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BobDaBuilder
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10 Oct 2012, 6:38 pm

I strongly suspect that a girl I work with has autism for a number of reasons. I care primarily because I'm interested in her. If she does that's fine, the "quirks" are probably what I like about her so much. I'm just looking for opinions based on my observations.

1. She is mostly to herself and doesn't develop any real relationships with coworkers
2. I startle her all the time... (every time I come around a corner or drop off paperwork)
3. She doesn't seem to get humor or has a very delayed, possibly faked reaction
4. Seems generally disconnected
5. When working she has inhuman levels of concentration (nothing disturbs her, again she seems disconnected from everything happening around)
6. As long as I've known her (almost a year) she's not been in a relationship - (she's gorgeous)
7. Has one hobby that she seems to like a lot and is always taking classes for (photography)
8. She's in accounting (apologies not sure if that's anything special or a stupid stereotype about affinity for numbers)
9. At company outings or social events her personality seems to do a 360 but it sometimes seems forced or rehearsed and she definitely isn't 100% comfortable

Let me know if I'm being ridiculous and you think she's probably just shy or something. :oops:
Just trying to understand her better...



rachel_519
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10 Oct 2012, 11:18 pm

Those sound like possible signs of autism or aspergers, but you can't tell for sure. Really, the only way you are going to learn to understand her better, autism or not, is to get to know her better.

If she is autistic, or even just really introverted, she might be more comfortable talking to you one-on-one than in a gathering of co-workers. Have you tried to invite her to spent time with you in some way?


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BobDaBuilder
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11 Oct 2012, 2:50 am

That makes sense, I suppose getting to know her more is the most surefire way. I didn't even consider Aspergers because admittedly I don't know that much about, but after reading a bit about the syptoms that might make more sense, especially the bit about "lack of demonstrated empathy" and " weaknesses in areas of nonliteral language that include humor, irony, and teasing"



curlyfry
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11 Oct 2012, 7:15 am

Does she show interest in you? She might be asexual too.



BobDaBuilder
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11 Oct 2012, 9:43 pm

She has in the past but not sure if she was just flirting to socialize or what. Her personality can do a complete 360. One day she's overly nice, the next day you don't exist.



outofplace
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12 Oct 2012, 2:34 am

It's hard to judge it from secondhand information posted on a forum. Heck, it's hard to tell even if you are a professional, if the person is on the mild end of the spectrum.


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ValentineWiggin
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12 Oct 2012, 2:11 pm

curlyfry wrote:
Does she show interest in you? She might be asexual too.


Asexual =/= aromantic


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BobDaBuilder
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12 Oct 2012, 7:54 pm

Actually there's one more thing I should have added to my list. She sometimes says things that are rude without apparently understanding that they are. It's more or less rare because she refrains from lengthy conversation generally but I've noticed it. Pretty sure that fits into the whole empathy issue. The more I think about it the more it seems like Aspergers.



Shebakoby
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15 Oct 2012, 12:26 am

BobDaBuilder wrote:
She sometimes says things that are rude without apparently understanding that they are. .


specific examples please.