I just got the "you can't possibly have autism" line

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What do you think about that comment?

I know you're not going to tell who wrote it.

But that person doesn't know what he/she is talking about.

Like you said, you've been hiding your NT-ness from your doctor, mother, father, etc., since you were two years old.

It was written by The_Jagannath on the Lord of the Rings Online forum.



Oh yeah, I said that to the one here accusing basically everyone of faking having autism.

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Last edited by EzraS on 07 Mar 2016, 10:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Okay, I never understood that one part of the diagnostic criteria. Because most people I PERSONALLY KNOW that are autistic understand irony (and like it), use metaphor (I use it all of the time- and what autistic people can't write poetry or stories? Is this what we are about? so eye roll worthy), and sarcasm- it's easy to get sarcasm and BTW there are LOTS of NTs that miss out on sarcasm in the world. Also, you can LEARN when someone is being any of those things. I think this is less autism but more of exposure or maybe verbal intelligence. I don't claim to know the answer, but I think that... it is silly to think that autistics are incapable of understanding those things...
My autistic naivete gets me in trouble at work all the time, but I'm still able understand nuance and metaphor, just have a harder time with social things. Also do people forget that others can learn- just maybe at a different pace??? No??

I believe autistic people, especially within the "higher" portion of the Spectrum, can get sarcasm, irony, etc.

It just takes a bit longer, and autistic people "get" those things in, perhaps, a different manner than neurotypicals.

I certainly wasn't good at getting sarcasm, irony, etc., until I became a full-grown man.

Back when I first suspected I may have ASD, I thought that I couldn't possibly have it because

1. I have a good sense of humor.

2. I use and understand sarcasm.

3. I understand irony, metaphors, idioms, etc.

So I thought, I have all of these other symptoms, but since I can understand these things, I must not have it.

Then I did a bunch of research a couple of years later and realized that many with ASD don't have much or any trouble with those things. And I do have trouble understanding subtle humor, sarcasm that is not obvious, and indirect speech.

So this person obviously believes all the stereotypes about autism. I've seen plenty of people here use sarcasm, metaphors, humor etc. I guess they could all be lying about having autism, for no apparent reason.

Some stuff I get and other stuff I do not. There are a lot of abstract concepts that I do not get, that I see others getting on forums.

There are some abstract concepts which NT's naturally get.

Autistic people might not "naturally" get them--but they can be learned.

As you get older, you'll learn more, and you'll get more things in general.

I remember believing that I couldn't have ASD for similar reasons. I took one look at the list of traits and starting checking off everything that didn't fit, nope I can't be autistic!

I have a very good sense of humor and get irony and stuff. Sarcasm eludes me though. I rarely, if ever get it, especially when used on a forum.

You said yourself multiple times that people say you seem nt in online forums.

How can someone "seem NT" online? It's only text. There's no eye contact, facial expression, body language, tone of voice. There are just words on a page. A person can take as much time as needed to articulate what he or she wants to say. That isn't possible in real life.

On a forum we have time to process things, and figure out what people mean by their statements. We can practice writing things in a way that is clear, and appropriate for the thread. We can look at what we've written, and decide whether or not it "sounds" the way it was intended to.

With all of that, how can anyone tell if anyone else is autistic or not?

At least in the DSM 5, difficulty understanding irony/metaphors/idioms/sarcasm is not even part of the diagnostic criteria for ASD. Not even one of those optional symptoms. It's a requirement for Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder, but even then, it's "difficulty" rather than "completely incapable of."

I think it's likely that other autism-related social problems (e.g. trouble interpreting tone of voice) could cause difficulty with those things in verbal communication, which is probably where the stereotype comes from, but that'd be totally irrelevant in written communication.

I have heard on other forums from non-autistic people I consider friends that I do not sound autistic. Which I think was something said meant to be encouraging to me.

Oh goodness.... That makes me kind of sad... a bit... I get annoyed by the whole "autism disease" train though so..

We have coincidence! I just came on line to tell you all that it happened. I loving friend said, "Listen, relax. You're all right. Listen to me. You don't have autism. You've been looking me in the eye the whole time." This was said as wonderful news; it was offered benevolently as something I could build on.

I offered a momentary thanks to whatever angel gave me the idea to get an official diagnosis from a mental hospital. Oh, did I say angel? That angel was WP and the people on it who shared their own experiences.

I still don't get what it means to "sound autistic." I really don't.