- I just barely passed!
I was a bit flummoxed by it, but then I considered that, out of all of the times I’ve visited a different city as a tourist, I’ve gone to see dozens and dozens of museums and two or three theatrical performances.
- Introverted geek.
17
Color me average, I guess.
A 6 for me.
A 48 on behalf of my Aspie kid.
- I notice a lot of details, just not the ones that I should be noticing.
40 if I’m harsh and force myself to reduce the number of “somewhat” answers to an absolute minimum. 39 if I keep the somewhats.
Just recently I have actually self-diagnosed myself with high-functioning, mild Aspergers. Never gone for an official diagnosis as I never really thought much about it until I happened to come across some information on it and realized it sounded a lot like me. Some googling later and this was the clincher for me: the arm flapping. I totally used to do that as a child. I would stand at the end of my parents’ bed when they weren’t in the room and read while flapping my arms and jumping up and down - I was actually making stories up from pictures as I did this. I would have this whole scenario in my head for one picture, which led into another scenario for the next picture, and so on. But I couldn’t do this without the arm flapping. I would also do this when watching TV or when otherwise really excited, but never in view of other people - I knew enough to realize this was really weird and that it was something I should keep to myself. It’s called stereotypy and is apparently very common in young children and isn’t necessarily related to an autism-spectrum disorder. Just as my obsessions with numbers, dates, patterns, hatred of small talk (I never fully understood the purpose of it until I read an article on the evolutionary reasons for small talk and body language, being that since we can’t know what others are thinking, we need to use small talk and body language to determine if someone is a potential threat to us or not - I still hate doing it though) and general introversion and oddness could also be completely unrelatedness quirks of personality. But all of these things together is more indicative of Asperger’s. I, like most adults with Asperger’s, would never have been diagnosed anyway as the criteria for it was only formulated in 1994.
Overall, though, I am still perfectly functional as a normal adult in society, aside from being a bit introverted and odd in a seemingly endearing way. You learn what people expect and don’t expect and adapt yourself accordingly. I am the quiet listener on the edge of social gatherings, silently analyzing everything you are saying and only intervening occasionally to insert some witty, unexpected remark that shows just a small glimpse of the fact that I see the world totally differently from the way you do. 
Heh. I was trying to explain to a friend once what ADHD is like. I told him, “I pay attention to everything all at once.” And it’s more or less true. I’m distractable because I notice things people are doing 50 yards away, are saying across the hall, and I find myself watching a flying insect that’s gotten into the room while trying to do something else.
17, but like many others, there were quite a few questions that were “well, it depends”, so my score could have gone up or down a couple of points if the questions were phrased differently.
I actually thought it would be even higher (I remember thinking “uh-oh” as I answered some of the questions). Well, that’s what I get for having such a strong antisocial bent.
29, and I’m the same way. Actually, my score went up 3 points since I last took the test. :eek:
- Used to be 43 before I had kids. Maybe the infusion of hormones helped?
That said, I am one of those people who scores autistic, but who has never had any issues in real life beyond slight moodiness. No drugs, no counseling (beyond marriage counseling… you’ll have to take my word for it that it went beyond me, or not), do well in school, groups, work, etc. This is verified by actual feedback from my supervisors and professors, of course. Otherwise I’d have taken the test and been terrified that I was missing a lot of failure in my life.
I’m pretty awkward and too honest, but I care about others and I make an effort to be polite and considerate. Just because it doesn’t come naturally to me doesn’t mean I can’t do my part to be a good caring person. I like numbers and loud noises hurt my ears.
It’s not only good hearing. Certain kinds of loud noises don’t bother me. It’s abrupt bangs and shrieks that make me jump more than they affect other people. No idea why.
Scored a 7. Although with an autistic child, it might have been skewed. I’m sure I could retake and game my answers to be waaaay off the scale into autism territory.
17
I think it must count for something that I read “Psychologist Simon Baron Cohen” and then had to open a new tab and look him up on Wikipedia to find out what relation he was of Sacha’s.
(Turns out they’re cousins.)
In any event, my score was 29.
Only 3. That’s kind of surprising, actually.
This girl that (up until very recently) I had a thing for used to joke around with me that she thought I had OCD or aspberger’s. And she worked as a social worker for years, and had to assess people Or something or other based on their chance of reoffending 'cause they had some sort of mental thatchment.
Iunno, I have a VERY, VERY hard time keeping a conversation moving once it hits a stalling point. So that question was a flag for me. I usually just motor on. But I have a loud, booming speaking voice, and tend to dominate conversations. I always assumed that people on the autism spectrum were very quiet, introverted people. Shows what I know! :smack:
15 for me too.
Museum versus party? So, becoming a booze hound would be one way of improving autism?
- Cripes.
I’ve kind of been wondering about this for a while because I do have trouble in social situations and I feel like I’m ‘different’ from most people. Some of the questions were harder to answer though because I really enjoy social situations - but only with the group of friends I have, who tend to think and to socialize more the way I do. Going to a math/science magnet high school and a university with a reputation for ‘nerdiness’ was great for my social life.
I do have a tendency to do repetitive motions but I don’t flap my arms. Another thing I recently read about was that it’s common for autistic children to say “you” when they’re talking about themselves, which my parents always bring up because they thought it was a cute thing I did as a child. Used to do the Asperger-y, all-consuming single interests that I would not shut up about but I haven’t had one of my ‘obsessions’ for a couple years now.
/tl;dr no one wants to hear you talk about yourself etc.