I am not monotone...

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I have always sounded very excited when talking about the things I am interested in or enjoy, my intonation is rather rich (partly as a result of some years of training) and I like putting on different voices.

Does this put my aspieness to doubt? Heh, aspieness is a funny word.

My brother said to me, "You know why you're not on the spectrum? Because you don't speak with a monotone voice."

You know, autism is so complex that I don't fault him at all. Hell, not even some doctors understand autism, and they're the experts!

What most people don't get is the spectrum bit. We're all different from each other, that's why it's called a spectrum.

If all of us looked and sounded and behaved like Rain Man, diagnosis would be easy. The thing is, we don't.

Some of us do have monotone voices, some don't. Some can socialize and don't mind it. Some don't.

Some have extreme sensitivities to touch, taste, sound and light. Some don't.

Some stim. Some don't.

While some people on the spectrum do sound that way, it definitely doesn't apply to all of us. As a child I sometimes--but not always--came across that way, even more for facial expression, than for voice, but I have never been non stop monotone of either face or voice. I'm no longer monotone, but still sometimes have a "wooden" face. I think it just takes some of us longer to learn how to do animated voices and faces to the point where we can do it without thinking about it. That ties in with our brain problems in processing mental, emotional, and physical stuff. Not so much regarding our sensory issues, though, on this one.

Just like The Valk, I too, sometimes like to "play" with my voice. I'm not good at it, but hey, I live alone, so who cares? As long as it's not illegal or immoral, I can amuse myself any way I want. In that vein, I have a lousy memory for song lyrics, but there is no law against humming the tunes. I do lots of humming.

Regarding tunes, does anyone else have this happen? A thought will go through my head, or something will occur in my environment, and right away a tune related to that event will pop into my head. It's totally automatic. Basically my brain is an automatic jingle jukebox.

Sorry to go off topic on you. I do think that a lot of us gradually outgrow full monotone voice and face issues. It just takes a while.