Everything I know about me that's relevant............

I'm done with Christmas Cards said:

The more I think about it, the more the diagnosis process seems to put narrow, stereotyped signs on their ticklist rather than searching for evidence of the underlying drivers

BINGO! The 'ticklist' approach is probably pretty good when used on children up to say age 11, but beyond that becomes increasingly unreliable for mild/high-functioning/low support autism as the subject becomes increasingly adept at masking...

IKR? The more I think about it, the more the diagnosis process seems to put narrow, stereotyped signs on their ticklist rather than searching for evidence of the underlying drivers, which to me are a seeking of calmness via physical and/or cognitive activity that takes focus away from the external world. Being fascinated by almost anything fits into this, and it doesn't need to be trains!

I've added "Logophilia" to my original post above. There just *had* to be a cool word for this, and if Google hadn't confirmed it, I was going to go for my very own neologism! ( :-) )

You've included all this in your 'evidence list'... right?

I mean, sounds like a 'special interest' to me!

:-) that reminds me of words & phrases that I dislike; "Spick & Span", "Marks & Sparks", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (breaks rules and makes no sense & I know 'That's the joke'!). Maybe it's the spiky bits of those words that irk me too. Also the fact that they make no sense.

When I used to write with a pen before keyboards took over, I used to love writing "Because" because it flows so curvaceously onto the page in cursive script. That's got me on another word association path: Curvaceous, curvilinear, cursive,  cuneiform,  bovine, because, beatific, bovine spongiform encephalopathy............ and to quote Stephen Fry: "Smoother than Slinky McSmooth, inventor of the word 'Mellifluous'" :-)

I do like your way of thinking! From a similar perspective I prefer the word autism to autistic. Autistic sounds too 'spiky' to me and I struggle to type it on the keyboard, it doesn't flow with my hands!

Also - I love medical words! Neuroplasticity, aphantasia, chromeasthesia, synaesthesia, anaesthesia, hyperglycemia, anoxyphilia, anterior cingulate gyrus, postural hypotension, etc etc all seem to have such lovely rhythms and can usually be worked out because of their roots.

But if I have to recall something I've  already  seen,  that's different. Shut my eyes and it's there in front of me.

Same here, I never knew there was a word for it (it's gone on my list)

When imagining what somebody looks like my brain can't conjure up the image, I have to think of a picture of them that exists. The images never move and are usually undefined, dull and quickly disappear. (If you've seen the Lego movie I'm pretty sure my brain looks the same as Emmet's when they go inside!!)

You're welcome :-). I can picture things that are occasionally clear, but only parts of scenes & the other parts of the whole scene move around and fade in and out. Yet another thing that I thought was normal until recently!

Had to Google Aphantasia. Thanks for that, I  now have the word for it! I can't  picture things except in very simple terms like a diagram or child 's drawing. 

Ignorance is bliss. It really is.

Thank you, it means a lot that I have found so much in common with others on the spectrum, and almost wish that a "Proposer and seconder drawn from the autistic community" would be sufficient to diagnose a new member! I'm sure that the interactions I've had here, on other forums and in a previous life on Twitter could yield at least twenty or so diagnosed autistic people willing to say "Yep, he's one of us".

But I get the impression that the process I've encountered starts off on the assumption that you're not autistic and then sets out to prove that assumption, rather than listening objectively and seeking to explain difficulties stated by the patient.

I fully understand that "Dr Google" is the bane of medical professionals' lives, and similarly self-diagnosis can be founded on confirmation bias which has to be challenged (and in my case, I *want* it to be challenged so that I can be sure) but there seems to be a reluctance to ask "do you have anything else that might fit this pattern?".

And so lies the fundamental problem with mental illnesses again. I can't see an effect so it mustn't be that bad (or happening at all).

Sometimes people get ill, physically ill (wow, I can see you are ill!), but they power through and still turn up to work because of a good work ethic. Does this mean, on the same basis, that they are not ill? Because they are able to appear to function as normal?

I'm done with Christmas Cards said:

This strikes me as not recognising the huge effort needed to comply, that has led on a couple of occasions to burnout

A very important point. Whilst you are able to cope in the moment, therefore seemingly not having a negative impact, it contributes to a burnout. So although it may appear invalid in one capacity, overall and in the context of autism, it has a cumulative serious impact. Forcing to comply is related to a burnout which is related to autism. 

I only know you through a serious of conversations on a forum yet, along with other posters, we seem to be joining the dots more accurately than the professionals??

Original Prankster said:

...not knowing if they could afford to do the 'cool thing', plus arriving the day after the other cool thing finished or having to leave before it started...

Exactly.   We happened to be in Florida when Elon landed his first rocket back on the pad - so we were there to watch it.   It was something that was in the spreadsheet as a possibility - otherwise we'd have missed it

Yes exactly - it seems normal, almost so trivial as to make it not worth mentioning (I'm thinking of my beard picking here). Now wondering what else I thought was trivial and maybe normal.....

Come to think of it, I probably thought that everyone with a beard would fiddle with it when bored or concentrating, just like everyone with a scab would pick at it to encourage it to come off even if that made it bleed and take longer to heal and potentially leave a scar (not me though 'cos that would be silly!).

What kind of lunatic wouldn't plan a trip like that in so much detail?!

I mean - they'd end up just staying in one place or drifting around missing stuff...

...not knowing if they could afford to do the 'cool thing', plus arriving the day after the other cool thing finished or having to leave before it started...

#triggered

Also, as per IDWCC - spreadsheet for household finances, we had one for our wedding - My mum complained it was being organised "like a military operation", I'd say it was considerably better planned than most military operations!

The point is, stuff we think is perfectly sensible we wouldn't 'out' ourselves about as being 'this odd thing I do'... because to us NOT to do it would be the odd thing!

:-) neither is a spread sheet model of household finances including allowances for changes in RPI, base rate and pay rises.

Intelligence and happiness are inversely proportional...

So a multisheet Excel spreadsheet for a holiday is NOT normal?

We recently went to New Zealand for six weeks in a motorhome... SURELY  not possible for someone with ASD!?

Hmmm... would the fact months beforehand I had the entire route plotted out, with distances, driving times, points of interest along the route, campsites to stop at (booked in advance) and activities to do (also booked in advance) along with budgets for food, fuel, accommodation and activities (that turned out to be less than 10% off the actuals) have SOMETHING to do with enabling me to do that?

It seems that even within the 'professional' community there's a lot of dodgy preconceptions about what ASD is and how it really affects people.

I mean... $hit! I've been living with it for over 4 decades (undiagnosed) and I'M still trying to work it out!!!