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Hi, my first post and a wee question.

Kevmck

Hi,

This is my first post and I thought that I would introduce myself. 

I'm late diagnosed autistic in my early 50's. It was only a few months ago. It looks like a fairly common thing these days. Judging by a lot of the comments I have seen since joining the group a few days ago. 

I'm wondering if people find that it's easier to connect with other neurodiverse people rather than neurotypical people? 

The advice I have received is that it should be easier to connect with people who are like me...

I'm not sure whether that logic works particularly well for people who struggle with connecting with other people. 

What are people's thoughts/experiences? 

I think that it would be good if there's a group of people out there that I can connect with, as my previous experience is that I struggle to connect with people and I find it even more difficult to build relationships despite a lifetime of trying. 

Parents
  • Kevmck said:

    I'm wondering if people find that it's easier to connect with other neurodiverse people rather than neurotypical people? 

    The advice I have received is that it should be easier to connect with people who are like me...

    It is a very mixed bag when contacting neurodiverse people as many of us have very limited world views and/or traumas that influence our thinking, but on the whole we are more approachable than neurotypicals so long as you are not expecting a great deal from us.

    I find it is fairly easy to connect with neurotypicals over areas of shared interest so long as I avoid monologuing or info dumping on them. I've made some good long term friends over my areas of special interest over the years.

    If you are interested in the subject of autism then this site is a great place to chat - there is a lot of knowledge and a wealth of experience to ask about. You may need to consider the quality of input from time to time but that happens with input from nerotypicals too.

Reply
  • Kevmck said:

    I'm wondering if people find that it's easier to connect with other neurodiverse people rather than neurotypical people? 

    The advice I have received is that it should be easier to connect with people who are like me...

    It is a very mixed bag when contacting neurodiverse people as many of us have very limited world views and/or traumas that influence our thinking, but on the whole we are more approachable than neurotypicals so long as you are not expecting a great deal from us.

    I find it is fairly easy to connect with neurotypicals over areas of shared interest so long as I avoid monologuing or info dumping on them. I've made some good long term friends over my areas of special interest over the years.

    If you are interested in the subject of autism then this site is a great place to chat - there is a lot of knowledge and a wealth of experience to ask about. You may need to consider the quality of input from time to time but that happens with input from nerotypicals too.

Children
  • in reply to Iain

    That's an interesting view.

    It's also great that you've made good long-term friends. I've never been able to do that. 

    I've been learning quite a lot about autism and ADHD this year. Autism for my diagnosis and ADHD for my wife as it's looking quite likely that she has it. At the start of the year we hadn't even thought about it in relation to her. Then she watched a documentary about ADHD and she related quite strongly with it. Which kicked off my research mode and I'm pretty sure that she has it too. I just need to get her diagnosed now.

    Anyway it seems like this will be a good place to expand my knowledge with people's real experiences..