Aspergian Affinities

Beginning my exploration of Late Discovered Autism

[Continuation of: ‘Losing my Asperginity’]

Of course I had learnt about autism, then called ‘childhood schizophrenia’, when I was a medical student. But it had not crossed my path in real life, and I’d never really registered the concept of adult autism or Asperger’s syndrome (AS). So I googled it.

I soon came across self-assessment questionnaires online. I scored 37 on the AQ 50, which put me into the ‘probably AS, should seek diagnosis’ category.

Of course the questions were badly worded, open to various interpretations, and so difficult to answer — but now I find that in itself shows my affinity with other autists (see The Autlaw). Still I was intigued. Suddenly aspects of my life started to make sense, like never before. I needed to learn more.

I found another book: “Look Me in the Eye” by John Elder Robison (Ebury Publishing, 2007) which gave new, different insights. Robison writes about how visual input makes conversations difficult, and it reminds me that I have the same experience. I’ll be looking at someone as they talk to me, and a car may go past, behind them. Automatically, my gaze will follow the movement, until I draw it back, with an effort. I’ve noticed this for years and found it a nuisance, but I guess I’ve always assumed that it is like this for everyone. Perhaps I was wrong all this time. Now I see this as an aspect of SPD (sensory processing dysfunction) which I will…