Thanks to everybody who took part. Now it’s time to see the results. I’ve counted up everyone’s agreements and disagreements (using some amount of reading between the lines. I didn’t count any that were unclear). The ‘autistic’ answer for each statement is indicated with bold type:
| statement | agree | disagree |
|---|---|---|
| I often notice small sounds when others do not. | 23 | 0 |
| When I’m reading a story, I find it difficult to work out the characters’ intentions. | 5 | 1 |
| I find it easy to “read between the lines” when someone is talking to me. | 0 | 6 |
| I usually concentrate more on the whole picture, rather than the small details. | 0 | 4 |
| I know how to tell if someone listening to me is getting bored. | 2 | 4 |
| I find it easy to do more than one thing at once. | 1 | 4 |
| I find it easy to work out what someone is thinking or feeling just by looking at their face. | 1 | 5 |
| If there is an interruption, I can switch back to what I was doing very quickly. | 3 | 4 |
| I like to collect information about categories of things. | 5 | 2 |
| I find it difficult to work out people’s intentions. | 4 | 0 |
So, lemmy.world/autism picked the autistic option every time and scored a perfect 10/10. Interestingly, if we weight it proportionately according to how many picked each option, we only get 6.2, barely over the threshold.
Scores of 6 or over indicate possible autism spectrum disorder, so lemmy.world/autism should seriously consider the possibility that they may be autistic.
(Personally, I got 8. Go me!)
My intentions for running this test was it would be interesting and fun, and I think it was (One respondent was concerned I might have some undisclosed professional interest - I don’t, but thanks for looking out for the community). I think the main takeaway is that interpreting self-report questions can be really hard.
Should I do another? If so, should I do anything differently?
Thanks for doing this.
The first question about noticing noises is quite emphatic. 23:0. I wonder if an in-person autistic assessment could use this.
I once sat down in a therapist’s room and immediately noticed that there were 2 clocks in the room, not because I could see them, but because I could hear both of them ticking off-beat.
Rather than asking people, a room could be scattered with a few buzzing, humming, ticking, devices that could be easily turned off if the subject(?) noticed them.
Even if the person didn’t mention it, it’s possible that the annoyance could help to bring out traits.
It also had by far the most responses total. Whether that’s because it’s the most relatable, because it was first, or because it’s the one most directly rooted in the physical world, I don’t know.