• Replies 76 replies
  • Subscribers 92 subscribers
  • Views 10764 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

What questions would you set for an online Autism test?

Steven

It must be difficult, in fairness, to set suitable questions for such tests. Most are reasonably decent and fitting, perhaps (often, it's the inflexibility of the multiple-choice answer options that bother me). But some of the questions & answer-options appear loaded, borderline prejudicial or assumptive. Some seem vaguely similar to this:

'If your parents caught fire, would you:

A. Pick your nose.

B. Buy popcorn.

C. Cry until your socks shrank.

D. Toast marshmallows.

E. Hit the firefighters with a mallet, thus confirming complacent opinions that all autists are empathy-free, violent sociopaths.'

If you, as an autist, had to set questions and possible answers, what might they be?

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    I love my stims, and I have quite a few. I make noises also, but I've done one of them accidentally infront of my boss and she didn't look amused.

    I love old songs, and I love Linkin Park but I have to be careful with them, in the wrong mood they can drag me down.

    I really love the song Jesamine but I can't remember who it's by. It's my happy song. And for Linkin Park I currently love Irridescent.

    I don't chew things, except my fingernails. But I love the sound when I run things over my teeth. Like playing a xylophone. 

    My favourite research topic is communication. From cave drawings, how music is a universal language. Silent performance, like dance and art as communication. I love silent languages, and I'm the pro at makaton at work haha. 

    I communicate well with non verbal children, it's more of an intuitive understanding that I can't explain. I love that we don't need to speak to communicate,  because words can lie and are often just noise. I love the written word.

    When I'm all talked out I will just communicate with my husband through different sounds, or with gestures. I got a bit excited,  sorry.

  • in reply to Pikl

    Thanks for your very detailed reply. Just thought of another question:

    • Do you give detailed essay long answers when others are just asking for a simple response?

     I can relate to almost all of what you write, I particularly connect with and like these answers:

    Pikl said:
    've felt since I was a kid that knowledge was everything, and that our mind was our most valuable possession. 

    Exactly! Knowledge is power!

    Pikl said:
    I wonder who actually decided what should be considered "normal" and who put them in charge.

    Absolutely, ‘normal ‘ is a social construct used to compare groups of people in society.

     I love your description of being really focused it’s great!

    Pikl said:
    I LOVE learning and researching and collecting information, it just has to be what I'm interested in, and the freedom to follow my own topic and schools of thought.

    So do I, I love being monotropic, it’s freeing! What do you collect information about? What are your dedicated interests? If only the education system could be redesigned around interest based learning!

    ‘’On my own I rock and clap, laugh to myself, explore concepts in my head. Listen repeatedly to the same song or same couple of songs and explore the emotions in the music. I explore scenarios in my head and have imaginary conversations with people, if I'm not busy in my fantasy world.’

    Your stims sounds really cool, I love stimming by making sounds, using chewelry and speaking about myself in third person when really happy. It’s great, so freeing. I hope you feel the same way too when you stim.

    What are your favourite same songs?

    Pikl said:
    I don't understand why people can't get to the point, or hide what they truly want. Any sentence that starts with "tell me honestly..." seems to mean "tell me what I want to hear, but make it convincing. " but how do i know what they want to hear.

    Exactly!

    Pikl said:

    I have always felt a strong connection to people who have always been on the outside. The people avoided by others. Though I was always one of those who were avoided by others.

    I have felt the same way.

    Pikl said:
    I got the job position I'm in because it was noticed that I could easily bond with autistic children, where others struggled to.

    So cool!

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    Here we go, though I am a little nervous:

    I have always felt a strong connection to people who have always been on the outside. The people avoided by others. Though I was always one of those who were avoided by others.

    I got the job position I'm in because it was noticed that I could easily bond with autistic children, where others struggled to.

    I really dislike the pointlessness of small talk, and love to get involved in conversations that are multi-dimensional, particularly enjoying using the other person as a sounding board, and exploring concepts with them.

    I love my family, it's just that my interests are who I am, at least as far as I can identify who I am.

    If I'm unable to focus on my interests then it feels as though my world is crashing down around me, and I have nothing left.

    I don't understand why people can't get to the point, or hide what they truly want. Any sentence that starts with "tell me honestly..." seems to mean "tell me what I want to hear, but make it convincing. " but how do i know what they want to hear.

    I've always told myself that I'm 3D and others are 2D. And I get frustrated when people only look at the surface of things.

    On my own I rock and clap, laugh to myself, explore concepts in my head. Listen repeatedly to the same song or same couple of songs and explore the emotions in the music. I explore scenarios in my head and have imaginary conversations with people, if I'm not busy in my fantasy world.

    I so wanted to fix everything that was wrong, but I'm too small. I avoid all news, it's too upsetting.

    When I'm really focused, it's like being lifted on joy, like I'm not in my body. I'm calm but feverish. It's hard to explain. 

    I notice beautiful or interesting details that others overlook, and when I point it out to them, it's like they are looking, but not seeing. I tried to explore psychology and I can sometimes understand why people acted in some ways. Yet a lot of the Time it makes no sense.

    I wonder who actually decided what should be considered "normal" and who put them in charge.

    I tend to reach for things and then recoil from their touch. I'm like a child that has to fiddle with things.

    My perfect day would be spent with lots of tea, moving between drawing, painting and writing. And everything coming together.

    I was bored academically at school, everything was too slow, except maths, which I didn't understand. 

    I LOVE learning and researching and collecting information, it just has to be what I'm interested in, and the freedom to follow my own topic and schools of thought.

    I have ringbinders, pocket wallet folders and notebooks, for the areas of interest I've explored. I've felt since I was a kid that knowledge was everything, and that our mind was our most valuable possession. 

  • in reply to Pikl

    A lot of the questions in a non autistic devised ‘autism ‘ test are ironically very vague for us as autistic people.

  • in reply to Pikl

    Thanks. I am glad these questions make sense and are meaningful to you.

    These are questions I have devised based on common autistic experiences and thought processes instead of unhelpful and pathologising observations of behaviour in ‘autism ‘ tests.

    I hope by answering these questions it will help newly identified autistic people start the discovery journey with a positive perspective of being autistic.

     I am very interested to read your answers, I look forward to them!

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    I really like those questions, I'm excited to answer them. Rather than feeling confused by questions that either seem irrelevant, or that a devised in a way that makes you feel flawed for answering honestly.

  • Couldn't agree more with your analysis of questions on online tests. For what it's worth, if your test question has space to explain the answer, I would say'Cry until your socks shrank, because then I could put out the fire with my tears. Mostly because it physically hurts me to watch other beings suffer.' 

    I've been wanting to collate a good list for almost two years actually, so thank you for this thread! Will brew some ideas and return anon...  

  • in reply to Stephen

    I needed the smile you just gave me, thanks.

  • I’ve got off subject, I’m so confused about Simon. 

  • The best questions could be:

    • Do you feel a strong connection to people who are misunderstood, different or otherwise neurodivergent?’
    • Do you feel a strong connection with other autistic people?
    • Is deep conversation more natural and pleasurable for you than small talk?
    • Are you interests more meaningful to you than other people?
    • Do you feel ‘lost’ or ‘lacking purpose’ if you don’t have a focused interest for a period of time?
    • Do you wonder why other people cannot just say what they mean?
    • Do you wonder why others don’t think as deeply/analyse everything in the way that you do?
    • How would you naturally behave when alone? 

    • Do you feel the world intensely?
    • Do you hyper focus or get into flow? What does it feel like? Do you gain immense autistic joy from focusing for hours on end?
    • Do you notice things others do not?
      Do you often wonder why other people behave the way they do?
    • Do you question ‘societal norms?’
    • Do you analyse items in terms of their sensory profile?
    • What is your idea of a perfect day?
    • Were you bored academically at school?
    • Are you autodidactic?
    • How much knowledge have you acquired on your interests? How does that make you feel?

     I could think of more but my list would endless!

  • 'Should Steven create any more threads?

    A. No.

    B. Probably not.

    C. No, thanks.

    D. Bring back Simon.'