Do you think your condition is apparent to others?

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people just think I am quiet and quirky

A lot of people just seem to think that I'm odd and socially awkward

Only three people figured out that I'm an Aspie before I told them. The first two are a married couple who said they could spot me "a mile away" because they have an HFA son. So, they are very well informed about ASDs. The other is a lady with a bipolar son. She suspects he's also an Aspie and is trying to get him evaluated. She, too, has done her homework on ASDs.

These people are the exceptions. Most just consider me a little odd (if not an obnoxious weirdo). I think I may be harder to detect than others because I don't stim--at least not like I did when I was a little boy. And even then the type of stimming I did didn't involve flapping my hands. Oddly enough, after I found out what I was, I tried stimming with my hands when I was having a panic attack, and it calmed me down. Go figure.

Same.

I get told I am to quiet and need to lighten up and smile more... enjoy life more.

Once in a while people catch me staring off into space with this mean look on my face. They sometimes ask me why I am upset or angry, and they don't believe me when I tell them all I am doing is thinking.

Once people realize I am odd/different/don't understand me. They usually leave me alone. I like that for that means no faking or having to put up with small talk.

If by "your condition" you mean AS, I don't think anyone can diagnose AS in another person, so the answer to your question is no. If by "your condition" you mean my AS traits, the answer is yes, people can feel quite quickly that something's out of synch with humans in me. How quickly depends largely on how much I can / try to control myself in the first interactions.

People think I'm straightforward, honest, say what's on my mind. They also say I'm very smart. I don't know how many people think I have autistic traits. My boyfriend noticed it and then they got less when I got used to having him in my life and my ex noticed it.

Not necessarily.

Over the years, I've gotten very good at pretending. If I prepare myself, I can keep up an act that masks my Autistic tendencies almost completely - I even come off as socially carefree! But there's a limit to how long I can do it. If there's a crowd, or lots of noise, I can keep it up for half an hour at most... and then I have to sneak off some place to recover. By then, my heart is racing and my hands are shaking. It's too nerve-wracking to do every day... but it does come in handy for job interviews.

As far as my friends go, they of course know I'm different somehow, even if they can't put a finger on it. That's why I'm sure to explain Asperger's to new new acquaintances; that way there are fewer understandings.

Some people can tell as soon as they meet me, but they are usually parents of people with learning disabilities and a lot of parents with childern who are learning disabilated can't reconize it. I used to be worse as a child, labeled anywhere from weird, immature... to (and I hate this term) ret*d by my peers.
On the other hand, If I mention casually that I have it, people say really? hmm... you seem normal to me. And my boss actually called me a good team worker the other day. Probably because I ACTUALLY work, unlike the new highschool kids they hired.

To a point.
I remember dancing with someone I knew. She was talking about her psychology class and how the brain works. When she said it she looked at me like she felt sorry for me. I wasn't looking for pity though.

Also, another girl kept saying I was cute, not sure that it meant anything though. I remember at a school assembly that she turned around and randomly starting talking about all the AP and honors classes she was taking, but like I was five years old.

Come to think of it, the people who seem to notice my differences seem to be female. Not sure why that is, though.

That's the funny thing. I'm not so good at social cues, but can generally tell when someone notices my differences from others.

I don't think most people I know would identify me as being on the autism spectrum due to the simple fact that most people I know still don't know that autism is a spectrum, or they at least don't seem to know what that means. The few people out there that may have learned about it at least as extensively as I did, well I think it might be a little bit harder to hide it from those ones, if I've even run into any of them in my life.

Yeah. All of the teasing told me such. Especially that the teasing was all in relation to Autism; not talking, curling my hand up, swaying, doing poorly in high school, etcetera.

It's probably more evident now than it was then, since I've kinda stopped caring what I look like to others in the hopes of hiding from them and not catching derision.

I was labeled weird and odd as a kid. I sometimes wished they knew I had something wrong with me so they know I didn't act that way on purpose, especially bumping into other people and act like I was a bad guy. I did weird things yeah. So did Linda in Snow Cake and she appeared weird too. Did I appear like that to other kids? Maybe.

I don't think anybody would assume something like autism, but I'm sure most people would say "not quite right", "she's a bit off", "something's not 100% with her"....

no one would ever hink of a/s as noone knows what it is,a nd im a really good communicator, so wouldnt think of autism either.
but i was really bullied at school for being weird, and even now- mid 30s, so i can hide things much better- im still told im weird, eccentric, unusual etc.
im also told i come across as really aloof and arrogant and stuck up etc, as i stand really errect and stick my chin out. but its so far from the truth!! ! im really stupid and messy and silly; when im drunk im really loud and friendly- like a springer spaniel or collie!! !! all leapy..

No one would ever know my bf had AS, he's just quirky like many of you have said. And I realize it becomes an issue where you don't want people to view you through a filter but when I found out I barely knew what it was. Since looking it up I went OH that makes SO much SENSE! I wouldn't have gotten angry at X if I knew, I wouldn't have thought Y if I knew...

I was asked whether I had a speech impediment, were deaf, from another country, from another culture, mentally ret*d, gifted and MR (?), had tics, were traumatised by horrible events or abuse in childhood, had ADHD, were misbehaving, had some undefined disability, had brain damage, but I can say I've never been asked whether I was autistic in all my life.

Nowadays I think that most people just think I'm either mediocre, rude and arrogant or academically gifted, shy and insecure when they meet me. They know there's something off about me. But they can't imagine what.

Surprisingly, I do seem autistic right off the bat to people who know about autism. That is weird.

Last edited by Sora on 13 May 2008, 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.