"Autistic" things you do.

Wow that's a cool thing to be able to do!  

I like to mimic, though I haven't done a dog before, I like to mimic voices of actresses and cartoon characters I like. I'm not even sure if I could do an animal actually! 

I heard that mimicking is a frequent skill for a lot of people with autism. I heard that last year at a local autism group I was going to each month.

Grace said:

when I'm really really happy I purr like a cat lol

Not really the same, but I imitate my dog a lot. I try to copy her sounds perfectly as I can. One time I started barking just for fun and my mom said "Can someone see why Ali's barking?" and when I told her it was me then she didnt believe me. We recorded me barking and sent it to her family chat and they all thought I was a real dog lol

I constantly straighten and categorise things I own and if I hear something to do with something I'm really interested in then I will info dump; God help whoever is on the receiving end lol.

And when I'm really really happy I purr like a cat lol  it's nice around family but I've done it in front of people who don't know me and they give me the weirdest looks.

Thought I would add some more as my brain is in thinking mode right this sec.

Wow you must actually be one of a kind then!

How do you do that?

I can't really explain. 

I just can.

When I had a hearing test I did it and the doctor said he had never seen it done before.

Thats cool How do you do that?

I move my ears (I can wiggle my ears so thats how its possible). If im happy then my ears go up. If im sad they are down. If im angry then they go back. And I will perk up an ear to the direction of a sound or conversation that is interesting to me.

That's very unusual. 

I can close my ears inside.

That's brilliantly autistic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

Yep

Is that a battle in history the year 1066?

Today in the food store:

SA = shop assistant

SA = that will be £10.66 please - would you like a carrier bag?

Me = the Battle of Hastings

SA = Sorry, I don't understand.

Me = 1066 - the Battle of Hastings

SA = Oh.  Would you like a carrier bag?

There’s probably a few autistic things I do but didn’t realise until going through diagnosis. One is that when I’m watching TV alone I often have my hands up at shoulder height doing odd things with my fingers.

I didn’t realise what I was doing until I saw some YouTube videos of young autistic children. Guess I learned to hide it when very young.

I'm aware that I have OCD-like traits. One that is perhaps apt for this time of year is that if I decorate a Christmas tree and spot just one thing I'm not happy with, then I will take everything off and start again. 

There are sometimes things I like to do in a particular way. If someone else does those things differently, I have to resist the urge not to take over and do it myself, even though the way they may do something achieves the same result as my way.

During recent years, I have noticed that I can pace the floor. It's not necessarily because I feel anxious, but it's just something I seem to do.

I constantly straighten up my things. It really bothers me when someone comes over and into my room, they move everything and place it back. But I just have to follow them around and fix everything, then they ask why im doing that and they say they put it back but it just isnt right unless I do it. It doesnt bother me if other peoples stuff is messy though (except some times) but only my stuff im "ocd" about (I dont actually know if I have OCD thus the quotes).

Anouther strange thing I do is if someone places like a book down on a table, I have to pick it up and replace it, otherwise it bothers me. Or if someone pokes me then I have to poke them back or else I can feel their touch on me. They ussually end up poking me again cause they think im playing a game, but eventually they stop when it keeps going on and im getting upset and I say i HAVE to be the last one. 
If someone lightly touches me (like if they hand me a paper and their hand brushes against mine) then I have to wipe my hand off on my pants to get rid of the feeling, Same with certain textures. At the store I touch everything and then I have to keep wiping my hands but I touch it anyway for some reason.

I straighten up my clothes alot, or reajust my posture, and move my glasses. I dont know why. And I blink a lot if I cant do this. 

This probably is just a me thing but I dont really move my eyebrows and mouth to show my emotions. I move my ears (I can wiggle my ears so thats how its possible). If im happy then my ears go up. If im sad they are down. If im angry then they go back. And I will perk up an ear to the direction of a sound or conversation that is interesting to me.

I stim of course. My main stims are moving my hands around or tapping, and also bouncing my leg (I do these ones in public almost the whole day). If im excited or super happy then my whole body bounces or I start jumping. Bitting is a big one, ill do it whenever but it gets really bad and for a long time if im upset (ussually ill bite on my hands or if I have like a waterbottle then ill bite that). I also like to jump on one foot while spinning.

I dont feel like writing other stuff this is too long lol

It is very therapeutic so I just go all out for it nowadays. Pacing Sessions. And it is  pretty good low exertion exercise, too.

I organise my vinyl collection which takes a good hour and then I do it all over again because I love organising things.

And if I'm out I'll just suddenly stop if I notice something that takes my interest, like a different flower amongst loads of flowers that are all the same.

During my assessment I saw a rainbow out the window and stood up and went "Wooow look at that!"

This is a very autistic thing to do I found out from others at autism groups last year.

Yes, although I think it's still a bit too raw / close to home for me so far, so is painful etc. As time goes on I hope it will be less so and more of the fascinating and even humourous (laughing with not at)

That's really positive and good to hear. I've been noticing the same. It's fascinating really.

Yes, I'm noticing (like an avalanche) traits and so on in myself+family history which make more sense to me now, especially since I started exploring autism more this year.

That's interesting, I wonder if my grandmother did that? I saw plenty of autistic traits in my mother, I didn't notice at the time but looking back I can see them more clearly and am more positive than ever that she had autism. My mother would make all the beds and she would repeat this action throughout the day and she would tap her index finger on her cup, which to me was a stim.