Signs of Autism in Adults - Autistic Traits You Never Knew Existed

here we go let's explore some autistic traits in adults that you may never have realized were actually autistic traits keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list of autistic traits this is clearly not a diagnostic tool this is just a video with my own experiences and observations as an autistic person a list of 20 traits you might not have been aware of and just because you can relate to a few of these traits doesn't mean you're autistic however if you feel like you can resonate with the majority of these traits well you may wish

to talk it over with your friends and family or your healthc care professional about the potential of seeking an assessment as an autistic person autistic traits in adults you might not have known number one feeling uncomfortable awkward anxious stressed around new people or new places that's an autistic trait in adults you may not have realized was actually an autistic trait and something I can absolutely relate to this comes down to many different factors as an autistic person but living the safe space for me my home and being around people who aren't safe people people I

I don't know I don't know their intentions I don't know their personality I haven't come to the ability to warm to them these are the kind of things that will create constant anxiety and Trigger me as an autistic person number two and this autistic trait in adults is the use of structures or scripts pre-planned premeditated pre rehearsed conversations or templates to have conversations interactions and small talk with neurotypical people in the real world as an autistic person I can run conversations through my head thousands of times not only before I know there's interactions coming but

after which I find horrible the idea that I torture myself to have conversations in a more appropriate way or better you or judge my conversations after and the feeling anyway number three and this autistic trait in adults is an interesting one do you have a preference or a dislike for hugging or kissing or touching or or holding people when you greet them when you meet them you know the standard stuff you do when you meet people or they expect you to do as an autistic adult I can find this really complex to work out why

it's not like I don't want to do it because I don't want to do it it's just it doesn't occur to me when I meet someone it doesn't occur to me like the right thing to do to kiss their person or to hug them or force them to shake my hand or do weird you know Pats and say it doesn't occur to me to do it and I guess that means that I'm not interested in doing it and and that could be because as an autistic person it's not something that I seek out it's not

the kind of thing I feel comfortable doing it doesn't mean that you have the same feelings as me just means it's something that I kind of have to be prompted to do but then I don't think you should be prompting autistic people to do this kind of stuff if they want to do it they'll do it don't don't force your autistic child to give Nan a big hug and a kiss do you know what I mean it's yeah it's not appropriate and for adults in a relationship maybe you are already diagnosed autistic it's okay to

not be that touchy Fey person you think you should be in a relationship but it's not okay to not at least convey or share those preferences look as an autistic person or look just for me personally you know I love you and uh I love our physical connection but I don't always want to hold hands or hug or or kiss you goodbye or hello or these kind of things just be cleared upfront honest number four and this autistic trade in adults is also something that is not uncommon for non-autistic people to use do you like

to wear legitimate by the way legit noise cancelling headphones or noise cancelling earbuds so you really drown out the world for when you leave the house you close the door of your house and they're on until you get home right you might be catching public transport to work or to study or to friends or family right or you might just be going to the shops or whatever but having this protection like you're about to do a construction job to protect you from sensory overload from the noises and I guess overwhelming nature of the outside world

it's another autistic tra in adults number five this autistic tra in adults absolutely rings a bell with me noises do they say seem louder to you when you're stressed or tired or triggered or agitated right sounds that shouldn't really startle or come across that loud seem like the loudest sound on the planet for me as an autistic husband and dad an autistic adult with all the stresses in my life it's got to the point now where I will literally cover my ears with both my hands and it's not like I'm trying to be some character

Tu out of a movie or a media representation it's it's an instinctual now what seemed like nothing noises to the rest of my family will cause me in the moment to literally cover my ears when I'm over stimulated stressed agitated you know the like I said these types of triggers noises just sound louder than they are to really anyone else number six and this autistic trait in adults linked to number five it centers around the idea that do you ever get startled and I mean disproportionately startled to certain noises sounds more specifically do you get

startled or have a disproportionate reaction to unexpected noises or sudden loud noises I don't know how my heart's still going the but Jesus will be scared out of me not on a daily basis like on an hourly basis this is I startled by the stupidest most insignificant noises and unexpected noises they don't only startle me they make me really angry like what was that number seven and this autistic Trad in adults might be something that you think is more associated with with kids with school uniforms and clothing and getting them out of their pajamas but

no it's very common in autistic adults and that is that you can't tolerate certain Fabrics or textures you put on a certain type of clothing you are overwhelmed with a complete sense of discomfort which can actually manifest in agitation and anger and you just have to get that off you and to be forced to stay in that type of clothing is never going to be a good result for anyone because you're going to be over stimulated you're going to be triggered you could melt down it's so it's something that you might think is more of

a kid thing and adults just get over it but absolutely not number eight this autistic trait in adults linked to number seven and what we'll talk about in number nine and that is do you cut the tags of clothing cutting the tags off t-shirts and underwear is something that I have to do in fact I try to find products that don't have tags and that's relatively hard to find so if you cut the tags off certain pieces of clothing it just doesn't feel right it's agitated and Yu well you know that indeed could be an

autistic trait number nine and this autistic trait in adults is really linked to the last couple we've talked about around clothing but the difference is it's that you simply can't wear particular clothing because it agitates you or it makes you upset or angry or overstimulated even though it's not actually uncomfortable in other words it's not a texture or a fabric that you usually can't tolerate you wouldn't class it as uncomfortable but when you put it on in this particular moment it just doesn't feel right this happens to me a lot and you can go through

the list it can be anything your standard regular underwear your shorts your t-shirts your socks your pants shirts jumpers it doesn't matter what it is your normal clothing from time to time just doesn't feel right number 10 and this autistic trait in adults is something very near and dear to my heart and that is the texture of food can utterly repulse me as in the texture of food actually makes me gag I mean physically gag pumpkin is an example for me let's say the whole family is having some pumpkin they're eating away enjoying it I

take a bite and I gag and I can't even judge anything else about it but the texture of it has caused my brain to say this is disgusting it tastes yuck it is yuck avoid it but really it's because the texture has made me gag so if the texture foods have that gag reflex that could be an autistic trait in adults and in fact it's linked to another thing I want to talk about regarding food number 11 do you find yourself utterly repulsed by certain flavors smells or textures of food but more to that even

just thinking about these types of foods can make you feel sick or disgusted or just icky I got a couple peas peas you know what there's something about peas and I realize now because I've got older and more mature and I can pinpoint it it's the smell the smell of peas it disgusts me to the point where I can't eat the peas but I can have pee and ham soup tastes delicious but the smell of peas can't eat them number 12 this autistic trait in adults is do you feel exhausted after you return home from

going places shopping outside to an appointment right so the act of going to an appointment or appointments or going to the shops renders you completely exhausted when returning it's like you can do it right but the energy it takes to do it and for those that are autistic we know that it's a lot of the masking that camouflaging that suppressing your true self to make other people feel comfortable all this stuff isn't just done right it actually it takes energy and that energy has been taken from other things that acquire that energy and therefore when

it's done when you've done your appointment everyone's happy and you get home there's nothing left there's nothing left in the tank as an autistic husband and Dad I can find if we have visitors to the house and that's fine that's great but once they've gone there's a period after that where I feel like I'm almost nonfunctional I just crash and it can look really weird to you know I guess to my family hang on a second like you were fine and then they're gone and it's because I finally let my guard down I finally about

to stop and it's there I realize now I'm actually done number 13 and this autistic trait in adults may seem like an excuse It's not though spending more time than is probably pretty usual or an extraordinary amount of time when you go to the toilet or in the bathroom I'm pretty sure the trait should be do you spend more time than others in the bathroom the toilet Etc to escape the world to relax to unwind to decompress to feel free that's what I do people always say why do why do it take so long in

the toilet like it or you you had a shower it's like 45 minutes later what did you do up that I just escaped the world I just took my time I just relaxed number 14 and this autistic trait in adults is a preference for for being alone in Social Gatherings right do you like to be alone when you should be mingling or like me do you like to stay close to your safe person person which could be if you're a child it could be your mom your dad carers your family as an adult could be

your partner there is no moving away from the by yourself or with your safe person to just freely mingle what I I'll tell you right now social Gatherings now are much easier because if I can't hang out with my safe person being my wife I can absolutely hang out with my kids and you might be an autistic person who at a social Gathering maybe it's a family gathering you spend more time with the pets the family pets or for the kids right just playing board games or kicking the footy or hanging out well this is

way better I'll tell you what no Small Talk No Small Talk number 15 and this autistic trade in adults is around people watching do you like people watching do you like watching the world go by just sitting in a quiet place maybe you're sitting in a cafe or a restaurant or shops or a public place and you just are happy to sit there alone and just watch the world go by just people watch just observe like you're watching TV I get that this can sound a little creepy but it's not it's it's pure trust me

from my point of view it's odd to say this but I'm disconnecting from the World by connecting to the world number 16 this autistic trait in adults is a key and core part of my world being and that is you have a preference but not even just a preference you have an an exclusive use policy for supermarkets cafes really shops of any kind and what I mean is you exclusively and only use a specific Supermarket a specific shop a specific Cafe to get your coffee for example and you don't want to deviate from those for

me a specific hairdresser a specific Bakery it doesn't matter what a specific Pharmacy doctor it doesn't matter what it is there's it's an exclusive use policy that has zero flexibility for example if I go to my bakery and they don't have the bread I need I won't go to the next bakery or to the supermarket I'll go home I couldn't my my bakery didn't have it what what do you want me to do go to the bakery never been there before I don't know what they who they are or what they have or how it

works like it's you ask for bread give them the money well that's what you think if I have a supermarket or a shop that's mine I know everything is I know where I can park parking can be a big stress for me right I know where to go every aisle exactly what I need number 17 and this autistic trait in adults is a failure to seem to connect with people or more specifically others seem to struggle to connect with you I think we can't always blame the autistic person if you want to get to know

someone who has a different brain you're probably going to have to do it differently to how you do it with neurotypical or non-autistic people so if people struggle to connect with you if people view you as things like quirky or weird or strange or odd it's because they're viewing you through the lens of a neurotypical non-autistic person but then again everyone's different number 18 this autistic trait in adults and I can tell you you can take it to the bank with me do people seem to laugh at what you're saying even though you weren't trying

to make them laugh or you weren't saying something funny in your head right so in just general conversation you'll say things you'll have remarks or opinions or thoughts that make people laugh and you'll say to them that wasn't a joke I'm being serious like you have to tell people like they've started genuinely laughing at something you've said you're like I'm not kidding that this isn't a joke it's hit and miss I don't know what is and isn't funny but people tell me I can be naturally funny I can make people laugh quite naturally I'm what

you call dry my humor is dry so a lot of times people will actually ask my wife or my family is he joking is is that a joke you are you making a joke CU it it looks the same as everything else so that's where it becomes even more complicated hated number 19 and this autistic trait in adults always gets me into trouble do you always seem to wind up in arguments with people are you finding yourself in disagreements when it was never your intention you don't know how you got there and I mean to

the point where they'll point out I don't want to argue with you I don't want to have this disagreement and you're like I didn't know we were having an argument I didn't know we were having a disagreement I don't know how we got to this point where you thought that and Frank and I don't even know what it's about if you find yourself in what other people are labeling a disagreement or an argument and you don't know how you got there and you don't know what it's even about well you're a bit like me ding

number 20 our final autistic trait in adults and that is in the workplace are you often reprimanded or are you often disciplined or warned by your bosses your managers or your work colleagues that you're just rude or you're just too blunt too honest too straightforward not a team player you always use an inappropriate tone of voice oh that's interesting I don't actually really have much of understanding of tone Pace volume verbal and nonverbal I mean I don't body language I this is not even my thing this is I'm autistic that means I don't really get

the whole tone thing what do you mean inappropriate tone this is me talking do you mean I haven't put on a fake tone to make you feel better I wasn't even aware that was required honesty is bad this is the problem with workplaces it's it's a whole another video by the way but professionalism or being professional is a madeup word to be professional in a work place for an autistic person is actually impossible professional isn't a thing it's a madeup like hate Char word you tell me what being professional is and I'll tell you most

of those things AR achievable by autistic people anyway the rant's over okay but I'll do a video on that I promise you it's coming I'm ready in the meantime though I think I need more space as always the traits we discussed was not an exhaustive list this is not a diagnostic video but if it's sparked some interest or rung some Bells You may wish to discuss it with your local general practitioner or your family and friends in the meantime I really do appreciate you watching this video and hopefully you can share with your family and

friends so we can reach more people and make the lives of autistic people better in the meantime thank you for your support till my next video we'll talk soon