Are you autistic? Am I? Of course not. OK, I may be somewhere on the spectrum, but isn’t everyone?
I visited my brother last week in West Yorkshire. He told me his oldest friend had recently been diagnosed as being autistic. We did a questionnaire on his friend’s recommendation. I was thinking my brother could possibly be autistic, his behaviour is unusual at times. He scored 29/50, I scored 37/50! 30 is the tipping point.
Not a diagnosis, that can take years as an adult using free health care. Private much faster.
It did make me think. Most of my life I have felt a bit different and reading more about it I did recognise certain traits that could be mild or medium autism.
Obsessional behaviour, like coming here for example, seeing the same artist in concert over and over again, having a huge music/film collection I will never fully play/watch again etc. other more personal traits I won’t go into.
Anyway, anybody done such a questionnaire or been diagnosed? This is making me potentially evaluate large parts of my life.
This made me think a lot
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy87542l14ro
It’s a dimension, and there is also the level of functioning to consider. Thus, though they share a label, A music completist with a science degree is not the same as a non-verbal adult who freaks when the washing machine starts spinning. Many of my friends and family (both sides) are high functioning ASD. I expect I am, too. But for tests, I’d not rely on the high systematising/ low empathy Baron-Cohen ASD formulation. Theory of mind also a big consideration. Plenty of ToM in psychologist autists.
Music completist with a science degree? Guilty! ToM?
Hmmmm. Huge alphabetically shelved record collection. BSc Ecology. Does that get placed under B for Bachelor, or E for Ecology? I’ll have to think about the relative merits of both approaches….
I was diagnosed as autistic late in life. It was something of a relief, as it explained a lot of behaviour that had over time started to worry me and my partner.
I won’t go into the specifics, but it had long been clear that my mind was maybe not, as the terminology says, neurotypical. My thought processes run in a certain way that can’t be changed, and I have certain patterns of behaviour and sensitivities that I’ve had since childhood and, I’ve been told, will always have. But I don’t think of myself as disabled or suffering or “lesser” – just different. Would things be easier if my mind didn’t work like this? Yes, frankly. But it is what it is, and I manage very well compared to a lot of other autistic people. Things could be much worse. I was told that I’m “high functioning”, but that term is frowned upon as it implies that some are “low functioning”, and nobody should be thought of like that.
If you or somebody else think you might be on the spectrum – and it is a very broad spectrum – it is worth getting on the waiting list for an assessment. Personally I wouldn’t rely on an online test, as so much of my particular assessment involved face-to-face conversations with experts who could see my behaviour and react to things I said/did. The official diagnosis also led to follow-up sessions with similar people, which was very helpful.
Knowing why I behave and think the way i do has put my mind at rest about certain things, and I’ve also since been given some coping strategies to deal with the fact that the world is not made for autistic people.
Finally, in case you were wondering, no, we’re not all like you see in Rain Man (still a controversial topic among autistic people), and, as far as i know, we don’t all have some kind of mental superpower. Although I do know a stupid amount about films, and 80s music, and…
Thanks for that. Most enlightening
My youngest grandson (6) has been diagnosed with autism. He is getting special assistance at school and is developing brilliantly. Just don’t move any of his Thomas the tank engine toys.
The oldest (9) got an early diagnosis of ADHD because a family friend runs the ADHD charity. He currently takes his “concentration pills” to help him excel at school.
All children are a blessing and a challenge. Knowing why is part of the journey.
It’s too long a story to tell in detail, but I went through testing because I always felt like I was the odd one out in the family. I am not autistic in any measurable way, it turns out… however I’ve found out that my closest sibling is Aspergers, and that my Dad most likely is, and a couple of other family members also. Therapy has helped me come to terms with being normal, whatever normal is (I don’t like the term to be honest.)
The trouble with normal is that it doesn’t exist.
…or, it is another spectrum..?
I’m normal. Everybody else is weird.
I hope you dig Bert Weedon.
as an aside, I actually did learn how to shred from Bert’s ageless tome. (OK, actually how to strum Bobby Shaftoe.)
Autistic traits are dead common, and certain walks of life are awash with Asbergers. I enjoy spotting them, that pleasure in part derived from a suspicion I share many traits. There are loads in medical circles, if undiagnosed and often vehement in their rejection of same. But, in the end, who cares? Unless it is adversely affecting your life, or has done, maintaining a propensity to do so in the future, what point a label? If it is, that’s different, avail what help and support is there, offered or available. Too many people get excited by their “scores”, making it become an issue. (And, yes, mine was pretty high. Add what I am told is my high level dyspraxia, what you may call clumsy, and I can, or could, if so desired, fully embrace neurodiversity, but part of me feels it is just this years ADHD, desired by all yet, actually, pretty undesirable.)
This. (We’ve had this discussion before).
I’m an only child, happy in my own company. I prefer peace and quiet to a noisy office. I am a completer/finisher. I have a B.Eng. degree. I have high standards. Does that make me autistic? I’m really not sure.
One of my close family was assessed, and I read their report. They scored 4 out of 7, plus had an hour’s interview. I would have scored 5 out of 7 had I taken the test.
It was perhaps useful during the education years to have a “badge” but, in modern adult life, we all just get on with it.
I found being diagnosed with chronic illness in mid-life much more of a head-space change. All the things I could no longer do for a social life (drink, eat spicy food) made me focus on the things I can do, and do them better. It was a conscious decision. I would never have started playing records in public pre-Crohn’s, because I’d have been off somewhere else doing something else (that made me ill). I’m better at my job for saying ‘no’ to the things I know I can’t do.
Well I think it’s worth knowing. There are things in my life that have not been good, rationalizing that to a degree because of being wired differently can make such things easier to deal with. May also help for future endeavours even at this lateish stage in my life.
Since considering I may have it to some degree has already made me re-evaluate things in my past going right back to my childhood. I can’t change anything, but maybe that’s the point. I couldn’t have been any different
And then there’s my daughter, she has her own struggles. Knowing family health history could also help her
It’s a question I’ve asked myself a number of times, even as a child when I wouldn’t have known how to articulate it. I’m strongly introverted, love my own company and am exhausted by social interaction (even if I have found it enjoyable). That said I wasn’t surprised that I only ‘scored’ 24 on that test as I’m also strongly imaginative and at least fairly empathetic.
I can’t help thinking that a lot of personality indicators at the edges of the range which might be regarded as usual can become pathologized and labelled. That may be useful to those of us who have never felt that we fitted in somehow, but what are we to do with that knowledge? Knowing you feel like an outsider ‘because’ doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to navigate a world which revolves around more common behaviours.
I remember Concheroo aka Mojo saying everyone here is probably on the spectrum to some extent.
I went through a period of thinking I must be autistic or Asperger’s or something. I was encouraged in this thinking by reading the very, very funny novel The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion and doing the questionnaire at the end of the novel. I liked and understood the novel’s protagonist (an “Aspy”), empathised and felt we had a lot in common, so decided I must be way high on the spectrum too. This coincided with me also deciding I no longer enjoyed alcohol or socialising and wanted to live a more introvert lifestyle. I’ve since come to love and cherish “not socialising” and “living an introvert lifestyle” (and not drinking) as a wise and very pleasing choice and have decided I’m not autistic or asperger’s after all. I wouldn’t rule it out, but more likely I just can’t be arsed with going out or having boring conversations anymore.
“Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things?” by Pierre Novellie is an entertaining read on this subject. I was leafing through it going “But isn’t everyone on the spectrum?”, “But we all do that” and “That’s just how everyone feels” before being brought up short by a couple of footnotes suggesting that no they don’t and if you work this way then you might want to get a test done. All in all I think I’m a bit long in the tooth to change anything, but it has certainly suggested some answers to long-held questions, and does aid tremendously when dealing with the heir to the Kirk estate, who in earlier times would have been brushed off as simply fidgety, a fussy eater and someone with unhealthy obsession with both quoting comedy punchlines and World War 2 history.
https://leftlion.co.uk/features/2024/09/pierre-novellie-at-the-canalhouse-interview/
I’ve never really considered the possibility. I don’t think it’s applicable to me. I’m just an annoying arsehole with a paintbrush in my hand.
Oh mate. You’re not annoying 🙂
I’ll take that. 😉
I don’t know where (if anywhere) I am on “The Spectrum” or any other spectrum.
Furthermore I’m not really into self-analysis or in being analysed to find out.
I’m inclined to think that the urge to analyse absolutely everything and especially oneself, is a bad by-product of too much academic immersion.
Good for you. But sometimes ignorance isn’t bliss.
Of course not, but going looking for problems when you’re reasonably content is daft.
I am glad you are content
Not much doubt that the railway industry attracts those on the spectrum, both as employees and enthusiasts – sometimes those two categories overlap. It’s even recognised that certain autistic characteristics – insistence on working to patterns and rules – are positive attributes for some railway jobs. I have a driver colleague who, given the name of a single, can tell you the year, the highest chart placing, the label.
Do I qualify? Well, my knack is to have encyclopaedic knowledge of settlements in Great Britain. I am also notably good at memorising lyrics – 17 verse ballads a speciality. But I’m way too much of an extrovert, way too sensitive to others, to be on the spectrum. I will now do the test in the link above and report back.
Hmmm. 20, where 26 and above would have suggested autistic traits. That sounds about right.
I know you don’t do faecebook, but have you heard of Francis Bourgeois, an enthusiastic trainspotter who does wonderful clips devoted to his hobby?
Haha. Bourgeois is the family name of my late sister-in-law. I wouldn’t care, but from a sociological point of view, they were anything but bourgeois, being from Burgundian farming stock.
According to the tests in the OP I’m not autistic which doesn’t surprise me from what I know about it. It’s in my wider family though, fully diagnosed etc.
I finally got round to doing the 50 question quiz. I tried to show myself in a good light, like doing a Cosmopolitan questionnaire in the seventies. 37! I don’t believe that. I have no autistic traits whatsoever. If it said I had ADHD I might consider it. To think that almost the whole of Psychology depends on questionnaires like that.
😮
Arf. I too got 37. I rest my case.
It’s weird tho’, and has me wonder whether empathy, like hand-washing, is a skill that can be learnt like any other.
I reckon 10 to 15 minutes is all we can manage before having to move on. I find I’m turning into Dr Hibbert in The Simpsons, chortling with every bit of bad news.
Welcome to the 37 club. No traits at all? That’s what I initially thought about myself, I then did a few more questionnaires and asked people what their honest opinion of me was.
This one was harder for me to answer, but again showed me to potentially have mild to medium autism.
https://embrace-autism.com/raads-r/
What did you get, Dai (altho’ I will respect if you prefer not to answer)
(I think my even asking the question gets covered in several of the questions!)
I got 88.
I think I got 80
142? Not, I confess, what I expected. There isn’t much room for nuance though. No, ‘We’ll, maybe, kind of, now and again …’ which is what I wanted to answer to a lot of them.
btw, I see ‘friends’ of Gregggg Wallace are now speculating that his long history of obnoxious behaviour is due to autistic traits.
Autism As Excuse. Elon Musk really can’t help being a c*nt.
Could prove useful to those with pockets deep enough to hire “experts”.
In fact it’s already being used in the courts here.
A case just the other day in the local BBC News website section, where the solicitor defending a violent miscreant cited Autism as a mitigating factor.
I scored 122. I don’t understand why?
I just completed it again and gave more consideration to each question, a more nuanced view and I scored 96. I must admit to feeling somewhat nonplussed by these results. I thought I’d score around thirty-ish.
Which test?
The one immediately above Dai. The RAADS-R one. The result doesn’t bother me it just came as a surprise. I’m 68 and it’s a bit late in life to be overly concerned at how I perceive life or how others perceive me.
As it is a Friday afternoon, I took the test and scored 27 out of 50. “Any scores of 26 or greater indicate the presence of autistic traits.”
This comes as no suprise, but I was expecting a bit higher. Although knowing it won’t make me change my outlook or behaviour.
I was hanging up wet washing at lunchtime, and Mrs F piped up “when I retire and do that myself, you’re going to come along behind me and do it again, aren’t you?”
“Probably,” I replied, “because I’ll do it properly.” I think that says all you need to know. But is it because I am a Job’sWorth; an Engineer (who likes things to be running efficiently); or on the spectrum?
See also: loading the dishwasher. Do it right and it cleans better, and dries everything without leaving puddles.
Or did you become an Engineer because you’re On The Spectrum?
I’m an engineer too. It has certainly been apparent to me during my career that a large number of engineers have autistic trends, sometimes more severe than others. But they tended to be more obsessional than me and also spent a lot of their free time “engineering”. Me on the other hand spend most of my free time doing “normal things” like obsessionally watching/playing sport, listening to music, going to gigs etc I also spend way too much time online. That’s probably the case for everybody these days though.
I think I became an Engineer because I’m lazy. I found at about 12 or 13 that I could easily do all the Physics and Maths stuff other people found difficult.
My O-level Physics teacher said he thought I should apply because the wages were pretty good, what with most people struggling to do it and all that. Thanks, Mr Brownlee, I owe you a pint.
I believe in psychometric testing, what insight it can provide, and particularly when managing people and understand how contribution may manifest.
Danger is – and I’ve seen this – too much psychometric or personality testing gives people a belief, a false belief, or even a “get out of jail free card” for their actions.
I did the first (short) test and scored relatively highly – this confirmed what I already believed, and although not diagnosed as such, it’s certainly been suggested that perhaps further investigation and understanding is required.
Having had this “suggestion” (which now sounds like I’m falling into the “believing the results trap”) I now recognise these traits in me and do try to address them (not always easy, and often anxiety inducing).
But one tries …
I am so sure I am on the spectrum that I see myself in The Dark Side Of The Moon cover.
Three sided and pointy at the ends?
Yes and now everything makes sense, how I’ve always felt different and been stared at.
And you’re so acute too. Life is a bitch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeuroTribes
I would heartily recommend ‘NeuroTribes’ by Steve Silberman to anybody seeking a better understanding of the subject. It’s excellent on the history of the term Autism, who Asperger was & his pluses as well as his documented flaws.
Overall, it makes the IMO irrefutable case that Autism should not be considered something people ‘suffer from’ but rather a way of being that just isn’t necessarily in line with everybody else.
It isn’t a ‘celebration’ , but if you subscribe to the notion that ‘ the world would be dull if everyone was the same’ then you maybe get the idea.
My biggest takeaway was the crystal clear message everyone needs to remember is ‘ If you’ve met one person with Autism, you’ve met ONE person with Autism.’
A terrific book.
My degree is in Computer Science, and I have been working in industrial computer systems for 40 years.
I have worked with people since the mid-80s who were clearly on the spectrum, functioning at a reasonably high level. I think that there is now a broader awareness of autism, but I do not think that there has been a significant increase in the incidence.
There are some things that I do, regularly, or behaviours I have which could place me somewhere on the spectrum, too. I did realise recently that I actually have more routine in my life than I would have thought.
I am comfortable with that – I have managed to let about 70% of my CD collection go once I realised that I was unlikely to play them again, and that we really could do with the space. Similarly about 50% of my book collection. It was nice to have them for the time I did, it is also nice to know that they are out in the world where someone might be able to play them or read them or otherwise enjoy them.
Two close relatives are detail-oriented, very specific about how tasks should be sequenced and completed, how tools should be stored, and are happy to spend several uninterrupted hours focussed on tasks, to the point where they accidentally skip meals. Neither of them would countenance any kind of label – they both regard these as useful abilities, which are “absolutely normal for how some boys are”. Both have children who exhibit some of these traits, and they have also resisted labelling for them, keen to support and encourage and include.
In the music world, I have many friends who exhibit some of the behaviours, including the ability to recount in detail a long-forgotten conversation, or which guitar and amp I used at a gig I played which they clearly remember, but they have to prompt me in detail so I can dredge up my memories of Dundee in November 1983. “You must remember, it was the University, it was raining! You had a black shirt, and that hat you bought from Fopp. You sent someone out for chips! ”
A female friend was recently diagnosed as autistic, and that has been a revelation for her. She feels much more comfortable, now, with the awareness that for nearly all her life she was uncomfortable in a way she could not articulate.
She was finally prompted to get help from her GP after her then-boyfriend had said, casually, “of course you’re on the spectrum, darling” and then listed half a dozen habits/behaviours that she regarded as totally regular, but he knew were not. She later said “I should have known – before I was diagnosed , I was peer-reviewed!”
Good luck in your journey!