Don't know what I have

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I have ADHD. As a youngster, I had none of the aspects of autism or social issues related to theory of mind, obsessions, or repetitive behaviors. However, I did have problems with turn-taking that was corrected with medication but later when the medication became less effective, I still have those issues as an adult. I am hyperactive and impulsive.

I was diagnosed with NLD as a youngster. I had a 127 VIQ / 77 PIQ. I am a quirky disorganized male who has spatial issues and auditory processing issues. I don't remember nonverbal information and get confused by visual organization. I can keep a calendar but struggle with visual details. I also cannot interpret a novel. I can however have empathy (can understand someone else's viewpoint), have proper effect (emotion), and can share in other people's discussions. I however can get carried away with something I listened to. I can talk to someone at length jumping from topic to topic or I can be really passionate and talk about stuff that's irrelevant but not tied to an obsession.

Are you asking if you're autistic? Because to me, the two diagnoses you listed (ADHD and NLD) seem to cover your issues pretty well.

That's what I thought. The NLD leads to me being disorganized and the ADHD leads me to be impulsive at times.

Yes, I was. My ADHD is severe enough to effect my job performance and my social relationships and had been fixed with medication. I have tried 6 different drugs; 3 of them were complete failures but three of them worked at least for a time or sort of well. Ritalin, Adderall, and Paxil worked. Straterra, Vynese, and Wellbutrin failed. Ritalin only worked till I was 12, Adderall worked but I had many sleepiness issues, and Paxil worked only at certain times of the day.

I do have a lot of issues with social because of my hyperactivity, excitability, and impulsiveness. I day-dream a lot and have visual processing / memory / spatial issues which lead to me not making eye-contact or remembering either names and faces. I have an intact long-term memory so I can remember something better from 5 days ago than a direction I received 5 minutes ago. I can understand another person's point of view and body language but might not remember it and thus worry what they thought about me or the context of what was said. I often second-guess myself and have at times been very apologetic and thanking people. I do get anxious when I get concerned what other people think about me and this is when I haven't been on my best behavior. I have run thru the grocery store, perseverate on many topics, and enjoy saying hi/bye to people. Before saying bye, I am somewhat ashamed if I am going out of my way to annoy another just because I want to say bye just in case something went wrong and/or simply to be friendly (have a conversation about their day). Sometimes by talking about someone else's day, it helps me not be concerned about what happened my day and allows me to go by the motto: tomorrow is another day, I can put this day behind me.

Thanks for listening. I am interested in adopting my family so I would hope to just have a learning disability NOT autism.

Why would autism affect your chances of adopting?

I'd be concerned about categorical discrimination; the assumption that people who are autistic don't have theory of mind and would not have the necessary sensitivity to raise a child, thus the concern over the distinction between a neurological learning disability and an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.

To me I have the following characteristics that would make me a desirable parent:
1) emotional stability
2) an ability to understand another person's needs
3) sensitivity to work thru their academic and social issues
4) adaptable
5) patience

There are other characteristics but these are the five I could think of

Being able to meet the child's needs socially is of utmost importance to me. I have never had theory of mind issues and never had given the wrong emotion to a setting. Of course, I am interested that they are good in math and science because that increases the fields they can pursue, but good adaptive social skills so they can have some great friendships is something I'd hope my kids would have, whether they have autism or not. And to help them develop normal social friendships is important to their development.