Thoughts on the AQ Test

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Yes, I agree- about both, and I see these tendencies in myself. If I´m in a room full of people, I tend to notice things- like the food being served, or objects in the environment. (Although, I´m getting more used to noticing people too these days, as I have made an effort to do so). If the test had used the words "interested in", as you did, that question would have been easy for me to answer. However, the wording was "I am more drawn to..." To me, "drawn to" denotes a general life situation- for instance, what I associate with most, what I love, or what I surround myself with. "Special interests" would have been an obvious choice for me. However, my special interests usually aren´t object-oriented (though they were more often when I was a child)- but conceptually oriented, or abstract (subject matter). I finally included subject matter as a "thing", though I don´t know if I was right in doing so.

Yeah, I thought it was strange that things like sensory issues were not mentioned. In fact, many of the things that really give me problems in life were not mentioned at all...

Some questions were obvious to me, and made sense, like the question about having difficulty with interruption (going quickly from one activity to another), or multi-tasking, or "I can get so involved in something that I lose all sense of time". At least there were some questions that made sense, from an AS perspective. I just thought that a lot of the questions were based on a stereotype of AS. It didn´t always seem to fit some of the realities. I could have thought up a whole bunch of questions that would have been more apt, I think. The Aspie Quiz did include sensory issues, among other things; it was a more thorough test.

This is very interesting....it occurred to me, while taking the test, that my score may have actually been lower had I taken it in my 20´s! This is mostly due to the fact that I was much less aware of myself, and how I appeared to others back then...(plus, when I was younger, I used to read fiction, but then I stopped...but that´s something else...). Anyway, it occurred to me that someone may also get a lower score due to lack of self knowledge.

For instance, on questions like "I like to do things spontaneously", I may have not really thought about the question at all but automatically put "yes", because back then, I knew what qualities were considered "good" and I had this idea of who I was "supposed to be". Even when people complained about me, or put me down for something like that, I would feel so bad and resentful that rather than admitting that maybe I wasn´t really that spontaneous, I would stubbornly insist I was. Don´t know if that makes sense...but I think it would have affected some of my answers to the questions.

Also, around the same time, I was quite oblivious to how I came across in social situations, so for a time I thought I was better than I actually was, and I didn´t pick out the little cues that would have told me people were irritated. Another thing that might affect some people taking the test, I think. It takes a lot of self awareness to answer the AQ.

Thanks for your input...I find that really interesting! I have no idea how other people see things or imagine them, so, after taking that test, I´m really fascinated by this.

If anyone else wants to explain how they "create pictures" in their head, I´d be curious to know!

(Boy, I sure am posting a lot tonight, I guess I have to take advantage when WP is working...)

Question: "I find making up stories easy". - well, if they mean writing them, I am pretty good at making up stories, so- yes. (Though I´m not good at making them up spontaneously, i.e., orally). Is there any indication that autistic people can´t make up stories? I would think that would be just a matter of personal talent, and that it fluctuates with the general population too...(?)

What about autistic fiction writers? Contrary to popular belief, there ARE some creative and artistic people in the AS community...

There's a "post a pic[ture of yourself]" thread in the member forum and I always seem to look at the backgrounds. I'm curious where people are and what stuff is around them. A few minutes ago I was looking at a picture of a guy in his living room and trying the read the titles on his bookshelf. If he walked past me tomorrow then I probably wouldn't recognize him, but if somehow I knew who he was then I'd remember that he had read Long Way Gone.

This was quite insightful. I was a lot more awkward 20 years ago, but I had no understanding of it.

Exactly the same for me !

I haven´t checked out that thread yet. However, at one point a WP member changed her old avatar and posted a picture of herself, where she was wearing a hat. Of course, my focus went immediately to the hat. I always look first at things like hats or earrings on people.

I was at a get together for New Years Eve, where there were 2 people I had never met before. If I saw them tomorrow, I would not remember their faces, but I can still remember exactly what each of them ate and drank on New Year´s Eve. (As well as the dvd´s the host owned).