Do you ever think you could be a bit autistic?

When I think back to my school days, always had problems sitting still and concentrating. Now I know I didn't have the brains to make it as an Doctor or Engineer, but I think if my focus had been better I could've maybe trained as an Accountant or done a Business Degree.

I'm also always fidgeting and touching my face.

Thing is I have no problems with talking to people, reading social cues or feeling empathy, which are supposed to be some of the main Autism traits

Rows Grower

I'd say you'd make a great mime artist, when life gives you lemons and all that.

Vita nova

Sounds more like ADHD than autism.

Jequ0n

People love excuses to justify their shortcomings, and autism seems a popular one these days alright.

If I remember correctly you already have a reason for being different, so why do you need another one?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189696#Comment_120189696

You've lost me there, what is the reason I already have for being different?

Andrea B.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189650#Comment_120189650

And then their reading of social cues negates that.....

gary550

Crossed my mind at one point

I've no interest in social situations for the most part, can be blunt at times, don't really show my feelings, not really overly personable

Then I realised I'm probably just a bit of a unsocial pr*ck and have no cognitive disadvantage

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189717#Comment_120189717

You were assessed already, and you were given a medical opinion.

I also thought that I had recognised your name as having mentioned bpd before but I probably mixed you up here.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058282490/do-you-ever-think-you-could-be-a-bit-autistic

While of course possible, be wary of amateur psychoanalysis merchants,they are everywhere nowadays and engage in this kind of thing as a power trip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189809#Comment_120189809

I was assessed for ADHD and told I don't have it. I was never assessed for Autism.

Faugheen

I often wonder the same, but with ADHD.

I was assessed for autism when I was younger but I wasn't diagnosed. I was a very late developer. Didn't talk until I was about 2 etc. I had a very childish demeanour during a lot of my teenage years (as in, pre-teen) but as I reached Junior Cert I seemed to put it all together.

I'm also quite fidgety, I need something in my hand all the time and I have a hard time relaxing.

One of my New Years Resolutions is to arrange an assessment, just to put my mind at ease.

Feets

I do...on a daily basis. A few little things ...but maybe we are all on a spectrum?

AyeGer

I've often thought i may be somewhere on the spectrum, i don't seem to get people like others do. I love company but am most relaxed when on my own or people i know well. Big social gatherings have always filled me with anxiety. I am quite sensitive to noise and i can be a bit odd. I am a big man for order and doing lists etc. Punctual to a fault as I'm far more likely to be early than late. These are probably just personality traits rather than autism or asperger's.

Having said that it hasn't really held me back in life and I've never went to anyone professionally to be assessed.

Potential-Monke

I'm fairly convinced I am on the spectrum somewhere. Looking back, with todays "knowledge", I reckon I'd be on the lower end. And as I'm getting older, it's getting worse. I don't have empathy for humans in general, a sad story doesn't stir me. I've no time for normal social interactions and I'm just not good at small talk. But I could talk for weeks about my (few) interests. Crowds and the subsequent noise they make are not for me. Even when I was more social in my teens/20s, I was never completely comfortable on nights out. Actually, the most comfort on nights out is when I used to just lean into the bass speaker so I couldn't hear anything else. I have a very short attention span and I don't remember small details or interactions in general.

But, I don't need a label. And I may not be, could just be cantankerous due to life experiences. I like that word. And it mostly suits. People suck.

NeutralHandle

I'm certain I am since my son was diagnosed with it on account of things he has in common with me.

I think there are misconceptions about empathy. There have been occasions when I felt physical pain in my chest while around someone in emotional pain, but I have been confused by the sensation until observing them crying or explaining how they were feeling. So, for me at least, it is not that I don't feel empathy, but that I might not recognise what it is or even be aware of what it relates to.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189561#Comment_120189561

Preferably invisible lemons.

Jafin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189956#Comment_120189956

Everything you wrote there is basically what I could write about myself. I think we're just standard introverts.

ELM327

Yes, but I've been diagnosed.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058282490/do-you-ever-think-you-could-be-a-bit-autistic

thinly veiled swipe at accountants 😀

freshpopcorn

I think I might have some issue going on. However I don't think there's much point worrying about it.

If you ever watched The Inbetweeners. I'm very like Will.

Tony EH

It's weird these days that some people associate normal, everyday, things with autism. Not minding your own company is not autism. Neither is being uncomfortable in a big crowd of people you don't know. Liking hanging out with one's friends isn't autism either, and being a fidget or lacking concentration certainly isn't autism too. Making lists or being polite enough to turn up on time isn't going to qualify for autism as well.

All of the above is just normal human behaviour.

And, no, we're not all on the spectrum. People with autism are on the spectrum.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189849#Comment_120189849

Get assessed. There's a minimum 6 month waiting list at the moment whoever you go to. I failed the ADHD one. I was later diagnosed with Autism.

Meanwhile try this out. It's a test developed by Borats cousin. Turns out he's a professor at Oxford (maybe cambridge)

https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191903#Comment_120191903

Meanwhile try this out. It's a test developed by Borats cousin.

I am 8 out of 50. High five! Great!

niallpatrick

My wife was a special needs teacher and she's said I might have high functioning Asperger's but she only taught special needs she's not in the position to clarify it professionally. I hate unnecessary noise don't like change I'm socially awkward but given any task I execute it with clinical precision without deviation. I used to work on building sites and engineering shops floors detested other workers and prefer my own company. If somebody knocked over a pallet of bricks I had to re-stack them, diss-order really bugs me even if the boss said to have someone else do it.

Honest as the day is long hate back tracking or doubling back and really short tempered with cold callers, thats my personal space and time you're trying to cross over so get lost. I can be crass ignorant but also the first to offer help. Reading back over everything I've written honestly I'd say I'm a product of the 6 counties, keep yourself to yourself trust no-one you don't know with a healthy dash of self preservation and paranoia. To this day if a car pulls over driver puts the window down they could be looking for directions or maybe not, I still stay back from the car.

Eircom_Sucks

labels on everything ffs

when i was a kid if somebody was crazy ( what we said back then ) they were just a fcuking idiot plain and simple

also wtf did peanut allergies come from ? i know they have always been around but i never knew anybody growing up who had an allergy to them

my sons 12 now and out of his 26 classmates , 11 have an allergy , yes i sh1t you not

laoisgem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191093#Comment_120191093

Exactly this, there's no such thing as "a bit autistic".

I remember specific years and months (sometimes in relation to trivial things) going back to an extremely early age. And I've some OCD tendencies about clutter, but I dunno if these are just standard things some people have, or characteristics of those low on the spectrum (it is said by people working in the area that everyone is somewhere on the spectrum).

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192527#Comment_120192527

Remembering dates is just something that's emblazoned itself onto your brain and that happens for a large number of reasons. I remember dates because I'm interested in history. So dates become "important", as it where, and there's nothing more trivial than remembering something you weren't even a part of 🤣 . Also tidying isn't OCD. It's just a good way of knowing where your shit is if you need to go back and get it later.

None of that is autistic. It's just normal stuff.

Jafin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192437#Comment_120192437

Labels are needed because of attitudes like this. My boyfriend has ADHD and he's one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. If we had no label/name for what he had then people like you would be going around calling him "crazy" and an "idiot," and he is neither of those things.

We are quick to dismiss things we don't understand. It's incredibly important to have names for conditions that exist.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192576#Comment_120192576

Oh yeah but some people think it's totally bizarre that I (and others) are able to say that such a thing happened in March '97 or August 2001 etc.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192639#Comment_120192639

i think he is saying he owns a label maker 😁

Back in my day

only about 1% of people have a peanut allergy, he doesn't even know anyone with it

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192744#Comment_120192744

They might think it's bizarre that you remembered something that they didn't. But you can bet that they've remembered stuff that's passed you by too. Some stuff just sticks in your head.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192476#Comment_120192476

There kinda is. With any type of condition like Autism it's always "You display a number of traits to X degree" therefore you have Y.

When I was tested for ADHD they tested me in 6 key areas. I scored high in 3 but to be ADHD you have to score high in 4. So I was left thinking, "I almost have ADHD?? What does that make me?"

People can have some of the traits and not have the condition.

Larbre34

To use the much wider definition of autism that is used to day, spectrums and variants and what what-not, everyone is a bit autistic. Everyone.

I've often thought the recent creep in such things do a great disservice to people with debilitating autistic disorders, finding themselves compared to Stefanie Preissner and Anthony Hopkins and Steven Spielberg.

I mean give them a break FFS.

Being a bit shy or having a genius talent for some creative art or other, is not autism.

If you want to know how much the term is abused and actual sufferers are disserviced by society now, take a look at this headline in various business journals only today!

Autism Spectrum Disorders Market is Expected to Expand at a Healthy Growth Rate by (2022-2032)

If that's not rank greed and exploitation, I don't know what is.

Andrea B.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191903#Comment_120191903

"30 out of 50. Some autistic traits ( Asperger's)."

The whole process of my daughters ADHD diagnosis some years ago, allowed the penny to drop with me as why my life had been so complex and distressing to both myself and others.

I consider myself self-diagnosed ADHD and function within a box of social rules ( to avoid mess-ups), along with some tools to aid organisation.

I’m like OP, restless, fidgety, impatient, but I’m pretty sure it’s ADHD rather than autism in my case. I have exotropic strabismus, where eye muscles cause my eyes to diverge outwards, sometimes characteristic of ADHD. I never slept much as a child either, and my mother always suspected I had ADHD but testing just was t done in the 1960s.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120192800#Comment_120192800

I'm not talking about remembering the event or incident, I'm talking about always knowing the year/month. I'm not trying to diagnose myself - it's not like I WANT to be autistic (and I know I'm not) but I'm just wondering whether I exhibit traits on the very low end of the scale (given that it's said we could all be somewhere on it). My "OCD" tendencies about clutter, cleanliness and attention to detail are more than just wanting tidiness (but it's not all consuming either).

Yeah, I reckon I'm pretty artistic.

Potential-Monke

Your score was 27 out of a possible 50.

Scores in the 26-32 range indicate some Autistic traits (Asperger's Syndrome).

Checks out imo. 6 more and I'm autistic? (Did anyone get above 32 so we can know if there's another range...)

Bobblehats

no sir I am altruistic

fits

Read about the broad autism phenotype. Ie meeting some of the traits but not to an extent to have an autism diagnosis. https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-the-broad-autism-phenotype-260048

BaywatchHQ

I'm very autistic but noone takes you seriously if don't have a certificate from doctor. I cannot obtain an official diagnosis as they require you to bring in an older family member to me interviewed about your childhood if you are an adult and I wouldn't allow this. It is an unfortunate hand I was dealt in this life as I don't have a normal life by any means and can't hold down job for longer than few months and without an official diagnosis society certainly don't give you any sympathy. Not that they would give you sympathy any even if you had a diagnosis.

Andrea B.

Not to take from this thread, but in case it helps any readers, there is an excellent thread in Long Term Illness section regarding Adult ADHD. Supports, diagnosises

(my ADHD will bring me back to edit that once I hammer down the correct plural for diagnosis 😁),

individual experiences and recommendations.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057610250/adult-adhd-advice

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194399#Comment_120194399

You don't have to. Some require it but some don't. Some assessments can be done remotely as well.

This place for example says you can bring someone but you don't need to. https://www.adultautism.ie/adult-autism-assessments

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194117#Comment_120194117

I just redid the test.

Your score was 38 out of a possible 50.

Scores in the 33-50 range indicate significant Autistic traits (Autism).

The first time that I did the test I scored about the same. So i redid it and tried really hard to be less autistic and scored higher. :)

Hodors Appletart

this is a fairly offensive thread

I received my diagnosis when I was in my early 40s

People making light of this condition need to have a word with themselves really.

what does "a bit autistic" mean, is this a joke? do you like making jokes about autistic people?

sad bastards

fits

Who’s making jokes about autistic people? I’m sorry you are offended but do read that article about the broad autism phenotype which is common particularly in family members of people with diagnosed ASD.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195406#Comment_120195406

Doesn't "a bit autistic" just mean low on the spectrum?

Hodors Appletart

there is no spectrum diagnosis anymore.

you are either diagnosed autistic or you aren't

I'm not here to argue the rights or wrongs of that - here's what my diagnosis letter states

I can confirm after these investigations that you are autistic and

meet criteria for autism as per the DSM 5 and ICD 10.

Glaceon

Took this out of curiosity.

Your score was 37 out of a possible 50.

Scores in the 33-50 range indicate significant Autistic traits (Autism).

But there are those with autism who are high functioning, and those who need care. There ARE differences.