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

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. 

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.

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!

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'" :-)

:-) 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'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!