How autistic do you think you are compared to...

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I can live on my own, do shopping, manage formal situations, keep myself and my flat clean, drive, travel, go to concert etc. These things are ok.

But it's hard for me to keep any contact, have a relationship, live with someone. I can't smile, have fun, be natural. I have meltdowns and big problems with my feelings.

The major trouble I have is with sequencing. The longest I've held a job for is about 4 years where I was a deli clerk. I had a real nice boss who understood me, but I ended up quitting after she left. Making meals, dressing myself, shifting from one activity to another is pretty difficult for me, and I have to take my time or I'll forget something. Pretty much anything that requires more than 2 steps can easily overwhelm me. I have a problem with recall, and short term memory. Like you can tell me a list of things to do in the order you want and I might have to ask you to repeat yourself a few times while im doing it, but if you ask me what the list was two weeks later, I can repeat it verbatim.

Socially I get on alright with people. Mimicking people with strong social skill gets me through the worst of it (I've done this from an early age), however, I can burn out quite easily where I'll need to retreat to solitude ( I can fake it for only so long). A lot of times I'll completely miss the point of what people say to me, and get so caught up in the processes of decoding their figures of speech I'll lose track of what they are talking about completely. If you can picture a lake with a dam, where the lake is the complete content of what someone is saying but only the water flowing through the dam is what I can understand, and furthermore, it comes through without any particular order. Everything just seems so obscure sometimes.

I have quite a few other oddity's such as sensory issues, and sleep/wake issues, but I think you get the point.

I'm probably on the higher end of functioning, however, It's still an incredible struggle day to day, and I still can't support myself enough to live independently.

I'm probably highfunctioning in most areas. My main advantages are not having any learning dsabilities and being able to present as "normal" when necessary. I can connect with people but it's rare, so when it happens I really get involved, hence husband and children. I also manage household and bills etc, although I might go about it funny.

I have no doubt about my impairment though. I have problems with emotions, relationships and anxiety. I obsess to the point that it prevents me from having or making friends. I often feel isolated and confused. I study fine, but I fear the workplace and having to deal with people. I can pass for normal, but I rarely manage to form relationships or friendships.

I'm reading a book about girls on the spectrum, and the description of girls with normal to high IQ's is frightfully close to my own experience of life. Short story; anxiety, sadness, identity crises, thoughts that wont stop spinning, isolation.

I am good at everything but socializing. I have some deficits when it comes to multi tasking and organization. I cook, clean, drive, live on my own. Compared to Aspies who are great socializers, I'm lacking.

I drive, work full time (my career's wrecked though), prepare most of my own food (though I have to set timers to prevent the fire alarm from going off), I manage my own money, clean the house, etc. Usually my husband leads dinner preparations because I have a very difficult time getting it done.

I have no social life, but I don't mind - others rarely fit in among my special interests anyway. My interests absorb me almost entirely - I'm actually trying to get therapy for this right now.

I stim a lot. And I don't understand most of my emotions. Oh, and I'm terrible and figuring out other's emotions. I'm high functioning, but every part of my life is impacted very heavily. Though I'm married, my level of absorption in my special interests makes me...well, I don't think the best candidate for being a mother. I think it will hurt my marriage.

Very high functioning. I can live independently (at least at college), prepare my own food, hold down a (currently part time) job even outside of my issues, and have been able to successfully navigate a romantic relationship without too many issues. I function and pass for NT with relative ease now as compared to when I was younger.

However, I do have some emotional and trust issues as well as undiagnosed prosopagnosia, and often isolate myself for days at a time. It's not too serious, but there are things that keep me from seeming completely NT to the world.

I consider myself to be "moderate" on the high-functioning scale. I am incredibly high-functioning in some areas. For example, I completed college with honors and almost no accommodations, and I graduated high school (before I was diagnosed) with zero accommodations. However, I struggle with basic living activities, and my anxiety (I also have OCD) seems to be much worse than the majority of people here. I cannot drive, and I probably never will be able to, as a combination of OCD fears and NVLD visual-spatial deficits. And not being able to drive holds me back in a lot of ways. I don't understand budgets and money, most likely from my mathematical learning disabilities. I dread the day when I'll have to pay my own bills. I also have great difficulty in contacting people for appointments and such if phone calls are required in any sort of way. So, in short, I have been blessed with academic strengths, but I rely on my mom to help me with lots of day-to-day activities that I'm not good at doing myself.

As for symptoms alone and not living independence, I know that my social deficits are very mild when compared to other WP members. But this is true for me in any AS setting. I am not terribly socially deficit in situations. With people I don't know well, I act by overly polite social script, so it isn't confusing for me. And I am lucky in that I don't care about having friends or being good at socializing. I'm happiest by myself. But it is clear to me that my sensory issues and the intensity of my special interests are more severe and pronounced than most Aspies.
-OddDuckNash99-

At times I feel I'm very high-functioning but other times I think I'm extremely low functioning or psychotic/insane ect. I can have really good conversations online & make quite a lot of sense sometimes & I can be a great counselor to some people. I can also handle social situations & communicate well offline at times. But sometimes I say stuff that makes no sense at all & when I'm nervous like trying to tell a girl I like her I feel I come off as having Tourette's. I sometimes quote Family Guy in conversations online or with certain people offline. I also have problems doing certain simple task most people can do, I'm extremely immature & dependent for someone who's 27 & I also have lot of OCD characteristics as well. I'm often in my own world & if you guys seen my music collection & knew about some of my fantasies; You would probably think I should not be left alone