So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it?

Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

Well, I have autism and I'm dating someone with autism and my cousin has autism so there!

I was diagnosed unusually early for someone on the high-functioning end mainly because I was extremely above average for my age for a while until I was 5 years old and I sort of plateaued a bit. Most people expected a kid this young with autism to be retarded or a total savant and I was neither of them. Again, I was just above average at best...

Now I am in a relationship with someone with autism I guess it is kind of different, but not too different. I mean, we are very content with being chaste which I guess is kind of unusual, especially in today's day and age where sexless relationships are looked upon as bad and even if you decided to be chaste until marriage, you better have lots of temptation and stuff. To me, I just don't really see a point, if I were to right now, it would just feel very forced like "sex for the sake of having sex and that is what society dictates we do" kinda sex.
 
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Are you on the autistic spectrum?

I've noticed that many people who follow Chris mention that they are on the autistic spectrum themselves. I'm curious if my observation correlates with reality in this forum.
 
Re: Are you on the autistic spectrum?

I've never been formally diagnosed with an ASD but from the difficulties I have making friends and starting relationships, my experience closely resembles individuals suffering from either nonverbal learning disorder or mild Asperger's Syndrome. Essentially, I'm blind to body language, and this has made many childhood and adolescent milestones a struggle for me.

As a child, I was what you would call "obnoxious" or "annoying" to most of my peers: I would have limited interests, prate endlessly about a topic others had no interest in, talk over people to get my word in, etc. By the time high school came around, I stopped being "annoying", only by checking out of social relationships entirely and spending four years alone in my room. From Pre-K to 12th grade, I had not made a single close friend. Dating, a social activity heavily dependent on body language and subtle mating dances, was and still is my definitive "hardest thing in the world". Today, I only have two or three people I can describe as close friends.

I honestly just figured I was fat or ugly or something until I met my current girlfriend, who basically told me I never seem to pick up on anything subtle, can't understand sarcasm from her or others, and need to have everything explicitly spelled out. Until I met her, I honestly had no idea, but it all makes sense in retrospect. US mental healthcare is broken and useless, so I refuse to get tested for anything. All I have to go by are elementary school tests, which revealed extremely strong verbal aptitude and a simultaneous mathematics and reasoning deficiency...a disparity that fits the diagnostic criteria for NVLD or milder forms of AS. There's also a theory that NVLD is the same as AS, and to call it differently would be splitting hairs...but generally, people with AS tend to be good at that math and reasoning stuff I was deplorable at (usually tended to score straight B's in these areas compared to straight A's in English, spelling, etc.).
 
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Re: Are you on the autistic spectrum?

Nope. I'm just weird.
 
Re: Are you on the autistic spectrum?

I was almost diagnosed with aspergers as a child. Explains a lot, actually.
 
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Re: Are you on the autistic spectrum?

My mom thought I had mild autism when I was a kid because I had very strict speaking patters and hated change, but I think that was because I was an only child who had to follow my mom to a lot of lectures for her master's degree.

I'm normal now.
 
Re: Are you on the autistic spectrum?

I've taken online tests related to the autism spectrum on 23andme.com (a personal genome analyzing service). One test is the the Empathy Quotient, another is about the Systematizing Quotient, and the third is about reading others emotions in their eyes. I scored average for the EQ, above average for the SQ, and average for the emotion-eye reading test. I've only learned recently from my psychiatric therapist that I may be on the autism spectrum (most likely high functioning/Asperger's), and it explains so much in my life.

Similar to OPL, I was mute as a young child and had to go to speech therapy. My worried mother put me in the "special ed" version of preschool, which I noted even as a young child that the children there were far worse off mentally than me. I didn't really learn how to talk until I was 4-5. But even if I did know how to talk, I didn't make friends easily since I preferred to keep to myself and study and collect the pebbles on the playground.

I've always been a bit weird and eccentric. I was obsessed over specific topics such as rocks and birds (which I am still obsessed with today!) and didn't dress fashionably. I didn't really know to socialize properly with others either; more often than not I inadvertently embarrassed myself. Some pricks in elementary school thought it would be fun to bully me for being "weird." This only served to make me paranoid and bitter towards new people in general.

Somehow I've been able to make friends and meet new nice people, mostly of the nerdy and friendly types. I'm still eccentric, but nowadays people just find it interesting and I make people laugh with it. But I hate socializing and meeting new people. Looking people in the eyes is almost unbearable for me. And I never truly understand people, because I still don't understand social cues. I might be missing out on some vital social cue that I'm pissing someone off or something. I'm much happier studying geology and ornithology in solitude than trying to understand the enigma that is human social interaction.
 
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Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

Mourning Dove said:
I've noticed that many people who follow Chris mention that they are on the autistic spectrum themselves. I'm curious if my observation correlates with reality in this forum.
Click to expand...

So you necroed a six month old thread the other day but missed that there's already a thread for discussing your autism here in General? :|

Merging them now.
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

brooklynbailiff said:
Mourning Dove said:
I've noticed that many people who follow Chris mention that they are on the autistic spectrum themselves. I'm curious if my observation correlates with reality in this forum.
Click to expand...

So you necroed a six month old thread the other day but missed that there's already a thread for discussing your autism here in General? :|

Merging them now.
Click to expand...

I wish the search engine was better so that I could specifically search in specific forums, such as searching in General specifically. When I tried searching for a forum like this today what I got were pages related to Chris that I had to sift through.
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

Mourning Dove said:
I wish the search engine was better so that I could specifically search in specific forums, such as searching in General specifically. When I tried searching for a forum like this today what I got were pages related to Chris that I had to sift through.
Click to expand...

Or you could've, y'know, clicked on the number two at the bottom, gone back one page and perused thread topics and found it.
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

My brother is a PDD-NOS case.

I just have ADD and very rapid cycling bipolar disorder
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

I am a being of fire and unholy rage. Does that count?
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

I don't have autism but a friend of mine from college does, specifically he is a high-functioning autistic. I find him to be a rather good person, especially as brony who isn't some crazed fan-boy. As far as I remember, he said he uses internet memes to be predictable in what he is trying to say I believe. I'd have to ask him again to remember what he means by it.
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

Although never diagnosed, I was thought to have been autistic when I was younger, and maybe still have some mild form of it as I have gotten older, who knows.
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

Surtur said:
I am a being of fire and unholy rage. Does that count?
Click to expand...

I dunno, but you know, the internet makes everyone autistic soooooo...
 
Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

I'm on the spectrum. I had a lot of trouble with sensory input as a child, certain sights/sounds/smells and even flavors would just cause me to shut down. I also had to teach myself social cues, how to laugh, etc. I still manifest some obvious symptoms like speaking too loud occasionally without realizing, not liking to be touched by or particularly close to most people and a strong aversion to change in routine. Most people don't even know that about me and are pretty surprised if it comes up in conversation.
 
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Re: So who else here has autism, or knows someone who has it

>> still manifest some obvious symptoms like speaking too loud occasionally without realizing,<<

I have that issue. My ears always feel turned down in volume compared to others. I had a hearing test done when I was in college, because I was super embarrassed about my hearing problems. They didn't find any issues :/
 
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