Published on 12, July, 2020
I was only recently diagnosed a few years ago, and I've been looking back and thinking about things I did when I was a child that were definitely signs of being on the spectrum.
I went through a very intense phase of eating everything with a spork, especially one meal in particular - rye bread with hummus on, topped with a little bit of green Tabasco sauce. This was after my enlightening experience of going to Leeds Festival for my birthday when I was 12 and camping over the weekend, having eaten everything using a spork.
That and eating any noodles or pasta with one of those spinning Pot Noodle forks.... good times. :-)
Looking back, I can realise why my mum definitely thought I was autistic.
I'd love to know if anyone has any similar things that they liked/did that looking back you realise were signs you were autistic.
Let's see.
Selective mutism as a child.
Having no interest in food up to being about 8 years old - even now I can fast for up to 7 days without any real distress, though I do now find food interesting.
Acute reactions to some textures - synthetic fibre cloth especially.
Off-scale reaction to some smells, perfume and cigarette smoke in particular.
Not being able to follow conversations if there is background noise.
Not finding any form of sport remotely interesting, indeed hating that it is foisted on me so often in this inexplicably sport-obsessed society.
Preferring to have a tooth (that was not hurting me) extracted over going to school.
Martin said:Acute reactions to some textures - synthetic fibre cloth especially
Even now the memory of the texture of my parents’ 1970s sofa makes me feel ill.
Martin said:Not being able to follow conversations if there is background noise.
This is an interesting one. I’ve always had the same problem, making places like pubs almost impossible for me. I could never understand why nobody else seemed to be struggling with it.
I worked for a number of years with and on mass spectrometers. They tend to be grouped together in large laboratories, 'mass spec. halls'. As they operate under high vacuum, they all have very noisy vacuum pumps attached to them and mounted internally. Trying to work with colleagues on complex pieces of equipment, that require fairly constant modification or repair, in such a noisy environment was very difficult, to say the least.
The headboard of my childhood bed had an appalling texture. Even thinking about it makes me a bit 'squirmy,' all these years later.
the only 2 autistic people I know
Although everyone I know here is autistic, which begs the question: what is the difference between 'knowing' in real life and 'knowing' online?
Do they both count as much as each other, these 2 very different types of connection?
Amerantin (former member) said:This is an interesting one. I’ve always had the same problem, making places like pubs almost impossible for me. I could never understand why nobody else seemed to be struggling with it.
I suspect that's a very common one.
It's very common in my world anyway in that the only 2 autistic people I know (myself and my friend) struggle with it
I completely switch off in a group (and if there is music too that makes me want to get a gun and shoot the speakers) and just recede into my head.