What AS traits do you have?

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I know there's a saying that goes "if you've met one person with autism, then you met one person with autism"
so everyone is different.

what are your AS/autism traits? (or your child's/ect.)

i can't say if these are strictly AS things or what proportion of the following traits are AS versus schizotypal/avoidant et al disorders, but anyways, here goes-

*poor working memory which is often very dodgy and not too reliable in stressful situations, one-track mind that often derails
*no exhibition or reception/comprehension of body language
*odd prosody of speech, sing-song alternating with monotonic speech
*lack of physical grace, accident-prone-ness, lack of proprioception in general
*a desire to order or arrange things, sometimes to an excessive degree, along with odd perseverations
*extreme duration of anger and mirth
*no social or worldly success, poor employment history, INCEL, the solitude of an involuntary hermit out in the woods, general inability to deal with other people
*inability to follow most rules
*inability to think quickly and accurately
*low threshhold of frustration and confusion amid any degree of stress/complexity in my environment

probably there are many other traits but i can't think of 'em right now.

*Sometimes involuntary lack of eye contact.
*Stimming.
*Extremely formal language when speaking.
*Feelings of social anxiety.
*Tendency to be alone, and thus sadness whenever I feel lonely.
*Difficulty understanding people's intentions.
*Extra sensitivity to sound and touch.
*Exaggerated attachement to objects.
*Obsessions such as music.
*Love for categories of things, for instance (in my case) frog collections.
*Need to have a schedule, and anxiety when my daily routine is disturbed.
*Horrible performance in sports.
*Looking extremely young for my age.
*Better communication when writing (rather than speaking).
*Tendency to babble and babble only about my self.
*Sometimes extremely chatting.
*Sometimes childish acting.
*Very powerful memory for details, particularly as far as dates (preferably birthday dates) are concerned.
*Ability to find patterns in almost everything.
*Having meltdowns very often.
*Very strong and limiting phobias (in my case, aviophobia).

I was diagnosed with AS/High-functioning autism when I was 9.

* Very literal thinking, often slow to pick up on jokes or sarcasm
* Extremely passionate about topics such as programming, math, and computer hardware
* I hate making eye-contact because it makes me nervous but I suppress the anxiety as to not appear to rude to others who do not understand
* I dislike physical contact from people who I do not know well (hate the way it feels, again sometimes forcibly suppress it to not appear rude)
* Get anxious in crowds
* Have to make extra effort to converse informally
* Like my daily schedule to be consistent
* Extremely good long-term memory (can usually directly quote things people have said multiple years before and only hearing it once at that time)

These are my difficulties:

- Being able to see things from another persons point of view.
- Obsessions Football and weather.
- Reading other peoples body language and intentions.
- Lonliness - often alone.
- Too easily persuaded and lead by others , not very assertive.
- Frequent periods of depression and anxiety.
- Predicting potential scenarios before they happen.
- Taking longer to learn things than others.
- Can't do things at short notice , need to have them planned.
- Black and white thinking - strict negative thought patterns that are biased to my mind and are hard to shift.
- Outdated beliefs about the world and myself that i still believe.
- Difficulty seeing how my behaviour can disturb others.

-Unable to make friends ; usually seen as a novelty at first due to being eccentric, then shunned when I unwittingly cause offense or become annoying. (I do not realise this on my own)
-More comfortable with having the subtitles on with a film than listening to it, despite not having hearing problems
-Hyperlexia as a child
-Very early childhood memories
-Unable to detect sarcasm
-poor executive function, often get distracted or forget things. Hopeless at developing any organisation for myself.
-face blindness
-hypersensitive to light and sound, triggering dizziness, fatigue and headaches
-Dizziness when hypersensitivities trigger sensory overload
-Difficulties focusing on and understanding speech. Especially in bright or noisy environments, or when I'm tired
-sometimes have difficulties using a knife and fork.
-can't tie a knot using standard method
-can't stand gloves, always chop the fingers off.
-Clumsy gait in shoes
-tendency to pace, run around, or drum fingers, 'bounce around' a lot
-also a tendency to skip rather than walk when excited
-some obsessive tendency
-quiet around others
-make jokes or comments that others don't understand
-good memory for checklists
-ability to very quickly scan shelves, pages in books, etc and relay accurate information from that.
-Find some fabrics unbearably itchy or sweaty.
-Sensitive to heat from the sun; combined with light, it makes summer or trips abroad unbearable and exhausting.
-Have periods of intensive study into special interests. Have several interests that cycle around.
-do not understand many social concepts, such as celebrity, fashion fads (despite having a qualification in fashion design), and gossiping
-have an intense interest in the clothing of people I meet, can picture the pattern shape of the garment in question, and like to figure out the fabric content, etc
-Love anything highly detailed, if I have a headache or migraine coming along, blank surfaces make it worse.
-fascinated with things that dangle and make nice noises, and with moving sculptures. Also with the pathways of power lines. Tend to take videos of car journeys as seen from passenger side window.

-I don't look at people directly in the eye
-I stim by wiggling my fingers when I'm reading
-I have special interests
-I have poor fine motor skills
-I'm very detail oriented
-I'm hyper sensitive to certain sounds and bright light
-I become obsessed with things easily
-I don't show my emotions properly
-I don't understand how people work sometimes
-I have a hard time with small talk
-I'm extremely shy and too quiet
-sometimes I have to try hard to see from the other person's perspective
-I have a slow processing speed
-I can't multi-task
-I don't like hugging people and I have a hard time expressing my feelings to other people
-I like structure and schedules
-I like repetitive work
-I have a good long-term memory
-I cherish my me time

# Don't care about people but have close connections to animals

# Hyperlexia

# Take things literally

# Loner, no need for human contact

# Reading and writing over speaking

# No eye contact

# Hate being touched

# Do my shopping around 03 a.m. to avoid people

# Lots of stimming

# Inflexible and depending on routine/schedule

# Don't talk to strangers

# If i'm forced to social contact i find it extremely exhausting

# Need down time

# Can't live with people

# Don't talk about feelings, am not really aware if i feel anything at all

# Special interests

- hyper / hyposensitivity. Hyper to light and noise. Hypo to pain and touch
- special interests / obsessions
- don't make friends easily
- shy / too quiet
- don't understand sarcasm
- can hear things others can't (this is getting seriously annoying now)
- fascination with numbers, dates, etc.

I probably do have other traits; but have always been told that's due to other stuff. (can't tie laces, use knife and fork properly, etc)

*Eye Contact--Can't make eye contact for too long without looking away (I often worry that the person will be offended because I might not have the right facial expression while I'm concentrating on making eye contact)
*Facial expressions--I was often asked, "What's wrong?" when I was perfectly fine as a child, so I find that I have to pay a lot of attention to my facial expressions. My eyes are often too wide when I am thinking about something, and that unnerves some people. I sometimes smile out of excitement when I hear about something horrible in the news, even though I really do think it's horrible... no one else has noticed, though, because I cover my mouth when that happens.
*Greetings and Small Talk--I often forget to say "Thank You," "You're Welcome," etc. I know I need to say these things, but I often forget to until the conversation is over, and then I can't say them. I delay when someone says hello to me, usually giving them a blank stare while I try to remember who they are... even when I've spoken with them MANY times before. It tends to make me look preoccupied and then they walk away before I even have a chance to tell them otherwise. At which point, even though I feel lonely, I also feel quite relieved.
*Communication--I often have difficulty explaining things because I forget the words I know I want to use and that I need. Lying stresses me out--even little white lies.
*Confrontation--It can give me anxiety attacks so that I look like I am having a temper tantrum
*Stimming--I pick at my skin until it bleeds and I sometimes smell my fingers (but they're clean)... both of which are super embarrassing. After seeing a movie where the guy was smelling his fingers and then seeing a picture my husband took of me, I realized I was doing it... and I've mostly stopped, I think. I hope. I really really hope.
*Obsessions--I have an obsession with linguistics. I used to have an obsession with knowing everything about animals, esp. dog breeds, when I was very young, and then pencil drafting and AutoCAD, and I've always been obsessed with grammar and punctuation.
*Socialization--My friends are lucky if they see me once a month. Often, I go several months without calling them. Only a few have been understanding enough to accept both my quirkiness and the fact that I don't stay in touch.
Hypersensitivity--subtle bass or TV voices and certain textures
*Childhood--I often played alone in my room as a child. I hardly ever invited friends over. I once imitated a British girl's accent in front of her and had no idea what I had done wrong when she got angry and said I was making fun of her. My brothers got a huge kick out of how gullible I was. I wore my hair in a single braid every day between the ages of 9 and 12, and I could not and had no desire to do my own hair or dress myself until I was a teenager. I was a very picky eater. I would not wear tights because they made my legs itch, and I was very picky about shoes (I still am--there are few I will buy). I hold my pencil really weird, and I think that may be because I was ambidextrous when they were teaching that skill, so they just chose for me and probably chose wrong.

On the other hand:
*Eye Contact--I have no problem looking into my husband's eyes because I know he won't misjudge me. I also don't have much of a problem looking into a child's eyes, unless the parents are watching me (because then I worry that the parents will read something creepy into my facial expression that I don't mean).
*Facial expressions--I smile when I laugh at a joke or when I want a cute kid to smile back at me. I look worried when I am worried. I can narrow my eyes and raise an eyebrow to give a questioning look (although, I don't think I learned to do so until I was well into my teens and had some friends who often did so).
*Communication--I am better-than-average at written communication (although, I still tend to ramble). I am able to use the proper inflections in my voice most of the time. I am good at telling jokes sometimes, in a sort of slapstick way. My friends (the few I have) seem to enjoy my quirky humor and my different perspective. I have actually won debates in the past, although I am not sure how because I seem to have blacked out on those occasions.
*Obsessions--My obsession with grammar and punctuation has made it so people look to me for help with those things. I only have basic computer skills, though, so I need to figure out how to become obsessed with computers now if I ever want an editorial job--I need to learn InDesign, for instance.

Not Sure:
*Memory--I cannot remember names, faces, or dates without a lot of daily repetition of the information. I seem to have blacked out most of my childhood, but in those memories I do have I can remember the layouts and shapes of houses and rooms I've been in--not the colors or particular objects in them, but just the shapes of the rooms and where things were located in them. Similarly, I can remember my childhood friends' shapes and heights of their bodies, but not their faces or hair colors. I can remember what classes I have on certain days and times and what I need to bring with me, as well as what major assignments I have coming up, although I have to obsessively check the syllabi over and over again for when they are due when I know they are coming up on their due dates.

-Poor eye contact
-Difficulty participating in a conversation that I'm not interested in--I don't talk for the sake of talking
-General dislike for small talk
-Unsure of how to react to some social situations
-Intense, all-consuming interests that are often all I want to talk about
-Nit-picky about details
-Ridiculously good long-term memory (short-term is a little iffy)
-Hard time focusing if there's too much going on
-Tendency to get anxious in crowded, noisy confined spaces
-Stimming...so much stimming!
-Difficulty clearly expressing things verbally
-Need lots of alone time
-Will sometimes misinterpret something said facetiously
-Not a fan of physical contact
-Occasional faceblindness
-Can readily spot patterns
-Difficulty outwardly expressing empathy, greetings, etc...
-I have a hard time remembering a list dictated to me, but if I write it down, I can remember it without looking at the list
-Resistance to change (I was much worse at this when I was a kid, but I can still get grumpy if people start messing with stuff on me)
-I miss conversational cues--will interrupt or talk over people without realizing it.
-Hard time regulating my voice's volume at times
-Difficulty in regulating emotions when I get excited or upset
-Meltdowns, shutdowns
-Clumsy at times; some difficulty with tasks that require fine manual dexterity (I struggle at sports, too)

These are my main symptoms, I'm not going to waste my time going into every little detail about my personality because not everything I do, say, think and like is related to my condition.

--Frequent outbursts, caused by mixed emotions like anxiety, anger and depression
--Anxiety (could be co-morbid, though)
--Get depressed if routine gets mucked up, feel secure when I have a suitable routine
--Emotions and reactions get out of control, get upset about things what other people wouldn't at all (I'm not exaggerating!)
--Have obsessions that take over my mind and life (I get obsessed with certain people)
--Take creavitity seriously, eg, write stories in a ''series'' (mostly about the people I am obsessed with)
--Sensory issues with sounds, can't cope with certain sounds, get distracted/disturbed by normal, everyday sounds, etc
--Social issues (''social issues'' is just a name of a category, every Aspie's social issues contains different traits, some being more common than others)

Note: These are not in any particular order, all these symptoms are as bad as eachother so I didn't rank them or anything.

Before getting my diagnosis, I scored 48 out of 50 on one test and 198 out of 200 on another. Pretty much the only common trait that doesn't apply to me is the thing about preferring nonfiction over fiction. I have no preference there one way or another.

I got so sick of describing AS again and again to people, including new psychologists, that I wrote this three paragraph description of myself, and printed off several copies so that I could just hand it to people instead of having to explain myself again: