Can someone be "somewhat autistic"?

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Hello everyone! In my most recent session with my therapist she said completely unprompted that I "definitely have several autistic traits". Her son is autistic, so her opinion carries a lot of weight with me. I have never previously considered ASD as a diagnosis, so I have been doing a lot of internet research recently. Is it possible for someone with ASD to have only some autistic traits and not others? Whenever I do self evaluation tests I usually receive something like 70%. Some experiences really resonate with me and others don't at all. I have no problem reading other people's facial expressions for instance. But I have seen some discussions on this forum about the calculations some people with ASD do to determine what the correct amount of eye contact is in a given conversation, and this is definitely something I have done all my life.

I have been trying to schedule an official test with a local diagnostics office, but I probably won't be able to get an appointment for quite some time. I don't know anyone that has ASD, so I would love to hear what everyone here has to say on this, and what your experiences are!

Well, it's a spectrum; there's different traits and they can be experienced to different degrees.

Somewhat kinda depends on context. From a diagnostic standpoint there's a cutoff where one would be considered sub-clinical vs. meeting the diagnostic criteria.

Not enough traits, even if some are severe along with many traits, none of which are severe enough might both count as sub-clinical.

A person that one perceives as 'somewhat autistic' might actually be significantly impaired if they successfully mask well. I'm relatively well-spoken and can manage social interactions relatively well but also have significant struggles related to poor executive function.

Some of my reports from doctors would probably shock people I worked with but that doesn't mean the doctors and I aren't accurately assessing things, it means my coworkers didn't realize I was slowly unravelling nervous wreck who had to rely on stimulants, sleep-aids, painkillers and more just to attempt to function in the circumstances I had gotten myself into because I refused to admit I needed to pursue support.

Hello and welcome.

My opinion is that if your therapist thinks it's possible, and you do identify with some / many of the diagnostic criteria, it's worth pursuing an official assessment. That is, assuming you want to know for sure. You'll be on a wait list for quite some time, but you can use that time to gather more information about your childhood development or to learn about autism in more detail.

Somewhat autistic? No, just like a person can't be a little bit pregnant. That doesn't mean you are / aren't autistic, though. Only a licensed and experienced neuropsychologist can tell you that. I like the way FXE explained it, above. I didn't have the bandwidth to explain in such detail.

Don't forget, it's not all about social differences. I feel autistic even when I'm completely alone, because of my strict routines and rituals, my poor nonverbal understanding, and my wide range of sensory issues. Sensory (Part B) is evaluated just as much as social (Part A), in a clinical setting.

I don't remember the exact criteria for getting an ASD diagnosis, but you don't need to have all of the traits present, and the severity of them don't have to be massive.
I certainly lack some traits myself, and/or have found workarounds for some.

It's kinda tricky when finding out as an adult. I was asessed and diagnosed one year ago and I'm 53.
I am often unsure if lacking traits are just traits that I've managed to handle. Or that I actually have problems with them but am happily unaware. Ie come out as weird, but thinks people see me as cool.

/Mats

autism is never the same thing in any person as in another, we are all so different. uneven neurological development is not the same in any single one of us. Some of us might share some things but we will never be "like" each other in all things.
Keep searching for good info, look for documentation to back up claims.
Ask loads of questions here, things get clearer as you go along.
Lots of past experiences to sort, lots of emotional homework, and for me, there were so many "aha" moments when I finally understood things in a way I never did before once I was able to look at how autism had always been working in my life without anybody knowing or understanding.
You are not alone.

In my view, it's entirely possible to be "somewhat" autistic, i.e. autistic to a degree, in the sense that an individual's overall score on an autism test would be a number on a continuous scale from zero to whatever. Severity levels are already handed out with a diagnosis. Clearly it's dangerously reductionist to see ASD as a single number. ASD is a lot of traits, and even if you factor in how much each of them is messing with your life, which might be useful, it's still reducing a lot of traits to a single number. So I think degree of autism is a useful concept as long as we don't expect too much of it. If it's not useful, then why not go the whole way and ditch the entire concept of ASD, and just focus on the individual traits without trying to shoehorn them into any particular overarching label? I've already done that for years with IQ tests which I break down into aptitudes, and I barely recognise the IQ number itself. And similarly for ASD, though I don't deny it exists, when I try to develop coping strategies or capitalise on so-called ASD super-powers, I focus on particular traits.

Anyone can have autistic traits and not clinically have autism.

Anyone could clinically have autism and not have a lot of known autistic traits, circumstances and experiences.



There's having autism, and there's being autistic.
A person can do either, both or neither.

I'm the only one who know where my own disability ends and where my own neurodiversity begins.
A person can have all disability and no neurodiversity -- the same with someone who has all the neurodiversity and no disability.
The blur typically lies on "management" and "attitude" both in self and others.


Having autism is either you do or you don't, and only professionals can determine that.
Being autistic may mean one can be somewhat autistic -- usually seemingly similar in experience, inclinations, preferences and circumstances.

There are plenty of ways of being related to autistics without having autism.
And there's having autism and not being able to relate to autistics.

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Yes, at least in official documents. Sometimes when a person checks a lot of boxes but not enough to get an actual diagnosis, there will simply be a mention done by the doctors in official documents of the person having "autistic traits."