Published on 12, July, 2020
Hey all, hope this is okay to post.
I’ve recently started to realise I may have autism - I originally thought it was ADHD but when I started looking at the crossover I realise that autism might be playing a role too!
I was just wondering what were the signs that originally made you realise you have/might have autism? Especially if you were diagnosed as an adult rather than as a child.
And a follow on question - looking back what did you do as a child that was likely due to autism? I want to get tested but seeing other peoples experiences I’m worried about the process - my memory is so rubbish I’m worried they’ll think I’m just wasting their time.
Thanks in advance!
My wife.
I always thought I was "normal". But what is normal?!
I grew up in Germany, my father was stationed in Germany and ultimately my parents stayed there and became MoD civil servants. I went to a German school. I became bilingual extremely fast, within a few months I could speak, read and write German and then greek and Turkish as I sought my friends from the migrant community as the 1970s were still a bit anti allies.
My life revolves around uniforms and, as a child, I could identify any nation's uniforms, rank structure and insignia. I owned over 800 books regarding any uniform I could find, buy, borrow etc.
The one thing that eluded me was friends. I'm a non threatening male and most if the people that wanted to hang out with me were girls, my male peers were odd (well, I suppose normal) wanted to shag everything, take drugs, fight etc so I struggled to find a "girl" friend as they wanted to be my friend.
I'm very literal which was seen as rudeness by my teachers and when I was told to get out (if class) for being me, I left the school premises. No one said wait outside the classroom.
I joined the army, became a supply specialist which didn't challenge me. I volunteered for the ALAT, the army language aptitude test and scored 100%. I'd never learnt Kurdish but the test, which was Kurdish, was easy. An IQ test followed which came back high, 147% but still, nothing made sense.
A few years later I left, joined the ambulance service and became a paramedic. My world has always been black & white. Rules must be followed and I'm apparently very rude. I'm not, I'm honest. I try and be friendly but I have just learnt how to fit in. I struggle with facial expressions, body language, intonation etc but this was normal (for me) so didn't think of much when people get funny with me.
Early this year my lifelong tics became worse after medication was reduced after a back operation. Motor and vocal tics which I've had all my life (and caused hell in the army) became worse and of late caused an issue at work.
So, in conclusion I'm normal, I see no issue but there appears that I may not be as "normal" as I thought I was and here my journey begins...
Martin. said:So, in conclusion I'm normal, I see no issue but there appears that I may not be as "normal" as I thought I was and here my journey begins...
Yes, I've always felt the same. Normal but different. Everybody else was a bit odd.
Literal thinking and communication can be fun, and troubling at times. I often say something as an observation and people will take it as a judgement, or an insult. But It's too much effort to find delicate language so people don't get upset. Even when I'm trying to be delicate or sensitive, I still think I'm upsetting people.
We're normal, everyone else is weird, hahaha
I always thought I was normal and everyone else was weird, til I was probably in my early 20s. Then people started telling me I was odd/ weird/ strange/ funny etc. and I realised it was the other way round.