.

Having said that, I am a weirdo

edit: on reflection I may have been scarred as a child by watching Captain Scarlet which has left me freaked out by disembodied voices.

And torches.

From reading around I know this is something that is a concern for some autism campaigners too.

I sometimes suspect that boys normal behaviour can get pathologised simply because a lot of female teachers and shrinks don’t intuitively get them
or leap to conclusions when confronted with someone different to them.

However I don’t know that much about the subject.

I’d be interested in if there has been any work done on misdiagnosis.

The Chris Packham doc was excellent.

To all those who have “read about it, and had light bulb moments”, what have you read? It’s a genuine question, I’d like to read up myself.

I hate to say it but stuff on the net. Can’t even remember what and where. Autism societies maybe?

I’ve got aspergers. did not find out until my 30’s. I self diagnosed at first.

no. there are some things i find difficult that align with aspergers but not to a severe degree.

i wonder how many self diagnoses are akin to claiming to ‘be a bit OCD’ when you just like stuff lined up…

Obsessive, noise sensitive, little empathy, don’t show emotion. But not well-organised. I’m an out-going introvert who needs to force oneself to interact. Curiously I like presenting and public speaking. In another life I’d do stand-up comedy instead of Science. Read a few books on diagnosis of ASD. I came to the conclusion that not knowing or caring what others think about you is probably just middle age grumpy sod syndrome (MAGSS) though. It’s a spectrum so everyone is on it. Wavelength is what matters.