Does WP make you feel more autistic?

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I enjoy reading the posts as I can often relate to them and that makes me feel better. But when it comes to posting, I regress quite a bit to the point where I don't have much of a feeling or opinion on anything. I just sit and observe, which is a problem I used to have in "real life" but really don't any more. Lurkers of WP unite! You know, if you feel like it.

I don't feel more autistic, just understood for who I am.

Sort of.

When I spend a great deal of time on here, I seem to hyperfocus on the AS-related problems more than they are already apparent, and sometimes it makes me feel less able to deal with them. Mindfulness turns into obsession, which can be debilitating when the obsessiveness takes mental focus away from actually navigating the difficult situations.

It's like when you see a car on the street that you really like, and then suddenly you see that same type of car everywhere... the mind tends to take on aspects of what you surround it with. So if I am immersed in Autism-land, then I can expect to take a bit of that with me back into the rest of my life, for better or for worse

Make me feel more autistic? Not really, but its a massive relief not to have to play all the silly games that usually go with online and daily communication . I also like the "quietness " and thought and humor that goes into most of the conversations here. Have you noticed how there is an inclination in NT dominated boards to get into hatred and negative now-win argument?- And we are the ones supposed to have communication impairment!

I feel that perhaps it makes me focus more on my AS-related characteristics than before. Then again, I haven't been here for long, so that could simply be a side-effect of my increased interest in AS.

Not really. I mean, I feel more different from the people here than anything else; so many of you guys have social issues as a major thing, and they're not major for me at all--I just kind of ignore people's existence. I'm dealing with a lot of sensory and cognitive stuff that seems to be just in the background for most on WP.

Just goes to show how diverse the spectrum is, doesn't it?

Anyway, I like hanging out here, even if a lot of the talk is about social stuff. I do like studying sociology and psychology, so I know a little of the theory and I can contribute that. Works for me.

Not incredibly, no.
But being on the computer so often can make me feel that way.

No, not really, because being among so many people I can actually relate to makes me feel positively "normal" sometimes (in a good way).

No. When I first started lurking here I felt more autistic... mainly because I found a word that seems fit me well. But after a few months of learning about AS I just feel like I understand some things about me better and reading about things on this form makes me feel like less of an outsider. Lots of posts here describe the way I think, feel and experience things, so WP has made me feel like I fit into the world a little bit more. Considering that I don't interact with too many other people WP seems pretty normal to me.

no

Last edited by b9 on 03 Aug 2011, 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, this is how I feel as well. I don't feel any different on WP than I do in real life. I just feel that people on here "get" me more, so I can be more open. I am still the same person either way, though.

Other way around. I can relate to people here far more easily than the people I encounter in everyday life so I feel far more normal when I read threads on this forum.

It doesn't make me feel more Autistic nor more neurotypical. It just makes me feel more comfortable with being a person with a disability. And each day I learn something new about my disability, and how others see things, etc.

No. It makes me feel NT.

When I'm really stressed out I go through phases where I feel more autistic, and that high of stress used to make me more likely to read the forums, but since I've gotten my diagnosis and have let myself participate in the forums, no. Not more Autistic, not more NT. Incredibly jealous of people who don't have problems which I do, and glad that I've had help despite the fact that I wasn't diagnosed until last month.

I'm just me.

Its more like an escape for me. I can relax, be me and see that I'm not alone in how I feel and act and go through. Also I find much more interesting things to talk about here than with people around me.