Do you perform much worse under stress?

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I perform horribly under stress. My biggest problem occurs when I make a mistake; once that first mistake is made, it just breeds more mistakes, and then I'm totally screwed. It does not matter whether or not I was doing fine or already stressed when I made the first mistake. That is why I try so hard to be perfect. I am completely incapable of making just ONE mistake.

It's especially bad if I am around someone who doesn't know me well, because their impression of me is that I'm an incompetent idiot.

And, of course, when I'm under stress, that's when all those lovely AS traits rear their ugly heads, making the problem even worse.

i dont like working under stress but when i am stressed, i acutally focus better.

I suspect this is true of everyone, including neurotypicals--it's the source of stress that differs. For me, the stress that negatively affects my performance the most is trying to think or act in crowded/noisy environments. That's a killer.

A professor told me about a theory of stress in immunology that basically states that a little stress is beneficial, but a lot of stress increases susceptibility to viral diseases. Having too little stress supposedly increases susceptibility to bacterial/parasitic diseases. I don't know how much data there is to back this up, but I definitely buy the idea that a little stress can be a good thing. But for me at least, stress tends to be a feast or famine thing.