[Closed] How many of you are autistic?

Nope, can't draw for shit

🙂

Lol, I fell for that and double checked my spelling

Yup, diagnosed with Aspergers 2 years ago

I definitely have a lot of autistic traits but no formal diagnosis.

This is STW.
The question should be - “how many of you are not autistic”.

The question should be – “how many of you are not autistic”.

Most.

2 year wait for the test/diagnosis here....

Boy2 is autistic.

The more I learn about it the more I see traits in myself. I wouldn't diagnose as on the spectrum, but I have a lot of borderline tendencies and struggle with certain aspects of "normal" life.

I can empathise with some of my son's difficulties, because I've had to learn how to cope and for most of my life hide the same things. I'm not anywhere near the level of serverity that he is though.

My daughter was diagnosed a few years ago with Aspergers. Going to the information evenings I recognised many of the signs in myself. No diagnosis though.

o/

No but do struggle with spelling words and it's getting worser

I did some reading up and testing and believe I am undiagnosed mild ASD. Certainly the reading up was a lightbulb moment " now I understand why sometimes I don't understand"

No point for me in going for a formal diagnosis now. I retire soon and I have my coping strategies. What the realisation has done is allow me to hone my coping strategies and also to realise that other folk really do not think like I do.

At what point does "normal" become " a bit odd" become "downright eccentric" and become worth a label of "autistic"? I am sure if I went to school now I would come out with a few labels. would it hve helped me? I am not sure.

Nowadays its considered a spectrum disorder so a wide range of disabilities from folk who function fine in the world with occasional WTF moments to profound disability

It's a pretty open question how many adults would, if they were kids now and going through school, be diagnosed as ASD. Not me, I'm just a prick. But I work a lot with kids with aspergers/high functioning autism and other developmental conditions and even though it's not for me to diagnose, there's people I know that I've really no doubt.

@Northwind I've wondered that, given how our understanding of it has changed over the years

Also just improved awareness and understanding in schools- I'm from pretty much the last generation where dyslexics were often written off as thick and where ADHD kids were just assumed to be wee shites but I guess a generation or two before anyone knew what aspergers was so they were still thought of just as being weird. And not so long after left handed kids would be forced to learn to write with the right.

It's pretty interesting seeing our kids react to this stuff- say what you like about millenials, these things they hold to be self evident, that not all people are born equal and that trying to treat them all the same is fundamentally stupid, but that doesn't mean just writing people off or trying to batter square pegs into round holes. It's amazing the progress that's been quietly made, it's not perfect but not one of these will let their kids be told off for being who they are.

Eee, a remember when a were a lad, all these were just called mongos.

In the original question are you talking about proper autism or aspergers/autism spectrum disorder as they call it now?

Certainly the reading up was a lightbulb moment ” now I understand why sometimes I don’t understand”

I think lightbulb moment is a perfect way to describe what I felt when I first realised what aspergers was a few years ago, it was like suddenly there was an explanation for every thing I did and felt throughout my life. I only sought help as it got to the point where it was causing big problems with my girlfriend, I managed to get referred by my gp for a diagnosis which was an 18 month wait but I thought that might be the light at the end of the tunnel.

It didn't turn out that way though and despite having lots of the traits they needed evidence from my childhood for a diagnosis and I'm pretty sure my parents just went into the bit where they were interviewed and said there was nothing wrong with me and I was fine as a child. I think about everything in a pretty black and white way so going from that lightbulb moment where everything suddenly made sense to being told I wasn't being diagnosed hit me fairly hard for a while and made me question myself a fair bit.

I still have times where I find things really hard but I've got to the point where I've probably got my coping strategies pretty much sorted out and I'm quite lucky that I've got an understanding employer and my work is quite specialist so being the way I am is actually an advantage in my job I think.

Probably rambled on a bit there, it's strange how I can get that lot out to a load of strangers the internet yet can't talk about it with any of my friends or family.

I appreciate autism is a spectrum and a suite of behaviours rather than a single thing. However, as a high school teacher it looks to me as if the bottom end of that spectrum has become very blurred and that we are in danger of using it to pathologise normal* behaviour.

I have a number of pupils with official diagnoses who show none of the traits one would expect and some schools are further muddying the waters by telling teachers certain pupils have 'some autistic traits' or other such vague and unscientific labels.

From reading around I know this is something that is a concern for some autism campaigners too.

*You know what I mean.

My son was diagnosed aged 4 with Aspergers and after witnessing all of the aspects of life he finds difficult there is little doubt in my mind that I feature somewhere on the spectrum. A few years ago both myself and his Mom went through the Signet Training which has helped him enormously through adolescence but also confirmed the suspicions about myself. I don’t feel the need to get a formal diagnosis but being much more aware has helped improve my life. It’s a real shame there wasn’t the structures in place when I was a kid.

Whenever these threads come up I read the descriptions of Asperger's and the experiences of those diagnosed with it, and recognise a lot of myself in those descriptions.

But, I suspect I'm just a bit shit at social interactions.

With a son who has a diagnosis - high functioning autism, - and that has definitely raised the thoughts in my head too. How I behave (how I have always been) and react to situations, what I like (and don't like), and character traits - not all of them good ...

So quite possibly on the spectrum (as, I do now think, was my dad...)

definitely rubbish at the general social stuff. And I can't draw/paint, either 😉

Not me.

I’m just a good, old fashioned weirdo.

Spin - I very much agree. Those who like me recognise some traits in themselves - do we have ASD or are we like Northwind and Perchypanther - just pricks and weirdos or a dork like me? Or are we all "on the spectrum" somewhere.
This amused me:
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I am, what used to be called aspergers but is now just on the spectrum.

Negatives
Poor social interaction - lack of small talk (even at 8 years old remember asking my mum what is the point of making small talk), inability to make new friends
Direct and blunt approach to others (which obviously comes across as rude)
Can deal with certain noises (just someone eating crisps next to me means I have to move away)
Obessessions with things (i.e. cycling) and ability to bore people senseless talking about what I am interested in

Positives
Very focused and organised
Got a well paid job in IT (like most of the others in my department!)

I know my behaviours and over the years have managed to deal with them better and better. For example up until my twenties I couldn't look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

Of course this is easy when you are a high functioning person but not an option for those with more severe autism and calling it all autism is not really helpful.

For example up until my twenties I couldn’t look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

We have a SW engineer like that, I specifically don't say hello to him when I arrive, as I realise that probably ruins his morning!

I have Kerley's negatives, without the positives.
I only "found out" when my missus suggested I was "a bit like" Saga Noren!
Who knew?!
Then I researched further and happened to have a retired neighbour who (still) works for a local authority with child diagnosis and confirmed that I am indeed "an old fashioned weirdo".
I hide it well.

I only “found out” when my missus suggested I was “a bit like” Saga Noren!

I have been known to sit in my underpants at work drying my shorts and socks on the radiator in an open plan office, after getting rained on. Does that count?

I score very highly in any "Reading the mind in the eyes test", so I doubt that I am. Likely just a bit of social anxiety, I only fail to look people in the eye when I'm nervous/a bit manic - being good at reading people seems to sometimes contribute to the nerves depending on what mood I wake up in - other days it means I can be really social. The friends who have known me the longest think I have ADHD though. I ended up in the weirdest role for someone who can be disorganised and easily distracted....

Un-diagnosed high functioning probably Asperger here.

Had the realisation last year when watching C4's programmes on ASD.
Had a bit of weight lifted, i understand now what my triggers are that overwhelm me and what i need to do to decompress
Told a couple of friends, one's response was just "Well no sh*t", not had to talk about it again, it's just accepted

Definitely footflaps. Ha.
Btw there was an interesting doc with Sir Chris of Packham which is worth a look.

Somewhere there "on the spectrum". As is eldest offspring, I think.

Throughout teens and twenties I genuinely thought of myself as subnormal / deficient, because clearly everyone should be an outgoing super social wizard of interaction, and I'm not. At all. The lightbulb moment for me in late twenties was just realising I shouldn't GAS about "fitting in" or what anyone else thought.

Relationships are obscenely hard. I just don't "get" what is going on a lot of the time and have to have it spelled out. I can't pick out words if there is more than one person talking, but with music I can hear most every phrase and tone. "Medium" levels of noise can be painful. I remember numbers and tech data easily but day to day things not at all. I eat many of the same things every day at the same time. Quiet time alone is almost always preferable to social time. I'm happier in routines and not when out of them.

I'm better at coping with norms these days. I've learned, somewhat mechanically, how to interact, to a reasonable extent. It is always difficult and always tiring and always feels a bit scripted.

I'm lucky to have wound up in (shock) software and engineering, so I get to earn a crust without having to feel stressed about my work.

Getting a diagnosis either official or unofficial won't be an instant relief, but you can use it to start finding out some life strategies that have helped other ASD types.

For example up until my twenties I couldn’t look people in the eye when talking to them but just forced myself to do it.

I have exactly the opposite problem. I break into a cold sweat if I have to have a conversation where I can’t look someone in the eye.... I despise using the telephone and can’t hold a conversation with someone in the next room or even if they’re sitting in the back seat of the car whilst I’m driving.

Having said that, I am a weirdo

edit: on reflection I may have been scarred as a child by watching Captain Scarlet which has left me freaked out by disembodied voices.

And torches.

From reading around I know this is something that is a concern for some autism campaigners too.

I sometimes suspect that boys normal behaviour can get pathologised simply because a lot of female teachers and shrinks don't intuitively get them
or leap to conclusions when confronted with someone different to them.

However I don't know that much about the subject.

I'd be interested in if there has been any work done on misdiagnosis.

The Chris Packham doc was excellent.

To all those who have "read about it, and had light bulb moments", what have you read? It's a genuine question, I'd like to read up myself.

I hate to say it but stuff on the net. Can't even remember what and where. Autism societies maybe?

I've got aspergers. did not find out until my 30's. I self diagnosed at first.

no. there are some things i find difficult that align with aspergers but not to a severe degree.

i wonder how many self diagnoses are akin to claiming to 'be a bit OCD' when you just like stuff lined up...

Obsessive, noise sensitive, little empathy, don’t show emotion. But not well-organised. I’m an out-going introvert who needs to force oneself to interact. Curiously I like presenting and public speaking. In another life I’d do stand-up comedy instead of Science. Read a few books on diagnosis of ASD. I came to the conclusion that not knowing or caring what others think about you is probably just middle age grumpy sod syndrome (MAGSS) though. It’s a spectrum so everyone is on it. Wavelength is what matters.

Certainly some of it jambo - and it risks trivialising what autism is.

Perhaps it would be better ( more precise, fairer?) to say " I appear to have some ASD traits?

The difficult ones for me are on occasion misreading social cues really badly and accepting everything anyone says at face value. Add that to a complete inability to tell people what they want to hear because I have no idea what they want to hear and I have made a real mess of social situations. the other stuff like counting every repetitive action, seeing patterns in everything and being obsessive about detail / planning are merely quirks that don't have any negative effect on my life.

Some links in here

https://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asperger.aspx

I can't remember what I read or where. My twenties was a kind of messed up time for me. I simply remember becoming aware in late twenties that it was a thing to have a number of tendencies that might indicate you sit slightly along the way of a range from normal to autistic, and that the more I read of it the more I identified with a number of them in some way.

However.

I didn't and still don't think an official diagnosis will bring any benefit for me personally - the biggest thing is finding out how your view and experience of the world might be slightly different to other 90% of the population, vs gaining a label. Nice though it might be to have a label to go from. It is also possible I might receive an official diagnosis of 'normal'. I don't much care at this point. I know that taking note of tendencies and differences and allowing for them works for me and seems to be the big thing that others have highlighted too.

I'm not sure how current the autism-spectrum quotient test is, but I've done it a couple of times and scored really quite low - 6 out of a possible 50 (men are typically 17, women 15 in control groups). I'm not that surprised at my score, but I work (accidentally) in engineering (I wanted to be a nurse - long story) and LOTS of my colleagues display typical traits - they're really nice people, and often super-bright; but struggle interacting with people they're trying to help - they might understand the problem or fault in huge detail, but just can't see the problem from a user's perspective. However, we work well together as a team - in my experience you need that mix; I tend to work as a buffer, I'm not great at deeper analysis of a problem, but I do know everyone's kid's names and I can tell if they've had their hair done... but if you need an emerging pattern noticing - I'm lost. I should probably do something else 🙁

I know that taking note of tendencies and differences and allowing for them works for me and seems to be the big thing that others have highlighted too.

Something that is only likely to be done when in twenties or beyond. Not much self reflecting done by 10 year olds which is where it would be good to know (for child and parents) especially for milder cases where the difficulties can be partly overcome.

I have some exposure to this through my work... labels help some but not others... as far as I can tell there's massive diversity amongst both the autistic and "neurotypical" communities, making it really hard to make generalisations. Self-awareness is key

I should qualify - I'm talking from an adult perspective, and also from a borderline Aspergers / High functioning perspective. Clearly, for those where diagnosis / or not isn't borderline, then the diagnosis is helpful for all parties

proper autism is much worst then aspergers which is just ( sometimes serious ) traits ( broadly speaking ) . I did well at a normal school and would not have needed to go to a special school etc.

Nope, as far on one end of the spectrum as some of you are on t'other.

I love chitty chat on the bus/train with random people, I'm v touchy feely, don't care about details over much (they don't matter to me as much as the outcome). I'm tidy but not obsessive about anything really, not socially anxious, don't count random things.

You're all weird, by the way 😁

Something that is only likely to be done when in twenties or beyond. Not much self reflecting done by 10 year olds which is where it would be good to know (for child and parents) especially for milder cases where the difficulties can be partly overcome

Absolutely that. Our eldest is dipping in the spectrum as well I think. But at least we can recognise and support. I think he will do ok.

High fives nickc!

I love chitty chat on the bus/train with random people, I’m v touchy feely, don’t care about details over much (they don’t matter to me as much as the outcome). I’m tidy but not obsessive about anything really, not socially anxious, don’t count random things.

ADHD hth

My wife is convinced I'm on the spectrum somewhere and keeps threatening to book me an appointment to get tested.

Quite a lot of the things mentioned above ring true, my communication with others (especially at work) who don't walk on the same path can be a little fraught and from my point of view, and is rather binary to say the least, which causes all sorts of issues with people who "feel" things instead of think them and fluffy up non-facts, and to be honest I don't really care what they think nor do I really change my approach to them. Outside of work I actually try and make an effort, as that has more impact on my life.

I don't exactly display a lot of emotions, nor do they tend to effect me too much - for example my Sister stopped talking to us about 3 years ago, to be honest it doesn't bother me, nor am I interested in finding out why. My mum & dad did the same, but they came round in the end, my wife spent some time asking me to find out why, but again I couldn't be bothered as they were more amiable once they made contact again. There's no doubt a link there, but with regards to my sister, she went a bit townie and I couldn't be arsed with her anymore.

I have the tendency to blurt out stupid things, prime example being the other night the eldest sons first tooth came out, so I said (with him thankfully only just out of earshot) best check my wallet for some money to put under his pillow, much to the dismay of my wife.

I don't have a lot of friends.

I do have the ability to be seriously single minded and not really think about the impact my actions have on others, I'm also seriously content in my own company and can switch my brain off for hours on end - could well contribute to why I rather like riding solo and am quite adept at 24 hour racing.

I've done those personality tests, Jun (?)profiling and Myers & Briggs as part of developmental courses at work and come out right at the end of the extreme Judgemental, Introverted, Techy type person - bang on the FBI's serial killer profile apprently!!!

Oh yeah, I can't stand this kind of shit either 🙂

I love chitty chat on the bus/train with random people, I’m v touchy feely, don’t care about details over much (they don’t matter to me as much as the outcome)

Currently going through the assessment process with my boy (5) at present. We're pretty sure he has sensory issues, if not full blown SPD itself. Yr1 at school has been challenging to say the least. thankfully we have a head teacher who is superbly engaged and he now has a class teacher who understands that shouting loudly at him has a really bad effect.

The more I read and learn about it the more parallels I see in my own character.

if not full blown SPD itself.

Get him on a set of flats ASAP.

😀 Yeah he's on flats. Some funky tiny, tiny wellgos that look like my Vaults.

I can’t stand this kind of shit either

That's only because you're not normal though, you know that right? 😉

From Mrmonksfinger link
“limit and impair everyday functioning”. which would exclude people like me and a few of the others on here in large part unless you see failing as a boss ( cos of my quirks / inabilities) and pissing off people as falling into that.
So from that folk like me and there seem to be a few on here, might be best said to "have some ASD traits"

I was curious a while back if I was on the autistic spectrum which might explain my difficulty and failures socializing and there were a few traits I identified with, but they were from the light & fluffy normal end of the spectrum, and looking further toward disabling autistic traits there wasn't anything I couldn't identify with at all.

Have lost touch with my friends over the years, and haven't made any new friends. I meet people, I ride with them, I work with them, visit family, nothing more than that.

Being a driver of a minibus full of children with special needs has opened my eyes to autism, that's for sure!
13 on the bus this morning aged from 6-16 & it only takes one to wind all of them up. (which one of them in particular usually does, & he's 9)
Very hard work when you get a 'severe' case. (apologies if that's the wrong term)

Thanks for being so open and honest, we’ve definitely got oversharing in common 😀. Whether you’re diagnosed or not, I think the defining element is the struggle to understand social interaction and adverse reaction to change and stimuli. This thread shows that autistic people do have empathy and want to socialise, we’re just shit at it.
My lightbulb moment came when I was told that I had scored 47 in the AQ test, I argued that I couldn’t possibly be because I’m chatty, disorganised and shocking at maths. I had been expecting to be told that I was just a bit mentally disturbed and to take a pill, instead I was given a few leaflets. It was a relief at first, I felt freed of certain expectations and stopped masking and supressing so much, I naïvely thought it was a get out of jail card for not realising when to shut up or that I'd misunderstood. I’ve never been good at maintaining friendships and as I’ve gotten older it’s become harder, as it does for everyone, but I do think that it is compounded for people on the spectrum as people become less tolerant and more suspicious of our behaviours; especially women.
As others have said before, I also tend to have quite binary views and expectations and blurt out stupid things (some prefer crazy bitch). This weeks’ faux pas was, instead of saying “If I was male you would treat me differently” as rehearsed, to my boss it came out as “If I had a dick you would listen” 😳. It went down well with my male colleagues but I was pulled into another pre-disciplinary, I now have my own office. Result 😏

My other half thinks I'm autistic to some degree. I just think I'm an arse. Our major sticking point is social situations. She loves them, I hate them. In the past she has gotten really annoyed with me for not making more of an effort but she understands a bit more now. When I brought this up on here a few years back I was generally told to get a few drinks inside me or learn to deal with it, so it feels a bit like we've moved on a bit. There are other traits I have that have already been mentioned and I'm not going to repeat them, I've always just thought of them as character traits or even just being British. When I phone my parents if my dad answers we talk about the weather for 30 seconds, then he hands me over to my mum, is that British or a sign of being on a spectrum?

Me.
Aspie.
some days work better than others, but since being in a marriage and living with two people permanently my traits and shutdowns have really shown. Or rather it's really shown what mechanisms I had in place before to manage myself.

Well I discovered today at work I made an arse of myself by fixating on a process and and end aim and missing several essential side branches. NO great hard done, somewhat embarrassing

Aspie trait or being an arse?

Like EVERYONE I have certain ASD traits, but know I'm not ASD as I didn't read all of the above.

The most important thing to focus on is diagnosis is less important than identifying and developing effective coping strategies.

I don't know if I am. Probably wouldn't get diagnosed but my daughter has been and also has ADHD. Like many others here, I recognise some of myself in her traits - but things are much, much harder for her.

It's just lucky that there's so much more awareness and some mechanisms in place to help now, however things are still a long way from perfect.

Just to be contrary (surprise surprise), I'm less concerned about "normal" kids being wrongly diagnosed with autism (highly unlikely) and more concerned about the parents resisting diagnosis of their children because of the stigma or their own unwillingness to accept it.

One lad at my daughter's school is obviously a prime candidate but his mum, a teacher herself, is not keen on pursuing a diagnosis. My opinion is that this is a bit selfish, as he's likely to have a harder time understanding his own points of difference from the rest of the kids.

What do others think?

I get why a parent might want to do that. We were in the doctors yesterday reviewing our evidence pool. He basically said that this will take time to investigate because of the impact both immediately on his education and on the rest of his life.

E is, we think, borderline and so long as we get good support from the school I believe we’ll be ok in a regular school. In the present underfunded and no doubt soon to be outsourced world of SEN provision, I think I’d rather move country, or go down the home schooling route than have him move out of mainstream.

@chakaping My mum works in psychiatry and still doesn't agree with my diagnosis, she prefers idiot. By not seeking a diagnosis she's denying him the support he will need to navigate through life and isn't recognising the difficulties he may have. Autism isn't just a label for a collection of cool behaviours, it's a real disability that causes a lot of distress to the autistic individual and those around them.
I think people often forget that autistic children grow into autistic adults, for the majority of us our life outcomes aren't that great with high unemployment and short life expectancy. Whilst it's becoming more widely recognised and support is more accessible for parents, there's very little resources for autistic adults.

Read the thread and thought, hmm, I can definitely identify with some of this stuff. Searched for an online test and scored "Your score was 33 out of a possible 50.

Scores in the 33-50 range indicate significant Austistic traits (Autism)."

Gobsmacked initially, but when I think about how I think about things, not too surprised.

Need to properly look into this a bit further once other personal issues have settled (poorly daughter thread if anyone interested!).

@iancity1 I hope she gets well soon

Thanks @aweeshoe, appreciate that.

I’m not sure how current the autism-spectrum quotient test is, but I’ve done it a couple of times and scored really quite low – 6 out of a possible 50

I just had a look and scored very low, so obviously not a candidate. I'm just a bit of an antisocial bod...

Did the test, scored a lot. I answered honestly but knew how the scoring would work. I could have maxed it out with more pernicious choice. 42, and 8/10. What do I win? I know what autism looks like, and it is serious and debilitating in many cases. Maybe noise and detail are weighted highly.

EDIT: It's got a very low specificity - so it misses lots of positives https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27353452

some days work better than others, but since being in a marriage and living with two people permanently my traits and shutdowns have really shown. Or rather it’s really shown what mechanisms I had in place before to manage myself

That's pretty much what I found, I didn't move in with my girlfriend for years because I found I needed somewhere to be able to retreat to. Sometimes dealing with people at work all day is so mentally draining by the time I get home all I want to do is spend time by myself which causes problems.

To all those who have “read about it, and had light bulb moments”, what have you read? It’s a genuine question, I’d like to read up myself

I can't remember what channel it was on but I think it was a program called the Autistic gardener which first brought it to my attention.

I can deal with living with kids, they seem to be more intuitive and empathetic than adults, but I still need time at the beginning and end of a day to process things in peace.
One thing I've learned is that I can't cope with friendships never mind a relationship, as I have social emotional agnosia. I rely on what people say and take it literally, missing the facial expressions and body language which may suggest otherwise.
It's led to a few laughs but comes at the expense of friends and leaves me open to abuse

I still need time at the beginning and end of a day to process things in peace

Plus about a million.

... watching Captain Scarlet

Definitely on the Spectrum.

@chakaping My mum works in psychiatry and still doesn’t agree with my diagnosis, she prefers idiot. By not seeking a diagnosis she’s denying him the support he will need to navigate through life and isn’t recognising the difficulties he may have. Autism isn’t just a label for a collection of cool behaviours, it’s a real disability that causes a lot of distress to the autistic individual and those around them.

I'm of the same opinion and I strongly hope and believe that knowing about her diagnosis will help our girl come to terms with it.

I believe the parents I mentioned have gained some alternative diganosis (can't remember what), which I'm informed doctors often offer parents who are in denial.

Strikes me as wrong, but that may be my own tendencies coming into play!

I had a similar sort of light-bulb moment to some other folk on here. In my case, it came at a 24hour event where I was duty medic. This particular weekend, I was working with a newly recruited doctor and after the best part of those hours had passed, out of the blue she simply said, ‘How long have you known that you are autistic..?’ It seems that I was probably the last to know in my circle. A pal who works with disadvantaged large kids pretty much used that phrase when I mentioned it to him. Going on to get a diagnosis was helpful in that it has put so much of my odd behaviour into context and has helped my partner understand better when I cannot get certain social interactions quite right.

Thanks for all your replies to my question. The reason I asked is because I'd not found the answers or results I'd been expecting when I was diagnosed and someone suggested that I should find "groups for autistic people", not noticing the irony or having watched Undateables 😂. So I thought I'd ask on a mtb forum to get real honest and open answers.
@UrbanHiker Most sites you will find are written by parents or learning professionals, there are a lot of misunderstandings and myths surrounding autism, especially from anti-vaxxers which have filtered into the mainstream. I'm not a fan of Autism Speaks or Simon Baron-Cohen, they are both looking for evidence to satisfy their sponsors and neither is progressing our understanding of autism. I'd suggest reading the DSM, academic papers, first hand accounts and the replies you see here, I'm happy to answer any questions.
I see my traits and difficulties in what @tjagain @Kerley @mrmonkfinger and @Senor j (Saga Noren's chat up line works 100% 🤣) said, although some may manifest differently. Autism isn't just a collection of traits, it's a systematic way of thinking like @tjagain said "The other stuff like counting every repetitive action, seeing patterns in everything and being obsessive about detail." This way of thinking doesn't only apply to practical organisation, it can also apply to understanding peoples behaviour. Not all autistic people have agnosia but those who do often can't process what's going on in real time despite reacting to it, like not noticing someone is getting angry, which is what often gets us in trouble.
I do hope that the contributors to the thread have the strategies and support they require and thanks for sharing your experiences 😀

“groups for autistic people”

Yep, not noticing the irony at all. A load of people looking at their feet and not talking to each other and getting stressed out by the situation. Would work well.