Do I have Autism?

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Hello all,

I am Sam and I am 17 years-old. I find some of the more mundane tasks in life challenging and meeting and interacting with new faces challenging to say the least. I live with my Mum and spend most of my day in my room Benchmarking, Fixing & Building Computers, I also love the Linux operating system and have a small server that I have used to build up my understanding of the platform as I have an interest of becoming a Network or System Admin I am incredibly passionate (you could call it obsessive) about technology and listen to hours of Podcasts and Shows a week.

Arriving late for anything (I need to arrive 1-2 hours early) will spiral me into a panic attack, I would much rather not go and make up an excuse. Eye contact is something I struggle with and while I often try and put a lot of effort into keeping eye contact I will focus too much to the point where I need to look away to try and process what exactly they are telling me. I am very anxious around people and will often think some of the people close to me hate me. My body will often experience massive highs but also can be stuck in a deep depression.

On the positive side of things I remember alot of things about my Computers - I have excelled in just about every subject in my College course this year (except Software Development, which I am far from doing awful in but not all that great) and after listening to a song and memorising lyrics I can recall and recite them years later.

I have been friends with someone with Aspergers before and I could see he really wasn't emotional - his father had died and he had shown little to no sadness. It isn't the same in my case and I do show my emotions and often too much. After reading a few articles and forum posts I can relate to alot of them.

Thank you.

Edit: I also find it difficult to tell if someone is being serious or sarcastic, often told I am slow...

Sam, from one engineering geek to another, welcome.

Now, from what you said you might be an aspie but you need more than my opinion. As a start you can try this online test but you really do need a professional opinion:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html

There's also this link with more information http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers.html

Vanilla_Slice

Probably.

Welcome to WP

I got 33 - I took a read through the article that you posted aswell and I too flap my hands around, usually when I am excited or scared ..I am however able to stop myself if I am in front of alot of people ( I never understood why I did this really and my old friend would often ask me why I did it ). I think it will be beneficial if I stick around this forum for a while because I would like to gain a greater understanding of this all. As far as going to the Doctor goes I am unsure I am aware I should probably face this head on and I could get help but it scares me facing it I guess.

Thanks for the welcome Vanilla Slice, that is a cool name!

Edit: Thanks rmgh

Probably, but you'd need a professional diagnosis to be sure. Welcome to WP!

Welcome, regardless of if you have it or not.

Like others have already said... it sounds likely, but it's worth getting a professional opinion (from a Dr experienced with AS). Talking to a Dr may save you allot of time wondering, analyzing, and asking silly questions while trying to figure out if you have it or not on your own.

Welcome to WP!

Those are autistic traits, yes. But they can be traits of other things, too.

What I am reading, though, is that you have some traits that cause hindrances in your life, like when you stay home because you can't be early to something. And that is cause to go to a doctor and get an evaluation. You may want to mention the possibility of autism to them; tell them that you had a friend with Asperger's, and that you have many of the same traits. It's kind of surprising that this wasn't caught earlier; being 17 now, possibly you were simply quiet enough not to cause problems at school--it's the loud, disruptive autistic kids who are most often diagnosed, after all.

Regarding emotional expression: Some autistic people have a flat affect (this would be your friend's tendency not to express emotions he felt); others do not. Some have the problem that I have, which is being simply unable to inhibit emotional expression, so that every emotion is expressed in a very obvious, dramatic way--that can lead people to think you are terrified when you are actually just anxious, or homicidal when you are actually just annoyed, or manic when you are actually just happy. I have had to tell therapists multiple times that I over-express emotion; but they still don't seem to realize that I am not actually suicidally depressed when I express sadness... Oddly enough, the only times I have had true flat affect was during episodes of major depression, when I was in such danger!

In any event, emotional expression for autistic people can run the gamut from nearly absent to full-on dramatics. The common trend seems to be to have trouble expressing emotion so that other people can read it accurately--whether that means too much, not enough, or just sending signals that people read as the wrong emotion entirely.

I was always quiet at school, teachers would praise me because of it. I would say that when I do express myself it is often over the top for sure.

Cheers for all the comments guys

That is great JJ pretty much my dream job!

Guys how would I go about getting tested by a professional, do I just ring up the doctors?