Source: The Autism Research Institute
If you were to check out the statistics on the autistic disorder, you would see that mostly autism revolves around kids and the assessment of the behavior of autistic kids and parenting tips for parents of autistic children.
While kids are always at the forefront, numerous articles have been written about adults with autism who never get diagnosed throughout their life. While men are more likely to get a diagnosis at some point in their life – women often go undetected.
Here are six tell-tale signs that you might be autistic without knowing it.
Read on to learn more!
You Are Highly Devoted to a Routine
You might be autistic if you are head-over-heels into routines. Have you built routines in your life as an adult – a young adult or an older adult – and if you find those routines altered or something comes in-between the routines, does it ruin your day?
If anything wrecks your routines for whatever reason you made them or fell into them – you might be autistic. Autism and routines are like bread and butter – they go well together, and they are almost compatible and essential for people with autism.
You may find that you are building very elaborate routines in your life – whether getting up or going to bed – things related to your workplace. Little things throughout the day align you and keep you on focus and on track – but if you get off track, your day is ultimately ruined.
You Have Categorical Strengths
Another indication that you might be autistic, unbeknownst to your knowledge, is that you have some extraordinary achievement level in one thing. For instance, you might have been extraordinary in English and the vocabulary section but do badly in other subjects, such as math.
When you find that your skillset is really differentiated between being very poor in one aspect but more than well-rounded and incredibly strong in another, referring to having categorical strengths, it is a big indicator that you may have that differentiation of autistic strength and weakness.
If this sounds relatable, there is a great chance you are autistic.
Another indicator of autism that is very common in academic settings or a workplace is if you are one of the quickest to the answers and you are the type who will blurt out the answer before somebody completes their question – you may very well be autistic.
Something also known as the autistic superpower is the ability to really produce an almost immediate recall of mundane facts. This aspect is kind of an innate ability for a lot of autistic people.
So, you may find that you are really quick on the draw with potential answers that take other people a lot longer to get to – you may actually be autistic.
Source: The Spectrum
You Are Considered Rude & You Don’t Know Why
Suppose you are just telling things like they are, and you are relaying the facts, and people say – oh, how rude – and you have no idea why.
This is simply one of the key signs that you are autistic and don’t realize it – when you think you are just being honest without trying to be critical or mean; you are just trying to get to the point, but apparently, you cannot do that in today’s society as the society starts calling you rude and blunt.
They think you are a jerk and cause you to think that your life is miserable and you are misunderstood, but nothing is going on like this. You are just autistic, and you don’t realize it yet.
You Have Very Few Close Friends
Another reason that you might be artistic without realizing it is that you have friends, but they are very few – but they are very close. We all have heard funny jokes about how Jesus had eleven or twelve friends in his thirties – incidents like these are really rare – our friendships seem to decline as we get older.
Nonetheless, autistic people are different in friendships – they aren’t particularly keen on making friends. You will find that in autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people that friendships are simply hard to come by. But when a friendship comes by, autistic people tend to latch on to people and maintain a strong bond with just a few people.
If you wonder how things work when you hear people talking about how they will hang out with their friends, and you cannot help but think how they have so many friends to go out with, you might be autistic.
You might be autistic but not realize it if your idea of friendship is basically limited to very close friendships and not many of them.
You Know Too Much About a Specific Topic
Being a pro in one specific topic can often indicate autism. So, are you someone who knows too much about a thing? You know how it goes when you start going down the internet rabbit hole, or you just end up looking up from your laptop, and all of a sudden, you are an expert on AI history, and you can articulate the evolution of all aspects of AI.
So, if you know too much about a thing and specifics about a thing, you may very well be autistic without realizing it.
You Are Labeled Weird
This indicator is more common in autistic women, but when you are considered shy or odd or quirky – and when these types of terms apply to you, you might be autistic. For guys, you may see it more as just introverted, solemn, or keeping to themselves.
Nonetheless, when these labels apply more to your social disposition, and you are always the odd one out, or whatever the nice word is for weird, this might be a tell-tale sign that you might just be autistic and not know it yet.
Granted, there are plenty of neurotypical people who are weird enough in their own right – but when you start to get the combination of shy, reserved, introverted, keep to themselves, and marching to the beat of their drum, it might be a sign of autism.