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Some people think autism means taking everything literally but that's actually kleptomania

I was getting my flu vaccine the other day and the nurse asked me why I checked "I don't know" in response to the question "Is the patient sick?"

She seemed genuinely annoyed when I told her that the only two truthful answers to "Are you sick?" are "Yes" and "I don't know".

If the question had asked "Is the patient showing any symptoms of illness?" it would have been a different story, but I answered the question as asked.

"too literal" is inherently subjective. Too literal to whom? What if my friends group is also neurodivergent as fuck, does this invalidate me then because it's the new neurotypical?

I conclude that we need tests for what's usually thought off as "normies". If they know about their rhetorical precision deficits surely they can get therapy to solve that issue and integrate better into society.

Similarly, if your answer to The Question of "Do you struggle with X?" essentially boils down to either "No, for you see I have A System™," or "No, for you see I have a series of Backup Plans for just for this Specific Scenario," then yes, you DO actually struggle with X.

That's why assessment is done by professionals who can interpret your answers, not online quizzes

Unironically, when I did my tests, I did complain to my psychologist about how some questions were "too open for interpretation"

Autism tests are useless because I can already see which are the autistic answers and can manipulate the results either way.

People dont tell me anything. They usually just get uncomfortable and walk away or become my lifelong friends, and nowhere inbetween. Something like a 200:1 ratio on that, though.

Seriously, why do these assessments always say "People tell me [blank]"? I can speak about my own experiences! I don't need someone to narrate my behavior like a sitcom!

Like I get that they're trying to understand how you behave around other people, not how you behave in your own head, but at least phrase it as "People tell me or I believe people think I am [blank]"; because that's how I'm forced to answer these questions anyways.

All online tests are basically

Test: from 1 to 5, how much X do you feel?

You: 4/5

Test results: You are 75% X

You: so true

You can always tell immediately which question confirms your preconceptions, so you can never answer genuinely. It's all confirmation bias.

This is all amplified by the fact that if you are taking the test, you already think that you are the thing in the test (in this case, autistic).

P.S. this includes mbti tests. Don't let their sciency looks deceive you. It's all confirmation bias, all fake.

Autism test: Look at this picture of a face, what is this person thinking?

Me, an experienced masker: You can't tell what a person is thinking from their face, they expend a lot of effort keeping their face in a socially acceptable position to hide their true feelings.

Part of the reason my therapist diagnosed me was because, when running a test like this, I was constantly asking questions to get clarification for the questions of the test because I couldn't answer them correctly because of this.

Probably around 8th or 9th test question, my therapist was already certain of my diagnosis.

The most "fun" ones are the control questions askinging you exactly the opposite of something you've been already asked.

Except inversion also reverses subtext so your honest answer has to be different than just the opposite of the previous answer you have. But if the two answers are not a perfect mirror, you might trigger too many control questions and not get diagnosed. What should you do? AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

this is so incredibly true. it's ridiculous.

The thing about autism test is, once you start deconstructing the questions the psychiatrist already has what they need lol

oh btw, i was reading some legal texts yesterday (as a hobby) and it's surprisingly easy to read for me. yes, it's all convoluted language; but at least it's precise and clear. no swampy vague language.

so it's actually easier to digest than many small-talk conversations that i've had.

I like to think people appreciate when I show them all the typos and errors and vague wordings in their contracts, tests, and EULAs.

The "people tell me I'm X" type questions on shit like this always annoy me because like, what exactly are you trying to gauge with this question? Are you trying to determine what I'm like, or are you trying to determine what other people's perception of me is? The way it's worded would denote the latter but I'm not sure that's in actuality what they're going for. In any case, I don't typically have people regularly telling me "you're so [personality trait]" so most of the time if I answer honestly then the answer will usually be "completely disagree" but then that probably skews the test towards an inaccurate result if what they're really trying to determine is "are you [personality trait]?"

Am I autistic? Regardless of how literally you feel you take statements, I still want to know whether people complain to you about you being “too literal” because I want to know if it is affecting your interpersonal relationships. If I wanted to know whether you feel you take things literally, I would add that as a separate question? Please don’t project subtext on this, I actually want to know the answer to the actual question I’m actually asking you?

People don’t tell you that. It would be rude. It would probably be someone else on the spectrum tactlessly telling you, if anyone. However, self-realization that you took many comments literally and embarassed yourself or screwed something up is why you tick that box “yes”.

If you assault the tester then it confirms your diagnosis.