A better autism test

[Rodafina]

I won't say what kind of ball I think that looks like...

?????
Curiosity kills me sometimes.

 

[MTA-P]

Are you Autistic? Y/N

That was easy. You're welcome.

Bwahaha!

Seriously though, I'd ask this:

You are in a social setting and you embarrass yourself. Do you: A) get defensive and point out everyone else's flaws to distract from your own behavior? or B) Existentially fold in on yourself and feel ashamed of this moment for the rest of your life?

A = 90% likelihood NT

B = 90% likelihood ND

You might be joking there, but that's what my wife (who is on the spectrum) says. She says alistic people don't go around self-diagnosing. I just have a lot of questions, because I am so on the borderline.

P.S.: NT and ND?

 

[Outdated]

P.S.: NT and ND?

Neurally Typical and Neurally Diverse.

Curiosity kills me sometimes.

Could also be Rugby.

 

[Rodafina]

P.S.: NT and ND?

Neurotypical
Neurodivergent

 

[Rodafina]

Neurally Typical and Neurally Diverse.

Neurotypical
Neurodivergent

Oh god, another Aussie/American battle.

 

[Lysholm]

Want to talk about inches, feet, and miles?

American here and, yeah, IDK why we haven't gone metric. A lot of industries and organizations exclusively use metric measurements here. I think whenever the topic of switching comes up the people against it just want to fight. ...They hate it when you tell them time is metric.

"Do you make long-winded explanation with several examples to respond to a simple question?"

I think OP engaging in this thread is proof enough.

 

[Rodafina]

I’m sorry, @MTA-P, I feel like I’m really derailing this thread, but I can’t help myself.

The Aussie Rules guys are absolutely nuts.

 

[Lysholm]

?????
Curiosity kills me sometimes.

Spoiler

It's shaped like a testicle.

I've always wondered why TF is an American football shaped like a testicle.

 

[Stuttermabolur]

Spoiler

It's shaped like a testicle.

I've always wondered why TF is an American football shaped like a testicle.

You have some weird testicles...

 

[Outdated]

The Aussie Rules guys are absolutely nuts.

Imagine a prison that contains a mix of English, Irish and Scotts, there's 50 of them at a time in the exercise yard and there's only one ball. That's what you end up with.

 

[Rodafina]

Imagine a prison that contains a mix of English, Irish and Scotts, there's 50 of them at a time in the exercise yard and there's only one ball. That's what you end up with.

Good to be a lazy loner, enjoying the sun and the spectacle before you in that situation.

 

[Lysholm]

You have some weird testicles...

I meant without the stitching.

 

[MTA-P]

Want to talk about inches, feet, and miles?

View attachment 94937 = Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in my book.

Not to get too far off on a tangent, but America has had the metric system since 1975, they just didn't make the conversion mandatory. Meanwhile the English still have this weird attachment to imperial; bringing back imperial was one of the promises of brexit, and the govt held consultations on it last year. England didn't make metric conversion mandatory until 1995, and it was being fought in the courts until 2002.

There is no reason for Americans to feel backwards for having road signs in mph, and coke bottles in fl oz.

 

[MTA-P]

I completely agree with you on those tests. I would also add, that I think we ourselves are often not the best judges of our abilities. When I took my first test with my then-partner a few years ago, I kept wanting to put my social skills as average, while she was quite adamant they were actually terrible and I look very strange to most people. I just don't realize how offputting I am in person. I also want to be very sure if I'm saying I exhibit some "symptom", and tend to say no if it's borderline as I don't want to give people (or tests no-one but me will see) the wrong idea. Another problem I have with many of the tests is that they have a sliding scale of answers, where you can be "somewhat sure" or "very sure". I never know what criteria to use when answering and since I tend to have dull emotions I check the more subdued box.

I'm also very much a "technically correct" type of person, instead of looking at the intention behind the questions. One question I remember from RAADS-R went something like "do you like dinner conversations?" My thinking went something like "well, I like conversations, and especially listening to other and having something to do while I eat, so sure". However, on thinking about it later, I much prefer speaking with people without having my mouth full most of the time and tend to be very silent when eating since I'm focusing on the food, and have even have people comment on it. So yes, technically I like dinner conversations since I like eating and talking (which is why I responded yes), but I still much prefer it if they are separate activities which is probably what they actually wanted to know.

I tend to be in the borderline range of the results, but I really think it's because of how the quizzes are constructed. I always feel very unsure about whether my answers are the correct ones and if I am understanding the questions correctly, and think it would really help having a professional to discuss each question with before answering. It would be even better if they could have a conversation with me and then fill the questionnaire in themselves based on our discussion.

One of my problems with the tests (and one you identified) is how they don't make the distinction between intuitively and logically understanding something. There's a lot of stuff I understand and don't really have a problem with now, but it's because I've deliberately trained myself to think differently, and perhaps came to an understanding from a different route from most of the population. However, most quizzes ask "do you understand x" rather than "are you frustrated/annoyed/bemused by x" which describes my thinking much better.

I see a lot of anecdotes which are weirdly common among autists, and is ultimately what I relate to the most. Some of them might be "do you tend to walk quickly?", "do you feel as if a pane of glass is between you and the rest of the people in a group discussion?", "do you put a lot of effort into preventing misunderstandings?" or "do you tend to befriend outsiders, the opposite gender or people in a different age range than yourself?". Those anecdotes (including the one @Outdated came up with just now, which I strongly relate to) are actually what really made me accept being autistic. I also discovered that most of my friends (in isolation, they don't know each other) also suspect they are autistic and harbor even stronger traits than I do. I had been drawn to autists without even trying to because it was so much easier to communicate with them.

So... I guess you can add "Do you make a long-winded explanation with several examples to respond to a simple question?" to your list of questions. In fact, I think having written answers rather than multiple choice would show much more clearly who is autistic.

Love it. Those anecdotes are really relatable. So is that thing about dinner parties, that was always a sticking point for me.

Advise that I received was to think of the questions as asking about other peoples' perceptions of you. So it's not "do you have social difficulties?", it's "would other people say you have social difficulties?". I don't have trouble interpreting social cues, others probably say I do. You're right, we do tend to be bad at self-assessment, but I am really the only one who can answer a question about what's going on in my head.

My wife says that the best autism test would be to hand someone the test, and see how long it takes them to ask clarifying questions.

 

[MTA-P]

American here and, yeah, IDK why we haven't gone metric. A lot of industries and organizations exclusively use metric measurements here. I think whenever the topic of switching comes up the people against it just want to fight. ...They hate it when you tell them time is metric.


I think OP engaging in this thread is proof enough.

"My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it"

 

[MTA-P]

;-) Born UK, now living in NZ for last 12 years. In full fairness then I claim English to be my second language, with Yorkshire my native tongue. And yes I now have swapped my dar-tah for day-ta, my root-a for my row-ta and my chips for my chups. Just don't go after my iggs.

As you say there's a lot of culture on language, and it does evolve.

Nice save.

 

[MTA-P]

Imagine a prison that contains a mix of English, Irish and Scotts, there's 50 of them at a time in the exercise yard and there's only one ball. That's what you end up with.

No wonder it came from Western Australia, then. Sounds like you just described Perth.

 

[Outdated]

No wonder it came from Western Australia, then. Sounds like you just described Perth.

And Adelaide, my hometown. And Melbourne. The whole south of the country really. I better include Tasmania in that too, they get upset when we forget them.

 

[VictorR]

What a delightful thread.

I wholehearted agree that the way questions are asked on certain tests is a major pain point - one question is usually something along the lines of "do you like to visit museums" or "would you prefer to visit a museum or go to a party". Sometimes a type of museum is specified.

Of course the intent is whether one is more into solitary / introverted interests over socializing / extroversion, but it's something I can get hung up on since there are some museums (history, geology/geography) that I love and some (art) that I don't care too much for.

As for measurements, as I've noted before, being Canadian means that I'm quite accustomed to both, and when discussing distances for example, I'm quite comfortable using either metric or imperial.

Language here is also interesting, since the dominance of American media means that Canadian English, quite often, might be described as mostly American English with British spelling. That being said, certain Americanisms (like "you bet" as a response to someone saying "thank you" for holding the door for them) don't come naturally, and when I visit the US, it usually takes me several days to switch my response from "you're welcome" to "you bet".

Things that don't make sense (e.g. "please advice" and "vicea versa") do really irk me though, as does bastardized language (a particular annoyance being people with obviously Francophone surnames who insist that the actual Francophone pronunciation is incorrect - a legacy of an era where Francophone persons were considered to be second class citizens and so many chose, even if retaining the French spelling, to change the pronunciation to something more English-sounding, and hide their heritage from their descendants).

 

[Progster]

I agree - those tests are written by non-autistic people on the outside looking in. Far better to come here and read about or discuss the issues that affect autistic people with people who are autistic.

As for American spelling, as a British person, some really do drive me mad or I can't get used to them. Things like writing the date the other way round, or saying "I could care less". Also, grammar errors. I don't want to be a grammar nazi, but why, oh why do people insist on writing CD's instead of CDs? Actually, I could go on all day with this.