Published on 12, July, 2020
There are so many aspects of autism that you wouldn't know about from reading the diagnostic criteria - which I guess is to be expected because those criteria try to focus on the core or roots of autism whilst our lives are more about the shape of the whole plant and its foliage.
Watching this video for instance made me wonder if my autism lies behind the fact that when out walking with other people, I'm the one who stops to pick up screws from the gutter in case they get into people's tyres. No-one else seems to notice them. I do notice, and sometimes get quite annoyed about the carelessness that leads to the screw being there in the first place!
Then I start to wonder.......I thought that my visual perception was "normal" (obviously, having grown up with it and having no way to compare with anyone else's). But now I know about this feature, and I also know that I have better visual acuity (when optically corrected) than average (we did experiments on it at school and I'm *very* fussy about the prescription in my specs being right) - which again seems to be correlated with autism.
Fascinating............wonder what the world looks like / feels like to "most" people?
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.
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 :-)