Where do you have most problems?

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hi, i beleive there are 4 major problems in autism, (i understand there are more, but i am being specific)

Functioning
Social Interaction (communicating effectively or even making friends.)
Sensory
Behaviour

what is your number one biggest issue?

mine is Functioning

my second two is Social interaction and Behaviour

and then my least issue is Sensory sensitivity. im pretty sensitive but i found adapting ways to make it less so.

My biggest issue is social interaction, making and keeping friends. The wrong statements tend to slip out of my mouth often. I am working on that except I have no one to practice on.
Functioning can be problematic if I'm stressed.
Sensory-wise bright lights makes my eyes water. I also can't take crowds. That can be too much. Crying babies makes me lose my religion.
Behaviour-wise I can get along with people.

Social interaction, easily and without a doubt. I honestly think I'd be out and about a lot more with friends and keep in touch with people easier if it weren't for that.

In order it is:
Functioning
Sensory sensitivity
Behaviour
Social Interaction

I think function effects both social interaction and behavior in my case,
so they are kind of offshoots of being lower functioning.
I think what stands out most in me is my speech dysfunction and motor dysfunction
and me often wearing a hat and shades due to sensory issues. My behavior is that
I am quiet and withdrawn or aloof, which affects my social interaction.

Functioning, as well. It feels like a full time job just to keep myself alive and fed and clean, to get places where I'm supposed to be, to pay bills and keep up with doing all the things I need to do.

Sensory is a close second. It kind of aggravates the functioning issues because the more overloaded I am, the less I can take care of myself.

Oddly enough, I don't have that many social problems. Maybe it's because I don't have social anxiety disorder and I'm such an introvert that only a few social contacts a month are enough for me. I can communicate effectively because I can use words effectively. I know I seem odd to most people, but if they can understand what I say, then I'm content with that.

Behavior... not a problem. I have never deliberately hit anyone during a meltdown and nowadays I don't even have them anymore--I just quietly collapse into a sort of quivering lump of overload. I guess I just don't have the energy to scream and kick anymore, not like I did when I was a kid. I had behavior problems as a kid, but it was mostly just meltdowns and having no clue what I was supposed to be doing.

I voted Social Interaction, but I also have difficulties with sensory sensitivity, too. I don't like having to listen to repetitive loud noise for long periods of time. The most recent incident of this that comes to mind is the 5-hour-long after-party for my older stepbrother's wedding. They'd hired a band to play Queen, Hendrix, Led Zeppellin and Rolling Stones tunes in their backyard as loud as possible, which is all music I normally love, only there were several things wrong with this particular situation:

- Surrounded by people I don't know from Adam or Eve behaving in strange, unpredictable ways (people getting falling-down-drunk, and this one woman kept yelling everything she said and making this "AA-AA-OOOOWWW!" noise over and over)

- Music being played at top volume and me not having any control over how much I was exposed to or how soft/loud it was

- The inside of my stepbrother's house would have been no haven, because it was packed full of strange people too

- CROWDS! CROWDS! CROWDS!

- My stepmother getting drunk herself and embarrassing me

- Being pushed to get up and dance/talk to people I didn't even know when I didn't feel comfortable doing so

- Being stuck in a dress, nylons and heeled shoes all day

- Not having easy access to Dory or any of my other plush friends (I'd left most of them at home and had only brought Dory with me on the trip)....she was in my purse, but I wasn't about to trot her out in front of people I didn't know

- AAAaaaannnd to top it all off, there was no way for me to stim/decompress once we got back to the hotel, since WIFI was too expensive and I was in a room with my parents.

I'm actually still torn between feeling incredibly guilty for ruining the night for my parents with my concluding meltdown, and feeling as if I deserve a medal for having endured the whole d@mn debacle.

I guess it's focusing and doing things outside of the interest

whilst the social deficits are probably just as severe, they don't bother me.

My biggest issue is behaviour. I have the maturity of a 21 year old Mod. I'm also not happy about my given gender. I identify as male therefore I act like a male 21 year old Mod. I'll always be like this, in a way until I find the money the operation. I'll never find the money, so I'll be young and Moddish eternally. I don't have a problem with it. I was never one with or for mainstream society because of The Gender Binary. I truly am a Cockney Rebel.

Social interaction has always been my biggest problem I just find it awkward, I felt it was because of the cruel treatment I got when I was in primary school that made me that way.

I may actually have equal level of periodic problems in all these areas but the first is more stressful because of the type of consequences (real or imagined).

Social Interaction

Functioning
Behaviour
Sensory

I don't really care for people or social interaction. I function well. I don't care very much about how others view me so that rules out behavior as being number one. I can't stand being touched or incessant noises. I'd rank sensory as number one.

Sensory issues are my biggest problem. I have ruined many many social occasions because I couldn't handle the environment, from shutting down in the sports bar/restaurant when my mom was trying to have a nice time with her then-boyfriend and future stepson, to disappearing for most of her wedding reception, to spending my friend's party upstairs with the adults while all the kids were downstairs yelling and shooting each other with foam dart guns, to being unsociable toward my "step-relatives" because there were over twenty of them in a room all talking at once, so I went to the basement to escape. If it weren't for my sound, light and tactile issues, I may not be the life of the party, but at least I could remain present at said party.

My sensory problems also make me an easy target for bullies; people know how easy it is to startle me, so they'll do it over and over again, laughing every time I jump and scream; even my friends do this on occasion because they find it amusing how sensitive I am to sound. I came close to calling the police once on this stupid high schooler who drove around town and honked his horn every time he saw me just to scare me. He did it for months and made me afraid to walk down the street in case he drove by.

Functioning is the worst right now. I go to work, but most everything else is put off until it must be done (laundry when I run out of clothes, paying bills late). I tell myself things I have to do, then I go do something else. I was supposed to apply for health care and I got on the computer before Christmas, but the site -- as has been widely reported -- is buggy and I couldn't finish enrolling. I have the papers to fill out, but I never seem to pick them up to work on.

Social is not too bad right now, mainly because I have a good support group I go to once a week. I was also using Meet Up but I'm having a hard time right now finding meetups I'd be interested in, on days when I can go.

Behavior isn't too bad. Or maybe I don't think it's too bad. I still don't quite fit in when I'm out among NTs but they act like I'm an odd, little-known species whose behavior is amusing. They don't seem annoyed or repelled by my words or actions.

Sensory issues were more a problem when I was younger. I can stand tags in my clothes and most noises now. I have some food issues, but I mostly eat by myself anyway so I can eat the same food every day, in the order I want and fix it my way.

behavior:I can be jerk at times
social:it's ok
the others,I have no idea what they mean

Functioning, but the social problems and sensory problems affect functioning too.
If I've had a day where I'm battling to communicate with people, it's too loud, and my clothes are biting me, by the time I get home I'm going to be too exhausted to marshal up my already faulty executive functioning skills in order to get much done.