New to this forum.

I’m trying to understand some of the things that I do in my day to day life. I’m generally emotionally detached from things that should matter but obsess about other things. Am I in the right place? 

  • Welcome to the forum! I think, you‘re definitely in the right place to ask the questions that lead up to this one. 

  • Hi Andy - welcome to the community! 

    if you haven't yet seen them, these NAS resources provide an introduction to the main signs and characteristics of autism:

    NAS - What is autism?

    NAS - Signs that a child or adult may be autistic

    If you'd then like to learn more about getting assessed, this article is a good place to start:

    NAS - How to request an autism assessment

    It's from the NAS's diagnosis hub, which covers all stages of the process.

    For those who live in England, it also includes information about requesting an assessment via Right to Choose (which enables access to private providers who might have shorter waiting lists than the NHS, but with your referral and assessment still fully funded by the NHS).

    The NAS articles include links to some screening questionnaires that you can complete, to get a better idea of whether your suspicions are correct. But you might prefer to use the website below for this. It provides a useful commentary for each questionnaire, and enables them to be completed online (with scores calculated for you), saved as PDFs and - if the results support your suspicions and you decide to seek a formal diagnosis - printed off to take with you to the GP.

    The AQ-10 or AQ-50 seem to be the most frequently used / required by GPs in support of NHS referrals. (RAADS-R might also be helpful, but recent research have thrown doubt on its validity as a screening tool):

    Embrace Autism - screening tests

  • Welcome to the forum! 

  • Hello. Depends on whether things you do are causing you problems or concerns.Since you are here I guess they are.

    There's no solution, just ways to understand and accommodate your quirks. Knowing yourself can help reduce issues.

  • Thanks for the reply. Yes maybe. Family members have also commented on this. I’ve always known I’m a bit different but kind of liked it that way so just carried on without thinking about it. I’ve reached a point now though where I need to understand why I am like I am as it’s started to get me down. 

  • Welcome AndyF!

    Sounds like it! So you suspect that you might have Autism?