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5:02pm July 7, 2014
Anonymous asked: I relate to so many experiences some autistic people describe, like sensory overloads and sensation seeking, shutdowns and meltdowns, and having different patterns of speech and behavior that NT people find strange. But I've never had trouble understanding and interpreting social cues (and changing my behavior to blend in when need be); it's just uncomfortable and exhausting. Does this have a label? Am I over thinking when I relate to autistic things? I don't want to be appropriative.

autisticdrift:

Lots of autistic people have learned to read and project social cues through practice, pattern recognition, rules, imitation and other techniques.

The fact that you find it uncomfortable and exhausting to read social cues is a big tipoff that you’re not doing it instinctively the way most NTs do. You’ve found a system of processing social information that works for you and you’re able to employ it when needed. That doesn’t preclude you from being autistic. I’m not saying that you are, just that you shouldn’t rule it out because you have a skill set that many autistic people don’t have. 

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