Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi there,
I am 31, I have a demanding job, a 7 y o son, a husband. I am not diagnosed with autism but at this point I feel there is not one person I ever met who understands my struggles. I feel like an alien and I guess need to know are there aliens like me. And if there are, did you figure it out? I don't even know if I am in the right place but can anyone relate to this:
What I am struggling most with:
What others tell how they experience me (these thighs have been said repeatedly by different people) and I do not understand why.
Things I have under control and I learned to do even though I don’t feel like doing them but I know they are important:
I just need to know that it gets better because I am at 100% capacity trying my best and still failing.
Liza
NAS89256 said:I feel like an alien and I guess need to know are there aliens like me. And if there are, did you figure it out?
Yes, a lot of what you say rings bells.
There is something known as a 'Triad of Impairments' with regard to autism so reading through this is a good start.
'Language and communication: difficulties in recognising and understanding verbal and non-verbal language, such as gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice.
Social Emotion: difficulties with recognising and understanding other people's feelings and managing their own.
Sensory Perception: Many autistic people experience some form of sensory sensitivity (hyper) or under-sensitivity (hypo). There are 7 senses - auditory, visual, touch, taste, smell, proprioception and vestibular.'
https://autismhampshire.org.uk/about-autism/what-is-autism
As I understand it, this is the basis of diagnosis.
I'd also suggest you do an autism test.
Here's a thread about the RAADS-R:
https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/28699/raads-r-diagnostic-scale/313134#313134
This test formed part of my NHS (via a private company) diagnosis.
Thank you. I tried filling in the test but does anyone else find the questions and answers very confusing?
like there is no accurate answer from the couple of options they give so I get stuck at every question.
and then the questions are also like how good are you at this, how good are you at that but I so often think I am good at smth and then the reality for other people turned out to be totally different
None of the tests are ideal. They all have ambiguous, outdatedly stereotypical or otherwise badly worded questions. Try not to get caught in mental looping over any single question, just fill it out so that your answer relates to you the best way, within the options available, and move on. The tests have many questions, so that the effect of any individual answer, that may not be ideal, is heavily diluted.
One of the stupidest questions is the 'museum or theatre' question. It is entirely subjective, depending on what play is on at the theatre and what the museum is a museum of. Given the choice between Macbeth with Peter Goold and the National Museum of Football, it would be the theatre.