How do people misinterpret your quirks?

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How do people misinterpret your symptoms when you don't disclose your diagnosis? Or how do people misinterpret your regular quirks when you disclose your diagnosis?

When I was younger, bullies saw my quirks as simply being weird, dumb, and annoying. Adults, especially older people, interpret my compensating for social skills with politeness as something positive. They don't see someone with any sort of disability, they see a kind, sweet, and polite girl. I have absolutely no clue what other people think of me. Usually people don't treat me any different when I disclose my diagnosis. Actually, I don't recall anyone treating me much differently about it except for the public school system.

I have a feeling I didn't quite answer your question, and I'm sorry if I didn't. I'm curious what your answers are to the same questions.

I often act jittery and spacey because of anxiety and depression. People often think I'm acting like that because I'm having a bad day. They act like they can fix it. The truth is they most likely can't. People have a hard time accepting that.

When I disclose my autism diagnosis people assume a lot of nonsense about me.

At school people assumed that my fatigue was caused by trouble adapting to change. That couldn't be further from the truth. I thrive on novelty.

They also assume that my academic problems are caused by being a concrete thinker. That's partially true because I can't really think abstractly about boring things. I still think fatigue is a bigger problem than concrete thinking.

One of my coworkers told me she originally mistook my leg bounce to mean I was angry (shaking with rage, I guess).

I'm not sure if this counts as misinterpretation, but one day at the beginning of school, I was watching train videos and some other kid decided to watch train videos like I was doing. I'm not really sure if he was teasing me or not.

When I was a kid, adults saw me as an intelligent person, someone who is a lot smarter than everyone in his age (and I truly was). I usually made friends with adults, because I could talk to them about various topics. They were annoyed sometimes, and wanted me to play with other kids, but I didn't see any point in that. I didn't like kids because they were loud and stupid, and they didn't like me because my peacefulness and interest in the world was just weird for them I guess. I was the textbook case of a "young professor".

As a teenager, I tried to shape how people saw me. I wore all black, riveted belts, spikes and chains and whatnot just to piss people off and drive them away from myself. And I took pride in being successful at both. I hated the fact that clothing influenced how people saw me, but I enjoyed using this to my advantage (or disadvantage).

Now, as a young adult, people usually see me as overly polite. I never know what social distance I should keep, so I try to keep the maximum, and be as polite as I can. I might seem cold because of that, I don't know. People of my age like me better than they used to when I was a kid, but they still see me as a weird person. I think they make friends with each other too easily, and I tend to back away when they try to make friends with me. It shows in practice when they try to talk to me about personal topics and I tell them directly that I'm not going to be a partner in that. And I usually don't come up with topics just to keep the conversation going. They might feel a need to talk all the time, but I don't, and it annoys me when they ask me stupid questions or tell me stupid stories just to keep me entertained and part of the conversation, because it is a waste of my energy. I usually just nod until I come up with a good excuse why I have to leave, then leave. Being social is very important for people where I live, and they assume it's true for everybody including me. I'm sure they see my craving to be alone as something strange and unfathomable.

I don't know how others perceive me, I shouldn't even try to think about it since I can't imagine I'd think anything good.

I have had people accuse me of being on some form of speed, due to stimming and the fact that I move, think and talk fast.

People have often told me that I seem high.

People think i am shy, or rude, or standoffish, or too intense, or boring, or really quiet, or weird.

I don't stim, I don't think I do anyway...more of a shutdown when I meltdown kinda guy and I think that makes a lot of people think I'm super either super depressed or angry, when really I'm just about to collapse I'm so overwhelmed.

Crammer. Know it all. Rude person.

Ever since I remember I heard people talking about me cramming much although I was actually never spending time on learning. Browsing my notebook day for a few minutes the day before an exam was enough for me to keep good grades so I never seen a point in giving it more attention than that. I suppose my lack of social life combined with good grades made people think that.

The fact that I have to fix it when I hear someone being wrong also makes me seem like a dweeb. And my straightforwardness makes me seem like a rude person.

Also my stims are sensory issues are considered rude. If I tell someone to repeat what they said because I couldn't hear I am "not listening". If I cover my ears or use headphones due to noise I am "disrespectfully showing that I am not listening". And if I fidget my hands or bounce my leg I am considered impatient and "disrespectfully showing that I am bored" and "trying to force people to do what I want by pissing them off".

As a kid, if I was excited about something I'd go into a kind of doubled-up hand wringing motion and people would always ask me if I needed to go to the toilet.

I just recalled something funny. I have a habit of holding my left ear using left ear(I am right handed) when I am in front of school board and try to solve an example there. I am not really sure why I do it but my middle school classmates figured I must be "contacting the base"(meaning I am an alien and contact the alien mothership). I like the interpretation!

Oftentimes, I'm not even aware I'm doing anything different until someone points it out. In school, the other kids thought I was weird and had no problem saying that. People still think I'm weird now. I guess I am. LOL.


They ask if I'm okay whenever they catch me stimming. I always tell I'm fine.

Ah, let me count the ways. I bounce in my seat, especially when happy. People ask if I am listening to music or nervous. I bounce my leg and tap my fingers together a lot, and this is also mistaken for nervousness. Sometimes other will ask "Do you have somewhere to be?" or "Are you in a hurry to do something?". I also hand flap when super excited, although I think I have it down to a minimum, but it is still flappy hands up beside each ear for a few seconds.
As an adult, I think I am viewed as a bit awkward, but that is okay. Also, I sometimes seem child-like to some people who are not used to adults who express genuine emotion.