How many of these 63 autistic traits apply to you?

I never knew high pain tolerance could be classed as a trait. Is this why some people are likely engage in harmful behaviours during a meltdown/ overstimulated situation? because they don't feel the pain as much? 

I feel like I have a system in place to deal with all of those things, I don’t remember off by heart, because I associate a protocol with a situation and launch each when triggered.

51

Well it started like this:

I'm living with my new G/F (about 20 years ago) and I find she's a bit full-on and at the end of some  evenings, I want to sit quiet and alone for a half hour or so and decompress. She has a hamster by the name of Frodo, who's a bit feisty and bitey TBF at least as far as I am concerned, (as I would be if I was in a cage 24/7) so I decide that quite time for me will be wild time for Frodo where she gets the run of the living room floor... The first few times pass without incident apart from I'm briefed that she will chew cables, and indeed I quickly learn that if she goes behind the T.V. I need to intervene... 

Now you also need to know that I am sitting in the middle of a short sofa, and at the end on my left behind the sofa rolled up into a tight tube and tucked vertically into a corner behind the other end of the sofa is a foamy yoga mat doohicky...

So we get into a bit of a routine, then one night she goes super quiet, and I'm just at the point of going to see if she's behind the T.V.. when there is a huge scrabbling noise on my left. I turn to look and there on the top back of the sofa is Frodo literally radiating a sense of accomplishment. No word of a lie, you could see how pleased with herself she was to be sitting up there by my head. I congratulated her on her achievement and sat still waiting to see what she would do next...

After a short pause she ran up to me, moved from sofa to my left shoulder then abseilled down my chest, landed on my thigh, ran towards my knee, then abseiled off that knee to the floor, before making herself scarce. As I was considering what just happened there was an enormous scrabbling behind me and to the left...

Sure enough, that was the first of many, many, repetitions of that "game", and it only seemed to work if I played my part, She would wait after the climb for me to swivel my head left and pretend surprise, then abseil down to the floor via the same route, and do it again. 

I could easily make an alternative explanation for the activity other than it being a game, but if you were there that first night, and saw that look she had after that first climb, you'd know she was clearly having herself a little game with me, and enjoying herself.

What was the game? 

Unfortunately it's a bit one sided, I've never seen him slow-blink. But we can do nose-rubbing, and he sometimes stares at me kind of intensely.

Animals rock - plain and simple - yet so complex and lovely......if you keep your wits about you.  My innuendo radar has started flashing red - so I'll end this now !

If I may butt in, I was once taught a game by a hamster.

Having taught me, it became a regular thing. And yes, she did manage to express great satisfaction once I caught on...

Stunned me, how could there be that much going on, in such a tiny head?

Question (forgive me butting in)......do you have non-verbal exchanges of communication with your hamster?  Slow blinks, postural body language, please & thank yous?

I sometimes go for a couple of days without talking to anyone except my hamster... Is that weird? He doesn't make any sounds.

When I visit my dad I always speak to my cat by trying to copy his miaow. I imagine I know what emotion cats are expressing by the type of miaow  

I get about 44. Maybe more, depending on the circumstances.

It seems like this list is much more relatable for most of us than the 'official' DSM criteria. I wonder how high neurotypicals would score, on average.

I noticed that and got annoyed but missed the irony until you pointed it out  so clever and yet so stupid.

I stopped at 29

43 for me.

Interesting list.

Thank you.

This is just a small selection of possible autistic traits. I’m nit surprised my score is low.
 I struggled how to mark some of them. For instance, hating telephone calls. I can make them, but I do put off making them some of the time. So I didn’t count that. However, in my 20’s I would neither be able to make calls, nor answer them.

And bright colours? What’s bright? To me, neon is bright. So I didn’t count that either. However, I like wearing yellows and greens except in winter, so perhaps they are bright? lol 

Oh no worries I wasn't maade to feel like an imposter, I know I'm autistic, I just found it quite interesting actually that it kind of coincides with something I already knew, that on the outside I get percieved as "high functioning" by the NTs I encounter. But that's just because they only see me for a few mins at a time, they don't see that my issues as an autist aren't just pot holes I'm trying to dodge in my daily life but actually more like mine shafts into the centre of the earth. There may be less of them than some other people but if I fall in I can fall very deeply very quickly into exhaustion or melt down.

🐝 Bees 🐝 (they/them) Autism resources in bio #stoptheshock #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs said:

25,  the number seems less than other people but I did notice the ones that do apply are very intense in the way they impact me. A good handful at least are or are almost debilitating without significant support and strategic planning. Maybe that's my trade-off: I get get less traits but the ones I do have are stronger?

We can just assume that's true regardless of what else is going on

Or it could merely be that you have style and taste.

Autonomistic said:

However day to day at home I tend to wear the same drab dull colours, nothing to risk drawing attention to myself.

You're not the first in these comments to say that- it's really interesting to me that others are avoiding colour for that reason, whereas I'm avoiding colour because I enjoy the theatrical nature of goth fashion which of course mostly comes in black. Now, whether I'm avoiding attention by putting on a costume or whether this is just another way that autism manifests itself as extremes is probably a debate that could spawn a whole other thread!