It's just coming up to the second anniversary of my diagnosis, and the first suggestions that I might be autistic were only a year or so before that. So of my 47 years, 44 of them were spent with no thoughts of autism in my mind at all (though I had known something was afoot since my early school days.)
All my life, I had kind of "stock explanations" for some of my quirks that I'd bring out if ever they got noticed. Most of these little sayings about myself were meant quite self-deprecatingly or facetiously, but I'm realising that many do encapsulate my autistic traits rather well still. For example...
- "I have clockwork legs.": Getting so detached from my surroundings that I can walk from A to B without any awareness of the journey, scooting off miles ahead of any companions.
- "Some of my brain is awake, and other bits are asleep.": Getting extremely hyper-focused, then appearing dreamy or drunk to someone who interrupts me. (Being known for insomnia makes this one a little more plausible, maybe.)
- "I'm not stupid, but I am slow.": Slow speech processing, overthinking, and pauses for the analysis required for "passing".
Did anyone else have these kind of accurate but metaphorical "catchphrases" for their behaviour before discovering autism, I wonder? Are there any you would still use? (I quite often still use the ones above.)
Bonus points if they make me laugh - but serious discussion is welcome too.
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When you are fighting an invisible monster, first throw a bucket of paint over it.
15 Dec 2017, 8:34 pm
