Does this seem like AS?

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I want to describe the guy I'm with a bit, to see what you think, if you don't mind.

He is very bright, but was a "problem" child. Refused to talk for a long time as a child, had that oppositional thing when given direction by adults. Was very satisfied with his own company and chose to remain a loner.

As an adult he is very gifted. His writing borders on genius, with beautiful imagery, strange juxtapositions of words and concepts, and abrupt shifts which confuses literal-minded people but I find very compelling, and actually makes me understand certain concepts in a better way than the usual concrete terminology of regular writing. I think it is reaching a part of my brain that has been starved of this sort of communication.

If he is agitated, he will leave many phone messages about the same subject, repeating phrases over and over again, filling up my voice mail. Under stress he gets very repetitive. He has favorite words that he uses whenever he can. He has the ability to take on several different accents when he talks, and he is influenced by the speech patterns of people around him. He sometimes falls into taking on my speech style when we have long conversations.

He doesn't actually appear clumsy, but he accidentally hurts himself regularly, hitting his head, breaking his glasses often. He waves his hands with odd jerky movements which seem involuntary. He moves his head like a bird, with abrupt movements, a stiff stare. Yet... his job involves fine motor coordination, and when he is totally focused on his work, all clumsiness falls away. He drives very well, as he is totally focused. He is one with the machine!

He is fascinated by instrumentation and will send me pictures of dials, instrument panels, details of his car. He's in his fifties, and it seems he's always had difficulty with social interactions. He tells me that it's just him being himself, and hopes that I overlook any social misunderstandings. I've alarmed him a few times with jokes that I assume he would get, but he is very literal minded with certain types of jokes and I haven't been smart enough to figure out the difference. He does have a great sense of humor, but it's not the same as the average person has.

Oh yes. He can't stand being touched by other people and will tell them directly not to do it again. He likes to be touched by me though. He is very sensitive to auditory input, and other people being in his vicinity. He says he is sensitive to their vibrations.

He wants to see himself reflected back to himself. He is very curious about what people think of him. This is in contrast to his self-sufficiency and the self-containment he has in generating his own interests. He knows he is different, and he wants to be accepted for who he is. He is tender-hearted.

Thanks for reading this!

Sounds like AS to me though its rare for one of us to repeat ourselves that may just be an indication of how much he likes you if hes willing to try so hard to get his message across.

Glad you still like him though and you sound like a good person theres hope for us yet

That's aspergers right there. I've seen that movement before in other aspies. I sometimes do it so much that my neck hurts. I think it has something to do with being afraid of the world.

Anyway, you just described a typical aspie. Here's the diagnosis, have a good day.

He's one of us most definitely. The big thing is OCD which he seems to display in abundance.

Flagg, Freya, and Fernando... thanks for your input. I've known this man for two years, and we really seem to understand each other well. I'm not an aspie, but I've had similar experiences growing up, and I'm the type who looks up the history of the lightbulb when someone mentions something about early lightbulb filaments!

I once found him in a piece of music I was playing on the piano, Rachmaninoff. Something about it made a piece of puzzle fall into place. Perhaps something about Rachmaninoff himself, the way he thought, the sequence of sounds in this particular piece that echoed the organization of his mind.... that reminded me of this man. I told him this and I saw tears in his eyes. He said yes, how did you know this? He said he found himself in music too.

The bright white flame which parts the darkness. As I'm sure all of you are.