I am having trouble accepting my diagnosis, because I present unusually even considering the disorder is a spectrum.

So I was Diagnosed with HF ASD Sub-type in 2015 (16yo at the time, 18yo).

I am being reassessed again hopefully before september as I am going to universiy, to study psychology, coincidentally. 

So I was given the AQ and EQ tests, a well being test an what appears to be an ADHD screening test.

I have already done the AQ and EQ, SQ and Reading The Mind in The Eyes

AQ: 34/50

EQ: 76/80

SQ: 123/150

RTMiTE: 35/36

So clearly my autism is a strange presentation, I look online and there is nothing, just lack of empathy, lack of TOM, and I have all these, no I have these and they work better than most NTs! 

Well my friend, my only friend that is. Countless times accuses me of being psychic, and I mean no I am certainly not, I am just a little unnerving sometimes, especially when it is over the phone or messages, and I know and "hit the nail right on the head". I get told I do that a lot. When I was in secondary school I was always withdrawn and shy, and awkward. All my teachers picked up on my Empathy, it's depth, how I could assume anyone's perspective. One of my Teacher was also head of the Schools Gifted/Talented Programme, they picked up on the empathy, It is almost as if I am gifted in Empathy, and I mean I am mediocre at Maths, at written language, I'm not exactly spatially aware. However, everything has been pooled in abstract/conceptual reasoning and Theory of Mind. I think very laterally, not because I choose to, but because I can't think any other way, I approach engineering problems by thinking about how different engineers think how to do it. For example, or what is the nature of our ability to reason these problems and why has this created a bridge in this shape, irrelevant of the physical constraints?  

I mean I do have ASD associated symptoms, I have trouble reciprocating social behaviour, not because I don't understand social interaction but because I am so overwhelmed by it. I was never an innocent child, not one point in my childhood was I not painfully aware of the nature of the people around me, people's eyes are terrifying pits where if I gaze to long than I lose myself for a couple of days, they can also be the most beautiful thing in the world, genuine. I catch myself thinking and acting like people who are not me, and I have to fight back to myself. So eye-contact and socially engaged behaviour is best avoided, I mean of course I function socially, but I can't or won't put myself any further. I also miss a few social cues, because usually I am not facing the person, but is this anymore than the average person?

I am also very hypersensitive, to light, to sound and to olfactory stimuli.  I should also note my interests are fairly narrow, being psychology, forensic psychology... so not too narrow, more like very broad. I suppose Neuroscience and Medical stuff are also areas of interest, originally I wanted to be a doctor but my mental health slashed my A-levels down to 3Bs so I am studying psychology instead, get qualified in the relevant area, maybe teach when I most definitely will burn out. 

My mannerism are awkward, I am aloof and I am blunt, because I would rather be seperate from people, unless I care about them, and then I might become too attached, I end up blurring with them. 

Coincedentally, my humour is dry as a bone, and too sarcastic that even I lose track of the sarcasm occasionally! and I love animals, most of the day is spent talking to my pets right now. 

My friend and I were watching Hannibal (TV show) and Will Graham, she accused me of being on a TV show, becoming an actor, I am on the other side of the uncanny valley for this character, haha my dog decided this was the opportune time to jump in between us... So now I was amazed myself because finally a human being who's mind was directly identifiable as like-me. No Empathy needed, I didn't have to leave my mind to understand the characters. Now I have to watch the show routinely otherwise I convince myself I am all sorts of things I am not. 

But of Course they are a fictional character, and long nights of searching the internet, research and blogs and books I have found no one quite like me and like the character Will Graham, I wish I could be like most people with aspergers sometimes. I don't want to change who I am, I just want people to say I am autistic for sure, or no I am not. If I can get over the hurdle of accepting how I think, who I am, then I can make myself feel better.

Parents
  • Hi maia 

    I read all your replies to my post, I'm sorry I am a bit late. what is the name for your issue with facial expressions moving to fast to proccess? I have few questions which might point in a good direction.

    Can you recognise people's faces you know, if you have trouble in this regard it doesn't have to be 100% of the time, but have you heard of face blindness or prosopagnasia? It is where your ability to recognise facial expressions is impaired. It is fairly common in autism. Have you also heard of Alexithymia, it occurs in 50% of autistics, it is a disorder characterised by the impairment of being able to recognise yours or others emotional states. 

    (Sidenote: Recent research has suggested that researchers missed differentiating between alexithymic autistics and non-alexythymic autistics, what they found when they did make this distinction is that the latter group had normal or in some cases enhanced cognitive and affective empathy. As you can imagine not differentiating a major distinction which occurs in 50% of the autistic poppulation, means the ecological validity is deeply flawed, and may not even be representative of say the other 50% or both groups because they didn't control this variable.)

    However, you mention you can see/proccess facial expressions better in photographs? Now I think this would rule out prosopagnasia/face blindness, because you can both recognise who it is and what facial expression it is. Maybe when things are happening in real life, instead of a photograph to focus on the facial expressions are part of your sensory experience, and because you are autistic, you have trouble proccessing it. So in real life, opposed to photographs you find it a lot harder because your brain is handling all this extra data, and intergrating, hence why they seem to move so fast. 

    What do you think, do let me know? 

Reply
  • Hi maia 

    I read all your replies to my post, I'm sorry I am a bit late. what is the name for your issue with facial expressions moving to fast to proccess? I have few questions which might point in a good direction.

    Can you recognise people's faces you know, if you have trouble in this regard it doesn't have to be 100% of the time, but have you heard of face blindness or prosopagnasia? It is where your ability to recognise facial expressions is impaired. It is fairly common in autism. Have you also heard of Alexithymia, it occurs in 50% of autistics, it is a disorder characterised by the impairment of being able to recognise yours or others emotional states. 

    (Sidenote: Recent research has suggested that researchers missed differentiating between alexithymic autistics and non-alexythymic autistics, what they found when they did make this distinction is that the latter group had normal or in some cases enhanced cognitive and affective empathy. As you can imagine not differentiating a major distinction which occurs in 50% of the autistic poppulation, means the ecological validity is deeply flawed, and may not even be representative of say the other 50% or both groups because they didn't control this variable.)

    However, you mention you can see/proccess facial expressions better in photographs? Now I think this would rule out prosopagnasia/face blindness, because you can both recognise who it is and what facial expression it is. Maybe when things are happening in real life, instead of a photograph to focus on the facial expressions are part of your sensory experience, and because you are autistic, you have trouble proccessing it. So in real life, opposed to photographs you find it a lot harder because your brain is handling all this extra data, and intergrating, hence why they seem to move so fast. 

    What do you think, do let me know? 

Children
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