Every think your friends might be a little autistic?

Post Reply New Topic

I recall that I met one of my closest friends in Grade 7. Everybody hated me, but he didn't seem to care. All he did was show me all the stupid practiced jokes he did, such as his impression of Jean Chretien, re-enactments of his favourite flash videos, and the like. To date we still have odd ways of bonding, we still re-enact comics and flash videos, we still holler and at eachother and make faces for no apparent reason, make up bizarre stories randomly, and I still occasionally hurt him for my own entertainment (don't worry - I'm sure he likes it).

The point though, is that he seems to have a few AS type characteristic. He's been obsessed with WarHammer, World of Warcraft, and the Discovery Channel for years now. Occasionally he just starts going on-and-on about his new favourite thing, and while it's boring it's still tolerable. He seems a little socially awkward at times, but it's hard to explain, he seems to just do random things in an attempt to start talking to me. He also has a habit of playing with his hands alot, and I've seen him rock back and forth in his chair a few times when he was particularly excited. He also has a very un-teenager-ly relationship with his mother: they treat eachother like best friends, occasional curse (badly) at eachother, but they seem happy together and she buys him pretty much everything he wants. There are more things I could list, but I can't quite remember them at the moment.

My question is, do you ever notice your friends having autistic characteristics? And secondly, is it wrong to try to diagnose them? Keep in mind I'd never tell my friend he has AS or that I have it, it's just an unconcious thing I do.

Yes,I notice that kind of thing with my friends as well.As long as you don't start obsessing over whether he really has it or not I don't see a problem with it.

yeah, all of my friends were (are, but I haven't seen them in over 10 years) very eccentric when it comes to things they like. They REALLY get into it and will talk for hours and hours and hours about it, lol. They also all get lost very easily, most are fairly picky about foods, and they're always questioning things. Whether they are or not is another story, but regardless they are a lot of fun. The only thing that really seems to set us aside is they are social for the most part... or appear that they would be, but I dunno what they are really like anymore. Only one of them has turned into a hermit, doesn't do well in school, doesn't have a job, and is always analyzing things to death.

...uummm no. I don't have any.

Only the ones who were.

Sadly, I never had the ability to think about it, until recently. NOW, I weigh that stuff all the time. I am VERY sure that one of my collegues has AS and another HFA. I think one old friend ALSO has AS. ALL were productive and at first glance appeared normal, although the two AS people DID have a LOT of indepth knowledge and interesting interests. ALSO, both have a solitary lifestyle. One was even still living with his father past 20years, though he had a top level security job as an engineer at a major government contractor.

Steve

The only friend I have is a fluffy little bundle of autism.

I had four friends in high school. Two were an effeminate gay couple. Therefore, quite "different" at an all-male, Catholic, jock-oriented prep school. The othre two were a friend I had from the beginning, my debating partner, and a friend I made in my Junior year, and his Freshman, and only, year in the school.

He showed what I realize now to have been some pretty unusual tendencies, whether or not he was on the spectrum. He actually had other kids who would be friendly toward him, all of whom hated me, but he hung out with me. We both were focused on Broadway musicals (this was the late sixties and everyone else was into political rock). We went to show together. We both got interested in the Peanuts characters and bought up every book and toy we could get our hands on (remember, I was about 15). We shoplifted together for fun. We only got caught once. That was the last time he did it, but I would continue for a little while.

Currently, at 57, my best friend at work is quite clearly on the spectrum, although I am quite certain he would be insulted if I told him. He has a monotone voice, no social life outside of work, and is fixated on several things including William Blake and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

His humor is all insults (and deosn't realize that that upsets some people). I tend to get along with those in authority much better than he does, although I mess up a lot too. He has no friends, outside of me, that I know of.

I am, as you may know, married (for 25 years) and have two autistic (diagnosed) sons. So, I have conisderably more social life than he does.

A well-intentioned administrator once asked me if I thought that this person was autistic.

I strongly suspect that two of my highschool friends are AS. I've known them both for about 3 or 4 years and though only recently have I really noticed characteristics, they are things that have been there all along. They're both obsessed with text-based rpg's and fantasy/sci-fi stuff. Are quiet around "the pop kids"(the people that neither I nor my friends associate with), don't make eye contact, have peculiar stances/walking styles, often become stuck on tasks (we have a course two hour together) and couldn't care less about what's "in" or "out".

The one that I'm closer with, D is almost obviously an aspie. He's oblivious to sarcasm, doesn't judge space well, repeats the last word or two of whatever anyone says, talks way loud without realizing, has a few speech difficulties, is very literal, in addition to the things above. As well as a bunch of things I'm leaving out.
If it weren't for his family situation and personal challenges, I'm sure he would have been diagnosed and long time ago. As it is, I don't plan on mentioning anything, as I doubt he'd believe me.

As for my very close friends, I think I'm too close with them to tell. All of their weirdness and unusual behaviours are so natural that I wouldn't be able to seperate anything. But I'm not in any rush to find anything out anyway, it wouldn't change much. It just seems that aspies naturally, unconciously draw to eachother.

You're all lucky to have found these types of quirky friends. My favorite television show (cancelled after the first season) was Freaks And Geeks. It always struck me that even though the geeks didn't fit in with the popular kids, at least, they had each other. As long as you have someone you can sincerely relate to, being different doesn't seem so bad. Sadly, I haven't found such a person, as an adult.

Never any friends, only two family members.

I have a friend from high school whose husband probably has AS, but I don't know him too well so I can't really say for sure.

Most of the people I would call (and have called) freinds certanly show some AS traits.

it is so questionable with friends, but with family it is to be dealth with.
i think many of my friends are eccletic like myself and wonder.
but most have a different diagnosis, so?

it is so questionable with friends, but with family it is to be dealth with.
i think many of my friends are eccletic like myself and wonder.
but most have a different diagnosis, so?

it is so questionable with friends, but with family it is to be dealth with.
i think many of my friends are eccletic like myself and wonder.
but most have a different diagnosis, so?