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Have you ever had people you just met ask if you have ASD?

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Rocky
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09 Oct 2010, 5:47 pm

gassy wrote:
Its only happened once.

I was reading some of the genealogies in the bible (genesis and luke) and noticed a slight contradiction. So when i went toa bible study group a couple of days later and i asked the group why did they think this was the case.

Funnily enough nobody had even ever noticed it before, and one of them said "Do you have aspergers or something?" in a jokey sort of a way.
I think my response was something like "Would it suprise you if i said i did?"

Cant response what the response was, but it wasn't anything special and nobody seemed to really care in the end.

It was the first time someone asked, so it gave me great self-confidence to be completely truthful without being scared of a negative reaction. Now im not scared, or particularly scared if someone asked, but nobody has since anywat.


I have read some threads on WP that relate some bad results from disclosing in a work environment. Others have had good results. I think we all agree here that accurately predicting other people's reactions (in most situations) is pretty much impossible.


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Rocky
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09 Oct 2010, 5:52 pm

tonin wrote:
when tired or hyped, yes


I always thought that I only showed any traits when tired or hyped, but the situation in the original post makes me wonder. How many people (who aren't tipsy) think that I come across "like Rainman" without saying so?


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gassy
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10 Oct 2010, 5:46 am

Rocky wrote:
gassy wrote:
Its only happened once.

I was reading some of the genealogies in the bible (genesis and luke) and noticed a slight contradiction. So when i went toa bible study group a couple of days later and i asked the group why did they think this was the case.

Funnily enough nobody had even ever noticed it before, and one of them said "Do you have aspergers or something?" in a jokey sort of a way.
I think my response was something like "Would it suprise you if i said i did?"

Cant response what the response was, but it wasn't anything special and nobody seemed to really care in the end.

It was the first time someone asked, so it gave me great self-confidence to be completely truthful without being scared of a negative reaction. Now im not scared, or particularly scared if someone asked, but nobody has since anywat.


I have read some threads on WP that relate some bad results from disclosing in a work environment. Others have had good results. I think we all agree here that accurately predicting other people's reactions (in most situations) is pretty much impossible.


Sorry just realised my last couple of paragraph made no sense at all lol

But i'd agree, I would be very careful with mentioning it, though now i wouldn't feel uncomfortable/ashamed or feel i need to deny it, if somebody asked me adirect question.

However, if somebody asked me something about my behaviour e.g i wear the same sort of clothes all the time, i'd respond directly to the question, ie i wear what i feel comfortable and prefer to wear stuff which is plain, rather than really bright colours. Or why do you always walk and move about when you talk? My response would be something like Im not entirely sure, I think it just helps get my blood flowing around my body and therefore helps me concentrate, and think.

So i wouldn't say I had autism/aspergers unless directly asked, but i'd answer questions directly related to my behaviour etc, with answers which they'd understand as opposed to just saying i have autism. And considering they may/probably not have much knowledge about it, i think they'd get more out of the answer as opposed to something so general, which may not really enhance their "true" knowledge about me.



MONKEY
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10 Oct 2010, 6:41 am

Nope, never. Thankfully mine isn't noticable until a while after you've known me.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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10 Oct 2010, 2:26 pm

Rocky wrote:
Well, actually, he said "You're like that Rainman guy." I didn't know how to respond, so I just said: "Interesting."

I went (alone) out to a sports bar type place to watch a baseball game I didn't have access to otherwise. A very outgoing stranger asked if he and his female companion could sit at my table. I said that would be fine. He, like everyone else was there to watch the football games. He seemed to be more interested in chatting with me than watching, however. I am not sure what he saw that seemed to indicate an ASD, except that I was more interested in watching the baseball game. I did answer his questions about where I was from, etc. but I did not ask him about where he was from. When I watch baseball, I am interested in the subtleties and the strategies, which require intense concentration. Besides, this was the last game of the season, and my Giants (by winning this game) were finally going to win the division after a long drought. I did mention this to him, but he wasn't interested in baseball. He didn't seem mad about anything, but he did notice that I was acting different from everyone else. It could have something to do with the fact that I wasn't drinking.

Nobody asks me, probably because they think it's rude. I have had a lot of people accuse me of being crazy, though, and not shy about saying it.



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12 Oct 2010, 11:02 am

wavefreak58 wrote:
AnnePande wrote:
Though it can be a bit annoying when many people say that "everybody experiences" not getting things done, getting overwhelmed by people,


That's like saying diarrhea isn't bad because everybody poops.


Haha :lol: that's true, or dyslexia isn't bad because everybody makes typos.



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12 Oct 2010, 11:05 am

Rocky wrote:
AnnePande wrote:
Rocky wrote:
AnnePande wrote:
Last Saturday a man (whom I've met some times before) said to me: "Your brain is running with 120 km an hour. Are you autistic or are you just very intelligent?" He didn't say it in a mean way. And I don't remember what I said to get this reaction, didn't think it was something special.
I told him that I was on the autistic spectrum, with Asperger.
We talked a bit, and then his wife came, and he said: "I'm just talking to an autistic". A bit odd.


I admire you for helping to educate the public (even if it's one person at a time.) I am not in favor of always doing so. There could be negative repercussions for the person who discloses. One has to choose when to disclose based on many things, like the person to whom you are talking. I have kept my suspicion that I am on the spectrum to myself except for some of my family.


I'm usually open about my diagnosis. And I have not really had some bad commentaries for that. Though it can be a bit annoying when many people say that "everybody experiences" not getting things done, getting overwhelmed by people, or such - sometimes even though I already told them that I had this in an unusual manner. (Guess they didn't get the "unusual" part?) So it may take some explanation to make people believe that said traits are AS traits and not common things.
Eg. some people told me that they also experienced getting overwhelmed with many people at a time. Then I asked, "but you don't get confused and like your brain stops when getting asked many questions in a row, and I suppose you don't begin to cry either?" They had to say yes - and to realize that it was unusual (why not just believe it in the first place?).
Not that I begin to cry every time, just when it's getting too much, and I already have had a long day. (At a wedding a month ago I managed starting to cry 3 times - one for a way too crowded dinner tent, one for just too many people for too long time, where I went for myself for a while, and one for a very confusing conversation with some quite drunk guys.)
Don't know if that's what is called meltdown or just sensory overload?

Well, sorry for going offtopic. :?


I enjoyed reading your post. You may have gone a little off topic for this thread (I sure have once or twice) but your post was about ASD which is why we are on this site.

I hope that those people who said that to you were not being dismissive, but instead were trying to relate to you by their own experiences. I have never had anyone I disclosed to actually say they agree with my theory that I have mild ASD. I can relate to the feeling you discussed.


I have experienced it many times. Sometimes people may say it to try to relate, or sometimes they just don't understand why that should be an AS trait. Or something third. It's not always easy to tell what is behind.