You may be Autistic if...

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- if you prefer to live alone wherever possible because being in the same room or house as other people is incredibly draining and you need the sanctuary of your own space.

- if your choice of clothing tends to be defined far more by how it feels than what other people's social reactions to it will be.

- if you've ever been told that you think you're better than other people, despite never having said anything to that effect.

- if your default facial expression has been mistaken for that of an alien, a robot, or a serial killer.

- if you switch tracks of thought with all the carefree ease of pulling a 20-ton bank vault across a rusted floor.

- if your ideal workplace would be somewhere silent where you could work all day long without a single interruption or anyone else passing within 20 feet of you.

- if you're more likely to never do or think about a thing, or do it to obsessive levels, rather than engage in it lightly.

- if the only time you've had a 'normal' career path is because people nudged you along it, or your work had some kind of semi-automatic advancement process in place.

- if you can read facial expressions on cartoon/animated characters 100x better than facial expressions in real life. Bonus if this means you tend to watch more animated shows than live-action ones.

- if you've assumed that a workplace had no drama/gossip because you never had any indicator of it, only to have someone else take you aside and explain the ocean of drama/gossip you've completely missed.

- if your ideal job is one where you show up, do the work, and go home.

- if you review your internet posts the day after and correct minor issues of spelling, grammar, and research.

Well, that ^^^ pretty much defines me.

You realize that your life is much better than it was once and you have made significant improvements in a short time, but you realize that you may not improve much more. You don't know if you will ever make the kind of improvements that will lead to a completely independent life.

You have a strong social network and people like you, but you aren't at their level in terms of everyday life experience, even though your education level is equal.

If “analysis paralysis” is a problem for you.

You admire people who don't care to get drunk

You take your teddy bear with you if you're going to be away from home overnight or more than one night

You wince when a loud motorcycle or loud car passes you in the street

You take pictures of your pets with you when you are away from home.

You hate the perpetual state of "in between" you observe yourself to be in, not truly handicapped, but nothing remarkable, either.

You have spent seven years passionately studying the same subject simply because it is fascinating for you and has remained practically in misery as all your friends have evolved in their careers and have left the country.

You regret all those years you wasted on your special interests because, even though you have a rich social life now, you discover everyone else has grown up and you're just beginning. You will be perpetually behind the growth curve, wondering if you will ever catch up.

You wonder if there really is someone for everyone, or if that just applies to people who have already been out there for years. You wonder if you got into the game too late.

You will keep going on regardless, because the alternative, going back to your old life, is terrible to contemplate.

Being squeezed feels SOOOOO damn good, and you can't stand the act of greeting people.

You may be autistic if you conform to the original and historic description of the aspect of the psyche that was so labeled. These aspects, as originally named, can be found in Aaron Rosanof’s 1921 paper “A Theory of Personality…” along with the other aspects, being Hysteroid, Manic, Paranoid, Depressive and Epileptoid (the latter being an essential strength in those diagnosed with AS, with Autistic and Paranoid being optional). The following description has been lifted from the 1935 Humm and Wadsworth Temperament Scale (which Leo Kanner was familiar with, but I’ve found no indication that Lorna Wing ever was!) which was a general population study of the theory.


“The Autistic (= artist; a recent change attribute to PC) component is responsible for shy, sensitive, introspective behaviour. An individual displaying a great deal of the Artist component will be socially sensitive, frequently experiencing some difficulty in expressing their ideas and opinions in face-to face
Situations. They are imaginative and creative people, who may be subject to reclusive reactions resulting from feelings of difference. The Autistic component includes attributes such as insightfulness, self-consciousness, embarrassment and withdrawal.”


Some of you may recall the Chandler & Macleod on line test which was developed from the H &W, as an aid to recruiters, and I took the full industrial test in 1981, which pronounced me very strongly Autistic (I was average in every other category, which is unusual; most people have two or more strengths) and High Normalising (a measure of how well one can adapt to the culture one they find themselves in). The on line test used to give letters, to indicate one’s strengths (I got an NA) which most people found very helpful (most diagnosed AS posted AE combinations, but a significant minority were PEs, which should be a very different character; for instance, Paranoids like to be in charge of things, Autistics don’t) then Kevin Macleod (then executive, and grandson of one of the founders) after months of enthusiastic discussions, stopped responding to my – mails, and shortly thereafter left the company. The on line test was withdrawn, to reappear months later without the letter scores, shortly to be withdrawn permanently (but the page is still there on C&Ms site). At the very least, this should tell you that some very powerful interests don’t want you to know this historical stuff!


Past experience tells me that most of you don’t want to know, and would rather believe that Lorna Wing, having completely misunderstood what Kanner published, then wrongly applied the autism label to a dozen or so unrelated disorders, dumped them in the same “waste basket” category, and somehow created a “spectrum”! It is not; it is a crock of crud from which no good will ever come, but if you can’t entertain that understanding, then I can’t help you!