YesFan72 wrote:
James wrote:
YesFan72 wrote:
How does one tell if oneself has autism?
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I think you'd know.
Unless it's really mild.
In fact, you are an idiot savant of sorts, due to your synaesthesia. It depends how your synaesthesia manifests itself though?
I mean, does it help with your studies, like autism would?
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I've always wondered whether I had autism or not. I know I don't have an extreme case, but I am very socially awkward. According to the Autism Quotient test, I have severe autism, though I wonder about its accuracy. My synaesthesia already makes me different. Often, the two go hand in hand.
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Autism is not so much entirely about being "socially" awkward.
I was always awkward for years until perhaps, 2006 when I finally just started being able to talk to people, and since then I've been able to get Girlfriends and just be able to make strong bonds with people.
If I had autism, there is probably no chance I would have been able to do all that easily.
Hell, I still go through reclusive phases, but in reality, I can make friends fairly easily if I can be bothered.
Autism has A LOT to do with not being able to recognize facial expression beyond the most basic ones or even interpreting even basic ones incorrectly.
Happy, sad, angry, surprise, anticipation and fear are basic emotions, which can be (in normal cases) easily interpreted from facial expresions.
More advanced and less 'obvious" to recognize (hence sometimes mis-interpreted) are remorse, contempt, pride, disgust etc.
Typically an autistic kid might have trouble with all of them, an aspergers people trouble with advanced emotions.
Another part of it comes down to being able to attune to another's feelings.
Say for example, taking from my own first hand experiences, I am in a bed with a girl that I believe likes me... without even speaking a single word, we were able to "sense" how each other felt and would show that through actions such as gentle rubbing of each other with our hands, kissing, looking at each other in the eye (and that "look of love" is the only way to describe the facial expression+way the eyes look).
Another is sensing someone is feeling down (for eg.) purely from the way someone's body is positioned, the way they might be staring/looking at things, their tone of voice etc without them having to tell you how they feel.
I am extremely good at that (being able to attune to how one feels), but because I can be overly sympathetic at times, I deliberately block those emotions towards certain people I don't trust completely etc.
And James, no autistic kids are generally likely to be mentally retarded to some degree (doesn't exactly help your studies being retarded I'm afraid).
Those with less severe cases will be able to live independently, but many will never be able too.
An autistic kid with literally half my IQ is not uncommon.
I've seen kids with autism who were about 6 years old, and could barely speak at all... a clear sign of their mental retardation.
I can even remember being 4 years old and speaking full sentences.
I severely doubt Dahlia has autism... she is easily more intelligent than I was at the age of 14.
Aspergers..... James, that may be the one you were referring too.
It's massive difference between it and autism is that Asperger's sufferers tend to be extremely intelligent.
They generally possess great ability in systemizing (that is, thinking intellectually, without emotional stuff to get in the way of that thought process), but extremely poor in sympathizing.
While no doubt many Asperger's people have IQ's in the gifted zone, they have extreme social retardation.
They cannot recognize facial expressions beyond basic ones, they cannot understand sarcasm, they do not understand the importance of white lies in certain situations (which can get them into a lot of trouble with people).
Aspergers is generally referred to as a "high level functioning" autism, in that they can quite easily live by themselves and can hold jobs (if they are in the right field for their special talent) and can be productive to society, a marked contrast to outright mental retarded of "regular" autism.
I studied this stuff when I was bored last year
even though I didn't have to for anything, it was just interesting to read about it really.
Just remember there is a big difference between socially awkward to an extent where pyschological help can fix it, or an actual disorder that is not going to go away.