Is It Easier For An Autistic Person To Identify Another?

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I have the impression that it is far easier to have an idea that someone may be on the spectrum if one is also likely to be on the spectrum oneself? Am I right?

Generally speaking, I would say this is more true than untrue.

If you are on the spectrum or suspect that you likely are, you probably have read up on autism and know some things about it. Most people don't know a whole lot about autism. That alone would make it easier for someone on the spectrum to identify other autistic people than for the average person.

Yes. It could be that.

Doubtful.

Just because you may ‘identify’ someone as autistic, that does not mean they are autistic. Besides, how would you verify your suspicions? Would you walk up to that person and say, “You’re autistic”? Would you stalk them and dox them to try to find out?

Pointless.

There is no such thing as “Aspidar”, either.

I think it's easier to see traits in others but there's also a lot of projecting and armchair diagnosing of historical figures, celebrities etc that look more like wishful thinking to me.

How easy could it be for people who cannot “read” body language or facial expressions?It’s either to legitimize autistics (i.e., “Einstein was autistic”) or demonize them (i.e., “Hitler was autistic”), neither of which are valid.

I might be able to make a somewhat educated guess if I knew the person and their personality / behaviours, but not by merely looking at someone I don't know. Even with my educated guess, I could be wrong because there are many other reasons why a person might "seem" autistic.

I generally rely on pattern recognition for such speculation but obviously don't claim I can diagnose anyone. (As a side note, body language can be learned as a foreign language)




Yes, from people who claim they aren't tribalistic and don't need validation the same way NTs do

"Birds of a feather flock together" -- so, if I get along well with someone, there's a well-above-average chance that they are at least neurodivergent in some way, if not in precisely the way that's officially classified as "autistic" these days.

Yes, there's a feeling that's more likely to be right than not. Verifying it in an acceptable manner might be a bit more problematic.

Many have thought or asserted this while having to accept that it's difficult to prove.

Now, there's some new thinking coming out from an autistic researcher that helps explain why it is true.

Check out this idea about autism as a serial collective:

Article
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog ... c-validity
Abstract
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... Psychology

This is generally how I feel about the subject.

I believe if I was one of ten people in a room and 2-3 of them were neurogivergent that the probability would be high that I would feel more comfortable communicating with the 2-3 and vice versa.

I don't believe that in the above scenario that it would be equally probable that I would end up feeling just as comfortable talking to 2-3 NT people or that it would be completely random as to whether I'd end up desiring to talk to ND or NT equally. This isn't to say that I believe that if someone else is ND that I will "click" with them no matter what. Certainly personality as well as other kinds of differences (fragrances, volume level, etc) can transcend neurological commonality.

I think we might have a higher chance of noticing that someone is on the spectrum than a non professional NT since we more or less know what to look out for, but if an NT would get interested in autism, read about it and spend time with various autistic people, that NT would eventually get a better "autism radar" than us as he/she would have the natural ability to see when someone's a little off somehow. Us autistics on the other hand are likely to keep an eye on things that we know we as individuals do differently or things that we know some other autistic person does. We might miss some very obvious signs if we don't realize that it's not something people would normally do, but an NT is less likely to have this problem.

How many people would you to have interact with in the general population to come across one that you could say "He/she is on the spectrum" ?

I'm guessing it would be quite a few. Certainly way above the number of people I have much interaction with .

I think you're right. As someone said, we autistics generally know what behaviors to look for, whereas NTs don't seem as knowledgeable in that regard. That being said, it should be a firm rule never to be broken that those of us who understand autistic traits, and think we can spot other autistic people, should NEVER go up to that person (or other people they know) and say, "I think you're autistic."

A former co-worker I've known for 25 years is probably on the spectrum. Before I was diagnosed in 2016, he always struck me as unusual because he has many of the same mannerisms and behaviors as I do. Once I was diagnosed, and thought about him, he now strikes me as "on the spectrum." But I'll never tell him that.

I would see definitely yes. But we are only going to be able to ID a small percentage of ASD people we have a short interaction with. At work, there was only one person I worked with who was most likely ASD. Several others were possible and maybe could have IDed them if I got socially closer to them. But of course that wouldn't be easy for either of us .

A close friend who I recently disclosed to had said, before I disclosed to him, that he thought he might be ASD. I thought it very unlikely but didn't say that at the time. After disclosing to him, I asked about his school experiences and had him take the AQ test. No ASD type school problems and AQ=24. Also, he had no idea I might be ASD.