Geographically confused-is it autism too?

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I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling or it has a name but my location tends to have an impact on me.

For example when me and my ex husband travelled to his uncle who lives in the countryside, 10 hours away, I felt disorientated as I didn't have a clue where north was, which direction the closest town was, I felt really lost.

Other times when I lived in a small island, I felt like the rest of the world doesn't exist but at the same time I felt like I was cut off from civilisation. I lived in a city there!

Or when I lived in a national park area again I felt like the rest of the world doesn't exist, I felt so isolated and now when I think about that place it feel like it never happened, I spent more than one year there and it feels like a second. And from the moment I got there I felt so stressed.

Now I am closer to London, about 45 minutes on the train and this place makes me feel safe. It's a boring little town but I feel much better than in a national park with all the natural beauty. I am still alone, no family and no friends here yet but this place... here I feel like I am part of the UK. Life is happening. At the Lake District I felt like I was not in Britain.

What is this feeling? Is this normal to feel at all?
Sorry for the lot of "feel like" I was trying to describe how I feel like

If I go to a new place, I have to get myself acclimated to it----like a cat has to get acclimated to a new home.

I don't drive as well in unfamiliar places as in familiar places. I tend to become flustered in these situations, and do sort of dangerous things. I might not look when I'm changing lanes, for example.

Sort of like "doing more than two things at once," in a sense.

I'm actually pretty good in directions. Sometimes, I get myself "turned-around," though---because of my linear thought pattern.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 16 Jul 2018, 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

No. Lots of non-autistic people can't tell north from any other direction. I have to give them directions to places in terms of left, right, and forward instead of NSEW compass points.

I am more aware of NSEW than most people in that I can point out which way is which pretty easily. I still don't give directions by NSEW.

But that's only in my home town, which is in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains which can be seen from any point in town, so it's easy to keep track of where one is in relation to those.

When I play Minecraft, I am habitually lost. I don't like leaving base without accompaniment because I know I might not find my way back. Unless I make a path to follow back like Hansel's breadcrumbs (except not like that, 'cause that didn't work). Even when I'm following a friend, I might get sidetracked grabbing a flower or a mushroom, and when I turn back he's gone and I have no idea which way I'm going. I can't even use the coordinates to get back.
Another friend who has Asperger's (which I wouldn't have known except that's how he answered for my survey) mentioned he easily gets lost in Minecraft too.

Remember: only people who are resident in a certain city would know the NSEW orientation.

One has to give directions in a different manner.

In a small town, landmarks like a church could be used.

In more suburban areas, one should mention how many "lights" a person has to go before making a turn.

In cities, it's landmarks again. Plus numbered streets offer a guide. And main-type streets.

All in all, it depends on context. But, usually, directional direction-giving is not good.

Not autistic. Just normal behavior.

I don't know if this is what your talking about but when I was young I had problems finding my way around places and felt like everything was big and disorientated, but I still feel like it now. If there is a place that I like and feel at home in, for example I know leicester square and china town like I've lived their all my life from being there 4 times. Normally it takes me about a couple of weeks to get used to an area, and I think its to do with autism and interests, if there's a place I like I memorise it well.

My particular kind of autism spectrum disorder causes me to have visual spacial problems, so navigating is hard for me to.

I have a pretty good sense of direction. If I'm trying to reach a specific place and know roughly where it's located, I can easily figure out an optimal route there without even consulting a map.

Ok, I knew I wasn't too clear. I don't have problems with directions and I never get lost and my map reading skills are perfect.
It's more about how I sense where I am.
Like here where I live now when I stand outside of the house and I look to the opposite site of the road then I kinda see/sense the map, almost like ...oh it's really hard to describe...
I KNOW what's behind the building opposite me, what roads, what towns down to London and down to Brighton. Basically I KNOW where I am.

In the Lake District or in the countryside I Couldn't place myself on the map. Either way I turned I didn't know my directions in a way that I didn't have that inner compass working.
Obviously I knew where I was and which bus to take to get to the city, I just wasn't feeling secure as yeah my inner compass wasn't working. (I knew where I was, I could point out on the map but when I was on a hill walking or something I felt lost despite of knowing which way was the nearest town.

Maybe this is more understandable.

As I said I have no problems getting to A to be and I have never gotten lost.

Am I right in thinking you're saying sparsely populated, isolated places confuse you?

How do you feel when you're in London?

London is perfect. It's like the whole London map is inside my head. I feel secure in London.
Hmmm.
It might have to do something with my sense of security then.
I think Fifasy might be onto something.
Hmmmm

I get what you mean, Cannibal, I believe.

I had that feeling as a kid----that only my block existed, and anything more than five blocks away was some exotic place.

That's very interesting; I feel somewhat the same way, though in exactly the opposite circumstances. I tend to feel very bewildered and get lost easily in urban environments, but always feel secure and sure of where I am in the countryside, and was one of the best navigators underground back in my caving (spelunking) days.

I think a lot of it comes down to sensory overload and social anxiety when I'm in towns and cities - I seem to get overwhelmed to the point that information from signs and street names just doesn't sink in, and I struggle to follow sequences of instructions, especially if they are numeric (e.g. 3rd on the left, then 2nd right, etc.) I lose my bearings very easily when surrounded by buildings so that I can't see distant landmarks such as church steeples etc. I have found, though, that Google street view has become an indispensable tool for helping with this; I can plan a route much better when I have seen beforehand the kind of visual details which stick in my mind (e.g. turn at the corner with the shop with a funny name; next road after the big monkey-puzzle tree, etc.)

OTOH, in the countryside (and down caves), my memory for bizarre little visual details makes me much more confident that, at the very least, I will always be able to retrace my steps, and I'm not distracted by anxiety to anything like the same degree.

So, I agree with what you and Fifasy have said, that anxiety and feeling secure have a big part to play in how easily I can navigate. It's notable that in urban environments, I am much more likely to experience de-realisation, which I suppose impairs my attention to the kind of details which help me to find my way around.

There are different Britains depending on where you are. The feel is different.

Not geographically confused -- but I really dislike when people give directions using relative direction (left/right) as I still get those confused sometimes. Telling me stuff such as "left at the blue church, right at the railroad tracks, right at the hardware store" is useless as my sequencing skills aren't good enough, I'll forget the first direction by the time you get to the last. If you say "your destination is northwest" that's my preferred instruction.