Part of my ongoing series on being diagnosed as an adult…
What previous confusing experiences made sense once you learned you were autistic?
I’m still on the fence, but one of my current friends is convinced about me.
My parents have always told me that even as a baby, I was always more independent/quiet than a lot of other children. I was always just ok playing on my own and that kind of thing. I liked playing with others too of course, but being alone never bothered me either. That’s always stuck with me and I’d say is still true to this day. I’m much more aware of it now of course, but it still affects me in a lot of ways.
You could take some of the online assessments in the helpful resources post linked in the side bar. However, for me, nothing was as convincing as a thorough assessment by a psychologist that specializes in autism. Even after I got the results, I still doubted them somewhat for a while.
The feeling of extreme frustration about people breaking rules. I didn’t realize that an overly powerful sense of justice was a trait of autism until it was pointed out to me. It’s given me a nose for fraudulent action at my job though.
I didn’t realize that an overly powerful sense of justice was a trait of autism until it was pointed out to me.
Yep! I must have been unbearable to my allistic family. If we had guests over at our house, and my parents lied by saying that we do something we didn’t, I would straight up call it out in front of everyone and tell them that lying is bad.
A selection:
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No food could touch. I would eat the hot dog and bun separately and eat the ketchup with a spoon. Pizza was the same: pile the pineapples, ham, cheese, spoon the sauce, and have the dough on the side. Of course all of them to be eaten in a certain order. The only reason why I have stopped now is due to the time it takes plus the odd looks.
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As others have said, innate sense of justice and fairness with an attachment to rules.
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Asking my mom how kids can play with each other on the playground. She gave me a script to use to introduce myself to other kids and ask to play with them. I was almost a teen when I stopped using this and it was only because it was the first time the script didn’t work and I was devastated.
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Similarly, asking my mom how to “wave arms while walking”. Is it 45° angles back and forth? Same or opposite the legs? Elbows first for a sway or stiff arms?
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Obsessively stacking and organizing objects as “play”. Creamers in the basket at a diner, toys in a circle around me, trinkets in a row.
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New media meant new characters to copy into my personality. From mannerisms to straight up copying the dialogue from the movie; I was a chameleon.
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Pattern recognition is unparalleled to other in my grades. Still to this day, it’s one of the traits that puts me ahead.
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Flip flopping between “a joy to have in my class; my favourite student” for one teacher to “lacking in (basic neurotipical trait here), has a long way to go” for another teacher.
You’re supposed to get diagnosed to be an adult?!
Edit: just read what community this is and the actual post. My bad