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Can’t speak.

Lellynelly

I am 52 and have been diagnosed very recently. I am still in the process of working out which of my traits are due to autism and which are just me. I am a member of mensa, (although I failed school completely) I am articulate (when writing, not necessarily when speaking) and I have been in my job of supporting teenagers with maths in a complex needs school for 16 years. Yesterday I was very stressed and by the end of the day when someone spoke to me, it’s hard to explain, but I just could not respond. I struggled to process what they were saying and literally just did not know what to say and therefore couldnt speak. I ended up shrugging my shoulders in silence and walking away. This has happened to me many times before when stressed. Can anyone else relate? Is this a nt thing? Or an autistic thing?

Parents

  • I'm 51, newly diagnosed and I can relate to what you have experienced.  I messed up school but have just found out I have a very high IQ. I am usually articulate when speaking but on occasion I end up mouthing like a goldfish, I just can't respond.  It seems to happen when I'm stressed, usually with sensory or information overload.  It's hard to explain but even if I take in what is being said, multiple responses crowd my brain and the effort of trying to communicate all of the options to the other person is just too much.  I'm trying not to blame everything on  autism but since diagnosis I feel that my life makes sense at last.  I'm gradually "coming out" as an aspie and the relief of accepting that I'm different to nt's is immense.  I no longer waste time and effort wondering why I'm different - I celebrate it.  I doubt I'll get back in to education now but I love to read so am finding out as much as I can about autism, particularly in females diagnosed later in life.  As an aside I have always been drawn to people with special needs, particularly autism, working with them for many years in a voluntary capacity.  Wordy answer but in short, yes, I think the can't speak scenario may well be an autism thing.

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  • I'm 51, newly diagnosed and I can relate to what you have experienced.  I messed up school but have just found out I have a very high IQ. I am usually articulate when speaking but on occasion I end up mouthing like a goldfish, I just can't respond.  It seems to happen when I'm stressed, usually with sensory or information overload.  It's hard to explain but even if I take in what is being said, multiple responses crowd my brain and the effort of trying to communicate all of the options to the other person is just too much.  I'm trying not to blame everything on  autism but since diagnosis I feel that my life makes sense at last.  I'm gradually "coming out" as an aspie and the relief of accepting that I'm different to nt's is immense.  I no longer waste time and effort wondering why I'm different - I celebrate it.  I doubt I'll get back in to education now but I love to read so am finding out as much as I can about autism, particularly in females diagnosed later in life.  As an aside I have always been drawn to people with special needs, particularly autism, working with them for many years in a voluntary capacity.  Wordy answer but in short, yes, I think the can't speak scenario may well be an autism thing.

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