Can you tell someone else is also on the spectrum?

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I can certainly tell when someone has "classic" autism. I was good friends with the sister of a person with "classic" autism when I was growing up.

And I had some of the symptoms as a young toddler/preschooler, too.

It's harder to distinguish one with Asperger's from one who is just "quirky."

Yes I can tell, but my reaction to that can be on the opposite sides of, khem, spectrum....

Sometimes I am drawn to those people because of similar topics to talk about, similar view on life, we are just on the same wavelength somehow. It feels easy to be together.

And other times they irritate me as if I was an NT - they stand too close, they follow me around when I give cues that I want to be alone, they stare in my eyes and dont notice when I am not listening, meanwhile I notice disregard for other people, for example when they park in the middle of two last parking spaces, or dont move out of the way when someone wants to pass. In these cases I feel ashamed and responsible for all the trouble caused.

Weird huh. Considering that I myself have more social than sensory problems.

I believe there's actually a vague line between someone who is "quirky" and someone with Aspergian-like traits.

I certainly wouldn't be able to tell whether or not you have Asperger's based upon just casually meeting you. I'd have to get to know you over time. And certainly not online!

What sort of difficulties do you experience as a result of your "quirkiness"?

If you're in the US, and you want a diagnosis, it's possible to get a free diagnosis if you participate in a research study pertaining to autism. Otherwise, it tends to be very costly.

Do you feel an autism diagnosis would provide some sort of "closure," in a sense-----make sense of why you experience things the way you experience things?

If an entity is still using the ICD-10, it's possible to get an Asperger's diagnosis.

I have had some suspicions (I don't like this word but cannot think of a better one) about boys I knew when young confirmed by later diagnosis.

I wondered about the behaviour of some girls about 25 years ago but the reading I did then convinced me I was wrong. I have since become aware that autism can present very differently in girls and I regret not being able to help them due to the incorrect/incomplete information I had at the time.

My diagnosis came after a long time friend with whom I played online games most days took to calling me 'Sheldon'. A few other online friends made similar subtle indications but I didn't work those out until after I was diagnosed. After a few years of this and some reading about how autism presents in women I sought a diagnosis for myself.

In women, autism often presents like male autism — but sometimes there is a “female presentation,” owing to social conditioning.

The 4 to 1 male to female ratio for autism is bogus in my opinion. Women are certainly under-diagnosed.

Yes, because I usually strongly dislike them. Lmao...

But seriously, no.. I cannot..

I can tell when some other people are on. The most remarkable one was a guy I only knew from a BBS and a bit of private email. He had a successful business and a family, but when I suggested he also had AS, he had an Aha! moment just like mine, understanding his struggles.