A few last quick questions...
Okay, my last questions. Most are yes/no, so I put them all together here in one topic.
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
2. If you loose trust in them, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye? Question fixed. Sorry, it was Loose trust IN them.
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
4. Can you multi-task?
5. To what extent? For example I can't think of two things at the same time but I can think while doing physical stuff that doesn't require much thinking. I can also observe everything at once (watch tv, listen to a conversation) but it's really hard to process/comprehend it. I can remember it though, and sort of separate the experiences later.
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest? Or got something you sort of liked and made it into a special interest because it was something others liked so you could talk to them? (possibly creeped them out when the next day you knew more than them)
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given? Maybe I should clarify and just say solving mathematical word problems (which is making the problem explained in words "Sally is two years older than Joe, Joe is twice as old as Kate, etc." into math and then solving the math).
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
Edit: Some questions like 7 and 8 are continuations of the previous one.
Last edited by nonames on 23 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
One primary task, plus two or three others that can run automatically (cooking something on the stovetop while cooking something else in the oven and crock-pots).
Yes.
Does not parse. Please re-state.
Does not parse. Please re-state.
No.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
_________________
No
Trust doesn't really have anything to with it.
Yes
Yes
The more tasks, the more anxiety and confusion.
Yes, very much.
Yes, during 10th grade, fitting in was my all consuming project.
To not be viewed as different and then become isolated.
No siblings.
Yes. I like written instructions so that I have time to work through them.
I don't know what this means.
Nope.
_________________
People are strange, when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone.
Morrison/Krieger
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
Yes.
2. If you loose their trust, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye?
I don't think so, but I can't think of an example where that's happened.
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
No.
4. Can you multi-task?
I'm very bad at it.
5. To what extent? For example I can't think of two things at the same time but I can think while doing physical stuff that doesn't require much thinking. I can also observe everything at once (watch tv, listen to a conversation) but it's really hard to process/comprehend it. I can remember it though, and sort of separate the experiences later.
See above. I could probably do two very simple things, but I can't multitask like other people can.
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
Yes, to a great extent.
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest? Or got something you sort of liked and made it into a special interest because it was something others liked so you could talk to them? (possibly creeped them out when the next day you knew more than them)
I hated it, it wasn't a special interest. But I put loads of effort into trying to be normal because I wanted the result (to fit in, to have friends, relationships, etc.). I don't think I creeped people out, though I probably was bad at my attempts to socialise normally.
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
See above.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
I have uncles and cousins with autism.
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
Not remembering - understanding.
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given?
I would struggle a bit with this. Been a while since I've had to do maths though.
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
I'm not a writer.
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
Yes, my immediate family members - mom, dad and brother.
2. If you loose their trust, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye?
Yes, I have lost my trust in certain people before and found it much more difficult to look them in the eyes or let them touch me.
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
No; I love food so I never forget to eat. I do forget to go to the bathroom sometimes though. Pretty unpleasant as you can well imagine.
4. Can you multi-task?
No.
5. To what extent? For example I can't think of two things at the same time but I can think while doing physical stuff that doesn't require much thinking. I can also observe everything at once (watch tv, listen to a conversation) but it's really hard to process/comprehend it. I can remember it though, and sort of separate the experiences later.
N/A
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
No.
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest? Or got something you sort of liked and made it into a special interest because it was something others liked so you could talk to them? (possibly creeped them out when the next day you knew more than them)
To an extent, I have allowed other people's opinions dictate my special interests. For example, I used to be obsessed with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but once it got to be too popular and people started hating on it (in some cases directly making fun of me for liking it), I forced myself to quit liking it.
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
I was sick of people saying bad things about it and making fun of me for liking it. I decided I would rather have peace of mind and a lost interest rather than having an interest and suffering from haters and bullies.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
No, my younger brother and to an extent both of my parents exhibit signs of AS, but they're not severe enough for a diagnosis.
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
Yes.
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given?
Oh gosh, yes. I hated word problems when I was in school!
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
Yes.
iamcoley
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: 14 Jul 2012
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 26
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Yes
Yes. Their touch turns into something that resembles tags on clothes, and I can't stand it.
Yes.
Sort of.
I can focus on doing practical work whilst listening to music (driving, cooking, running) but I can't do things that require detailed and/or specific concentration like two work tasks, I need to think entirely about one, finish it, then start the next thing.
All the time
Yes.
I made fashion one of my special interests because I continually think that if I look pretty then everyone will like me... doesn't work though...
My sister has weird traits that are even more AS than me in someways but is certainly not AS. My mum has AS - we think her mum had AS too.
Yes. Once I write down the words though (for language) I rarely tend to forget them because I can visualise them. Doesn't seem to work with things my boss tells me to do though...
I'm terrible at hearing numbers and then writing them down in order. But if I was reading it then I probably could.
Not a writer. I tried once and wrote a story containing anthropomorphic animals. No one who read it thought it was very good.
Yes
To a degree.
Occasionally
Very very rarely, when I try it usually results in faliure and meltdown.
Cant drive (expecially when also conversing), cant cook unless something very simple with a tidy kitchen and no distractions like someone walking into the room. Cant understand verbal instructions or questions if radio or TV on at same time. etc etc.
Massively. Growing up all I wanted was to fit in or at least understand why I couldn't. early childhood was more peer pressure/bullying and then in adolesence this was overtaken by a self-drive to somehow fit in which I succeeded in to some degree but never fully.
Yes. At 18 I went off to uni and decided to 'force' myself to become the social popular person I wanted to be. Joined the Rock Music Society where common interests and scheduled events helped things along hugely and these are some of my fondest memories although I did still have trouble not putting people off one way or another eventually.
I convinced myself that, if I could just be more sociable, I would learn whatever bits of me were missing and I would get over the weirdness I seemed to have in me. It was either that or sink back into serious depression.
I have one sibling with some signs but has a BPD diagnosis he insists is correct and another sibling with no sign whatsoever.
Yes, I enjoy 'offline' content like podcasts and audiobooks but person to person stuff is often hard to take in.
Not totally sure what you mean by word problems tbh - Sorry. I was quite good at maths but certainly no savant.
The only story I ever wrote with any serious conviction was a short piece about a guy traveling to the future and a nuclear war over the oil in the polar regions had risen sea levels, flooded all the costal capitols and led to the downfall of civilisation where petrol was the new currency. I put more thought about time travel having to take into account the movement of the earth (and the galaxy itself) as time was traveled than the lead character.
_________________
AQ46, EQ9, FQ20, SQ50
RAADS-R: 181 (Language: 9, Social: 97, Sensory/Motor: 37, Interests: 36)
Aspie Quiz: AS129, NT80
Alexithymia: 137
About eye-conctact, I can look only my parents in the eyes for more than just a few moments; about being touched, I can be touched without many problems only when I expect it.
I don't know; this has never happened to me.
This happened when I was a child; now it doesn't happen anymore.
No.
I can sometimes think at 2 things at the same time, but only when I'm very relaxed, and this happens very rarely.
I experienced a peer pressure, but I didn't understand I was "weird" until my mother told me about my diagnosis; since when she told me about it, I tried to "copy" others.
No.
As I said before, I didn't.
My older brother has severe autism; about other family members I don't know,al though even my father seems to have AS ans Tourette's like me.
I have troubles remembering instructions, and I sometimes have troubles while listening to audios in language classes.
I have some problems doing this.
No, I'm not a good writer; I am only good at writing short sci-fi stories.
_________________
Please write in a simple English; I'm Italian, so I might misunderstand the sense of your sentence.
You can talk me in Spanish and Italian, too.
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
look in which eye? i have never understood which eye i should look at if ever i have to look at peoples eyes.
i very much do not like to touch or be touched.
i am emotionally claustrophobic, and there is only room for me inside me.
i would relinquish my interest in someone if they doubted my innocence in a matter that they suspect that i was responsible for when i was not.
that happened when i was 26. i used to know a man who was about 20 years older than me, and he and his wife and their (adult) children and me used to play cards often at their house. i was rang up very often and asked to play cards (500) with them, and i often went there.
one day, the police raided his backyard and found 140 seedlings of marijuana plants.
they estimated the value of each seedling to be $1,000, and so he was charged with cultivation of $140,000 worth of marijuana. he went to jail for 3 months and he blamed me.
i was the only person who he could not "count out" that may have an idiosyncratic flaw that caused me to "dob him in".
he said "it's gotta be you you maggot!! !!. you're the only weirdo around here!! !"
at that point my interest in him and his world was reset to zero, and i never was inclined to ever communicate with him or his family again.
yes. it happens frequently.
i would like a personal assistant who could tap me on the shoulder and implore me to drink what i need to and also eat what i need to when i need to.
i do eat large meals at various intervals, and no meals at others, and it balances out in some way that results in the fact that i always remain the same weight.
yes i can. as long as all the tasks i am performing have no lure that my curiosity finds irresistible, then i can do many mundane things simultaneously.
no. i was seen as very far apart from my fellow school mates by both my classmates and teachers, but i did not care. i preferred to think in the way i wanted to think, and it did not upset me that others may have found my interests and pursuits to be quite difficult to understand.
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
i can not make sufficient sense of what i quoted that you said in order to formulate a response.
i was adopted. my physiology is a mystery to me.
if i receive spoken instructions, i make sure that i understand them by processing them and relating my impression of the instructions to who i am being instructed by. instructions must be understood, and i will not rest until i understand exactly what i am being commissioned to achieve.
it is obvious that one has to quantitatively consider a question that is defined by the distribution of various quantities in it's postulation. the mechanism of my thought pattern during my attempts at solution would depend on the course of my consideration at the point that i was happy that i had arrived at a correct interpretation of the problem that i am required to solve.
.
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
Yes.
2. If you loose their trust, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye?
If I lose THEIR trust, or if I lose trust in them? If the former, no, if the latter, yes.
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
Yes.
4. Can you multi-task?
Depends on the combination of tasks.
5. To what extent? For example I can't think of two things at the same time but I can think while doing physical stuff that doesn't require much thinking. I can also observe everything at once (watch tv, listen to a conversation) but it's really hard to process/comprehend it. I can remember it though, and sort of separate the experiences later.
Again, it depends on the combination of tasks. I cannot watch TV and listen to a conversation without losing focus of one or the other. However, I can listen to an audiobook and clean my apartment.
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
It wasn't peer pressure so-to-speak, I wanted to be normal, so I tried to act "normal". Failed miserably. The only people I can accurately mimic in action and conversation are in my family.
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest? Or got something you sort of liked and made it into a special interest because it was something others liked so you could talk to them? (possibly creeped them out when the next day you knew more than them)
Yes, more the latter than the former.
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
My entire grade for most of my education was made up of less than 10 kids at any given time. Friend choices were limited, so I had to make do.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
I have one sibling (my only full-blooded sibling) and one parent who exhibit an AS mentality.
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
Yes.
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given? Maybe I should clarify and just say solving mathematical word problems (which is making the problem explained in words "Sally is two years older than Joe, Joe is twice as old as Kate, etc." into math and then solving the math).
Yes, word problems with no numbers are probably the only part of math that I find difficult.
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
I wouldn't consider myself a writer, but I have written in the past, and yes that is something that I would do.
_________________
Aspie quiz: 167/200 AS, 33/200 NT
AQ: 41
124% Aloof; 132% Rigid; 110% Pragmatic
I accept PMs from females only. Sorry. Personal convictions.
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
Yes.
2. If you loose their trust, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye?
Yes.
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
Yes.
4. Can you multi-task?
Not really. I hate it and I never get anything done.
5. To what extent?
Thinking + repetitive/simple task? Yes, I can do that and do do that. I can't do two projects at once or carry on two conversations though.
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
Yes.
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest?
Never.
8. For what reasons?
Because as much as I wanted to ~belong~ it was never worth the effort. The returns of being "normal" were never worth the cost.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
If you combined my parents' AS traits, you would have someone completely unable to function in society. My sisters' all have a few traits as well.
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
No.
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given?
Not usually. When I was younger, I was brilliant at that. The equations would just exist in my head as soon as I read the question.
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
My characters are usually AI or "outsiders". The social situations take more of an effort to write than the action scenes. And there's not usually small talk in books.
Nope
There isn't anyone who I want to touch or look in the eye. Cannot apply.
Yes
Not sure. I don't think so... maybe. How is "multi-task" defined?
Does not apply.
No, I never cared to be like everyone else.
No.
I don't care what other people think of me. I view most of my peers as somewhat stupid, so I don't think their opinions of me matter.
I only know one other person who has AS. He is not blood related. I have two severely autistic cousins.
No. If I want to, I can memorize spoken instructions to exactness. However, when the instructions are being given, I can easily forget to "remember" leading me to needing the instructions repeated.
No, I am good at that.
I don't write original works. I write about past events in my life. However, my friend said, "You give the best social advice, but you're still extremely socially awkward." He sometimes asks me what he should do in social situations and I think I give him good advice. I still can't really exercise any of the advice that I give- or anything really, I just kind of shut down during parties. I usually decline parties; when I go I end up regretting it. (note: My friend doesn't know that I may have AS.)
_________________
Do I have HFA? Nope, I've never seen a psychiatrist in my life. I'm just here to talk to you crazies. ; - )
I don't look anyone in the eye or touch anyone. That doesn't mean I don't trust anyone though. There are lots of people, I trust, I just don't see the need for eye contact or touching people.
See above.
Frequently. I lose track of time very easily, and sometimes can go all day without eating or drinking anything,
Nope, I can't. I can't do the things you've mentioned here either: if I do something physical, I concentrate on that. If I start thinking of something, I stop doing whatever it is I am doing. I definitely can't observe more than one thing at a time. I get overwhelmed. I either hear the TV OR a conversation, or neither because the blend in I cannot focus on either.
I think there were times where I probably tried to act a bit differently, but for the most part, I don't think I was aware enough of being SO abnormal.
No, I didn't do this. My special interests were not usually "popular" things.
Nope. I am fairly certainly my nephew has ASD, and I also think my grandfather did, though.
Very much so!! !
This always required a bit of extra thought than normal, I think. I am hyperlexic, so my reading comprehension isn't great.
I LOVE writing, but I do find fictional writing difficult because I don't have a great imagination, and because I have a lot of difficulty creating different characters. I think my characters tend to be quite similar and/or shallow in the sense that I can't make their personalities overly deep.
_________________
Diagnosed with classic Autism
AQ score= 48
PDD assessment score= 170 (severe PDD)
EQ=8 SQ=93 (Extreme Systemizer)
Alexithymia Quiz=164/185 (high)
1. Are there people you can look in the eye and touch because you want that intimacy and you trust them?
~ yes, but not always
2. If you loose trust in them, do you find you can't let them touch you/look you in the eye? Question fixed. Sorry, it was Loose trust IN them.
~ yes
3. Do you ever get so absorbed in something (a special interest) that you forget you're hungry or thirsty or something like that?
~yes!
4. Can you multi-task?
~ no
5. To what extent? For example I can't think of two things at the same time but I can think while doing physical stuff that doesn't require much thinking. I can also observe everything at once (watch tv, listen to a conversation) but it's really hard to process/comprehend it. I can remember it though, and sort of separate the experiences later.
~ i only seem to be able to multitask well in the kitchen, but not if anyone else is around or things going on. i can also listen to music while i work or do crafts, but not if the music is in the foreground.
6. Did you experience a sort of peer pressure to be normal and tried to copy other kids?
~ if i did, i paid no attention to it
7. Made trying to fit in your special interest? Or got something you sort of liked and made it into a special interest because it was something others liked so you could talk to them? (possibly creeped them out when the next day you knew more than them)
~ no
8. For what reasons? Wanting to make friends? Or... For example, I believe I did it because it would make the bullying stop, which it did, and people laughing at me replaced it.
~ never bothered trying to fit in.
9. Do you have siblings that have AS or appear to have AS, but not parents or family members that exhibit any signs.
~ yes, but not sure about other family members
10. Do you have trouble with remembering spoken instructions? or even listening to pure audio tests like in language classes.
~yes
11. How about, translating word problems into actual math when nothing but words were given? Maybe I should clarify and just say solving mathematical word problems (which is making the problem explained in words "Sally is two years older than Joe, Joe is twice as old as Kate, etc." into math and then solving the math).
~ yes
12. Are any of you writers and can give your characters motivations/plots etc have them navigate social stuff because you observed people, but can't do it yourself?
~no
Last edited by MaKin on 24 Nov 2012, 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.