6 Signs of Undiagnosed Autism - as Observed by a Non-Autistic

I have noticed that it is not so much about being hot, but not being able to regulate bodytemperature correctly. I am cold all of the time.

I very recently learned that I’m autistic in my early 30s, and I’ve strongly suspected that my biological dad is autistic. He’d get defensive and brush it off if anyone suggested it to him, but I see him struggling and it hurts. Yet, him being told he may be autistic would hurt him, so it feels like a lose-lose situation.

This is somewhat different from my family’s experience. We are AuDHD & sensory seekers. For example, we are more likely to enjoy something strongly flavored. I also want to point out that often times we are not aware that we are getting uncomfortable until we are melting down or shutting down. There is a lot of lack of insight, at least in my experience. What we experience is all we know, so it takes such a reframing to even get to a point where we can understand why so many of our senses are experienced differently by the majority of people. For the longest time, I thought I should try harder to tolerate everything that was making me uncomfortable, because everybody else must be doing it so much better than me.

I’m sensitive to loud sounds, but what seems to bother me more is multiple sounds at once. For example, the tv will be playing and my husband will turn on his iPad and be listening to music next to me. The combination of sounds together make my brain want to explode, lol. 😊

I have a really strong sense of smell too, I always get told off for blurting out ‘it stinks in here’ in shops and stuff but it tends to come out before I realise I’m meant to keep that inside, it embarrasses whoever I’m with but it’s such a strong smell that it’s overwhelming and I’m always sure they’re smelling it that strongly too but they’re either not or just want me to shut up and keep it to myself 😬🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ I can smell cigarette smoke a mile away too and if someone’s been drinking alcohol, I don’t even have to be close to them to smell it but cigarettes I can smell quite a long way away, like on other floors behind multiple shut doors it’s horrible 🤦‍♀️ I also HATE being hot! In the summer I’m so annoyed cuz I want to rip off my own skin cuz I can’t cool down enough 😭😭 I also do the whole headphones on and hide in the corner hoping to be ignored to regulate thing 🤦‍♀️it’s awful it’s like we’re super tuned into the world or something? Like all feelings and senses are amplified and it’s so overwhelming 😭

Smell? No, I barely smell anything. I remember smelling things when I was a small child. I was 58, when a friend's pastor said to him, "Do you realize your friend Tentoes is autistic?" I thought he was nuts. "He works with autistic people." Oh, i guess he might know what he is talking about. Over the next few months, two other people, who would know what they are talking about said things to me, so I did a little research. Oh, THAT's why I hate sudden noises, or lights in my sight, or any "glooey" food, or knit clothes, ot tags, or shoes... I don't have an official paper saying, "this brat is autistic," but now I know why I don't keep my hands still, or look people in the eye, or stay still during worship. 😳

In the uk we have Wetherspoons. It's a chain pub, who also do food. Basic and predictable. Every "spoons" you go to has exactly the same menu with exactly the same cutlery and plates. This is Uk wide. They used to serve waffles with blueberry compot and icecream. Then one day in 2012, they stopped. Without warning. I'm still upset. And my raspberry coloured skinny jeans, spent years trying to find another pair. Still upsets me 🙃

I agreed with everything in this list. I was finally professionally diagnosed with autism (in addition to a childhood Dx of ADHD) last year after a lifetime of being told by everyone I know that I am just too sensitive and picky. It took a long time to actually identify the things that push me over the edge, like food textures, smells, lights, and sounds because all the things are happening at once and it's really hard to identify the one thing that is causing the problem. Now, I try to isolate the thing that is bothering me by removing stimuli one by one until I find the culprit. Safe foods were and are a big thing for me. Today even as an adult if given the option I will always pick turkey hot dogs over every other food available. Fluorescent lights—especially in spaces where there are no other lights like a grocery store–destroy me. Thanks for this video!

Does anyone with ADHD/ASD have what they'd call a foggy brain, just always feels like there is a fog in your brain stopping you form thinking and you just can't get your head around the issue/s at hand let a lone solve it?

Neat to see you talk about smells and odors, out of all my senses that’s what bothers me the most personally. I can smell gross smells that other people don’t smell at all, but to me it smells very strong and drives me crazy

Thanks for sharing! Why did I not find this video 3 months ago? Not many neurotypical brains can put the outward visible signs into logical descriptions without subjective opinions. Between both sides of the sleep issue and too exhausted to want to deal with other's overwhelming problems, it is no wonder why I hate leaving my home.

Not sure what I have but I definitely have all these symptoms! Smells bother, things that don’t work and loud people then I get overwhelmed

What a TEAM! You both are doing a fantastic job by helping the world not only grasp the challenges of living with autism, but loving better! Thank you, thank you for your wonderful work!! ❤

When I realized who the host of the video was I…. Became so SHY!! I mean I am SHY right now!! SHYYYYY! lol. And I promise I am saying this lovingly. I think about Chris’ reaction to Debby coming home and I smile so big. ❤

I don't have an issue with fluorescent lights, but the sun is my nemesis. It feels overbearing bright. If I am exposed to it for too long it can trigger migraines.

If you are ever able to do another video like this, please mention that some autistic people run cold not hot. I am always freezing cold, I can touch things right out of the oven, my husband bought me eating food strait out of the hot frying pan. I almost always have burns on my hands and arms that I don't even remember getting. For every hyper-sensitive autistic person, there is a hypo-sensitive one. I am hyper sensitive to sound though. Also, I feel the slightest hunger pain so I eat all the time. Also, I find eating is a kind of fidgeting that stops me from feeling other things like uncomfortable clothes. I want to crunch food all the time for the sensory experience. I force myself to not constantly eat, but it is so hard. Now that I understand stimming and allow myself to do it, I find sometimes I can rock and hum to get my mind of wanting to eat. Other than not mentioning those possibilities in autistic people, it was a good video.

Hi Debby and Chris, thank you so much for this resource! I was thinking it would be really interesting to have a video like this from your non autistic perspective on executive dysfunction 😊

I am not officially diagnosed, and if I am on the autism spectrum, I am definitely on the less severe end, but I also think I have ADHD and they fight each other out in my brain. I find myself craving a schedule but find it difficult to upkeep a set schedule. When my work schedule gets really packed, I have a hard time focusing and feel like I need to go lie down in a dark room and be alone in order to regain any focus. I am consistently stimming, they aren't super large stims like hand flapping, but I do a lot of leg bouncing, and playing with my hair. When im by myself I do a lot of rocking back and forth. Sometimes if im not paying attention to what im doing to stim I will put stuff in my mouth such as jewelry/sweatshirt strings (really embarrassing to do in public as an adult so i have to put a lot of energy into doing more socially acceptable stimming). I even recently realized I do stuff that I didn't even know was stimming, like focusing on a specific spot out of the corner of my eye, picking my nails, picking my skin etc. I don't have a super bad sensitivity to most smells but car air fresheners give me an awful headache. The sun is a big sensory issue for me, even when it is overcast outside I have a hard time being present and having a conversation without wearing sunglasses to block the sun. Ive noticed if i dont allow myself to stim i carry even more tension in my body, my shoulders and jaw are always clenched. I hate hate hate eating stuff like beans by themselves or anything like super mushy, and tomatoes. I only have like three actual friends, all of whom also have adhd/bipolar disorder/on the spectrum. Ive never thought I was on the spectrum until recently when I started graduate school. Looking back though in high school and at my childhood there are many other signs I can think of. As a kid I think the signs may have been less obvious because I was doing gymnastics and got a lot of energy out and had my parents helping me manage my needs. But I was never good at sports involving moving objects, I dont have the motor skills for that. Gymnastics/tumbling got more difficult for me once I got to certain level (trying to do full twists/flips on the beam) because I dont think I have a good sense of where my body is in space. Im an incredibly slow walker, and people still to this day sometimes have to guide me out of people's way when Im out and about because i have a hard time paying attention to where other people are. I was always super into science, school, and following the rules. My parents tried to get me to watch this one movie where a guy gets killed by a bear when I was little and I said why would you let me watch this, this isnt for kids? I started outsmarting my older siblings who are 12+ years older than me at a very young age. I dont remember a lot of my interactions as a very young child, I think I was less unmasked and unaware then. As I went to high school and started learning and being made more aware of whats "normal," being around other kids all day long and in the general high school environment made me sweat profusely. I didn't have many friends at all, people only talked to me beside my one best friend when they needed help with something. College was better because I got more breaks in my class schedule and felt less like an outsider at a clickly high school. Now in graduate school I have to teach undergraduates and it is very stressful for me. I think I have an auditory processing disorder and I get easily overwhelmed by there being so many people expecting me to be able to help them at once. Sometimes I will not know the answer to a question a student asks, and then I think of it immediately once Im by myself again. I just want to work in a lab I like, make my own schedule, and see the same people everyday, then I will know what to expect and wont feel like my environment is constantly so chaotic. I also can pick up on other people's feelings very well when its someone i care about and I feel what they are feeling to the point of which it is painful to me and make me need to shutdown/not say much until I can get away and ball my eyes out on my own time. I also sometimes dont know how I feel about something until much later after Ive had time to calm down and process it. I currently cannot go to sleep very well and turn my brain off without smoking a small amount of marijuana. Then once I do go to sleep its like im dead, im an extremely deep sleeper and dont even get me started on how difficult it is for me to get out of bed in the morning. I also feel like I need way more sleep than most people, especially after having a lot of extra things to do that aren't normally a part of my schedule. Ive slept for 14 hours straight before on a Friday after a long week. But im not depressed, I have hard days for sure, but my overall out look and functioning does not match up with someone who just has depression. If you read all this and think I could have ASD too plz let me know, thx.

Extremely helpful. Thank-you!!

These are very much like the post-TBI symptoms too.