Any other autistic people here?

[SpongeBobFan]

As an autistic person myself, I was just curious to know how many other members of this forum are autistic. Especially since I've heard that a fairly large portion of the trans community also happen to be autistic

[TTheta]

While I myself am not, I have a close friend on here @A. Dillon, who is, but he hasn't been too active lately. 

[Eden Noel]

Hey friend! I haven’t received a formal diagnosis, but I’ve been researching autism for years and I really relate to other people’s experiences. Don’t you think it’s interesting how neurodiversity can influence our view of gender and gender roles?

[Wanda Full]

Hi Girls: I was diagnosed 20 years ago after my oldest son, he was Moderate, I was Mild. The parameters have changed description, but the fact remains, we are who we are, and here we are. My experience with a different trans site I was involved with (sounds like transgender seven), many trans people are on the spectrum, and many don't know it. I lived my whole life knowing I was different, but was only recently defined. I'm glad I now know, that explains a lot of things. 

Some call it their superpower, so embrace your difference and try to use it to your advantage.

Hugs, Wanda

[HaraSurya]

I was diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome back when that was a new entry in DSM-IV by my therapist at the time. (Previously, she'd diagnosed me as OCD with autistic tendencies.) It's nice having a label to hang on my behaviors and the increasing awareness of ASD has helped me in my adult life. (I worked in a school and I once told a co-worker about my diagnosis and she responded "I know, I can tell.")

 

I will say, one of the nice things about having an official diagnosis and knowing the behaviors and thought processes behind it is that when I'm in an uncomfortable situation I can bring up my misgivings (or just say "F this" and walk away) in that context without feeling guilty for having broken some sort of social taboo.

[Msecret]

I was diagnosed twenty years ago as an adult and it explained a lot of things about me that drove my parents nuts and led to many fights and punishments and psychological examinations that led nowhere and sadness all around. It was generally an unknown condition when I was little (as was transgender). Being on the short bus didn't fix it either. This overshadowed secondary things happening. Aspergers on top of male social conditioning, on top of raging testosterone as teenager made seeing internal gender as anything other than hardcore male less than an afterthought. In hindsight there were clues at many times like not fitting in with the boys I was constantly herded with due to disinterest (although I was generally accepted socially by boys), and counter clues like not fitting in with the (rarely encountered) girls due to anxiety. There was imposter syndrome all around unless everyone was occupied by an activity. Life is challenging as an unique person. But can also be very rewarding. 

[Dana Michelle]

I'm on the spectrum. I find that transgender forums have a lot of autistic people and autism discussions have a lot of LGBT people.

[HaraSurya]

@Dana Michelle

 

I don't think those facts are unrelated.

I think there's a lot of overlap. Especially, once you include asexuals and non-binary.

I consider myself staunchly attracted to cis-gender women, but I'm not a very sexual person (with other people, my "hand to gland relationship" is pretty solid) and my gender identity is pretty loose.