Can Someone Share Significent Traits Without Being Autistic?

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It is just a question I thought I would ask as quite a few on here have been assessed to find they are not on the spectrum, but they do share quite a few very noticeable autistic traits (Somit is very understandable they went for an assessment). Now as I write I do not yet know where I am in regards to the autism spectrum so in theory it could go either way, but as I have difficulties with partial shutdowns and shutdowns, I could do with being assessed. I do have a few other traits but it is the shutdowns which cause me the most difficulties.

So your thoughts?

Yes. Even share the same circumstances and share relatedness as a human. They echo one another in terms of needing support.

Commonly those with overlapping traits of autistic comorbidities (many conditions) who ended up as autism for a diagnosis.
Otherwise, conditions that only mimics autism, autistic behaviors and deal with autistic-like issues -- but is not autistic.


It's a confusing issue, to discern which is actually which.
But it is also entirely up to the person if one prioritizes seperation, discernment and exclusivity in supports, treatment and identity -- or prioritizing similarities, relatedness, inclusive supports and potential cross treatments.

In older eras or lesser known parts of of neurodiversity, sets of stand-alone conditions that are usually dealt along with autistic issues and/or those with said conditions commonly dealt by autistics with the same condition for a comorbidity are called 'autistic cousins'.

The moments where you were able to make sense of your life for the first time MountainGoat are still real.
There is something going on with all the shutdowns you experience, that's struck me as needing investigation.

The greatest leap forward in my life so far is to find out that they were shutdowns. Nothing worse then going theough life suffering. Been tested for seemingly everything and everything came up clear. I had wrongly assumed it was the body effecting the mind and not the other way around, because actually my Mum asked this question as she could often tell I was stressed. I said at the time it was my body effecting the mind because to imply that the mind effects the body... Well. I just was not ready to think along those lines back then!
Anyway. It has been a giant leap forward from that point onwards, and I really want to thank everyone in here for your help. If it wasn't for following up on your little suggestions then I really would never have found out half of what I know today.

You are welcome as you are MG, I am glad that your life has improved and hope it continues to. I think of the information I learned here as life changing... An open source of lived autistic experiences.

I asked a similar question to the one in your title years ago, none of the others fitted or made my life experiences make sense for the first time.

I don't exactly say that my life has improved as yet, but rather my understanding about my life has greatly improved. Due to this I hope that the long term effects will mean that my life will improve.
In a way I feel like a ship that's taking on water. For nearly all my life I have been bailing out this water and due to the storms of life I have sprung several more leaks and I've been having difficulty keeping afloat.
I describe the understanding about my life is finding the holes in my ship. But I have still yet to work on patching up those holes. I am currently heading towards a port where I can make repairs but the storms of life keep trying to push me back out to sea and others keep assuming the issues I have of why my ship is going so slow has to do with I am not working hard enough at whatever I do, and they keep trying to send me on more voyages in order to try to get me used to more work. Yet, due to all the water holding me down, I am working immensly hard just in staying afloat.
Unless I can make it and stay in the harbour, I am likely to spring another leak if I try to go on another voyage, and the way I have been, if I spring another leak, I will not make it. (The voyages people are trying to put me on are various tasks or trying to get me to work before I am patched up and ready. Sure, when all my holes are patched I will not have so much energy wasted to supply the pumps and also I will then be watertight so I won't have so much heavy weight to cart around and I will be floating higher in the water. But unless these leaks are attended to, trying to send me on another voyage? It is not only heartless ad cruel, but one storm too many and I might not make it).
So I say to those who are planning to send me on another trip. Wait until I am ready and have been patched up. Then I am a real workhorse. Don't push be back out to sea. Wait!

Having autistic traits but not having enough of them, or their not being severe enough to impact daily functioning is called broad autism phenotype. If your shutdowns are the only serious symptom you experience, that could be where you land. What causes the shutdowns? Do you have any major sensory issues that contribute to them?

An autism diagnosis is actually quite specific, as I'm sure you are aware. You have to have a certain number of specific traits, and they have to be severe enough that you require support to manage them, in order to be diagnosed as autistic. Have you read the DSM criteria? You can find it online.

Sorry yes, I meant to say that the knowledge has made your life better.
I like the way you describe your experience, I can see it in my minds eye, and relate to it.
Hold firm, listen to what your mind and body are telling you, say no as much as you need to to people who would do you harm regardless of well intentioned or not, do whatever is necessary to stay afloat. Become a hermit in your house if needs be.

Startrekker its ICD in the UK

Yes you're right, I forgot that MG lives in the UK. Thanks for the correction.

I had a quick look at that DSM thingie. It made me feel stressed just looking at it! I think it is better for me not to look and just get myself assessed. Then I will at least know where I stand in this respect. It is like sending people to assess the ship and report back on its condition along with details of its engine and fittings etc.

Then having the report I can then make a plan and go from there.

Yeah, it does have quite technical and precise language. I used to get stressed wondering if I fit the symptoms in the "right way" or with the "right intensity" to qualify for diagnosis back before I was assessed. What do your plans for assessment, if any, look like right now MG?

I have to wait. They said that I am about halfway down their waiting list so it could be around a year.

That's crazy. Much as I wish we had universal healthcare here in the US, I'll admit the waiting times are ludicrous. I was born in England and all my extended family lives there. My 83-year-old grandma had to wait months to get a knee replacement.

Well. It was a six year wait a few years ago as my brothers stepchild was assessed.

My grandmother had to wait 8 to 10 years for her knees to be done and by the time it was her turn, her knee joints were passed saving. Here in Wales waiting times are farr longer then in England.
Dentists. I had to wait 5 years to have teeth removed. My mum had to wait 8 years. Both of us had absuses. Luckily for me the worst it became was to partly shut off my vision in my left eye. It then subsided, and then I was seen to. My Mum was close to death at one point, and we wrnt to the local A&E they sent us to, and they were not allowed to deal with teeth. I was told my Mum had to be seen to the next day. Nothing I could do. Classed as an emergency she was seen some 18 months later where the teeth were removed.
It took me 10 years to get a dentist that would take us on before that as a previous dentist stopped taking on patients from the NHS. Our local dentist could not remove the teeth that needed removing asn my Mum and I have issues with adrenaline, and also I am so nurvy! Why the long wait to see the specialist to be knocked out (For me) or for my Mum to be at the city hospital (The only one which does now deal with teeth) where they can monitor her vital organs while they operate.

We get used to waiting. Often one has to quit jobs due to the wait. Is just one of those things. Wealthier locals move to England where the waiting lists for operations are much shorter. London area seems to have the shortest waiting lists. Some operations are not availablw in Wales and I know of one couple who had to move for a coupke of years to London to be classed as a local there so the husband could be operated on (As the only surgeon in the country was there who would do the operation) and once it was done they moved back to Wales. They did not own a house as they had always rented, so it was less of an issue. Others have to sell their house to rent to be seen to, and the issues there are that after they move back to Wales, they lack the money to buy another house, as if they have a lot of money in the bank, they are not entitled to government help via benefits etc until their money goes les then a certain amount.
BUT, on the good side, our health service is free (Apart from dentists which we pay a certain amount towards it), and we do have a benefits system to help when we are in need. It may not be perfect, but they are there.

We do also have private healthcare, but unless one happens to be a lawyer or bank manager etc, few can afford their prices as you are talking thousands. Ironically, the private system often use the NHS hospitals and their surgeons and the patients don't have to wait. Why many see it as unfair, as if they can't afford private care, they have a long wait for an operation, but if they can afford to go private they jump to the front of the queue at the same hospital using the same surgeon and staff. This has recently happened to a friend of ours who has paid £6000 to go private so she can jump the queue to have a cararact removed in one eye. I think the other eye will cost her another lot again, but they only do one eye at a time. She paid because she said at her age she does not have years left to live as by the time it is her turn on the list she could be dead by then (She is in her early 80's I believe).

StarTrekker, I just finished testing yesterday. I live in the US as well. Roughly how long after testing until you received your diagnosis? I was simply told, "We'll call you once we have your results." I am experiencing a lot of anxiety about whether or not I have ASD and am obsessing over research about it . Any tiny morsel of information is better than nothing.