Do I sound autistic?

I would be a very high functioning autistic person if I had it but I'm honestly starting to wonder if I do. Another explanation would be I grew up as a really awkward kid and I just need to suck it up and function normally. I've actually been doing the latter and it seems to work, I just have be conscious of how I act.

I know my parents thought I might be when I was younger and I went to a doctor and basically BS'd her giving all the "right" answers because I didn't want to be labeled as having an issue.

This might also be important. I am pretty much the younger version of my father, and he has a lot of these same things going on. He actually has ADHD and used to take medication for it. He taught me many of the tricks he learned and I don't feel I need the medication.

Here are the things that make me think I'm autistic

-I feel socially awkward but I am working on overcoming it
-I do have a lot of what I would call "ADHD" where I am easily distracted from everything I'm not hyper focused on. I've learned to live with that and even use to my advantage. I just have to make sure I plan and do things in the order I decide I'm going to do them in.
-I do like to do repetitive things when I'm bored like tapping stuff with my foot
-I used to hate making eye contact but I realized it was worse to avoid it and I just decided to suck it up and look at people
-I don't like people knowing that I'm looking at them
-This might be TMI but I have large testicles which I know is marker for fragile-X
-I used to have a hard time communicating with people and would say a lot of things that frankly didn't make sense to anyone but myself. Lots of weird things like not finishing words and what I call "yoda" speak where the syntax was all wrong. I have now fixed that for the most part.
-I was really good with Lego toys from a young age
-I used to pick the extra skin off from the area around my cuticles to the point they would bleed and I used to enjoy scratching dandruff off my head
-I really didn't like to try new things until a few years ago and then I overdid it and now I'm more normal about it
-My attention wanders and sometimes I focus on random things when talking to someone
-I have never had a girlfriend
-I have issues with authority

Things that make me think I don't actually have it are
-I did well in high school and I'm going to great university
-I don't have any other physical markers, I frankly just don't look the part
-I have a great memory
-I have been able to change many of these things or I'm in the process of "fixing" them to be more functional
-Outside of the things listed I feel like a normal but somewhat nerdy guy
-I don't really "feel" autistic other than when I read the Wikipedia article and realize I do fit some of the criteria
-I have plenty of friends

You sound like you could well be autistic (high functioning) or have aspergers..

I'm commenting here purely because part of your post caught my attention and i wanted to comment..

You said;

Things that make me think I don't actually have it are
-I did well in high school and I'm going to great university
-I don't have any other physical markers, I frankly just don't look the part
-I have a great memory
-I have been able to change many of these things or I'm in the process of "fixing" them to be more functional
-Outside of the things listed I feel like a normal but somewhat nerdy guy
-I don't really "feel" autistic other than when I read the Wikipedia article and realize I do fit some of the criteria
-I have plenty of friends

1.many autistic people are highly intelligent and can excell at school/university.
2. autism has no physical markers. there are similarities between the behaviour of people with fragile X and the behaviour of people with autism but there are marked differences also.
Autism is not Fragile X.
3.There is no correlation between poor memory and autism..
There is however a correlation between executive functioning and autism. This means that you have trouble with entirely completing a set goal such as doing your homework from start to finish without being distracted.
4.many high functioning individuals can recognise their differences and can work on finding ways around them.
5. People with autism don't ''feel'' autistic, it's simply slight differences in behaviour and thought processes.. If you are autistic I bet you're pretty logical and get bored with people who chatter on and on and on.. you would prefer people to make the point quickly or you lose focus.

All people are slightly different to each-other and people with high functioning autism are really not that far ''outside the box'' in terms of thought processes and behaviour.

Whether you are autistic/have Aspergers is something that no-one here can tell you.. what is important however is for you to work out if you want the label or not if you are indeed autistic.

I suggest that the ''i'm autistic'' label can be useful to give you a place in which you fit and perhaps also to help you with employers - explaining that you are autistic can help people to understand you better.. walk into your world.



How are you with jokes and sarcasm? How are you with phone calls, can you just chat without feeling awkward and wanting to go? How are you with food, can you allow foods to touch each-other on your plate?

maybe yes, i would ask a regional center if your diagnosed with autism

scepticalblahblah wrote:All people are slightly different to each-other and people with high functioning autism are really not that far ''outside the box'' in terms of thought processes and behaviour.

Whether you are autistic/have Aspergers is something that no-one here can tell you.. what is important however is for you to work out if you want the label or not if you are indeed autistic.

I suggest that the ''i'm autistic'' label can be useful to give you a place in which you fit and perhaps also to help you with employers - explaining that you are autistic can help people to understand you better.. walk into your world.

How are you with jokes and sarcasm? How are you with phone calls, can you just chat without feeling awkward and wanting to go? How are you with food, can you allow foods to touch each-other on your plate?

The reason I asked this in the first place is I wanted to know if its worth it to actually go to a doctor and talk to them about this. I don't want to waste everyone's time and my money if I'm just being paranoid.

I would never be into using something like this as an excuse. I actually find it rather annoying when people put themselves in a situation where then need to take a step back and rely on an excuse like that. So I don't think labeling myself as "autistic" would help me in my life because I would probably never bring it up or use a "disability" as a crutch to get people to treat me differently. I would be interested in knowing for my own sake but I would keep it to myself.

I'm fine with jokes and get sarcasm most the time. Sometimes I do think people are just being assholes but then I feel that's pretty normal. I can talk on the phone for long periods of time and I can hold conversations pretty well. Sometimes I do like to have people cut to the chase but that's mostly just because I would rather be doing something else. I would say I'm capable of talking about nothing if that's what you're asking. I also don't have trouble with my food touching or anything like that. I mean I like to taste the different parts and will often eat them in a sort of order from least to most flavorful. I'm not sure what that is other than maybe the result of eating a lot of rice and noodles because they're cheap calories.

Finally I don't feel that any of this is some sort of limitation. That's what I mean by I don't really feel autistic. I know some very autistic people and I get the feeling that they couldn't change even if they wanted to. I know I can change any of these things and eventually form habits that are more normal.

I'm not sure if this matters but my mother developed a pretty bad drinking problem when I was growing up and my father was always working. I pretty much raised myself and learned a lot of things about life through TV. I can say I did have an abnormal childhood. I wonder if that just made me a weird kid and I am slowly growing out of that.

Autism isn't an excuse.. it's an explanation for slightly different behaviour and thought processes..

It is possible that your experiences made you into ''a weird kid'' but the things that you have explained would point to some variety of ASD..


In my opinion - going to the doctors is a good idea otherwise you will always be wondering..


If you know that you can change those things.. why haven't you already? Do you like keeping them?


I'm suggesting that someone without autism can change easily.. someone with autism has to gradually and laboriously change their reflexive behaviour.. it takes a lot of effort.


Finally.. can i suggest that autism is nothing to be ashamed of and i'm horribly bored of people referring to those with asd as not ''normal''


Sorry; it's early and my post looks a bit strict/harsh to my eyes so if it sounds it to you then it wasn't intended to offend.. i'll go have coffee and re-evaluate what i've typed (my ''feels'' are still asleep)


I have an autistic daughter who is more normal than the so called normals.

It isn't inherently and excuse as it is a legitimate condition. I'm just saying that even if I was autistic I would never use it as something to make people treat me any differently than anyone else. I feel that's what it would come down to if I told an employer that I was autistic. I mean why else would anyone else tell them that? I don't feel its a great icebreaker.

If you think it could be that I may have some form of ASD I'll talk to a doctor. I just didn't want to do it unless I had some legitimate reason to. Along with that I did take a couple "self tests" all of which said I was not autistic but then its like I know what the right answer is to those questions and could easily be playing tricks on myself.

Also for the most part I change something once I realize its weird, like I said I didn't have a lot of guidance as a kid so a lot of the things I did I didn't know were weird until I realized that almost no one else did these things as a young adult. Some things like my more ADHD behavior I can't really help but that's probably because I really do have something like that but I can live with that.

Based on what you said about change and my life I don't feel it takes me any more effort than a normal person to stop doing something like say picking at my cuticles once it became a habit.

And don't worry about being harsh, this is the internet after all, you're very kind but online standards.

ask to your doctor
i didnt know that i was a bit autistic unless my psychiatrist said that i am

It is hard to tell from a monologue. Observing you having a conversation might reveal more relevant information.

It's about Theory of Mind: whether you can understand another's point of view.

But sometimes, difficulties with empathy do not mean autism. It is easier for most people to relate to people who are similar to themselves. The more different the two people are, the harder to empathise with each other.

"Yoda speak" - difficulty with expressive syntax - is not usually a feature of Aspergers. In fact, people with Aspergers are often very good at syntax, the 'form' of language. Hyperlexia, or above average reading, is common. The language difficulty found in Aspergers is more in the meaning and content of language, and in the everyday use of it. In other words, people with Aspergers can speak and read very well, but the comprehension takes longer. This is the case in lower functioning autism also.

If you did have difficulties expressing yourself, it might have been difficult for you to socialise, even if you have good empathy. It takes a while to catch up from a language impairment, even after you fix the language. There would be a delay in socialising. Maybe this is what happened with you.