Me! Not diagnosed, but score exceptionally highly via self assessement.
Male, if that makes a difference.
Drive, hold tracklaying and road roller licenses in addition to a car license and have driven many things, both professionally and as a hobby, from combine harvesters and tractors to tanks, armoured cars, ex military lorries and traction engines.
Struggle with personal relationships/friendships - two failed long term relationships, no children, accept, but not at peace, with the fact that I will probably always be alone and never have a family of my own. Live alone, no friends, but the dichotomy is that, although I am solitary by nature and prefer to be on my own much of the time, I am also incredibly lonely and crave some human companionship. I seriously cannot recall the last occasion that I had a meal out, went to the cinema, had a day out with another human being or even just had a beer or two with someone.
Very shy, reserved, socially anxious and awkward.
Can be very self centric, cannot understand why others are not fascinated or obssessed by the same things as me. Conversely, I tend to be dismissive of other peoples' interests if I think they are dull and of no interest to me. I live in the middle of nowhere, deep in the countryside and would not want to be anywhere else - lived briefly in a town, through circumstance, and was miserable, feeling like a caged animal and would rather die in a ditch somewhere than live in such an environment again. I find it hard to see the viewpoint of others and, thus, cannot understand why some people prefer town or city living. I am aware that this is a huge failing on my part and am trying to address it! Ironically, I (think!) that I have huge empathy and sympathy towards others and am horrified if I feel that I have offended or upset someone, either inadvertently by misreading people or deliberately through rudeness.
Work fulltime, and always have, mainly in an occupation where I can work alone. Have had line management positions in the past, but hated it, primarily as I find it difficult to read people, give instruction or deal with conflict resolution or reacting to incidents outside my routine. Peversely, I have held several responsible civic positions and felt that I was reasonably competent! Perhaps because they were structured with firm boundaries and no 'fuzzy' edges?
Own my own home ( very old cottage) filled with very old 'things', all of which must, and do, work - I struggle with the modern world and would like to live completely in the past! I have a working bread oven, which I use periodically, a well under the downstairs bathroom floor which I intend to bring back into use for my potable water supply, the house is filled with Regency and Victorian objects, furniture, crockery, pewterware etc, all in use. I write with a fountain pen and real ink and am going even further back in time, taking to using a quill pen. Clocks are my latest obssession - I would fill the house with them if I could, akin to Lord Cutglass in 'Under Milkwood' - "sitting alone in a dogdish marked 'fido', alone in a housefull of time...surrounded by sixty six ticking clocks, one for each year of his loony age". My latest aquisition is a mahogany longcase grandfather clock, it is like a living, breathing organism, I stroke it and talk to it everytime I walk past and close my eyes to listen to the rhythmic heartbeat of it as it tick tocks away. But it is becoming another obssession and I want to aquire more!
Ritualistic repetetive behaviours - spontaneity is anathema to me and any break in my routine or unforseen circumstance sends me into a spiral of negativity, almost akin to a breakdown, even to the extent of putting my hands over my head and 'rocking'. Conversation tends to be one sided - once I start I talk and talk and talk, repeating myself quite frequently - had you noticed?! No wonder I have no friends and failed relationships!
Lists, both mental and literal - my life revolves around lists - things to do, things to aquire, things to tick off the list as being done or achieved.
Obssessive behaviours - over investement in those in the news who capture my attention. New interests become obssessive, currently trying to memorise the common and Latin binomial names of every British species of butterfly. Other fixations have ranged from keeping unusual pets ( from mongooses and fruitbats to a South African burrowing hare, a coati and a tame fox who lived in the house like a dog), collecting ex military vehicles, buying dozens of books on the same subject, to growing plants from seed, majoring on one particular genus and trying to grow every species within that genus before moving on to another one. All these obssessions are aquisitive and nearly bankrupt me!
Memorising facts, figures, dates, numbers and names comes easily - if I read something once it tends to stick forever in my brain - handy really as history is another fixation I have!
Sensory overload too - I cannot abide being touched by strangers, loud noises, bright lights - perhaps that is why I hate being cooped up and need to be outside in wide open spaces, where there is minimal human activity.
I am well aware that all these things are NOT normal human behaviour, when displayed to this degree and they have, undoubtedly, impacted on my life in terms of human relationships, career opportunities and quality of life - negatively or otherwise is not for me to say. I regard myself as being reasonably articulate, well read,and intelligent, I like learning new things constantly, but I do sometimes, ( quite often, actually), form the opinion that I have missed out on a good many things that others take for granted or 'the norm' - I have never been to a wedding, had a holiday, as an adult, travelled abroad, been to a dinner party or a hundred and one other things which most NT people do regularly. On the other hand, I am relatively content with my life, enjoy the things I enjoy and feel reasonably satisfied, if not totally fullfilled.
A medal goes to you if you have managed to read all of this. And cake. And wine.