Is this even possible?

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This is probably quite a ridiculous question, as I and most others on this website have significant social difficulties that make socializing/communicating very difficult. But is it possible (by the DSM-5 criteria for ASD) to be autistic without social difficulties as long as you have had them by history and in the early developmental period? As long as you exhibit clinically significant repetitive behaviors, couldn't you be autistic with no social difficulties (as long as you had them in the past)? I know adults/older people can learn to pass as normal, but wouldn't they still have difficulty since "pretending to be normal" is very draining. Just curious ........

Here is the DSM-5 criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder: https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/diag ... -disorder1

If you are wealthy enough you can hire someone to handle social interactions for you. You can be in your own little bubble.

I want that for some social interactions! ^^^^^

I don't see it as a bad question. However, this kind of question poses some validity problems. By that, I mean that any question which has this structure risks having answers which are not only not right, they aren't even wrong. Logic, as a discipline of Philosophy, explains this idea in great detail, and much smarter people than I have written extensively about it. The same ideas form the basis of mathematics (particularly proofs), computer programming and the construction of arguments in many contexts.

To answer the question as best I can, I have seen people on the autism spectrum who have more, fewer, and different social problems than I have. I can't say for sure who falls into the fewer category, and who falls into the different category, because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. As a rule, I just assume that everyone has some problems, and generally does the best they can with what they have.

Could I, as a person with autism, fail to notice other people's problems? Heck yeah.

Sometimes where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit. I predict that answers to this question will follow that pattern; people will express their personal sentiments in their answers.

Thank you for your reply will@rd. I didn't really think it could be possible, but it seems as if a lot of people think that it is possible to be autistic without social problems. Just look at some of the online lists of symptoms! Some don't even mention social problems at all, and if they do, it's normally typical issues that stem from being introverted or something related. I was oblivious to my own social problems until I read about them online. I still may be oblivious to some of them. Trying to "fit in" seems harder than being oblivious to me.

Even people who aren't on the autistic spectrum have social problems.

I would say it is very difficult to be autistic and NOT have social problems whatsoever.

However, there are times when people who are autistic could have relatively less severe social problems for a variety of reasons.

I would say, for Level 2 Autism or below, rather severe social problems are invariably present.

What is social difficulty? Is it a matter of perspective? What if a person thinks they are doing fine socially when they are not?

Level 3 is more "severe" than Level 2; hence, they probably have even more "severe" social problems.

Level 1 is the "milder" diagnosis.

I should have explained myself better.

That's why we have discussions---so we can teach other, and point out when we make mistakes.