Published on 12, July, 2020
Greetings - I posted the following to the site 2 or 3 days ago but I don't think it appeared anywhere. Dunnit wrong, I guess. I've never been officially diagnosed as autistic but I think I am. I'd appreciate people looking at the posting below and telling me what they think about my "autism".
When I was a young kid I decided to have a jolly interesting life and write my memoirs in my old age. My inspiration was Captain Joshua Slocum who in 1898 became the first man to sail alone round the world. His memoirs were a bestseller. In 1909, when he was 65, he was lost at sea on another ocean voyage. My first tentative step was to become a navigating apprentice on an oil tanker. It didn't work out so I became a journalist. Does that sound an unlikely job for someone on the autistic scale? Journalism worked for me even though I have occasionally felt all at sea, like being alone in a crowd. Like being in society but not of society. Sometimes I have been swept overboard by nasty social waves. I'm now 80 years old so that provides a measure of proof that British society is less dangerous than the Atlantic Ocean in a gale. Of course, to justify my tale of autistic triumph I have to prove that I am indeed autistic. That is why I have joined this discussion list. If I tell you about my signs and symptoms, is there anyone out there willing to offer a diagnosis? My Jack Russell Willy is bold and brave. I am not. I am a craven sycophant. My nickname at one office was Toady. More symptoms will follow if I receive encouragement
Signed Octogent
Hi Octogent. Electra is right, there isn't anyone here who can diagnose you, or would want to try, you have to access that through your GP. We can certainly say whether or not you have AS traits, but that doesn't mean we're suggesting anything other than that you have AS traits, so do many people, it doesn't mean that they add up to a formal diagnosis. However...
We generaly accept self-diagnosis, we know how difficult it can be to get get a formal one, and we welcome you to the community on your self-declared status. If you join in the discussions then after a while you should get a better sense of who you are. Hope so anyway!
You don't have to ask for encouragement, it's yours for the taking. Beware, you might also hear things you'd rather not and you'd chance finding discouragement in those. If you know AS, you'll know that we are honest and truthful even to the point of being unintentionaly harmful. I have to say that the only people I've encountered on here who have been deliberately harmful are NTs...
For my part, I'd love to hear more from you, especialy as you are older and more experienced than I am. Being alone in a crowd is nothing new for us, and journalism - well, most of us find communicating in writing to be the only way we can hope to successfuly communicate at all, so yes, very AS!
Love the cut of your jib, by the way