I am getting so blooming frustrated!

It's back to the problem of definition (on another thread). Autism tends to be in a category of its own, falling between mental health services and learning disability services, neither of which strictly apply, though you might have one or the other co-morbid.

For the same reason there are no unambiguous ways of referring to it. Autism traits or tendancies probably reflects a health professional being cautious about the label "autism" which still tends to mean, in many people's minds, children curled up in a corner unable to communicate and unable to cope with their environment.

I have noticed, if you say you have an autism diagnosis, or aspergers, some health professionals seem to have a mental block..... as if this can only mean you are in care in an institution, on medication, unable to do anything for yourself. They don't seem to recognise "walking wounded".  Maybe autism traits is the term for walking wounded.

On expresso coffee machines, yes they are loud. I've said before, and it may be just my mildness allows it (I'm not suggesting other people should) but I tend to expose myself to sound to work out what affects me.

Therefore I will go to some cafes just to experience the noise. Where I used to live there was a realistic italian cafe, opposite one of the chains that claims to be real. Only you could smell the coffee. And it was in a tiny room with cramped tables. The coffee machine was harshly and abrasively noisy and the guy that ran it seemed to make a habit of crashing the crockery. And there was italian music playing. And people talking -so many overlapping yet distinguishable conversations. Amazing layers of sound. Yes it hurt, quite often enough to want to get out quickly. But it was worth just staying put and enduring to prove I could cope.

Where I am now I'm spoilt for choice for cafes but they are all roomy. I cannot sit so close to the machine. But I still like exploring noisy places.

Club music is different. I don't like loud, but if I have to go where the music is loud, I prefer it to dominate all else, in other words I cannot hear people talking...just one predictable sound world. And if I can pick out the base rhythm vibrating through my feet or my chair all the better.

What I have trouble with, invariably, is railway stations.

It's back to the problem of definition (on another thread). Autism tends to be in a category of its own, falling between mental health services and learning disability services, neither of which strictly apply, though you might have one or the other co-morbid.

For the same reason there are no unambiguous ways of referring to it. Autism traits or tendancies probably reflects a health professional being cautious about the label "autism" which still tends to mean, in many people's minds, children curled up in a corner unable to communicate and unable to cope with their environment.

I have noticed, if you say you have an autism diagnosis, or aspergers, some health professionals seem to have a mental block..... as if this can only mean you are in care in an institution, on medication, unable to do anything for yourself. They don't seem to recognise "walking wounded".  Maybe autism traits is the term for walking wounded.

On expresso coffee machines, yes they are loud. I've said before, and it may be just my mildness allows it (I'm not suggesting other people should) but I tend to expose myself to sound to work out what affects me.

Therefore I will go to some cafes just to experience the noise. Where I used to live there was a realistic italian cafe, opposite one of the chains that claims to be real. Only you could smell the coffee. And it was in a tiny room with cramped tables. The coffee machine was harshly and abrasively noisy and the guy that ran it seemed to make a habit of crashing the crockery. And there was italian music playing. And people talking -so many overlapping yet distinguishable conversations. Amazing layers of sound. Yes it hurt, quite often enough to want to get out quickly. But it was worth just staying put and enduring to prove I could cope.

Where I am now I'm spoilt for choice for cafes but they are all roomy. I cannot sit so close to the machine. But I still like exploring noisy places.

Club music is different. I don't like loud, but if I have to go where the music is loud, I prefer it to dominate all else, in other words I cannot hear people talking...just one predictable sound world. And if I can pick out the base rhythm vibrating through my feet or my chair all the better.

What I have trouble with, invariably, is railway stations.