New; aspie-like quirks, likely not diagnosable

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Hi, I'm new. I don't know how long I'll stick around; I might be here for a while, or I might not.

I'm a 26-year-old graduate student in linguistics.

About 5 years ago, I read up a lot about autism and Aspergers. I saw a lot of things in myself that were similar to descriptions of people with Aspergers, but I also saw quite a few things that didn't really seem to fit. I seriously considered the possibility that I might have Aspergers, but eventually decided that I didn't really fit the criteria, even if I had some similar characteristics. I laid the topic aside and didn't think about it very much in the next few years, even though I was aware that some of my characteristics were Aspergers-like.

Then unexpectedly, about a week and a half ago, I was visiting with a good friend, who I'll identify as B, and in the course of our discussion, he told me that he'd long thought I was somewhere on the autistic spectrum, but he had previously decided not to tell me and just now had spur-of-the-moment changed his mind. He said something to the effect that he had decided not to tell me because I was so completely functional, it was beautiful.

This made me think a lot. When it was just me who had considered the possibility, it seemed likely that it could be the 'horoscope effect' - what happens when you look at a description (such as a horoscope sign description) and think it applies to you because you're looking for it to apply to you, not because it actually applies to you more than to other people. But if B considers it probable that I'm somewhere on the autistic spectrum, it seems much less likely to be just the horoscope effect; his word on the topic carries some weight to me because he a) is very perceptive about people; b) has a degree in psychology c) knows me well and has known me for years and d) has experience working with autistic people.

The next day I talked to another good friend (G) about my conversation with B, and discovered that he had also considered the possibility that I'm on the autism spectrum, though he was less solid in his opinion than B - it was more of a "that's plausible" than an "I think that's the case". Similar to B, he said that even if I am on the spectrum, it works for me.

Thinking a lot about this in the past week or so, and reading up about Aspergers and related things again, I still come to the conclusion that I don't meet the diagnostic criteria, even if I have some similar characteristics. I was interested to discover the concept of the Broader Autistic Phenotype, which seems like a category that I would likely fit into.

Here are some of my characteristics that I think are autistic-like and not.
I think the biggest autistic-like characteristic about me is that I'm (mildly) bad at pragmatics - specifically, at interpreting what people mean in context. Over-literal interpretation and difficulty recognizing certain kinds of jokes (especially jokes that masquerade as serious) are part of this, but there's more to it than that. I could go on but that's probably better saved for a different post.

I'm not socially perceptive; I've long known that I can be rather clueless about social nuances, and G has also commented several times on how I'm generally unaware of social cues (and has attributed the fact that I tend to be fairly blunt to that). However, I perceive and understand enough to stay on good terms with pretty much everyone around me, and I'm generally able to avoid offending people, so I'm not completely clueless.

Unlike what I typically read about people on the autistic spectrum, I process facial expressions and tone of voice primarily intuitively, not consciously. I'm not highly perceptive in these areas, but what I get intuitively is generally adequate.

I don't care much about social convention.

I don't feel a strong need for routine; however, I get quite stressed when I don't know what I'm doing, such as if I'm in a new situation and I don't know what to expect, or if I need to meet someone and they're late, or if I need to go somewhere and don't have good directions, or if I think there's a procedure I'm supposed to follow and I don't know precisely what it is.

I don't think I fit the repetitive/restricted behaviours or interests criterion. I've always had strong interests, but I don't think they've ever been narrow - they've always been strong interests in the context of a wide range of interests. I don't have any repetitive behaviours or stims; I fidget a lot, but I think that's a different phenomenon.

I don't have many sensory issues; the one I do seem to have is an extreme sensitivity to spicy things, including black pepper (which tends to trip people up, because most people don't think of black pepper as spicy). I think I have a lower than average tolerance of noise, but not low enough to be outside the range of normal.

I think that's enough for now; I may end up bringing up other things later. I'm still in the process of organizing my thoughts about this.

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

You seem very similar to me. The only difference between us that makes almost positive I have Asperger's is that I flap my hands a lot. Oh I guess I have really narrow interests. If you want you should go to to this link

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/tests/default.asp

It has something called an Adult Asperger's Assesment Test. Have someone with you who knows you really well and answer the questions with them. Some of the questions are hard to answer by yourself because you probably wouldn't notice some of the things they're looking for. I went through it with my dad and my step-mom and we all came the the conclusion that I do indeed have Asperger's.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Cassia.

There is a lot of room on the spectrum. I just learned about NLVD (which has a disturbingly non-intuitive definition that does not fit its name and that REALLY BOTHERS ME- sorry for the derailing rant) but that is just an example. There is a wide variation and we are all different, but share many of the same troubles, and can offer each other insights and encouragement.

I don't know if I "have it or not" but I feel a solidarity here that suits me fine, so I stay; nobody has kicked me out yet.

Hope you like it here too.

Thanks for the welcomes.

dustintorch, thanks for the link. I'm interested in trying the assessment, and I have a couple close friends I think I could get to go through it with me. I'm not really comfortable talking about this topic with my family, at least at this point, so I hope it doesn't have to be someone who knew me when I was a child.

To download the assessment, you have to fill out a little form that asks for your name, organization, and email address. The terms of condition say it's for professional, scientific, or clinical purposes, not for commercial use. It doesn't say anything about personal use, which isn't clearly forbidden, but isn't clearly allowed either. I suppose it's probably okay, since it seems like they're primarily trying to avoid commercial use. But what to put in the "Organization" field puzzles me - I assume for professionals or researchers it would be the professional/research body they're associated with, but I don't know what I should put there as a non-professional user.

It occurs to me that perhaps I should say what I'm hoping to get from being here.
Partly I hope to find suggestions for ways of dealing with some of the things I find difficult, and partly I'd like to find out more which of my quirks fit with being on the autism spectrum, and which are probably unrelated quirks.

Greetings, and welcome to the Wrong Planet community, Cassia.

Hmm, interesting: I talked to another friend about this today, and it turns out she also suspected I'm on the autism spectrum. She has a good deal of experience with people on the spectrum; several of the people close to her have Aspergers. I wonder how many other people have thought I might be/am on the spectrum and not mentioned it.

Cassia,

I'd say I'm in a somewhat similar situation as you. I first considered I might have AS a few years ago but I didn't think I really fit all the criteria. Then recently I started having some issues and revisited the idea. I did a little more research this time, particularly regarding personal accounts, and reading WP where I saw that there is quite a range of qualities among people on the spectrum. While no one's ever told me they thought I could be on the spectrum, many people have commented about some of my quirks that match some of the AS traits. I decided to go ahead and seek out a diagnosis, or at least get a professional opinion; I'm going to meet with a psychologist for a diagnostic interview later today and see where it goes from there. My hope is that, at the very least, I'll better understand myself and find ways of dealing with my personal issues in a way that works for me.

DarrylZero,

If it starts to cause me more problems, then perhaps I would look into a diagnosis, but at the moment I don't think it would gain me anything even if it did turn out to be possible. It seems to me like talking to people with some of the same quirks could help in dealing with them, even if I'm not quite certain that being on the spectrum is what causes the quirks in me.

I hope the assessment process goes well for you.

Hi welcome thought this may help and to let you know we are as diverse, different on the autism spectrum as those that are not, we do not fit into tick boxes, each and everyone of us a unique individual.... just one list of many that many give you some idea ...

Different types of aspies = different types of intelligence?

Been thinking about this folks. Don't know if any of you are familiar with Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basically he says there are 8 sorts of intelligence - Linguistic/Verbal, Mathematical/Logical, Spatial/Visual, Musical, Kinesthetic/Body, Naturist, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal.

Obviously, we are going to be poor in Interpersonal, and most of us would be poor in the Kinesthetic area too - not that many athletes among us! (A few dancers tho, i think?) But the rest, i see us falling into the following groups:-
1. Linguistic/verbal. If you're into literature, languages and linguistics, or the humanities and social sciences (history, sociology, psychology, etc), you have this intelligence. These are our writers, public speakers, academics in those subjects, or just those who are fluent with words - and i suspect that it is this group of Aspies who are best able to 'present' themselves as 'nearly normal', ie who can 'pass' the best, because of that fluency.

2. Mathematical/Logical. These Aspies are into science, math’s, computer programming and the like. They are our mathematicians, scientists, doctors, computer geeks, etc.

3. Spatial/Visual. These ones are into art, architecture, graphic design, photography, or cartography. They are our artists, designers, architects, photographers, or people who simply love to read maps, or create them.

4.Musical. This one is obvious - our singers, musicians or simply lovers of music. Got a good sense of rhythm? Can sing in key? Got music 'in the head'? You have this sort of intelligence.

5. Naturist. Anyone into nature, animals, the outdoors and the environment, whether professionally or as a matter of personal interest or conviction? Forest rangers, environmentalists, vets, pet-lovers, workers for the Department of Conservation (or whatever it's called in your country), rock or bug collectors or (probably) those who retreat to the country to get away from cities and people... you have this intelligence.

6. Intrapersonal. This intelligence is about knowing, strongly relating to and understanding oneself. If you keep a journal or diary, spend long hours in introspection or self-analysis, are happy to go to a movie by yourself or spend lots of time alone, are a deeply private person, if you are aware of your own strengths and weaknesses or see it as an important goal to be, if living by your own values and principles is important to you, then you have this intelligence. I think it is one probably highly developed among us, though possibly to varying degrees.

Okay folks what do you think? Where are you, among these types? I know i have linguistic, spatial and intrapersonal intelligence quite strongly, and some small degree of musical and logical. And maybe a little bit of naturist. The point I’m making is that there is more than one way to be intelligent, and more than one way to be Aspie too.

By an AsPlanet forum member http://asplanet.info/index.php?option=c ... &Itemid=73

I think I'm strong in Linguistic/verbal and Mathematical/logical intelligence, both of which serve me well in studying linguistics.

Visual-spatial is a weird one for me: I do well with schematic visuals - maps and graphs and charts and such, and I like math best when I can visualize it, but I'm not very good with everyday visual things that aren't schematic.

With musical intelligence, I'm good at music, which suggests that I'm strong (though I've also had a lot of training, so maybe I'm not so much musically intelligent as have gained skill despite merely average musical intelligence), and I regularly have music in my mind, but I almost never listen to music or do much of anything to put music in my life.

With intrapersonal intelligence, well, again it seems complicated. I think I'm introspective in certain ways, such as noticing things about how my mind works and thinking about them, and I do think living by my values and principles is important to me; however, when people ask me questions about myself, I often have a hard time coming up with an answer or figuring out how concepts other people talk about relate to me, which suggests that I'm weak. My friend G has semi-seriously joked that if we're chatting online and he wants a few minutes to do something else, all he has to do is ask me a personal question and he knows that I'll take several minutes to come up with an answer.

I'm not strong in Interpersonal, Naturist, or Kinesthetic.

I am strongly visual/spatial and intrapersonal. I am a little musical in that I love music of all kinds although I can't sing or dance worth a damn. I always have a song in my head and sing often which drives my kids nuts. I have always found music soothing and calming as well as energizing.

To WrongPlanet!! !

This was something a few other members and I posted some time ago about our self diagnoses:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#617364
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452181
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452397
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452511
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#496788
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#512898

Yes I am self diagnosed. My first "official" diagnosis was when I was three or four years old.
My foster parents thought I was mentally ret*d. I was either mute or hardly spoke at all,
and it took them almost four years to toilet train me. The doctors thought I was brain damaged
because of poor motor coordination and I was slow in learning new things. I always wanted
(and still do) to be off by myself. Later I went through two other foster homes. Social Services
were trying to have me placed in Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, NY. This was in the
1960s. That institution was eventually shut down because of the terrible abuses going on in there.
For more info on Willowbrook go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowbrook_State_School. Fortunately
I was never sent there. My diagnosis was "upgraded" to "Minimal Brain Damage" then later my
I.Q. tested to be 120 or greater depending on the test given or the test conditions. My guardians
kept sending me to one Freudian von Shrinkendork after another trying to find why I "tick but don't
tock, or tock but don't tick". I kept forgetting what I was told to do, had a hard time understanding
people, I did very poorly in school, but I did manage to graduate high school on time. Not many
foster kids got their H.S. diplomas back in the 1970s. And yes I was bullied, and picked on a lot.
I survived. I learned electronics and worked in that field for more than 20 years.
Today I am not working in electronics, I work on a loading dock at a factory that makes windows
for schools, and residential complexes, and other institutional buildings.
As for my condition; I can't stand loud percussive noises, being touched, and sudden or abrupt
changes in my routine. I seem to be here, but my mind or parts thereof are in a different universe.
My left brain could be thinking about the Quadratic Prime Series, at the same time my right brain is thinking about Pentominoes.
Autism is called a spectrum condition because we have different "mental colors, notes, or wavelengths."
I call myself an Autie, I may have some, but not all, characteristics in common with Aspies.