"Absorbing" ''aspie'' traits??

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Spin off from the "ever terrified you're not the real deal" thread... cos that got me thinking...
I seem to frequently ''absorb'' the mannerisms or behaviours of people I see/read about... like well... characters and such.. and am worried (because my traits are more in the grey area) that I'm exagerating or affecting Aspie traits I've been reading about, especially because I used to read AS forum so much.. I don't know.. who knows.. maybe i just needed to feel special then?? thoughts? (not saying this is or might be the case for anyone else btw)

I sometimes feel exactly like that.
But if i suppose if those traits weren't there in the first place there'd be nothing to exaggerate

I know lots of people who are not autistic but demonstrate some autistic traits. I think the question you have to ask is, "Are my autistic traits severe enough to interfere with my ability to enjoy my life?" If the answer is yes, then I think it's reasonable to consider yourself autistic.

unfornuatelly for me teh answer is yes

I don't absorb people's behaviors but I do sometimes question my diagnoses because AS seems to be more noticable now that I'm older.

I do the absorbing thing too, big time.

for me the WP forum was quite a revelation cause I found "labels" (or should I just call it the right terms) to call my eccentricities and odd behaviours which I'd never consider autistic before (I didn't know the first thing about autism too for that matter). now that I know how to call them I see how much of them I have and how they have been affecting my life. I still try to watch my behaviour in an unbiased way (not possible, but I'm trying hard) cause I strongly suspect that I've been misdiagnosed with AS but the more I think about it and the more I read this forum the more I feel like I'm definately on the spectrum.

I do wish to take a break from WP and see if the way I see it doesn't change tho. hard one.

I've taken long breaks from WP and from researching AS and my behavior didn't change. I tend to get really absorbed with this site though. I can post here for hours.

For me, it is almost the opposite. When my child was first diagnosed I read quite a bit about AS, but it was all clinical medical information...nothing by someone with Asperger's. At the time it explained quite a bit, not only for my child but also myself, but barely scratched the surface of all the 'whys'. Since finding this site I have had so many questions addressed through reading, things I never knew were traits at all, and I have been saying...wow, so that's why we do this, that's why we do that...amazing.

As for the mirroring, I don't know if I have ever noticed. For now, I would have to say I do not do it. I think if did, I would be able to fit in better.

Nope.

I highly doubt you'd be able to pickup [accurate] mannerisms from writing alone, unless it was really detailed. If you picked up a motor mannerism by reading/watching someone for example, and you found that it was beneficial for you (just as it is for the originator), this isn't "faking", as you're just mimicking behaviour that was learnt by someone else.

And besides, PDDs are so pervasive, i.e., broad in what they affect in each individual, there's just too many behaviours that someone will display, so a trait picked up from someone else will matter little overall (you can't really pickup a lack of social reciprocation).

Many people with very severe traits do not feel they interfere with enjoyment. That is not the correct criterion. Using the "enjoyment" criterion, people who are very impaired indeed would not be diagnosable with autism. I am disabled. My autism does not interfere with enjoying life. Yet I am still obviously autistic.

Here's how you determine if your autistic traits are enough to warrant a diagnosis:

"The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

That means that if it impairs functioning, whether or not it stops you from enjoying life, it is diagnosable.

Yeah, probably, but I guess this balances the years of adapting to NT behavior so I'd say it's pretty fair

yes, supposedly I pick-up mannerisms from people I meet or see on TV or something...that and I make up some..

lol. Then how have I managed to do fine without a diagnosis-until I was diagnosed at 16 then last year or so

Maybe it's my environment (see my customized rank), but I was diagnosed because of counseling for conflicts with my mom..

I don't know how you can pick up traits from reading, though if you're very impressionable you might mimic speech patterns or language style for a while. I never did that, but when I was young I did pick up accents of people I was around a lot. As an adult, I found that I tended to fall into the patterns of a person I'd be talking to. It was unconscious, but once I became aware of it, I realized it helped me communicate better with them.

I think mimicry like that is normal for us and usually it helps but sometimes it can cause problems.

I still tend to pick up the accent of the person I'm speaking to which is usually fine if they don't notice but sometimes they think I'm mocking them which is trouble.

LOL I get into A LOT of trouble with this. I can't help mimicking accents tho. one linguist once told me that I actually speak a few different accents at the same time and after 30 mins of talking to him I started to pick up his rolling "r"s and scottish intonation. he was really understanding about this though, unlike most people (especially those with very strong local accents) who would just think I'm taking a piss out of the way they speak.

Perhaps many AS become experts mimics early on because it's the only way to know how to act.

But that doesn't mean you aren't who you are.