Can Anybody Else Tell When Somebody Is Autistic Or Not?

Post Reply New Topic

When I meet someone, I can tell you whether they have autism or not. In fact, I can tell within a minute of meeting someone new if they too have autism or aspergers.

The behavior that people with autism exhibit is different, their demeanor is distinctive, often subtle. It's hard to explain, but I can pick up on it instinctively, and that's why I can tell whether someone has it or not.

I grew up being exposed to a lot of people with high functioning autism. From going to social skills classes, to meeting a ton of people with it in school, and going to support groups. In my lifetime, iv'e probably met 60+ people with autism and aspergers. So i'm aware of those distinctive behaviors that people with aspergers often have, which is why when I meet someone new, I can always tell whether they have the condition or not.

And i'm never wrong.

But every person with ASD is different and has different symptoms and quirks. How do you know you’re NEVER wrong?

Sometimes I am able to spot another autistic, but other times I hear that someone is autistic but didn't notice beforehand.

I guess it depends on the type of high-functioning autistic person.


With more talkative people, it's easier to tell because they are more likely to advertise themselves, thus it's easier to catch on to their distinctive behavior.

For people with language problems, it's also easier to tell. Many people with autism, even those with high functioning autism, have a distinctive tone of voice, kind of like how a ret*d person speaks. (Not that those with autism or high functioning autism are ret*d) Combine that with distinctive behavior and that usually gives it away pretty fast.

People who are more quiet, who keep to themselves, more introverted, and without that distinctive tone of voice, are much more likely to go under the radar. I like to call these people, the socially anxious types. Socially anxious types are much more likely to fly under the radar because they are so quiet, they don't put themselves out there, so you don't get as many chances to pick up on their autistic traits.

Of course, women are also more likely to fly under the radar as well.

I can tell very easily. I often find myself deciding that high functioning ASDs aren't really disorders, issues, or problems but just a personality type, equal to the rest save for more introversion. Other times, I feel that we are an extremely clean-cut mental class, a group of our own similar to personality disordered individuals or those with Downs syndrome. I have, as of recently, been unable to make a long term consensus so I straddle both.

But on the topic of being able to tell, yes. I usually spot a set of behaviors that are more or less consistent with all Asperger's or Autistic people. In more severe "classic" cases, the person has stiff mannerisms and stereotypical behaviors, rough speech, very indirect affect, and behaves in a slow manner yet seems to pick up everything that is said. They do not put out any social cues that those of us on the higher end might pick up, like eye contact meaning attention or a slight smile meaning interest (both of which I've been able to figure out by recognizing the difference in tone between the lower functioning Autistic person and a neurotypical). In higher functioning cases, the person is highly interested in specific things in the environment (To this point, I've once thought that maybe our interests are not a single thing, but the most of a set of things we fixate on), is flat but is also capable of putting on a "show", behaving in a way that is more normal, but not what you'd consider smooth or flowing interactions. In my case, I am often ridiculed for being "robotic" or even resembling someone with actual autism, but I am (hopefully) cognitively advanced enough to understand the differences between autism and a neurotypical, and behave more like the neurotypical, modifying my behavior so it fits a standard and over time using trial and error to master the art of being smaller and more assimilated into my environment.

Sounds like a good few health providers could use your services. Here in the UK we tend to have a couple of highly qualified psychologists interview and test people for several hours, often over multiple appointments, before a decision can be made as to whether an autism diagnosis is appropriate. What a waste of time and resources when there are people who could do the job in a minute with no risk of getting it wrong.

I think I've finally learned to understand sarcasm!

I can tell if somebody is exhibiting a number of autistic traits at that particular moment if I happen to be looking for them. Autistic traits are chronic and also can be be a result from a number of conditions. Those are the reasons I can do no more than suspect another person is autistic and those are the reasons you can not do more than that either.

I can usually tell with autistic males more than autistic females (unless the symptoms are more obvious, of course). With females, it's always hard to tell. But even then, one time I met my dad's friend's 11-year-old daughter who had moderate autism and attended a special school. She was very chatty, made eye contact and smiled a lot, and to me she seemed like ADHD and Bipolar. But when they said she had been diagnosed with autism at age 4, and had a very high IQ, and excellent attention span, I was surprised. They said she didn't have Bipolar or ADHD at all.

Sometimes psychologists misdiagnose clients

And you are "never wrong"?

Where does all that confidence come from?

You can't "prove" someone is autistic

Numerous precious lil "people" have had the nerve to tell me that "you are not autistic! My neighbors five year old boy is autistic. He goes to a special school"

All autistics are different, just like all neurotypicals are different

How do you verify your "findings"?

Do you run a battery of psychological tests on the subject under controlled conditions, submit your findings to a panel of experts, and consult with them for a consensus opinion?

Or do you simply assume that you are right because you believe that you are never wrong?

I can also often tell if a person has ASD or not and am rarely wrong. Have been around so many people on the spectrum, people with borderline, bipolar disorder and other severe mental disorders, I can recognize them quite well. But I am no licensed professional and nowhere near qualified to diagnose people.

How do you verify your "findings"?

Do you run a battery of psychological tests on the subject under controlled conditions, submit your findings to a panel of experts, and consult with them for a consensus opinion?

Or do you simply assume that you are right because you believe that you are 'rarely' wrong?

Your claim, and the claim made by the OP, remind me of those 'gaydar' claims made by bullies in grade school -- "I believe it, so it must be true" goes their reasoning.

Hell yeah,

They better pay me good money for my services.

Hi Fnord!

When I tell them, they go get an official diagnosis and afterwards tell me I was right.

My brother is gay, and I can often tell if a person is gay or not which is funny seeing what you wrote.

I also put in bold and underline something I said which you might want to read again.

I can't really tell, no. Even if I knew someone was different, I still have no way of knowing what they have. It could be anything. There was only one time when I suspected a man on the bus might be autistic because he was talking about libraries all over the US and asking questions to an old lady about it and she was answering them. He didn't really look at her and he was just looking straight ahead. I suspected he was into libraries so he always asked people about them, what was in them, what kind of lights they had, switches, doors, flooring, how big they were, the year they were built, etc. No one asks these questions unless they have autism or some form of it or their own version of it.


I also wondered if my nutritionist had it too because she mentioned her humor is found offensive by people and she dropped out of high school and got her GED to go to college because she had social issues and she said she didn't really like change. She always felt guilty if she couldn't make it to my apartment. Plus she was always forgetting things at my apartment, one time she left her whole entire container with her stuff outside our apartment building and my husband found it and brought it in and we kept it for a week until she came back again for my next class with her. It could have been ADHD you know but that change part is what made me wonder autism since that isn't an ADHD issue.

But I still don't feel comfortable slapping autism labels on people when there are lot of overlaps and social awkwardness. I was once going to work and some guy taps a lady on the shoulder to ask her if she dropped her bus pass because he found it op the ground. Instead she started screaming at him and saying how rude it was and everything and wouldn't let him speak up. I at first thought it was a sensory reaction to the touch and it startled her but the fact she kept going on and on about it being a broken record made me think "Oh my god, this lady is crazy, I am getting away from her" so I moved down the train to get away from her. She was still screaming about it after the man had walked away and stopped trying to talk to her. Then I moved too when she wasn't shutting up. I have no idea what she had but I definitely know she had something going on since this was not a normal reaction and I am sure an autistic person would have said their thing and then stop than repeating themselves after having their abnormal reaction.