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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3082 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 24, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Are people here as autistic as everyone jokes that everyone is or is that just humor? In the survey posted a month ago (tongue-in-cheekily) I was forty something percent German and about as much autistic, but that was entertainment. Are people going on diagnosed autism or just vibes?

Don't answer of course if this is personal.

If I'd been born ten years later, I probably would have been diagnosed with autism and identified as trans.

This is an indirect way of saying that I am neither.

I got 49% German(I'd always thought myself culturally Francified, if anything) and 24% autistic. I've never thought of myself as autistic and find the modern mania for diagnosing every difficulty irritating and off putting for those who genuinely could help themselves, and possibly offensive for those with special needs.

I come from the Before Times, when Autism wasn't a Thing at all, and then it was Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, but when I was told that I was probably autistic by a licensed mental health professional a few years back, I just laughed and laughed. My own mental model of myself was that I didn't have any wetware that ran human social skills, and had to learn by trial and error how to emulate these things, which could be pretty painful and also seemed to involve way too much of the, "oh yes, the Emperor's fine and gaudy new clothes look especially extravagant today," style of discourse for my taste. When Asperger's became a Thing, it seemed trendy and I never paid too much attention to it, although I did identify strongly with the idea of neurodiversity because I knew damn well I was not normal and never had been. Discussing what autism actually was with her, and subsequently doing my own deep dive into the actual condition and diagnosis, was revelatory to say the least.

also seemed to involve way too much of the, "oh yes, the Emperor's fine and gaudy new clothes look especially extravagant today," style of discourse for my taste.

That's a brilliant description of how so much of everyday conversation is demanded to go by "normies."

I would 100% have been diagnosed with autism as a child if I hadn't been sent to an elderly child psychologist who didn't get the memo that everyone's autistic now. Sensory issues were particularly severe and they did all kinds of bizarre exposure therapy like stuffing me in a beanbag full of plastic ball-pit balls and rolling it around. Just got 'diagnosed' with "some kind of processing disorder we don't have a name for" - notably, I scored very high on the first IQ test, then my score dropped ten points when they introduced one that had a handwriting component because I bombed that part so hard. I grew out of everything just fine; I think if you're smart enough and not too autistic you can just make social interactions your special interest for a year or two and get even better at it than normies. Ended up getting like 60% German and 10% autistic on the test.

I have an officially Level 2 Autistic kid who reminds me a lot of myself at her age... but I have not been diagnosed.

I was according to the quiz 46% Autistic and 56% German. I was also formally diagnosed as a child around like 8(??), though at the time my diagnosis was Aspergers. Which has been rolled into a general "on the spectrum". I'm pretty high functioning, and my special interests have help me mostly pass.

My girlfriend got 30/60 German/Autistic on the quiz and only really passes because she's quiet af so people don't notice or clock her.

I grew up going to school with some profoundly autistic kids. They’ll always be my barometer. I’m not terribly inclined to joke about it.

There’s something about the way “autistic” is used in red/gray circles that reminds me of stereotypical gender discourse.

Pop autism is the blanket socially awkward losers lacking brain cells to pretend they are sheldon cooper level geniuses skinsuit around themselves without having to test either autism or iq. Taxonomical categorization simultaneously resistant to actual falsifiability by narrative diktat despite objective measurability being available. Without the association of autism=genius there'd be nothing else awkward losers can use to comfort themselves so they evade endlessly.

Issue is whether someone uses autism as an excuse versus autism as a lexical shorthand. Thr latter is normally able to pivot away (probably most of us here) the former will double down and demand more accommodations.

According to the quiz, 27% German, 16% autistic, neither prevailing. I do seem to get along with autistic people, and am more autistic than the average basically normal woman.

I'm not autistic, I just happen to be nerdy enough to blend in.

I've never been diagnosed, but if I am at all autistic, I am only very mildly autistic at most, I think. I was probably more autist-like when younger (when it comes to social awkwardness and issues with eye contact), but I grew out of it over time as I had more social experience.

I also suspect, while having no solid proof, that doing MDMA a few times in my 20s might have helped permanently make me a little bit less autistic. WARNING THOUGH: You cannot expect to do MDMA and become less autistic. It is a potentially dangerous drug and it can have very different effects on different people.

In any case, most of my social improvement had more to do with social experience than with drugs, I'm sure.

I've never had an unusual degree of sensory sensitivity compared to the average population. I don't have any significant issues with social interaction or reading people's facial expressions or subtext. I still have some minor issues with eye contact if I am feeling stressed out or overwhelmed, but I think that's probably pretty common with neurotypicals. Overall, I might actually be more socially adept and socially comfortable than the average person.

I do tend to get heavily into "nerdy" interests from time to time, but not in a compulsive way and not to the detriment of my general functioning, I think.

I tend to be uncomfortable with change, but for what it's worth I also don't particularly like rules and structure.

I do have some psychological issues, but they resemble things like anxiety and ADHD more than autism, or at least autism as I understand it.

I agree your observations on both growing out of autism and MDMA. I think I'm culturally autistic (both my dad and brother got diagnosed recently) and went through some childhood events that I think predisposed me to having poor social skills, but not particularly autistic on a genetic or biological level. Autism is polygenic so it makes sense for me to think of people as falling on a bell curve of autistic genes/traits, and I think I'd be somewhere between 1 and 2 STDEV right of mean by that metric. Autism diagnosis rates are about 3-4 percent which conforms to diagnoses requiring about 2stdev.

“Your result: Neither (24% German, 36% autistic”

I’m definitely not normal, and certainly possess some autistic traits as well, although I don’t feel like I entirely fit in with the autists either.

The style of discussion prevalent on TheMotte certainly selects for autists.

I've never been diagnosed, but yes, I'm plausibly "autistic" under current use of the concept.

When I was young, only the most severe cases of "autism" were ever diagnosed, and IIRC it was considered by most to be a form of "childhood schizophrenia." I was in my 40s, give or take, when the "spectrum" really sank into the zeitgeist and people first started commenting about me being "on" it. Some of my children (who are all now adults) do have psychiatrically diagnosed autism, based on criteria that would clearly apply to me, so it seems fair to say that I'm genuinely autistic, insofar as any such diagnosis admits of authentication. Specifically, my social interaction norms are deep into "spectrum" territory, while my repetitive behavior and sensory processing tendencies are less severe but still noticeably autistic.

But I am "high functioning," especially verbally, and as an adult it seems pointless to get a personal "diagnosis" for a variety of reasons. Would I get an embossed certificate for my wall? I think that clocking me as autistic sometimes helps other people but I've lived an above-average life by most metrics; if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I do look back at many interactions of my youth and, viewed through the lens of disability, a lot of my suffering was arguably the result of other people genuinely abusing me. But they couldn't have known that any more than I did, and blaming myself (despite never really knowing what I had done wrong) probably developed my sense of agency.

As a fellow young at heart if nothing else, I sometimes wonder if, years before it was common, I shouldn't have been diagnosed with something, or if the something I should have been diagnosed with that veered me (and continues to veer me) from typical normal hasn't been identified yet. But as you imply, the usefulness of a diagnosis is debatable, particularly if framed as a disability rather than superpower or talent.

Every quiz I've taken has me not too far from the upper bound of as autistic as you can get while overall still functional. It tracks with my habits and preferences, but no formal diagnosis.

No formal diagnosis here either, but if Beavis and Butt-Head could ever fit the diagnosis that surely would’ve been me as a child. I somewhat felt like I was being targeted in goose’s rant several years ago, taking shots at my personality, :/.

Mostly on the level of "quirky" rather than "disordered". I could have probably gotten a diagnosis if my parent had known how to game the system as people do these days, but realistically all that would have done is let me avoid learning how to hide it.

I've taken some other autism tests and been found to be... definitely not. I have a few autistic friends who can't comprehend how I'm not, though.

Self-reported psychometrics tests always seem dubious to me, including personality tests. (This does not mean I'm suggesting you're autistic.)

I'm in the fun spot of some old friends claiming I'm the most engineery person they have ever met (and they know quite a few engineers) while also scoring quite low on tests (12% in the one that was posted), and having been tested (for my ADHD diagnosis) without showing any signs of autism beyond typical "yeah, the guy's an engineer"-level things.

Like yes, some Stuff Matters, but only in the right context. Yes, if you fuck up basic engineering principles in a job or when building something important you're a fucking idiot but also I couldn't give a damn about which order the cutlery is in or changes in daily routine.

I generally get on well with other engineers but much less so with people who are clearly on the autism spectrum.

My mother claims that I received a (now-technically-outdated) diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome at age 16 (as part of my defense against a frivolous criminal investigation). However, she doesn't actually have the records to back that claim up, and I personally do not recall being informed of any diagnosis at the time.

You wer investigated for a fraudulent marriage?

Q: We have the court file showing that your ill-fated high-school crush was on a girl, not on a boy.

A: If you have my court file, then you should know that that old crush was Indian as well, just like my husband.

A paper that I gave to an unrelated acquaintance (in which I fantasized about kidnapping the crush, trapping her in a cage of sonic stun guns, and making her play Scrabble with me) somehow fell into the hands of the school administration, was misinterpreted as a "terroristic threat" against the crush ("zero tolerance" for """guns""" even if they're nonlethal), and was reported to the police.

Going to have to update my Motte dossier.

Was sure we would have had convicted felons here on this board. Not terrorists types though. Didnt figure anyone, including veterans, had the combination of stupidity and ineptitude to fall into being a dipsjit terrorist.

To clarify, I was not convicted. Rather, the (again, frivolous) charge was dismissed before trial, on condition that I switch to the other high school in the district, have no further contact with the crush, and get a few sessions of "therapy".

You're suggesting veterans are stupid and inept?

Inelegantly worded and I'll take the hits. Generally meant that the veterans here even potentially rightwing as they may be aren't going to be criminally inclined in my reductive and not very well thought out assessment. That most terrorists are stupid and inept is a seperate and unfortunately worded association.

I'm joking. I'm just on the male-spectrum, not the autism spectrum; I've checked.

I was pretty autistic on that test - in the same range as @ToaKraka, who seems to be our gold standard here on TheMotte.

I was also diagnosed as an adult when seeking treatment for PTSD. Up until that point, I had no idea. Growing up, there were a lot of comments about how "that boy ain't right" and how I needed to "act normal". The idea that it might be something diagnosable or treatable didn't exist in those communities. Instead of an IEP, I got my ass beat until I could fake it well enough to get by.

Now that I know, it doesn't really change much. Mostly it just informed the PTSD treatment. Well, it informs treatment and gives my partner a new way to playfully make jokes about my behavior at times.

TK: Please don't take the gold standard comparison as an insult. You're one of my favorite people on this forum. The weird shit you dig up and post brightens my day whenever I see it.

Decoupling is autistic in nature, and the rules of The Motte select for extreme decouplers. Everyone else crashes out sooner or later when their sacred cow is violated in front of them.

Also, I am 42 German and 47 autistic, which is disturbingly close to both ToaKraka and Southkraut.

There is probably a correlation between high-functioning autism and ability to decouple, but you certainly don't need to be autistic to decouple.

Decoupling is just basic logical thinking. You don't have to be autistic to be able to be logical.

I was diagnosed before I could speak (that was one of the criteria).

That's interesting. According to family, I was non-verbal until I was about three and a half, then immediately started speaking in complete, grammatically-correct sentences.

There's a classic joke (apparently usually aimed at German personality stereotypes?) along those lines:

An American couple adopts a little German baby boy. As the years go by, the parents become deeply concerned because the child grows to be four years old without ever uttering a single syllable. They take him to speech therapists, pediatricians, and specialists, but every test shows that he is completely healthy, intelligent, and physically capable of speech. He just chooses not to.

Then, on his fifth birthday, his mother serves him tea and a slice of chocolate cake. The boy takes a bite, sets his fork down, looks up, and says in a perfectly clear, advanced voice:

"Mother, this cake is altogether too dry, and the tea is a bit tepid."

His mother gasps, drops her plate, and bursts into tears of joy. "My God, you can speak! Wolfgang, you can talk in full sentences! Why on earth haven't you ever said a single word to us before today?"

The boy blinks, shrugs his shoulders, and replies:

"Well, up until now, everything has been satisfactory."

Was that at age what, like a year old? Or did you begin speaking later?

I think so. I speak now.

Maybe it's interesting: I feel like my social (neurotypical) skills have developed, but slower. I was a very weird kid, even looking back from my perspective today. Nowadays, I understand e.g. the Social Shapes Test, I act socially acceptable (at least nobody tells me otherwise), maybe I can pretend to be normal. Although I'm sure anyone around me for more than a few minutes notices that I'm "off", because I barely talk (unprompted), fail to make eye contact, and my interests/philosophy/personality is different than anyone I've met in-person (even other autists and nerds unfortunately).

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