Do Neurotypical people identify with traits on this list too?

[mimblewimble]

Having sat through DS's autism assessment and seeing myself in a lot of his traits, I'm now in the process of seeking an autism assessment for myself. I've been spending a lot of time reading about autistic traits in undiagnosed/high masking women, and I really identify with a lot of them.

When I read some of these things though, I am surprised that this wouldn't be how a lot of fairly intelligent, slightly anxious people feel. The people I know well enough to ask are all some kind of neurodivergent themselves. So I thought I'd ask on here.

This is an example of a list I found. I read it and just thought well obviously, that sounds quite like me but would a lot of women not see themselves in a lot of this, autistic or not?

https://the-art-of-autism.com/females-and-aspergers-a-checklist/

I would genuinely love to find out I'm autistic at this stage, I'm probably overthinking it... 😆

What the fuck?!

The list is also really sad. It reads like someone has made a list of everything that they are and then tried to pull all of it into the single framing of autism. As if they want to crush their whole selfhood into a neurological/developmental disorder.

What a hopelessly broad list that is. Similarly TikTok keeps showing me videos of people of people saying how because their ADHD that they don’t put laundry away for ages and have to plan timings to get to appointments where multiple steps, need alarms to leave house etc etc. And if this is you then look at an ADHD diagnosis. Huh? I’m Nt, I will delay putting laundry away for ages because it is very boring and I dislike it and I do actively plan timings to get to appointments and set reminders because how else do I ensure I make it?

I have done the Simon Baron-Cohen Autism test and came out very much not autistic. I also scored more on the first section, a few on the sensitivity and not many on the others. My dd2 has asd, but it is a co-morbidity with her disability, so could well not be a genetic factor.

I agree with the pp who mentioned the triad of impairment, as that's what the 2 psychologists used to diagnose dd2 - as well as lots of other professional reports.

@BlueSky2024

You are blessed you or your family are not autistic.

No one with autism has an easy life.

What a horrible person you are.

It would explain a lot!

It's not like I'm saying I'd love to become autistic. I am already who I am, it wouldn't change me. But if I am then it would give me a framework to better understand some of the difficulties in my life.

Agreed. I also think the 'sense of self' section was very all-encompassing and it would be pretty easy for many ND and NT people to identify with it.

Yes, DS was queried as being autistic and when people raised why they felt that, my response was "but that's just normal" .

Turns out we're both autistic 🫣 though I dispute that I am!

I read the deep thinkers list and they don't describe me at all. I avoid any form of deep thinking like the plague. But I am autistic.

Thank you to MN for deleting some of the disgusting comments on this thread!

Crikey. I just read that list, and apart from a couple in each section, I identify strongly with pretty much all of it. Some things I cope much better with now, but thinking about what I was like as a child - well.

I've wondered about asking my GP whether they could send me for ASD assessment, but I don't really know what a diagnosis would do for me. I kind of already know.

👏👏👏

The whole thred needs deleting

It’s about people giving their opinions and views, just because you don’t agree with them that Dosen’t mean the thread needs to be deleted

Well your posts were

If some of these comments were made about people with physical disabilities there would be uproar and rightly so. But because our disability is all in our heads it’s ok in some peoples eyes.

Usual story whenever autism is the subject.

Breaks my heart to see how people really think.

They're all just made up, very overlapping labels anyway. Most of my friends are neurodivergent but I'm pretty sure that some of them are borderline and wouldn't receive a diagnosis. About twenty percent of the population are highly sensitive people (although I've read on mumsnet that these people don't exist :)) and I believe that these people all have strong autism traits but the people with diagnoses (or that would receive a diagnosis if they were assessed) are at the extreme end of the sensitivity spectrum.

But then there's the empathy thing with some of us having hyper empathy and others having little empathy. I'm not sure whether these people are still classed as highly sensitive.

I think it’s the sheer quantity of people getting some kind of ND diagnosis these days that takes away from the severity of the issue, I know people with ND diagnosis that are almost boasting about it on Facebook and from knowing these people there is very little about them that would set them apart from a person who is deemed ‘normal’.

I don’t think it takes away at all. I think if anything it shows how many people have been let down their whole lives and have suffered as a result. If you don’t fit into depressed or anxious no one is interested - or they’ll make you fit.

I’m not saying there aren’t fakers - same as there are fakers with physical disabilities but it’s not everyone and just because you think you know someone it doesn’t mean you do. Most people on my Facebook would be agog to find out I have ADHD but that doesn’t change the fact it’s affected every aspect of my life.

@BodyKeepingScore has it nailed

@BlueSky2024

I think it’s the sheer quantity of people getting some kind of ND diagnosis these days that takes away from the severity of the issue,

My autism was severe. I was misdiagnosed and wrongly medicated for years.

I know people with ND diagnosis that are almost boasting about it on Facebook and from knowing these people there is very little about them that would set them apart from a person who is deemed ‘normal’.

Prior to my diagnosis I spent years trying to be that 'normal' you talk about. It broke me. I was abused, raped, assaulted. On Facebook I was just 'me' presenting the person that was expected of me. Inside I was a nervous wreck and could barely function. Once I got my diagnosis you could bet your house that I 'boasted' about it. I cannot (because I am autistic) write or explain how life changing that was for me. Yes, my FB got to hear about it.

Yer we love telling people we are autistic. We get a great reaction don't we.

Look, in all honesty, If I was accessed I’m pretty sure I would also be diagnosed as ND ( for a number of reasons I won’t go into) but even if I was I doubt I would tell anyone as I think most people would just go ‘ oh here’s another one’

In my opinion that is a lot of stereotypical shit. I’m autistic but crap at maths, do not find comfort in numbers in the least, am not naïve or overly innocent, and there’s a whole bunch of other stuff that would never apply to me. But I’m still autistic.

Some of my traits: I could sight read before I learnt phonics, before the age of 4. I used to line things up, but I used to have an elaborate imaginary world with each object a character in this world. I could socialise but obviously did it differently to that of a NT person. I always had a spiky learning profile, top of the class for some subjects, nearly bottom for others. I find the workplace stressful and full of social pressure.

I would make the blanket statement that autism is usually extremes outside what is considered typical, and that can look like anything.