Autistic?

I have for a long time wondered whether I am autistic. I have always shown certain behaviours that could be indications of having some form of autism. Not liking physical contact, not being able to make friends, not liking busy places, wanting to avoid socially complicated situations, finding all social situations complicated. Recently two confronting examples occurred with very little time in between. At work my friend and direct supervisor Jel pointed out to me, with several examples, that I had been rude to managers, translators and clients. Apparently, the way I write business emails is too direct. I was surprised at hearing this, especially since I have been working here for more than two years now. Why did not anybody tell me sooner? However, certain angry translators’ and clients’ reactions probably could have been prevented if I had written true things down in a different manner. The second thing that happened is that my brother asked me to fill out an online test on autism because he wanted to compare out scores with the score of his wife (she suspects autism in herself). The maximum score on the test is 50. People with autism score on average between 30 and 35. The average person scores around 16. My brother’s wife scored 32. I scored 40, which is extremely high. One of the questions was whether sometimes people tell me I have been rude and you had no idea. Naturally one test does not mean anything. Even if it does. If you can manage to function socially it is not a big problem. I do function in the social world. I have a job. I am not very happy. I do not know how to get more out of my life. Just hanging on and trying to get through the day. I do not expect it to get better. There is a small chance maybe.

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February 2, 2013

writing here might give you a start… more power to you for exploring this – hope you will ultimately reap a lot of benefit from this introspection.