People thinking you are on drugs.

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Does anyone run into this?

I am well positioned professional this makes it so I interact with lots of 'normal' people because of this. Some people from time to time make comments on the assumption they think I'm high. Other people have told me that some people think I am always high.

I act a little weird, I am a little spaced out. I am also one of the autistics whose pupils are always a bit dilated, my body movements look slightly unnatural. I'm always thinking weird thoughts and ideas. I also have a lazy eye, and can think extremely intensely, to the point where if I really think hard about something my external expressions shut off, my eyes go a little crossed as my mind drifts inward, all of which seems extremely weird to some people.

I think most people might think I am just weird rather than 'on drugs' if I was always like this. But I am also one of the autistics who has learned how to act very normal, I can pull it all together and present myself very socially fluently and properly, but it takes a lot of effort, which of course my energy runs out frequently to do that. At which point I drift back to my more natural, weird, autistic behavior and mannerisms, which people think I went off somewhere and hit a bong or something. Which really bothers me.

I go through periods of time of having to shut down. It's been particularly bad these past few months because I broke up with a girl I thought was really perfect for me. It left me really heart broken, unable to focus, or work more than 4-6 hours a day, I've also been needing to sleep more because of it, and having trouble going to sleep because of it, so I've been showing up late places a lot. Of course some people make comments they think I'm on some drug binge. It really bothers me. I hate pulling out the 'Im autistic' card especially in like professional work places and meetings, you can't just go around announcing it.

Sometimes I think my efforts to be more normalized are really a negative thing, because its made me capable of dealing with normal people, and surrounded me with more normal people in the professional world. But I am still 'off' a little bit, and naturally everyone in those environments is always looking for ways to get a leg up on someone so rather than really asking me and finding out about me, they just think he must be on drugs. It's really bothering me. Today someone said something that really pissed me off, it was a client with lots of money so you can't really say anything corrective back to them, I came back from lunch into a meeting, I guess I was particularly spaced out and odd and he just said "must of been a good lunch", in a condescending tone. Really irritated me.

Has anyone else death with this?

I'm sure you all know that typically society has a tendency to 'neurologically normalize' people, which is where the whole neuroracist thing comes from. People with clearly presented, and intensely obvious issues have somewhat been given permission around this, because everyone realizes they are a huge as*hole for poking at it. But if your not that intensely odd, but on the functional more mild sign of autism, people want to stick you somewhere they can look down on you and shame you into neurological conformity. One of the things society still permits this for is people who are supposedly 'on drugs'.

I had a boss ask me if I was on medication once. That was before I knew I was on the Spectrum. People sometimes wonder if I am on something especially if I have a shutdown.

My siblings sometimes say that I look high.

I usually hear, "You're on drugs" right after I've pointed out an error in someone else's calculations or circuit diagrams ... and about a week before something they're working on goes up in smoke.

I've been accused of being on heroin since I was about 12 years old. People used to shout "Smack head" at me when I walked down the street.

I have never used heroin in my life.

People at work think I have weed in my tobacco tin. I don't smoke weed.

Luckily, not too often, or at least not that I hear about it. I have had people walk away due to me taking a long time to understand what they said and finding that really weird, though.

In the last ~3 years I've developed dizziness/vertigo problems, but use a can more often than I actually need it due to people assuming that I'm drunk (you know, because there's no other possibility). I saw a comedian once who had very obvious cerebral palsy say that he'd had people get in his face on the street and say, "next time, just say no! [to drugs]"

I wonder if a strong theory of mind is what makes people bad at that, "everyone is similar to me, and the only time I'm off balance is when I'm drunk, so that must be it").

I used to get asked that or have it said all the time. Or something like "you look dazed". And I still get a little bit of it now and then, but it doesn't bother me too much anymore. I've become kind of stoic and apathetic about stuff like that. It's just not worth fussing over.

Yes, in my youtube videos where I do book reviews one person accused me of sounding like I was on drugs because of the way I talk

Couple of times but only because I act a bit differently. Fortunate enough to only have minor symptoms but I slip into mad mode every now and then. Have you tried telling them the truth?? Has anyone??

i also heard so many feedback in my college , actually i was shocked once when my friend said to me people (colleagues) always thinks your high on weed or something other thinks that i am always on alprazolam...

Yes.

Many times through out my life I've been asked if I was stoned or on drugs, or if I wasn't asked this I usually picked up on a feeling that people thought I was. Mostly through the later years of elementary school, middle school, and high school of course.

I'm often in my own world, blank/stone face, very quiet and practically mute in certain places & settings. I space out and stare at things, always observing things, getting lost in thought. Since I avoid eye contact, that probably also contributes to people thinking I'm stoned or on something . With my mannerisms and general demeanor, I can see why people think this.


Now a days though...I do actually smoke cannabis and utilize other psychoactive/psychedelic compounds , they mesh with me quite well. I didn't touch anything until I was out of high school though .

Well.. most of my life..people wanted whatever it was i was on...

But it was simply the bliss of existence..

And yes..autistic burnout at age 48 took all that bliss away...

But at 53..it is back in full force..

And once again..folks want what it is i'm taking...

But for me it is simply the bliss of

existence...

And by the way..here is a post i researched and wrote on
Autistic Burnout..a real thing..that can happen to some younger and
or older Autistic folks..

http://katiemiaaghogday.blogspot.com/20 ... ctrum.html

Depending on abilities..and the social environment/demands one
is exposed to per the cumulative effect of this social stress across the lifespan..

attempting to fit in..
and simply be accepted....

in life.

I was working the Electronics section at our local Walmart a few years ago, and I see this black dude walking by me while I was changing the labels on a shelf. He stops, turns around, and gets my attention.

"Hey. Hey, you."

I notice him. "Oh, sorry! How can I help you?"

He looks around for a moment, and then he leans in and quietly says:

"Do you know where I could find some weed? I like, reeeeealy need a hit right about now."

Of course, being raised in a conservative Christian household, I had absolutely no clue where I could "find some weed." The area I live in is known for producing a fair amount of hemp for the crowd in nearby Eureka Springs, but beyond that, I had no idea.

So I just told him to drive to Eureka. Surely he could find someone there who knew better than me. But what blows my mind to this day is what made him think I could find something that is technically illegal to possess in Arkansas.

I have been random tested for drugs at least 10 times. No joke. They keep insisting on wasting their money letting me pee in a cup. Free restroom break after a 10 hour shift.

I have been told I have glassy eyes and no facial expression. I'm just always zoned out in my own world or get über hypnotised/mesmerised watching the machines and the processes involved.