So. I was just wondering. I am not sure if I am an autist. But if i try to pretend I am, this thought feels kind of comfortable. I think thats because it feels like I can stop pretending to be someone else in so many areas since i always act upon learned and manifested observations about ‘correct’ human behaviour i made throughout my life. What do you guys think about that?
Read as much as you can on autism, preferably written from autistic and neurotypical perspectives. There are things about autism that seem to be common knowledge among autistic people that NTs and science seem to be completely oblivious about. There are also things that autistic people attribute to autism but are result of usual comorbidities.
When thinking about what is normal it is common to be thrown off by what your family is like. Autism is highly heritable and it’s very likely that if you’re autistic then at least one of your parents autistic is too even if they don’t know it.
If you’re after something objectively verifiable on your own then look into joint hypermobility - if you can dislocate some of your joints at will then it’s surprisingly likely that you’re some form of neurodivergent. My mind was blown by some of the recent studies in that area. I wasn’t that angry about not being diagnosed earlier when it comes to how my mind works because I found ways to cope. I was angry because it turns out that there’s a whole slew of physical conditions that seem to be specific to autism that doctors aren’t aware of usually and will never consider because of their own misconceptions about autism.
Once you understand how autism works you’ll know. By the time I got formally diagnosed I didn’t have any doubt about it myself even though I would laugh at the idea couple of months before.
How accurate is this? Let’s say I can bend all my fingers backwards until they touch the back of my hand effortlessly since I was a kid. Is it a sign I should pay attention to?
Yes, this joint and movement is part of Beighton Score which is a measure of hypermobility and a sign of a connective tissue disorder. I won’t go as far as saying that if you’re hypermobile then you’re autistic but I know plenty of autistic people and almost all are hypermobile. When I was researching a hereditary condition that could run in my family (turned out to be correct) I spoke to some I haven’t been in contact for a long time and got surprised reactions like how did I know they could bend like rubber or how did I know grandma could too.
Thanks, very informative.