I have been recently diagnosed as autistic, and now I seem to see autism everywhere in my social circle. My brother, a daughter, at least two friends. . . Either there are a lot of undiagnosed autistic people out there OR I tend to become friends (more comfortable) with fellow autists, OR I am just being silly and am attributing autism to NT people with strong interests. Fellow neurodivergent folks of all types, what is your experience? (Edit: changed ND to NT. oops!)

  • Haui@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    8·
    1 year ago

    I think it’s a multitude of things:

    1. autistic people tend to gravitate to other autistic people since we share strong interests and other traits
    2. although there is a cutoff for diagnosis, autistic traits are everywhere and if someone has them, they might not be diagnosed but still have some traits
    3. autism is hereditary. So some people in your familiy will have it too
    4. a lot of people don’t get diagnosed for vaious reasons so they don’t necessarily identify as autistic but they might be.

    I could name many more but those are the top reasons I could think of.

    Summary: It’s awesome to see that people actually are like you in a way. You‘re in a brave new world. Try to enjoy.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.worldMEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      autism is hereditary. So some people in your familiy will have it too

      Or in my case, my mother’s side was likely autistic, while my father’s side was narcissistic (dad was 100% classic NPD), and unfortunately, I lost my mother around ~3 y/o, so I only knew the abusive jerks that thought I was the perfect scapegoat to take advantage of.

      • Haui@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        Oof. I‘m so sorry. I absolutely know what you mean. My parents are both highly abusive. I hope you have people to talk to.

        • BOMBS@lemmy.worldMEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Thank you! I ran away once I was old enough, and now I keep them far away. I’ve been finding my own crew, which is pretty hard when I don’t have a template of what to look for, but I have an idea of what I don’t want.