Published on 12, July, 2020
I have this preconceived idea that all Autistic people are really good at maths. I am terrible at mental arithmetic or any kind of working out in my head! Yet I can put together a mean spreadsheet, with formulas, forecasts, percentages whatever you like. But ask me what something times something is? Haven't a clue?
So I just wanted to see if that is odd for an Autistic person?
This has been really interesting so far! I was really expecting a high spike on people being great at maths and actually it seems that so far the majority are weaker numerically than I guess I'd imagined (me included). It will be interesting to watch this and see where it ends up!
There are lots of 'assumptions' that I had about Autism, before I spoke with other adults with Autism on here that have blown apart since I joined this forum. I think that some of these assumptions have stopped me from seeking diagnosis. I went for my pre diagnostic screening today which was very interesting. I was so nervous about it. My husband was with me. When it was over, I was so busy thinking about the next thing, that I didn't thank the Doctor and just left the room. My husband said I hardly looked her in the eye at all. He just did this neurotypical shrug with her at the end like "see this is what I'm working with Doctor". In any other circumstance it would have really annoyed me but in the context of an ASD diagnostic session, I suppose it wasn't so bad - eek :O
He said I do it all the time but most of the time he doesn't have the heart to pull me up on it. He said he thought it was fair game in an ASD diagnostic interview!