Another facet of autism that I didn't know about.....

LOL. yes yes yes. 

I'm a cyclist and a motorcyclist so I'm stopping to clear stuff out the road that could be a danger for others.

I have a mission on at the moment. There's a McDonalds opened recently near a residental area. I cycle past it to work every day. It used to be a nice clean area but now there's McDonalds rubbish around as far as 1/2 mile away (gets blown by a contant wind down the hill towards the homes I guess) I contacted the manager of that branch and notified them about the rubbish but their staff certainly won't go far to clear rubbish but they do promise to clear the immediate area- which they do. 

I'll pick up the rubbish down the hill and put it in their bin but lately I just want to dump it in front of their shop! 

Yes, I know what you mean - I'm very good at missing the wood for the trees, too. If I'm out for a walk and see an interesting bug or fungus, I can be quite oblivious to the fact that I'm kneeling in a puddle or about to get scratched to bits by a bramble.

I am very visual. I do maths in my head visually and if I can't imagine the maths like the sides of a dice..  Then I usually need to write it down to do it. 

I remember an image in my head and then have a name for it. Or hear the word and think of the image. 

I do look at details but sometimes I don't see things as others do. While I looked at the detail of the knitted wool of someone's jumper and the way the fibres wisp off the wrist/ cuff.... Someone else say a person in a jumper stood in a hallway etc... They saw the full picture and I examined details.

Often I have walked back to pick up a screw to the consternation of my wife, who then has to wait for me :-)

I'm done with Christmas Cards said:

stops to pick up screws from the gutter in case they get into people's tyres

Me too! I mean, why wouldn't you? Anyone with a vehicle that has pneumatic tyres has experienced the aggravation of getting a puncture from some kind of sharp road detritus.

I think there are several parts to this:

1. People don't see the item in the first place

2. They see it but it doesn't 'register'

3. They see it, think "Oh that could get into someone's tyre..." but don't bother to do anything about it

4. If they reached (3) and walked away, they wouldn't feel compelled to go back & pick it up, potentially even making a special trip to do so.

I was nicknamed "Midas" at one job because my manager accused me of "gold plating" my projects so often. So what that the detail I was compelled to tweak wouldn't ever be noticed by a customer - I knew it was there, dammit!

Got me thinking now that putting little objects randomly around inscribed "If you picked me up, you may be autistic - take the AQ50" might catch a few who would otherwise remain undiagnosed :-)

I used to think I was simply unlucky because it seemed that *every* piece of technical equipment (notably HiFi, cameras, camera lenses, car audio, spectacles) had at least *one* flaw that drove me mad & I had to agonise over whether to take it back or save myself the (long & detailed) explanation as to how I knew the flaw was there or fix it myself. Over the years I developed a habit of feeling relieved when the warranty ran out so that I could wade in without worrying about voiding it. 

Now I know I wasn't unlucky but rather observant, knowledgeable and exacting :-)

NAS61891 said:

Years ago when I bought records, I'd take the majority back if there was any warping that created a wobble.

Me too.

The biggest problem is I'm poor at the social niceties - I'll see a lovely classic car and instead of commenting on what a lovely car it is, what a wonderful restoration etc.  my first words will be "It's a shame the left indicator doesn't match the right one - it's the wrong model year".    Bad move.

It's as though everything else becomes invisible and the car just becomes a collection of tiny errors - and it's all I can see and think about - so it's the first thing I say.

And walking around kitchen showrooms and tiling displays is torture - so many supposedly parallel lines and so many errors - AArrrrgh!

It's why I cannot employ contractors - to pay them to make errors is impossible - I'll learn to do it myself because it's my responsibility for problems and I get to set and meet my own standards.

I used to have a tendency to scrap my carpentry screw-ups. I think I'm getting over it now. Now I will persist in trying to fix them. My persistence is frequently too much!

Yes, i notice things others don't, or can't be bothered with. I have a lifelong obsession with mapping, and the detail i go into is usually excruciatingly boring for most other people. And yet, I still get quite a lot of stuff wrong myself. Yes, i intervene in matters i should really walk away from. That sort of stuff can really bugger up your career and social life, and IT HAS. ;-) I can laugh at it now, but I was usually quite embarassed and ashamed at the time. And that embarassment comes back to me all the time, and begins to almost become almost a reaction of PTSD proportions. But lately i have found that it can be stopped, if I just simply tell my mind to STOP..

Yep, i'm a nit-picker. But dyspraxics often need to be, if they desire to improve their own performance. I find it hard, even as a chippie to get stuff like shelf alignments looking just the way i want them. And so i'm also very conscious of other people's misalignments. They hate it, of course. ;-) And i hate myself for bothering to bring the subject up.

Right now, I'm fixated on fixing up the capital I's in this post. But just this once, i will desist, to prove I can sometimes be a tad more flexible.

Excuse my distant laughter! I'm laughing only because you mention things that happen to me every day. I'm also one who picks up screws. There are a number of reasons for that. I live near a metal construction materials factory. Their building erectors often load their truck outside my gate and they are none too fussy about dropping very sharp self-tapping screws for metalwork right where I drive my car into my yard. But I'm a qualified chippy myself, and the numerous screws i pick up are also all used on my DIY projects. It's a total waste of time getting angry with anyone in this country, and in any case, I don't dislike them. Like myself they are not nationals of the country they work in, but migrant laborers. I find them easy to get on with, and it is just so much easier if i pick up their lost screws myself. (But the actual nationals of this country are also about the same in terms of carelessness at work.) And as you say, few locals would either notice or take action. And it doesn't just happen near home, but any time I'm out walking I often pick up useful construction materials for DIY. Also, a substantial amount of dropped coins (and even notes) in the past, before economic circumstances worsened locally. They are also completely uncomprehending about getting rid of their cigarette butts; even though it's a law here that you can't smoke within a certain distance from a cafe, foodstall or restaurant. I do a quick tidy up every evening out front before the trash truck arrives.

I do actually wear specs all the time these days, but the optician had sort of noticed that my visual acuity was fairly good, even with the specs off for the intial test. With good specs, I can see small objects on the sidewalk remarkably well. (And I suppose like many chippies, I'm a bit anal about every unused material or tool being put back in the right place.) I'm also quite fussy about eye tests, but the eye doctor/optician is quite exacting, anyway. Some of the other stuff in the video was also quite familiar. I observe the pavement and the road quite carefully while walking, riding or driving. Much more carefully than any local. My spatial awareness is quite highly developed. But I guess that is because I've always had very poor balance and I'm probably labelable as dyspraxic. I need to walk fast and ride a bike quite rapidly to maintain my balance, and it's important not to have any mishaps. That also helps my driving. I'm an observant driver in one of the most dangerous countries for driving in the world. And the pedestrians are just as clueless, as they stumble from one mishap to another whilst talking on the phone.

It's so nice to read something that I can relate to and know that someone else is experiencing things very much as I do.

For me this relates to a couple of things; the need for things to be correct, to be in order, and also a strive for perfection.

I experience difficulties with flat pack builds. If, for example I send a nail through when nailing the back on, my wife has to stop me scrapping the whole piece of furniture and starting again with a new one. Feelings of being a failure, and it not being as it should be are paramount in my mind.

Years ago when I bought records, I'd take the majority back if there was any warping that created a wobble.

If I see someone walking along and they drop a receipt, I'll think it could be important for returns and chase after them. I'll invariably get a look that says you really didn't need to bother; most people wouldn't have.

It's a dying thing, but I'll stand on buses for ladies to sit down, but again usually realise my judgment was wrong and my action was over the top in the current climate.

The number of injured birds I've tried to save or take to vets, or insects repatriated with the outside world that are indoors.

These are just a flavour, but the list of things where I can't accept it if it's not perfect, or there's some injustice and I feel I need to intervene to make things right is endless. A lot of this is to do with noticing things that others don't.

You are not on your own.

I noticed this years ago - how everyone seems to go around with their eyes closed to details.     I spot everything - I can do a Where's Wally? in about 3 seconds.   I like to look at things that are correct - but hate looking at things that are wrong - a classic car with a scratch, houses where the windows are different sizes, misaligned kitchen cabinet doors etc.   I even straighten up displays in supermarkets - labels should be to the front!

People think I'm a nit-picker - but I like things to be right - especially when there's no reason for it not to be.