How can you tell if someone is autisic?

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Recognising aspies and auties from photos.
Am often told am either 'look' autistic in photos,or people unknowingly describe it.
But am think this is not a perfect way to 'see' autism,if it was,they would be using this to diagnose.

Only have to look at Ages' recent thread about being told she wasn't autistic [by a certain ex aff/wp user],Age is a more obvious autistic,but this person was saying she didn't have autism because of a photo,so it is like trying to delete her entire history,and diagnosis by docs who are experts,on the basis of a photo.

I notice other people's lack eye contact with other people(not with me, cause I don't do it either)

I notice their voice

I notice their shoes and other clothes. Lots of us dress according to our sensory issues.

I look for rocking/stimming

The other day we were at the park and we walked past a kid having a tough time and he was rocking subtilly and I said to my wife (after they were out of earshot) "Aww, that autistic kid seemed to be having a hard time." My wife had not noticed.

Then later we had an interaction with him and his mom

My daughter (non Autistic) was playing with her other (non autistic) kid and my wife was talking to the mom. Then someone came up and touched my wife's backside. She spun around to see him and his awesome T-Shirt "My Special needs are just more obvious than yours". His mom said "If you want to talk to her please say "hi" it is rude to just touch her. The mom was mortified. My wife laughed and said, "oh don't worry I understand, my husband is playing with our autistic son over there" Then he told his mom that he was hungry and they walked away. It was nice to be able to spot fellow autistics ahead of time so we can be prepared for a more enjoyable social experience, since we can drop the NT value system and just be ourselves

Oh yeah and about photos I LOVE autistic photos, where the subject is looking down or away, but not because they are ashamed, because that is what we do. There are lots of those pics on people's avatar. They are comforting to me.

Not just on 'how autistic', but also on how well they pass.

I have a friend who'd be considered 'very autistic' if her skills were just assessed properly. But because she can speak, and because she doesn't always stim in the usual way, most people can't tell she's autistic. (She looks obvious to me but she's got that female-autistic-passing thing going on.) Even though she has more trouble than some people who "look more autistic" than she does.

Experts and family members often look at autism as a list of deficits. My son is often overlooked in this regard because depending on the context of the event, he doesn't look autistic. But people who are really familiar with autistic people see physical markers.

Eye rolling-an extreme version of this is in the movie, Billy the Kid. It looks like "shifty eyes" and a lot of people that do it get accused of "eye rolling" in the disrespectful way. But it's totally different. My son does it but it's not as obvious as Billy. The first and only person that noticed my son doing it was a college student studying to be a special ed teacher. No lie.

I believe there is a facial shape that is common among autistics. It's not "deforming" so experts don't notice. There's a common consensus that autistics are "good looking". Specifically, the eyes seem farther apart and a wider bridge on the nose. My son has that although I wrote it off as getting my Paiute facial structure.

More severe cases are somewhat easy to recognize, like excessive stimming and rocking.

Overall "severity" (I'm using the term as a shorthand for what most people think it means, not in agreement with it) doesn't necessarily correlate to amount of movement like that, though. That's just one of many traits that can be there, and it's not always constant even in people who do those things. If you go to one of the conferences I go to, you'll see a lot of people stimming a lot, but you'll also see a lot of people sitting unusually still or holding their bodies in other unusual ways (and you'll see some people, like me, bouncing around between all of the above). I am more stimmy (at times) than some people I know who have a lot more trouble in daily living, communication, and such than I do.

I've seen quite a few individuals with AS/autism now; all over the spectrum (nonverbal and passive to very verbal and hyperactive).

Most fall into the land where there's a lack of inflection in the voice when talking, no matter how "soft" or "deep" one's voice is. Most I've seen make eye contact at a distance, sometimes too much; I had a young nonverbal girl staring at me for a long time whilst she was stroking a piece of cloth (I must admit, she was completely cute). I stared back, and saw the..."thought" behind the eyes, I...recognized the look as I exhibit it. When conversing interpersonally, eyes tend to wander when listening or speaking, eye contact happens, but it's sporadic and usually within "breaks". I haven't seen the people who overcompensate with eye contact. Many I see, when they sit down, they stare into the ground, or they're positioned away from others. "Odd" gestures and facial expressions, if they're there to begin with. Children lining up toys/blocks is a big one....

Even those who'd be considered profoundly autistic that I've seen rarely "stim" in the stereotypical way, i.e., rocking, flapping and whatnot in the presence of others, in fact, I rock/sway more than I've seen anyone do, and I'm really "high-functioning".

Also their reactions to something unexpected. What happens if they are asked to go to a shop and get something specific and it isn't there. Are they able to improvise, or do they have to phone in for specific instructions on what to do next? What is their reaction to not being able to do this something 'as asked' or with incomplete instructions? Calm, rational, personable questions - or panic/anger?

When an aspie colleague of mine was having a workplace physio test, the physio asked her to type something so she could see her posture. "Type what?" she said "What shall I type? I don't know what to type - what do you want me to type?" (rising panic). Unable to improvise. Had to be told specifically what to type on the keyboard, and she types nearly all day long anyway. I'm the same if faced with a roomful of chairs and someone says "take a seat". I'm immediately close to panic, deciding a) where to take the seat to and b) which seat? I have to remind myself that they probably mean "sit down" and I'm supposed to know which chair to sit on.

Or what is their reaction to the question "tell me about yourself", which I got asked this week. What on earth is the right answer to that?! What do they want to know, I asked. "Whatever you feel is appropriate", he said. (aghhhhhhh!! !)

Somehovv like me

Similar to me, also

The same

That one make me nuts, hovv can I tell about myself in a one or tvvo sentences ? They don't knovv my life is full or things to tell about myself ? They do vvant to remain there for three or four hours ? I don't think so, so they must be more specific about vvhat they really e*pect from us, cause they asked you that for something and vve don't like this double sense questions, ...

I've seen a lot of autistic people at the dance that I went to, last night. I could tell that they were quite a bit more affected, than I am, and I've just wanted to gather them up and dance with them, all. That was at a clubhouse, out of town.

i saw the same guy on the bus today, he was doing the same stim. When he got off the bus, he walked with his face staring right down at the pavement, literally at a right angle to his body. I'm sure I remember danielismyname saying that was a good sign once?

I walk staring at the floor at times. It helps me think better. If I look up, there will be many distractions: light, people, sound.

Do you mean Aspergers or Autism? Because they are two completely different things

autistic involves language impairment more than Aspergers and i guess also stereotypical movements..

For the more subtle asperger, and mild aut.. lack of reflecting non verbal and verbal communication but instead ego centric communication -less reciprical.-lots response with I statements or giving advice or information vs emotional acknowlegement and getting the other person to further express... some people , usually more severe have problems with voice inflection and even moderation....

Through pure observation I suppose. I think I'm starting to get a bit better with my Aspie-Dar.
I suspect my Primate Behavior professor is on the spectrum just by looking at the way she dresses, the way she talks, walks, her high level of knowledge, quirky mannerisms, her being distracted by buzzing noises to the point where she has to stop lecturing and look for the source of the noise. Also a couple of other things she told us like not having any children, being hyposensitive to cold temperatures, and having a pet cat.

Also there's a guy in another of my classes who could be on the spectrum too. When asked to introduce himself to the class, he was rocking and bouncing his legs while he talked. Although he could have been just nervous too.

Of course I could be wrong about these people too, but you never know.

I don't think I've met someone with Autism.