Aspie radar?

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I think it's a bit like gaydar, in that I just get the feeling that someone has AS. I don't know how accurate it is, because I don't feel right asking someone "hey, are you autistic at all?"

But there's a lady at my exercise class who seems very autistic, she sppears to stim, has trouble with co-ordination, and we have blurted out compliments at each other. (I like your hair! Thanks, I like your shiney shoes!) and I want to ask her, but I'm not sure if that would be rude. Or if the answer is yes, whether she would even care if it was rude.

What should I do?

I have radar too. I can spot what I think of as the purple people but I don't say anything. My GP is an aspie and a physio I had was total ADHD. I don't say anything because they may not know. I just like being with them because they are more comfortable to be around than NT people.

Since most people say they don't fit in and people notice they are different or act unusual or whatever, I don't see why it wouldn't be pretty easy to spot it in someone else. The only difference being that you recognize it as autistic traits.

Since I go to school with other autistics, if I notice an autistic acting person outside of school, it doesn't phase me much. But I would bring up my being autistic like mentioning WP or my school or whatever, rather than ask, if I actually talked to people that is.

I think it's because we lack a lot of the "lenses" that other people have. We're good at reading people for this reason (I don't mean good, DIFFERENT is more like it). We can see through a lot of the societal limitations, while we're obstructed from others. I can see things others can't because I don't have the social limitations that keep me from seeing them, I'm also a much deeper thinker and I feel like everyone around me is a halfwit. Well, turns out they're not, they just hide their intelligence or they are just really stupid.

I wouldn't straight-out ask someone. I don't identify as being an aspie personally but I still wonder about people often... If someone asked me that question, I'd be a little thrown off. Not upset, just.. it's personal.

I can relate to this in the sense that I feel as though I have an Aspie radar. It hasn't gone off on too many an occasion, though - I can only recall one instance off the top of my head. Either way, I see nothing wrong with asking her. Don't worry too much about how she reacts - it's her own fault if she flips out, not yours.

when i found out a co-worker was autistic, it was because he jokingly.. i can't remember what specifically he pointed out, but he said "it just shows how autistic i must be." which i responded "hey, me too"

subtly point out you have it. i don't know, maybe something about numbers at work or anxiety, say something dumb "must be the asperger's in me, hehe"

I have a radar for neurodivergent people. My friends often have autism, tourettes, adhd or have some mental health issues. I find it kind of funny, as I don't actively seek that kind of people but find them anyways.

Like quite a large proportion of the Asperger's Syndrome end of the spectrum, I have an enhanced ability to spot patterns. NT's have told me in the past that I have good observation skills (a fairly rare kind of compliment), but they just assumed (as I did in those days) that it was a personal strength, rather than a neurological one.

The pattern spotting when applied to observing people could be called a radar, though it goes far beyond observing people, and is used in all sorts of fields by AS people; it certainly assisted me in maths back in the day; and in various other ways.

With AS people I don't know in social settings it's usually the stimming which initially draws my attention to them, then the pattern thing clicks on.

To the OP: I wouldn't ask, in today's social climate it can be seen as an insult, and if the person IS autistic they may not like talking about it with another person they only casually know. Now, if you're so bold you may mention your autism and gauge the response. In a situation like this I find it easier to broach the subject with my own personal history rather than attempt to pry information out of the other person.

I too do this.And my radar is somehow usually right.

I really have no idea. I sometimes wonder if people might have ASD, but have never followed up by asking! I could be totally wrong about everything.

I don't have much of an aspie radar at all. I don't know how you guys can tell so easily. Most of the time, I can only tell if someone is autistic if they are quite severe. Most of the aspies I've met in my life aren't really distinguishable from neurotypicals.