The Not-So-Typical Signs I Was Atypical
The sensical non-sensical that now all makes my Autism beautiful
- IKEA’s projected arrow floor signs
They use them to prevent people from scratching them, and they can swap out the projection if the floor display changes. Genius. I was ecstatic when stores decided to use sticky floor arrows during the pandemic. I go through stores in an exact sequence. If not, you can find me rocking back and forth while making up stories to keep me regulated. When I do this, I often see people smile as they pass me by. I don’t know if they sympathise with or envy my innocence. Possibly both.
2. Vivid imagination and lucid storytelling
I can create stories from anything from a droplet of water on my skin in the shower that turns into a magical thought bubble to sticking my HRT patch onto a shower wall to inspire my art pieces. From a stranger’s hair colour to a crow tapping a fence post in my garden, these are all ways to honour self-expression and create stories.
3. Colorful transition of my words into writing
Each word produces a kaleidoscope of joy-driven visuals as I type. Do you recall the wind-up TV toys that played the nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down? The colours flowed across the screen to form a visual picture when the words were combined into rhymes. I had one and played it repeatedly. That’s how I think daily — moving pictures.
4. Cutlery lined up strategically
Observing the shiny structure and sequence has a certain allure. At the dishwasher, I am like a magpie.
5. Counting
Counting random things like reg plate numbers or door numbers but only of specific car models or colour doors until they add up to a number I generated in my head.
6. High verbal reasoning and the certainty of mathematical tables
From childhood, I placed much emphasis on reading, spelling, and maths times tables. I would only raise my hand for these things in class. According to the percentile tests, I had high verbal reasoning because I could spell many words and read far beyond my years. But, I needed assistance with grammar, and I still do, namely with apostrophes and punctuation. I hate how they visibly obstruct me and impede my flow.
7. A fake cough
I cough briefly when talking or conversing. I’m hiding tics; it’s not a cough. Still masking it at 47, probably because an aunt tormented me about it as a kid.
8. Elephant and photographic memory
I can recall the tiniest element of most things. I remember things people told me years ago. I memorise and recall old phone numbers from my childhood without realising it.
9. Bodybuilding
Becoming a natural trained figure champion within 18 months of obesity. Probably one of the most apparent hyperfocused states for me. It is disordered eating; I wasn’t anorexic or bulimic. An emotional eater, yes. But bodybuilding comes with many levels of body dysmorphia I am still working on to get beyond.
10. Connection to animals
Hyperconnectivity and empathy with all animals, I admit, sometimes more than for some humans.
11. My Monty Python fixation
It should be on the DSM-5 — so much autism packed in every part.
