Playing "Spot The Aspie"

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Ever since becoming obsessed with AS, I've noticed lately that I walk around looking at people, watching their behaviour and wonder if they're Aspies. I seem to be on the lookout all the time.

Also, I tend to lump people into categories by their general appearance. For example, if I see a woman who reminds me of Temple Grandin, I'll wonder if she's Autistic.

My ex-partner used to say to me, "According to you, there are only six people in this world!" - and she's right. I tend to lump people by their appearance into categories and if I meet someone who physically reminds me of someone I know, I tend to expect that person to be the same as the one I know.

Does anyone else:
a) walk around playing 'Spot the Aspie'?
b) lump people into categories by looks and expect them to be the same?

I think since considering that I may be an Aspie, and since finding out my nephew is one (diagnosed, unlike myself), I do look at people around me and keep thinking "Oh, that's an Aspie trait." I did this so much to begin with that I actually began thinking everyone is Aspie (clearly not true.) I also keep looking into my past and sorting through people - non-Aspie or Aspie. I either knew quite a few or my perception is stunted.

So yes - definitely lump people into categories.

Also, I have this thing with eyes. If someone seems to have "nice" "soft" eyes, I will instantly assume they are a nice person. Which probably is wrong. I don't know why I assume this, maybe it's something to do with the saying, "the eyes are the gates to the soul."

No I do not. I am not fond of quickly labeling people since there are symptoms that overlap and I don't know for a fact if someone is just an as*hole or has inappropriate social skills. I also wouldn't know if someone is just a creep or has poor social skills. There are people out there who will pray on people who come off as innocent so they will approach them and be all super friendly and should I give these folks the benefit of the doubt only to end up raped or killed or my wallet stolen again?

Yes to playing "Aspiespotting", no to lumping people together.

I lumped people together, when I was young, but not now.,,,,but I do aspie-spot a little.

I was surrounded by too many aspies all my life to think about spotting them.
To me people fall into categories of Nice vs mean. Likable vs unlikable. Quiet vs Noisy. Polite vs rude.
All people fit into those categories for me.
If I see someone with obvious severe autism, yes I will acknowledge they are autistic.

no, I don't do "aspiespotting" or lump people into groups, but there are some appearance traits that, when combined, leads me to not trust that person. This seems to be based solely on appearance.

Suzanne wright is one of those people who has all of those traits combined.

Most of the time, I don't believe you could tell if one is an Aspie.

I am sort of the opposite.

I don't lump people into categories at all, I think everyone is really unique. Sometimes this causes friction when everyone is expected to apply the same sort of categorization. I find it bizarre when people try to associate different physical attributes with all sorts of unrelated things.

I don't see autism in other people. I did not see it in myself and once I found I was surprised by who else was also autistic.

Sometimes I second guess myself an think my way of looking at things may be the result of damaged social perception. Maybe all the stereotyping is more accurate than I think: the racists, sexists, nationalist yahoos may just be working with data that I don't get because I am not wired for it. But then I see that these attitudes do almost continuous violence to reality. People are individuals and don't conform to these categorizations and get hurt when people either don't perceive them accurately because their expectations don't permit it, or try to coerce them into playing roles that are not at all right for them.

My answer is "no" to both your questions.
I don't try to spot who has AS or not because it simply doesn't come naturally to me and because I am not interested in a person's mental disorders. I analyze people and their behaviour a lot, but I always analyze their personalities because that's what I am interested in; I don't care if they are AS, neurotypical, OCD or whatever. Every time I met an autistic person in my life I spotted them fairly easily and as far as I can remember I have never had to think if they were or not for more than a few minutes and as far as I can remember I was never wrong about it. If you know what autism really is and you are not influenced by stereotypes you can spot an autistic very easily, unless they're very mild or have conditions that are more obvious, like ADD in my case. Also, people in the past played the "spot the aspie" game with me and it caused me a lot of embarrassment so I just don't want to play the same game on others.
I don't judge people by their appearance because I think it is stupid and because you can be easily deceived if you judge someone by their appearance. I hate cathegories and I hate putting people into cathegories because people usually put me into cathegories and I hate cathegories and labels because they're stupid and can't truly define the essence of a person, that is what truly interests me about people. The essence can't be defined with words; this is why I try to judge people through words as less as possible.

I'll admit, I'm guilty of doing this myself, but I would never actually ask someone if they are autistic, because I could be wrong.

And mostly when people play this game on me, they often think I have ADHD. I used to be diagnosed with this as a child, but it's never been suggested to me as an adult. They say they think that because I fidget/stim a lot.

Then I told one coworker of a possibility of Asperger's in me (later confirmed) and she tells everyone else against my wishes and my supervisor said "oh, that means your smart" and the thing is, I'm smart, but not everyone with AS is smart so I sort of perpetuate a stereotype.

Lately I do often look at people in public and try to figure out if they have a disorder or not. But you can't always tell because some people (mainly females) can be good at hiding it. I'm good at hiding my AS. I have got better at looking more confident in my approach, and walking/standing up straight and wearing stylish clothes that make me blend in. I have never rocked backwards and forwards or flapped my hands or had any ticks, so I know I don't as an adult. Maybe sometimes I might display a bit of nervous body language, but that's not excessive or that noticeable, and if somebody does notice I know it doesn't scream out AS. And there might be a lot of women on the spectrum out there like me. I could have passed 5 Aspie women today and not even got the slightest clue that they are on the spectrum.

I can usually tell when somebody is ''simple'' though. They sometimes have that loud, slow, slurred speech and sometimes a goofy laugh. Not saying everybody with learning difficulties are like that, but I can usually notice that type of voice and mannerisms, and can detect that more than I can AS. I can quite easily tell when a person is more Autistic, though. A few weeks ago I saw a mother and a little boy that looked about 9. He wasn't in school uniform (so obviously wasn't at school), and had sunglasses on even though it was a dull day, and he kept gently patting his mum's face with the palm of his hands. Then a friend of her's came up to them and greeted both her and the boy, and the boy looked like he didn't acknowledge the friend, he just turned around and started patting his mum's face again. Then he took his sunglasses off, and I heard his mum say ''you don't want to take those off, because we don't want the same meltdown we had yesterday because of things being too bright.'' I could just tell he was most likely Autistic.

No I don't look for folks on ASD. But after watching a whole ton of zombie movies find myself evaluating the various places I am in for defensive purposes, etc, in case a mob of zombies suddenly appears.

yes to playing 'spot the aspie"

but i've never really found a lot of people that seem like an aspie.