Published on 12, July, 2020
Apparently, dating isn't easy for NT's, so how on earth are you supposed to find love when you are on the spectrum? I think my best option is to seek out someone else on the spectrum who would understand more. Any advice on how one would go about getting a meaningful relationship?
You may find the Hiki app useful, it’s a dating and friendship app for autistic people:
https://www.hikiapp.com/
I looked at it a while ago. There weren’t many UK people on it.
Maybe there’s an opportunity for someone to build a UK focussed service.
Part of the problem is low IQ autistic people outnumber normal-high IQ autistic people about 3 to 2. My impresion is most normal-high IQ people care a lot more about dating someone they find interlectually stimulating than dating someone who can relate to their autistic strugels. I have to be honest I count myself among them. To draw in the autistic people who would formerly have been called asspies what you really need are comon interest based dating services. Dating for anime fans, dating for harry potter fans, etc. Dating broken down by each nerdy clique.
Bell curve? I say, ding dong!
this has never felt so apt.
The most recent figures on autistic IQ I have come across were suggesting: 40% with above average intelligence (IQ > 115) , 21.8% with an average intelligence (IQ between 85 and 115) and 38.2% below average intelligence (i.e., IQ < 85). This gives a majority of autistics with average and above average intelligence (62% approx.). It does suggest that, compared with neurotypicals - who show a normal bell curve of intelligence distribution - autistics tend to show a curve that has two peaks, at below and above average intelligence, with a trough around the average (neurotypical average). See: a 2022 paper here, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../
I think you have a point. Normal dating apps are all about trying to appear cool and attractive (and very very fake) and from what I’ve read they don’t work well at all for most people, not just NDs.
An unashamedly nerdy dating service that encourages people to be authentic should be so much more effective.