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Any of this sound familiar?

Lepton

It's been about a month since I realised that I have ASD and part of coming to terms with it is working out which parts of my everyday behaviour stem from being ND. Even starting on this process is probably a result of my ASD as I've read that we try to systemise actions, behaviour and emotions.

So, I've been thinking about behaviour/traits that I have that my NT acquaintances do not seem to share. I thought that I could run these past you guys and see if they are common for ASD. So here are the first few I've come up with:-

1. "Macro" clumsiness. By this I mean large body movements, such as in sports. I have trouble intercepting a thrown ball and when running up to take a kick nearly always arrive at the ball on the wrong foot. Team games are a nightmare as I tend to collide with others and have trouble interacting. As you can imagine, school sports were a horror to me.

In contrast I have no clumsiness at all with small objects and fine, precise, movements e.g. one of my many hobbies is watchmaking.

2. Greetings. If someone meets me and asks "How are you?" I don't know how to respond properly. Additionally, I would never use a similar greeting myself. I've tried memorising a suitable response, but people use a range of greetings and, in the moment, my brain freezes up.

If I'm out and unexpectedly spot someone I know (even very well), my immediate impulse is to avoid them and hope they have not spotted me. This is weird as this even applies to people I enjoy talking with. I have not been able to work out why this happens. I am theorising it is fear of the introductory part because of the greeting problem mentioned above.

If I have arranged to meet a good friend for lunch and a chat, I know I will enjoy this, but before the meeting and right up to it, a large part of me doesn't want to go.


So, does any of this sound familiar to you guys? or are they just peculiar quirks of my own?

  • in reply to Desmond79

    I wonder whether we're more prone to travel sickness, maybe as part of our different sensory profiles)?  It certainly seems to feature a lot in my family.  

  • in reply to Jenny Butterfly

    Also; whenever I am on a coach or train, I get travel sick quite a bit. The coach air doesn't help matters. Seven years ago, I was on a train from Elgin to Aberdeen. It was a Sunday, and had to wait over two hours at the station. Then I was sick on the platform, and sick again in the train toilet; which left it out of use.

  • 1. For sure. As much as I loved watching Football growing up, I was too scared of the ball; in real life. Fracturing my skull just before I turned 5 didn't help matters.

    2. I can say that I'm grand, or make a quip about the stresses of my life; more a woman's thing, but most ones I talk to are women.

  • Yes.  It does sound familiar.  For me the clumsiness (and awkwardness for that matter) isn't just related to large body movements though.  It's much more strongly linked with feeling anxious, conspicuous and judged and these feelings are more easily triggered in highly visible, larger actions, such as sports or driving or basically doing anything practical in front of others.  I've noticed I'm much better at all of these if there are no onlookers (or just a few who I know are well-disposed towards me).  

    Fine motor movements do come more easily, but then such activities are often home-based or solitary, which for me means my attention can be more focussed, not splitting off into hypervigilence or second guessing what others might be thinking about my efforts.