Does my friend have autism/Asperger's?

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acai
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

Joined: 21 Feb 2017
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Posts: 1

21 Feb 2017, 9:20 pm

And how do I ask him if he does/tell him I think he has it? I don't know if this is a symptom of autism or Asperger's but he speaks differently, like with a slight Asian accent (he's Asian but was born in the states) and none of his family members have one. He's 23 and doesn't know basic algebra like how to factor (x^2)-9 or that multiplying x^4 and x^2 would add the exponents together.

We were playing league of legends and someone had said out of the blue that he needs help and is going to kill himself. My friend said to do it after the game cause he wanted to win and to be a man and just tough it out. I was really shocked cause he's a nice guy but apparently he thought that was funny. I also told him that there was a pregnant lady sleeping next to my room so I couldn't skype or play league with him. He then asked me a few minutes later if I wanted to skype him. I asked him if he forgot there was a lady sleeping next to my room and he texted "No I didn't. I just don't care!" I asked him what he thought about me when I first met him and he casually said he thought I was fat. I feel like these instances are a lack of empathy.

He also takes melatonin because he has a hard time falling asleep. Not to mention he repeats the word "interesting" and phrase "I see" all the time. He's told me that he took speech therapy and that he was never good in English class. There was a time when we went to karaoke together and he was totally off beat, and could barely keep up with the words. His handwriting is also pretty bad. He's obsessed with fishing and could go on and on about it. Lastly, he has no friends his age and said he barely had any since high school.

I would never judge him if he had it cause I had an autistic friend before. He's an awesome and sweet guy and just a great all around friend. So should I ask him/tell him I think he has it? Would it do more harm than good or would it just be neutral?



Auspergers
Butterfly
Butterfly

Joined: 21 Feb 2017
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 10
Location: Melbourne, Australia

22 Feb 2017, 12:09 am

From what you've posted it does hit home a little bit of the sorts of things that I may have said in the past (lacking an empathetic response, no filter). The maths issues however I wouldn't pin down to autism, personally I was very good at maths, and many neurotypicals can be bad at maths.

I only figured out that I might be on the spectrum when I was 20 years old, and while it was amazing to finally have answers and to understand what I was, I did withdraw socially and spiraled into a deep depression over the next 2 years and finding out may have contributed to this.

If you're interested in helping your friend, I would use the information and knowledge you have gained about autism to guide your friend, which is of course easier said than done. For example, letting your friend know that joking about suicide is a bad idea since it is possible that they are actually considering it.

I have another friend of mine that I suspect to be on the spectrum, and I have refrained from telling him that because I don't want to risk him going through what I did.


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 141 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 78 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)