Are You Undiagnosed Autistic? How To Tell If You're On The Autism Spectrum | Patron's Choice

When my daughter was diagnosed on the spectrum, I kept thinking, “but she’s just like me”. Then it clicked.

I always felt everyone else was given a book at birth called “social relationships and how to conduct them” but I never got a copy.

#1. I always used to joke about being abandoned on earth by the mother ship. #2. My mom thought I was lazy or stubborn, because I was good at some things and terrible at others. I got punished so much for this. 3. People say I overthink and obsess about the dumbest things. I'm 62, and I stay away from people whenever possible

I opened up to my therapist about my thoughts that I have undiagnosed autism. Her reaction was so appalling. I’ve never felt so misunderstood. This video helped me so much. Thank you.

Funny thing about eye contact: my dad taught me to always look people in the eye when speaking. I took this very literally, and learned quickly that teachers find it incredibly unsettling when you stare them in the eye the entire time they are speaking.

so hard to figure this out when your entire childhood you were praised for being gifted and told you acted like an adult ://

I was working with Yale university on a particular problem they had. They asked me about autism and I was like I know nothing about it. They said everyone there knew I was autistic except for me. I went through a variety of rigorous tests and sure enough what they all apparently knew was true. I was 50 years old at the time. Since that diagnosis. My life is so much better. I learned how to deal with certain things that had plagued me my entire life. They use to call it Apsergers now they just say on the spectrum. Whatever the term, it sure made my life better. Videos like this channel has helped my family immensely.

I've known I was on the spectrum for years, and my "feeling different" actually came in handy. It manifests as a sort of sixth sense. I don't truly believe in ESP, but I do believe that we can be subconsciously aware of a bunch of different environmental factors that can evoke a visceral response. In my case, any time there was a house party, I instinctively knew when it was time to bail because the police were about to arrive. My track record is 100%, and people started calling me The Canary lol.

You're telling me people dont usually think about how to respond to texts for like 20 straight minutes?

No one takes me seriously when I speak. They skip me over and continue the conversation without me. Idk what I am doing wrong, but it has always made me feel so undervalued. When everyone in the room has silently agreed that I have nothing important to say...... that hurts.

OMGosh! Your description of social confusion describes how I've felt my entire life! It's just exhausting! I think that's why, despite sometimes feeling lonely, I often avoid social situations.

When I was working in a supermarket I noticed that every Monday people would say to each other "did you have a good weekend?" So I thought that would be a good thing to do. So I thought I would try it out. So the first person I said it to was a female manager. When I said "did you have a good weekend" she started shouting at me and saying that I never say that to her. I later learnt that she had a bit of a fling with another manager on the weekend. And I think people were gossiping about it.

Any one else watching this just trying to figure out what’s wrong with themselves?

The hardest social situation for me is when someone asks “what’s new with you?”. I repeat the same monotonous activities every single day so the correct answer is “nothing” but that just stops the conversation and makes me seem rude. So I find myself feeling pressure to make up things that I could have done like “I went out with friends on Saturday night” and stuff like that. Then I feel guilty for lying. It seems neurotypical people ask questions so you can entertain them with your answers, witch is a dynamic I’ve never understood. I ask questions because I want to know the answer, not for entertainment.

At 22 years old, I am questioning for the very first time if I might be autistic. It had never occurred to me until my older sister was diagnosed with ADHD and I started doing research on ADHD and ASD. But every single thing I read about the autistic experience fits me perfectly. Always feeling like an outsider or an alien, gaslighting about my experiences, being “the little anthropologist.” I have a masters degree and I was the top of my class in undergrad, where I ironically enough studied anthropology, and whenever I have brought up wanting a diagnosis to my parents, they question me endlessly and gaslight me about my symptoms. It’s incredibly validating to learn that what I thought was myself being wrong has a name and can help me understand myself better. Here’s to a potential diagnosis in the works.

I got diagnosed last Tuesday. I'm extremely overwhelmed. My diagnosis feels like a blessing and a curse. I'm really enjoying your videos though. Make me feel not so alone. Thank you for doing what you do 🖤

Anyone else been told "you're weird" your whole life yet you thought the same of everyone else? 😅

anybody "rehearse" conversations before they actually say anything lol

I have a 5 year old daughter who was diagnosed with ASD. After realizing my daughter is on the spectrum and doing a lot of research on ASD, it really made me realize that she inherited this from me. Now I am flashing back to my childhood and everything makes sense now! I experienced all things mentioned in this video, and it is a very profound moment in my life (I am now 37 yr old). High school was hell for me, but I was a late bloomer and started getting comfortable in my skin in college. Now, I am now happily married with children and a pretty successful software engineer, but I can't help to wonder what my life would look like if I was diagnosed as a child.

OMG THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL I have never seen autism being described in this way in my whole life! I have felt different from everyone for my entire life, that I am strange, weird and cringe, I always struggled to connect and interact with people in a way that I developed an extreme social anxiety and I have always felt that people never believe me when I am talking, like I had no value or that I am not a person that makes sense or something like that, idk but that is REALLY frustrating And at the same time that I feel that I must be autistic, I feel guilt to think about it beacuse I don’t “act” like that steriotypical autistic person with repetitive behaviors and everything and I don’t want to be “lying” :(