A couple 'have you/do you ever' questions?

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1.Yes.
2. I'm certainly clumsy.
3. No.
In your situation, couldn't it simply be that your alone time was already ruined with your coworker being there so it mattered less to you?
4. Pacing, yes, when I'm either nervous or thoughtful.
5. No, but they can occur co-morbid.
Some of the traits can be seen as a bit similar.
6. Yes, it happens, but it is very rare and not to the same extent as my special interests. It doesn't fire me up in the same way.

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

Do celebrity crushes count? One of my ex's was also a special interest.


2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

My fine motor skills are particularly clumsy. Gross motor skills are but you can't notice it as much.


3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

Sometimes it's good to have someone there that you know really well, but often when I'm around a group of people I can't say much at all.


4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

I used to bite my nails until my science teacher said biting your nails is like licking a toilet seat.


5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

I think they overlap each other. I have a few OCD traits, but not enough for a diagnosis.


6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

Not really.


BONUS: Speaking of dentists...how many of you would rather have your teeth pulled out/cavities drilled, than get a cleaning with those awful metal instruments, sandy toothpaste, and gross fluoride solution?

I would prefer a cleaning. The metal instruments feel weird but not too unbearable.

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

I've had a crush on some person at various times. This is not an Aspie thing, I reckon. When it happens now, I generally just brush it off and wait for it to blow over. I have been very emotionally attached to friends sometimes, and felt the whole thing a lot more than they did; but I have also been on the receiving end of someone's doting.

The only historical person I can think of at the moment who fascinates me more than all others is George Eliot, the writer of Middlemarch.

2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

As a child I could draw with such delicate precision that adults used to look at my finely drawn pictures with a magnifying glass. So I guess I have deft enough hands. I'm a good dancer, and I move with nimble elegance... some of the time. The rest of the time I walk into doors and tables, drop my cell phone onto the concrete and break my ear-rings.

3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

Both are fine with me. I am pretty sociable normally. My recent withdrawal is unusual for me.

4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

I bite my lip a bit sometimes, but not usually my nails. Pacing, no: I dance.

5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

Been suppressing OCD all my life. It comes out when I am stressed. My father has developed an out-of-the-blue enormous case of OCD late in his life, and it's really distressing for my mother. (He has now also has dementia.)

6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

I have many interests. I feel excited about many things. I don't usually feel excited about the same things as mainstream people do, such as the big game on Saturday or getting a celebrity's autograph.

BONUS: Speaking of dentists...how many of you would rather have your teeth pulled out/cavities drilled, than get a cleaning with those awful metal instruments, sandy toothpaste, and gross fluoride solution?

I am not afraid of the dentist. If I need drilling done, I often take the pain without an anaesthetic rather than the inconvenience of a paralysed mouth afterwards.

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

When I was a kid I used to obsess over my favorite cartoon characters. When I entered High school and college I think that my obsession transferred over to a couple of crushes/infatuations that I had.

2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

Yes. I tend to have butterfingers (meaning that I sometimes drop things), and I accidentally block people's way all the time with shopping carts whenever I do grocery shopping, and I sometimes bump into things whenever I get excited. However, I also tend to be pretty agile with my body. Maybe this is because I kind of have to be, because I'm a short person manuevering in a tall person's world.

3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

I handle social encounters pretty well, though I have no idea how well I handle interruptions, and no idea whether I handle them better with others than by myself.

4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

I'm terrible with picking my nails. I've been doing it since kintergarden and it has actually been getting worse over the years. I can go at it for hours.
Sometimes I pace, but not as much as I used to. When I pace, it's if I'm on the phone, or daydreaming or listening to music.

5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

I don't have OCD, but I wonder if I have certain obsessive tendencies. I have an obsession with making sure my car door is locked, I don't like sharing germs with other people, and there are certain rituals that I perform (or try to perform) when going to bed every night, and on weekends.

6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

Other people tell me that I get amused easily.

BONUS: Speaking of dentists...how many of you would rather have your teeth pulled out/cavities drilled, than get a cleaning with those awful metal instruments, sandy toothpaste, and gross fluoride solution?[/quote]

I prefer the 2nd option.

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

I'm into film/filmmaking too, but I don't really think I have an obsession with any actress/actor....it's more when I meet someone really different/interesting, I'll be instantly wanting to get to know them, even though we're probably never going to see each other again, but I insist on wanting to establish a relationship with this person.

2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

When I was little I took everything from Tae Kwon Do, horseback riding, tennis, ballet, jazz, tap, acting, etc....seriously the list goes on, but I always hated P.E. in school...I felt awkward. I would run the other way, to score a goal in the opponents net in soccer...*oops* and I hated every minute of it. I'm still clumsy to this day, I bump into everything, get bruises to prove it...AND I trip LOL


3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

Hmm....this one is a hard question....I think that when I'm with other people, my personality shines. I'm more outgoing, like trying to compete with them to see who's the most outgoing and interesting one...although I'm the only one competing. And when I'm alone, I'm more prone to being my shy, pensive, and quiet self.


4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

ME TOO!! ! I STILL do that and I'm 22!! I think it IS a stim....I was just thinking that today actually! I was reading some Aspie symptoms and I was like "omg I think I do stim!" so...yeah I think obsessive nail biting is a stim....


5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

My only OCD is when I was little I would get bored at stores with my parents and at the supermarket start straightening the boxes of cereal, candies, etc...and put them perfectly in line, and even in makeup stores, I line everything up perfectly if I see something out of line, and I try to match their colors lol I just want to fix it!! I can't stand seeing them all over the place. But my room is a complete mess....now explain that!

6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

I'm just beginning to realize that I do not get excited very easily...

That describes me EXACTLY. I worked at a grocery store once that had a video rental shop, and part of my job was to rent out the movies. ORGANIZING was NOT part of my job, or anyone's job, it seems...but I would spend a great deal of time alphabetizing the movies by genre and title...then get so angry when my co-workers would just put the returned movies anywhere. At work, I have to make sure the pencils are all in one container, the pens in another, and scissors and highlighters together (there are only three containers, so I have to combine the latter two). I make sure everything is sitting in a line, flush against the desk. When I was little, I used to organize the shelves in toy stores...

However,

My room is a disaster! There are special occassions when I really feel like tidying it...and it will look awesome and organized...but it doesn't last a week. I think I've figured this out. At work or outside of the house, disorganization makes me really anxious...like, everything has to be EXACTLY right, or I won't feel right. If I had to have my room like that all the time, I couldn't enjoy myself...I'd only be thinking about making sure everything was in the right place. However, when my room is a complete mess, the mess is so overwhelming that I can't even THINK of organizing, so I ignore it and enjoy the computer or TV.

Totally!! ! I've straightened store shelves and my house is utter chaos.

What I've been told, though, is our straightening isn't so much classical OCD, but getting things in an order that makes SENSE to us. To have cans, videos, etc shelved randomly makes no sense. Thus, our clutter at home (where we know where everything is, more or less) and the straightened shelves (for the public) we leave in our wake... introducing order and intelligence into a random world.

I think truly OCD folks don't have options when there's a trigger, so they straighten at work and at home, for example.

The obsessive label--I think-- is a shallow NT observation without actually comparing the two types of experiences from the side of the practitioner.

AH!! I'm so happy I'm not alone in this ! LOL There are other people out there just like me!

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

I've had very strong interests in people, but not what you'd call a "special interest". For the most part I've not had truly singular special interests in the more-recent half of my life.


2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

My lower body is not very coordinated. I am clumsy in walking and have sh*tty balance in general, and when playing sports I have to focus special attention on footwork, as it is unnatural for me. I am capable of learning though.

On the other hand, my hand-eye coordination and timing is excellent. I'm quite good at every sport I've played that involves hitting a ball, with the exception of golf, and I can throw any round ball pretty accurately (footballs are confusing to me)--I could hit a 3' by 3' target with a softball from 150 feet at probably close to 50%.


3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

Yes.


4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

Pacing more than nail biting, but yeah, both.


5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

No clue. Personally I don't have OCD, but I have some traits that fit with OCPD.


6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

The short answer is yes, I can. Like I said, "special interests" seem to manifest themselves differently in me than in many others.

1) Has your special interest ever been a person?

No.

2) Aspies are said to be clumsy, but could the opposite be true...or, could it be the case in some circumstances and not others?

I think some of us are not clumsy.

3) Are you better able to handle social encounters/interruptions when you are already with other people vs. if you were by yourself?

It depends on who they are, but generally, yes.

4) Does anyone else have nail biting and pacing as a stim?

Nail biting, no. Pacing, yes.

5) Is OCD associated with AS? Do they go hand-in-hand?

In my case, yes.

6) Do you ever feel excited about anything other than your special interest?

I haven't felt very excited lately due to depression, but sometimes.

BONUS: Speaking of dentists...how many of you would rather have your teeth pulled out/cavities drilled, than get a cleaning with those awful metal instruments, sandy toothpaste, and gross fluoride solution?

No, pain is worse.