Which autistic traits do you NOT have?

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OK, so I guess not everyone with autism has the same traits and some not have some traits, so which don't you have?

I don't lack eye contact

I have read faces fairly well (but not eyes)

I can pick up on tone of voice very well

I have few sensory issues and to much less extent that the average autistic person

I enjoy socializing (with adults)

I'm not exactly an animal lover

I'm not very smart (just average)

I don't enjoy science or anything like that

I don't like criticizing people

Which autistic do you not have?

I don't mind being touched. In fact, I like being touched.

I'm able to pick up verbal cues, for the most part.

I usually don't have any trouble understanding metaphors or double-entendres or things like that.

I am not very good at math.

I enjoy socializing on occasion.

I go out of my way to avoid offending people.

I don't hurt anybody in any way, because I know how it feels to be hurt by family members and my peers.

I'm not good at math
I make some eye contact (much more than I used to, but probably not as much as an NT)
I understand, and even use, figures of speech and sarcasm
I don't have very many sensory issues and the ones I do have aren't severe

Last edited by IdahoRose on 23 Jan 2011, 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

-I'm not good at math. When I entered third grade I became math-a-phobic and cried almost every day because I couldn't figure out the math problems.
-I have a good sense of humor and enjoy laughing and telling and listening to jokes.
-I can be highly emotional and irrational about certain things, although I'll be all cold and logical about other things.
-I show a lot of different facial expressions, even though I don't always notice other peoples expressions. I'm better at it now though.
-Since my diagnosis I've gotten better at two-way conversations and making eye contact
-I'm usually very polite to other people.

All of them. I'm apparently NT for not having a tragic life and being positive.

I don't stim that much.

I don't have many sensory issues.

Decent eye contact

no true sensory issues

I don't stim much and it's not obvious

I can usually pick up on sarcasm unless they pull it off deadpan

I'm not the greatest at reading people outright but always notice the slightest change in expression or tone

I can't think of one specific symptom that I don't have... yet I always feel that people look at me talk about autism/represent myself as an autistic and think, "she's not autistic". Perhaps I'm deflecting the thoughts I've had about other people back onto myself. Or perhaps I look at the more quiet and reserved people on the spectrum and think about how can I possibly have the same thing as them. But then I remember when I used to be that way, as well, and then for some reason, I've suddenly changed...

I have a sense of humor.

I get wordplay and puns and delight in them even if it takes me a few moments.

- I used to have very little eye contact , but now look at people straight in the eyes through training myself.
It adds for much better social interaction. This is something I've been working on for the last year and a half.
I'm able, most of the time now, to maintain eye contact without causing myself pain AND without psyching the
person I'm looking at ... out. It's a delicate balance that times time and experience to get the knack of.

- Oddly enough I read faces extremely well. Got 97% on the Cambridge Face Memory Test and scored very high on
the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test. I have the innate ability to perceive an emotional state of someone but
I don't intuitively know how to react to it. I scored quite low on the EIQ (emotional intelligence test), which is congruent
with (right word ? lol) how I act in public. I fumble about or don't react at all when someone gives me an snap emotional
stimulus. It's quite unsettling because I feel like I'm being tested all the time and I keep "failing". NT Bastards ! Anyways...

- I pick up tone very well. I seem to have little trouble in this department.

- I DO have several sensory issues. Loud noises startle me. Lots of social and noisy commotion unsettles me, brings
me irrational fear. Though I've worked on this issue and it seems to have gotten better. I stim ALL the time: when I walk in public I have to tap my legs in specific spots, I stim when breathing (certain patterns of breathing calm me down, though are not productive when doing busy work), when home alone I rock back and forth and hum to myself..... this more than any of the others brings me the most sensory satisfaction, I can't explain it, if I were prohibited from rocking and humming I think I would be in dire straights. I guess that's why I like my freedom. I don't like people looking at me and analysing me, maybe I think they'll find me out or just think there's something wrong with me. That's really ridiculous because I really love who I am.

- I truly enjoy math, not an expert or anything, I just enjoy thinking about and playing with math.
I enjoy math more than arithmetic. What really annoys me is that people refer to arithmetic as math, and it's NOT ! !
Sometimes I feel that I should be a math genius like Euler or John Nash but in reality I'm probably as good as the
average undergrad math major. I need to keep detaching from the stereotypes in my mind and just be who nature
intended me to be.

- I love to be around people. Thing is they don't always love to be around me. If I don't watch myself I tend come off as
pendantic or arrogant. When I first realized I was perceived as acting this way towards people I was kind of hurt inside,
because I'm not trying to hurt people when I talk to them. Also I didn't believe them when they told me I was acting arrogant.
I don't know how much this has to do with my pdd, maybe I absorbed this behaviour from my dad (a successful doctor) when I was younger.

- I DO enjoy reading science related articles. I used to drive to my local barnes and nobles every weekend when I was in
high school to read the latest issue of Discover, and others.

- I have noticed that I do like to criticize people and make caricatures of them based on their glaring faults.
But I mostly keep this to myself, for amusement. I know this is not a socially acceptable behaviour, which is why
I try to keep it under wraps.

I know I was supposed to list autistic traits I DON'T have, but I couldn't think of any obvious examples off the top of my
head. Bad short term memory, that an autistic trait ? I also have extreme difficulty remembering information that I need to
memorize but have no interest in. Like work related information. I found it difficult to memorize the names of the months (gregorian calender) , I finally memorized them when I was 22yo, boy was that a chore ! lol

How could I forget the emotion one? I am not logical at all, in fact my very logical dad tells me all that time that I am being way to emotional.

Also, I forgot to put the humour one. I have a great sense of humour and couldn't live without it.

Of course, there are some types of humour that I don't get, but I think it's because of my age and maturity level.

I'm terrible and have no interest in maths or science.
I think I can read body language quite well, however my own body language is unusual.
I don't care for parts of objects or pulling things apart.

i can make good eye contact. i think poor eye contact is an autism stereotype. once you know its approperiate to do, you just have to remember thats whats socially expected.

i cant concentrate on things for long periods of time like some autistic people can unless im working on music and on adderall and then only sometimes i can do that.

im not good at reading

i dont have anxiety although i do get irritated often. i probablly even have an abnormally low ability to worry about anything.

im not sensitive to touch but i do have a very high pain tolerance.

i have horrible short term memory. often i cant even remember a single thing i did the day before without being reminded.

I can read faces.
I can also take figures of speech in the context in which they are supposed to be taken in - most of the time.
I can pick up non verbal cues sometimes - mainly in women because being one makes me know what a female non verbal cue is - also because I've grown up with an NT mother and sister and I've learned a lot in my life.

NT men scare me. Probably because i've never had an NT man figure in my life.

I don't have too many sensory problems. (Though noises bug me more than most people.)

Eye contact with people is not difficult for me. (Though I cannot make normal eye contact.)

I don't know if this counts: I don't have too much difficulty with literalness (This is training, though, not automatic)

Other than that, I have all of the usual symptoms to some extent.