Do you FEEL like NTs are all somehow older than you?

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I also really hate it whenever I'm asked my age, because I know the response is going to be "no, you're not!" I guess people don't understand how annoying and upsetting that reaction can be.

I've certainly never worked with or for anyone less than twice my age (volunteer work notwithstanding). I knew more of my neighbors (and their parents) than any other kid on my street growing up, and while I can of course relate better to anyone who shares my years and interests, I know where everyone else is coming from. I came to the realization a week ago through a psychologist friend that I place very little distinction between past, present and future.

sounds like me too. I'm also 30!

I feel the opposite. And as far as engaging others I think I've always felt the social landscape to be as a primitive and unevolved one, and thus extraneous.

Can't believe there are others here who also had the "felt older when young, now feel younger as I get older" experience. This was me totally. I felt like I was smarter and more mature than my peers through most of school, but as an adult it switched over to the opposite -- I feel younger and more lost than even those younger than I am. I feel like everyone's a grownup, and even though I do live an independent life and I do all the grownup things, I'm a kid compared to them. Sometimes it's being a kid in a good way, and I'm glad I'm still in touch with that side of myself, but other times it's a more negative thing where others seem to have their s**t together more than I do.

Yes. Me, too. In some ways despite being in my mid forties, I still have the same outlook/fear/respect for 'older' people that I did in my mid twenties. There's also something about these people in terms of the way they take themselves so seriously which I can't relate to and makes them seem older, too. I remember going to careers presentations at college and seeing people established in careers and thinking "I can't imagine how I am ever going to become like that". Twenty years on, despite having a good job, I am still thinking exactly the same thing.

I'm the oldest child in my family, but my younger brother who is younger than me feels older and acts like he's older.

It's the same with my parents and people outside the family too. People treat me like a preteen when I'm 19 years old and somewhat of an adult.

yes,in a way.most 30 years olds are married.

I'm 47 and I feel this way.

Not actually that they are older, but that they are more competent and capable of getting things done in the world.

Because they often are--I can do a lot, but it's hard. I see that things are easier for many.

Nope.

There's no way a 3-year-old NT child could be older than me physically, mentally or emotionally.

I try not to reveal my real age either. People are always shocked when I tell them how old I am but I get embarrassed because I act so childish sometimes. Sometimes I have the emotional understanding and responses of a preteen or even younger. So I try to not talk about my age too much. But I can also be the opposite. I have had conversations and work situations where people tell me I have wisdom beyond my years. Well if they think I'm 12 I guess that's not hard! But seriously, there have been times where I wold work and my bosses were younger than I was and their immaturity levels at work were infuriating and intolerable for me.

I think some people take themselves way too seriously and that really ages them. One guy I met recently asked me why I looked so young and I turned it back around and asked him why people looked so old! He laughed and said I was right!

That's all because when you are little or just very young (an adolescent), when you behave, think and speak like an adult (or at least, in case of children, to this extent it's possible for a child, for a teen is basically like a normal adult, just a bit younger and the fact now teens are immature has its source in social expectations - throughout centuries teens were treated like adults so they behaved like ones and had duties of those - it wasn't taken from nowhere - a teen has the full potential of adulthood), that's already something with a capital s. But when you actually achieve adulthood, that's normal for you then to speak, behave, think etc. like one, so no one is going to be impressed any more. And when you are an adult person, you are expected from more than when you were a kid/teen, in terms of your level of maturity, self-independence and life experience. Only this time, unlike it was when you were very young, you can't fool yourself you are ever going to get normal, be like others.

Yes and I'm physically the oldest by far in my class. There are a couple of people that definitely feel immature to me, but the majority knows what's up better than I do.

I can take responsability and know what is good/bad much better than my peers. I'm older intellectually, morally and physically, but I have some childish traits (emotion, sexuality, fantasy).

I completely understand how this feels. You have to understand that ASD is a developmental disability so there are many ways someone can lag behind their peers. If you think about it the social isolation common in ASD limits opportunities to learn social behavior through experience in people who already struggle to keep up with the emotional maturity of everyone else. I guess in a way some of us are younger than people who may be physically younger than us.