First run-ins with autism? - When did the curse first enter your life? :autism:

[Guts Gets Some]

Since :autism: is the literal keystone of KF, I began wondering how everyone here was first exposed to it. Could be an insightful topic!

I personally didn't even know what it meant until I started following Chris a good 10 years or so ago. Before that, especially as a child, the few times I did hear the word in sentence, "Give that boy space, he's autistic" etc, I would only hear "artistic"instead and get confused.
What did art have to do with it?
And it's especially strange I was never educated because I regularly would stay after school in after school programs, that had many, many disabled kids in it. My whole elementary school seemed to be half special needs, now that I recall. Yet it was only from Chris that actually got me in the know.

How about the rest of you? And if you have autism yourself, when did you first discover what it was, how it affected you and the like?

 

[Napoleon Bonerfart]

I thought I had autistic tendencies because I would repeat the same thing over and over, but it turned out that I just really like masturbating.

 

[Edgeworth]

There was a kid I went to elementary school with that was obviously exceptional but he would pitch bitch fits every time he didn't get his way - the most notable example I can remember is when he won the fourth-grade spelling bee because he whined whenever he got words wrong and he got several tries.

 

[sasazuka]

I vaguely remember a kid from kindergarten who was classified as a problem child due to loud freakouts that probably would be considered to be on the high (as in less-functional) end of the autism spectrum today but, back in the early 1980s, I think would probably have just been considered "retarded" back when that was still a term used by mental health professionals.

EDIT: Forgot the word filter, I meant the R-word in the last clause.

 

[BerriesArnold]

I went to a high school where we constantly had run-ins with a group of special students. One of them would do the Naruto run around the school halls whilst screeching.

He constantly had to be scolded for it. I remember some kids would exploit some of them and dare them to do socially awkward things for their amusement like run up to teachers and ask them inappropriate questions.

There was another one who I assume was high functioning. He was an ok kid and legitimately funny. I'm guessing he must have had a hard time with his learning speed or something.

 

[AF 802]

Probably some movie like the Rain Man, though I know now that was savant syndrome, not autism.

More in-depth though would probably be with someone like Chris.

 

[Capital Punishment]

My first run-in was my best friend for the better part of ten years. He has Asphergers; he was always super obsessive and had a tick where he blinked a lot. He also moves around in a very robotic and odd way. Nice dude, but I grew out of Minecraft and he never did. He has a normal life and job, but is obsessed with Minecraft. Its really hard to talk to someone who still enjoys Captain Sparklez and Markiplier. I feel kinda bad too, because I'm the one who introduced him to it when his parents strongly opposed it.

 

[Scratch This Nut]

My birth.

 

[YourUnclesDad]

I was in the first grade when I knew something was wrong. Sigh.

 

[Caesare]

And it's especially strange I was never educated because I regularly would stay after school in after school programs, that had many, many disabled kids in it. My whole elementary school seemed to be half special needs, now that I recall.

Sounds like your parents put you in the right school.

 

[RG 448]

I first learned about it as a kid when our teacher told us autists were people unable to feel and experience human emotions and that they were potentially dangerous to themselves and others, but that if you dropped a bunch of pencils on the floor they’d count them instantly. Of course thanks to modern science we now know that last part is false.

 

[Rand /pol/]

Ur mom

 

[PorcupineTree]

Never heard it used as an insult until I came here.

 

[Fish Doctor]

My grandmother's neighbors had a full grown autistic kid who couldn't speak a word but was strong as fuck. My grandma always told me if I was swimming in the pool and I heard him coming outside I should go in because he liked to hurl bricks and lawn furniture over the fence.

 

[UW 411]

I'd talk about the first time they held me down and recorded my screams but I'm non-verbal and I can't stop flailing my hands around long enough to type for long.

Stop staring at me! I can't cope with eye-contact!

 

[Scratch This Nut]

I don't know what OP expected from this.

 

[Caesare]

My grandmother's neighbors had a full grown autistic kid who couldn't speak a word but was strong as fuck. My grandma always told me if I was swimming in the pool and I heard him coming outside I should go in because he liked to hurl bricks and lawn furniture over the fence.

There was this reetarded black kid at my school in first grade. He looked about 10 years older than all the other kids and used to stay under this tree at recess. He always had a dumb, blank smile on his face and if you'd get close to him he'd lift you up and toss you as far as he could. Naturally, we made it a game to make him chase us around and if he caught you, you lost (and got tossed).

 

[Wheezy Asthmatic]

In high school, they put one of the autistic kids in my math class. Up until this point, I had a few spergs for friends here and there but never anything exceptional so I didn't have a clue what to look out for.
Anyways, I was in a really shitty mood that day for whatever reason and this kid would not fucking leave me alone. He kept referencing that eps from South Park about sniffing cat piss by constantly saying " You cheesin? " over and over and fucking over. For 5 fucking minutes this tard kept saying it & I eventually sperged myself by slamming my mathbook (which weighs 5 lbs) onto my desk and screaming " HOLY SHIT, WILL YOU STFU. NOBODY IS FUCKING ' CHEESING ' YOU RETARD. "
The look on his face changed so quickly from glee to shame and he sulked at his desk for the remainder of class.
Miraculously, I didn't get in trouble because the teacher was trying too hard not to laugh but she did pull me aside a couple minutes later and finally hinted that he was... special. She wouldn't say it outright due to school policy but I got the message.
Still didn't fucking go easy on him though because after that incident, he would just constantly try to pick fights with me. And by fights, I mean challenging me to a Pokemon battle. I honestly wish I were kidding.

 

[Monsieur Guillotine]

My best friend from grades 2 through 8 was this weird kid who had similar interests to me. He had bouts of autistic rage that would spring up almost out of nowhere, where even the smallest thing would set him off. It was like he wanted to get mad, and he'd make a scene whenever he got the chance.

It didn't occur to me until I read the OP, but now that I think about it, all signs point to :autism:

pitch bitch fits

Say that 5 times fast.

 

[gaping yiffer]

Changed schools and became best friends with this girl, best friends for 7 years, she got diagnosed with autism about 6 months ago. Honestly didn't believe her at first. She lets me call her spergy dyke so it's fine. Has a tendency to tick and get overwhelmed with lights and noises and shit, no idea how I didn't notice the second she called herself a gender-fluid otherkin homestuck fan but that's another story.