Am I on the autism spectrum or am I just odd?
This is really long so thank you if you decide to read all of this.
Recently I took the aspie quiz and my neurodiverse score was 150/200 and my neurotypical score was 70/200. Before then it had never occurred to me that there was a possibility that I might be autistic since I thought I was just an usual person but I found that I related to many questions on the quiz itself. However, my symptoms don't fully correspond to those on websites like WebMD hence why I'm here. I've already been diagnosed with depression and social anxiety by my psychiatrist but I'm afraid that maybe asking him about autism might make me seem a bit stupid and that I'm just trying to make myself seem more special.
So I told my mother about the quiz and she said that it would make sense for me to be somewhat autistic since I had been an extremely reserved child (I would refuse to greet people and I would hide behind my parents if I had to). My mother also told me that I would also ask her what would happen the day after and that I really needed to know for some reason. When I got home from school, I would go straight to the same kitchen table and draw for hours and hours.
However, I haven't drawn like that in a long time (probably in about 10 years or so) and I still have social anxiety but I manage to socialise and I do have a few close friends. However only one of those friends seems to really understand me whereas the others have told me on multiple occasions that they "just don't get me" and they seem confused when I actually express my feelings. I think this is because I tend to be all over the place when I talk like I find myself thinking that there are either too many directions that I could go in in terms of expressing my feelings or not any at all which makes me feel very overwhelmed when communicating my feelings so I just tend to refrain from doing so.
I just feel like my mind is so completely different to everyone's around me like I'll instantly notice/understand things that other people miss but then again sometimes I find it really difficult to understand things that seem really easy to everyone else. I meant that in an academic sense but it also applies to social norms and things like that. For instance, I tell jokes a lot with my friends and often the ones that I think through and think are really funny don't seem to be as funny to everyone else but the ones that I find stupid and don't think twice about are the ones that get the most laughs.
I do have particulars interests that I l talk about a lot (philosophy and literature) but I only want to share them with certain people that I feel would show a better understanding of them. Also those interests don't seem to correspond to the autism stereotype (I'm aware that it might be an offensive/inaccurate one but I don't know how much truth there is in it).
Also I do have a lack of balance and I trip over things a lot. My gym teacher said that I "run like a drunk person".
I just feel as though the world is so strange already and I don't want to appeal to social norms anyway because I find them stupid and shallow but then again I don't want to be the weird person that everyone avoids.
I feel like even as I write this I feel as though I've strayed from everything that I wanted to say and I'm starting to feel like I'm in an exam and I'm getting the aforementioned overwhelming feeling.
So do I sound autistic to you? Please let me know if I need to provide anymore details. Thank you.
Last edited by heinz on 18 Mar 2016, 11:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Revised answer to full post
Online tests are at best an indicator that you should think about persuing it further. The most we can say is you have a lot of autistic traits.
Autism Charactoristics
A lot of these things you posted can be traits of autism. The one thing that is not is understanding that other people have different ways of thinking, you know to talk to only certain people about your interest. This does not mean you are not autistic, this information can be learned. It does not matter what you interest is just that it is very intense and detailed. Also autism traits are based on young boys. Females will have the same core traits but how it manifests itself can be quite different from boys.
ARE GIRLS WITH AUTISM HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT?
It is good you have support for this idea at home. So you should follow through. However the goal should not be getting an ASD disgnosis per se but getting the right explanation so you can understand yourself and get the correct support.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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