do you think you may have Asperger's syndrome in this video you're gonna find
out hey I'm Dan I have Asperger syndrome ADHD OCD and dyslexia I make weekly
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notified every single time I upload a new video welcome back as we World
superheroes so awesome to have you guys back here I'm just super pumped because
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want to check me out on Instagram Twitter and Facebook and I have a lot of
people in my comments asking am i autistic do I have Asperger syndrome
because X or a my autistic because this so today's video we're gonna look at
seven ways that you can actually tell if you have Asperger's syndrome because
these are the most common traits characteristics of somebody with
Asperger syndrome now these are taken from a range of different things I do
videos on this quite often so if you wanna check out some other videos there
will be links in the description below where you can see more videos so people
may be coming across Asperger syndrome in the news in the media in other types
of places like clinically or doctor may have suggested it or somebody you know
may have it and you might find some parallels with it and you and maybe
think in yourself do I have Asperger's syndrome you know is this a thing like I
wanna know more about it so in this video we're gonna cover like seven
traits like I said and so we're gonna start off with those and then I'll leave
a link to in the endcard to a playlist that I created a three-part miniseries
on how to get an autism diagnosis or how to get an Asperger's diagnosis Oh before
we get started if you wanna shoot me a comment on the comment section below
where you're watching from in the world that'd be super awesome cuz I like to
know where people are watching from Kizza I'm right here now in Wales in the
United Kingdom so let me know where you guys are coming from let's start off
okay so number one is eye contact now people with Asperger's syndrome usually
have a difficulty in making eye contact that way they'll avoid looking directly
into your eyes they will avoid eye contact during conversations and they
find this difficult there's two things here they'll they will avoid eye contact
so you'll notice that people with Asperger's syndrome will avoid eye
contact so I avoid eye contact and there's a reason for that the second
thing is because it is uncomfortable to do that so there's a feeling of
uncomfortableness and a feeling of just discomfort in actually looking somebody
in the eye because I did a video of specifically on this where I was talking
about how it makes it feel like you know you're reaching in somebody's soul if
you look into the eyes you know like and I find that really disturbing because
every time you want to talk to somebody they always want to look in your eye
anyone like stare you dead in the eye I find it really unnerving and I avoid it
at all costs so people with Asperger's syndrome will have an issue with eye
contact so if you think you know you may have asked what this injury when you
have an issue iContact then you may be on the right track here with this video
now number two I find this one most interesting and this is special interest
or obsessive interest or obsessions so people with Asperger's syndrome have
excessive obsessions where they obsess over things like it could be minecraft
it could be Pokemon it could be things like Thomas the Tank Engine it could be
math puzzles science it could be anything now to me I have a bunch of
different obsessions like I go through different things so sometimes I'll be
like really obsessed with chemistry I did a degree in chemistry and then like
right now I'm really obsessed with like cameras and lighting and audio and stuff
like that and people with Asperger syndrome have a very now special
interest so what will happen is they'll be really really into something very
specific and that specific interest will be their complete and utter kind of like
that all our attention will go on that they'll you know they'll want to learn
about it every single time every down time they've got they'll be
literally learning about that topic that we obsessing over it like literally just
they just can't get enough of it it's like they're filling up on this thing
that they really really enjoy now this is very very common and I actually don't
know anybody who has Asperger syndrome who doesn't experience this because like
it's just something across the board that we all have in common so some of
mine are like Fight Club I'm super obsessed with a Fight Club chemistry
also YouTube making videos I'm really really obsessed with this and then I get
obsessed with SEO is like this thing of the moment has to have called search
engine optimization I love it so my girlfriend gets really annoyed cuz I
just talk about it endlessly constantly talking to her but at Morewood
researching it most of my videos I'm like just Google and stuff my phone
every chance I get to make sure I can just like I don't overdose on this
information so you'll definitely be aware
when somebody has Asperger syndrome or if you have Asperger's syndrome this is
a very very common characteristic so number three is something that gets me
in trouble quite a bit actually its literal thinking or literal
interpretation from communication with others and what I mean by this is people
with Asperger syndrome take things very literal so if you said to somebody like
old raining cats and dogs outside they may have an issue with actually
understanding what is going on outside they may actually think that you're
saying there are cats and dogs falling from the sky this is something that took
me a while to understand what people were on about when I say it's raining
cats and dogs I had one the other day which I still don't understand where
they say they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater
I have no idea what this is but these are kind of like social conditions that
people already know it people just pick up these things because they have their
brains act in a neurotypical way and they pick up these things along the way
it's like a learning pattern of them in school or high school or whatever so
people with Asperger's and you'll miss out on this part because their brain
doesn't function like in your typical obviously neurodiverse so it does
something a little bit different now I've been in places where you know
somebody said to me before like oh can you put this in the bin and they were
reading like a banana and they have like a cup of tea and then they put the
banana peel inside the the cup of tea or the cups he was in and I said hey can
you go put this in the bin for me so I just threw the whole thing in a bin with
a cup and I got in trouble cuz it like hey don't tow the cup in the bin I'm
gonna Wade your throw the banana peel the bin and stuff like that so it's kind
of like taking things literal and not known as long as joking so that depth of
understanding like I think being sarcastic are they joking like all those
things are completely lost and it's very difficult for some with Asperger
syndrome so if you're having difficulty with that then that may be why okay so
number four is rigid routine now rigid routine means that like people with
Asperger's syndrome have this this thirst for complete natural routine like
I love doing the same thing I get up in the morning I do the same thing every
single morning then I get the same kind of clothes on I
have the same type of like a wardrobe fool which is the same stuff that's
black and gray plain stuff and I like buying the same thing and if I if I find
like a t-shirt or if I find like a jump or something I really like I'll just buy
loads of them and I like I just bought like two the same pairs of jeans because
I know I like them and I know they fit me in it I love them so I pour to those
same pairs I just want like five are the same t-shirts and this
super common with people Asperger syndrome it's having that thirst for
routine because it becomes familiar and it's it they I don't know I just love
routine I love having the same things I love having them in the same way you
take em out you put them back it's almost like it's just like the perfect
scenario and and people with Asperger's syndrome thrive on this so routine like
how they brush their teeth that they get up in the morning will have the same
thing for breakfast they'll have they'll put on the bag the same way they may
have small rituals where they'll sit down in a certain place every single day
to their breakfast and and that kind of that stuff is very very hard wired into
people with Asperger syndrome but on the flip side also has an issue
where if something changes suddenly from that routine that they can't deviate
from that too well and they'll have an issue with it and it'll cause something
like in autism meltdown or an Asperger's meltdown and you know that's because
it's caused by deviating from this specific routine of this pattern this
flow and when you deviate from that then it becomes this a bigger issue and the
chance of change and the idea of change and the not being able to carry on with
that routine in certain way will be very distressing for that person so someone
to watch out for and think about as well if you're thinking that you had like a
routine how are you like with the change you know people with Asperger syndrome
don't like the change typically okay so a number five is a
sensory processing issues now this is common across all autism spectrum
conditions and I feel like most people with Asperger's syndrome will experience
this I'm actually not aware of people who have a solution you don't have this
and what I mean I'll break it down into little pieces
so sensory processing is the way that your brain inputs the sensory stimuli
from around you so that you know sight touch smell all that kind of stuff so
people with Asperger's syndrome may have an issue with like touch so I know that
when people touch me lightly I jump and I can't be touch lightly I like firm
pressure touch so you know my girlfriend like tries to said to me don't touch my
leg and I'll jump out of my seat and like a few times we were driving the car
like driving the car like geez you know because it's like a light soft touch and
I can't deal with that but if it's a hard solid good touch but - awesome and
I can deal with that and I don't mind that but soft touch I have a really big
issue with soft touch now other things like smells like I can't be around
certain smell so if we go to the store we'll be going to like a department
store and then they'll have like a deli counter at one side than the deli
counter all have things like garlic and onions and vinegar all crazy horrible
stuff and those smells will be so overpowering that I actually trying to
avoid this store in general but I'll avoid that section completely I like
walk around the other side and I won't go near that side of the store because I
don't want to smell those things because it kind of upsets me that the only way
to explain it at this smell actually upsets me and it's hard to explain but
that's the closest I can get to really explaining what happens another
essentially processing issue is textures so where people with Asperger's syndrome
may like have dinner restaurants so when the texture of the food may be like
overpowering and the texture may trigger them so they may even let me feel sick
they you know the textures too overwhelming and all really kind of
distress them so I know that some sources I have issues with sources and I
was just saying this yesterday with my occupational therapist that I like
having green smoothie so want to make a smoothie and they try and drink it I
kind of get really I don't know I get affected by sometimes if it's too early
in the morning and I have the smoothie the tech the texture is to mention that
makes me gag almost to throw up so I have to wait a bit and wake up wake my
mouth up a little bit and then I can have it so having issues with with
textures is a huge huge one and last for the sensory processing issues lights and
lighting so a lot of people with Asperger syndrome will have challenges
with light certain lights like you bring and lights in shops and stuff like that
they will be bright and they will flicker and this over sensory
stimulation input will will definitely impact them when they're trying to do
stuff like if they're trying to do shopping in a store or if they're trying
to be in someone's house when the lighting is horrible this will be super
distressing and it will just irritate them so much that they will get really
annoyed then it may be super anxious and super nervous and I get super annoyed
and that is a big issue I don't have an issue with lights and you might see
people doing this sometimes because they're trying to like out phase the
light so if you're having an issue with lights and all this kind of stuff then
there's possibilities that you do have Asperger's syndrome because of these
specific things I'm talking about in this video okay so number six is
repeating at people's words it's called echolalia and that there's a there's a
few different forms of it and it's how people with Asperger's syndrome learn a
vocabulary because their vocabulary is different to that of like the classic
autism type of condition where they may be nonverbal
or they may have limited vocabulary people with Asperger syndrome actually
have usually a very high vocabulary and they learn this from TV in movies and
and how they do that is they watch the TV and film and then pick up the
language and repeat that language or repeat it and repeat it almost like
trying to mimic color pits and talks so and then they pick up the language and
they'll also research that word and figure out you know what where they use
the word in context and another way is that these sometimes repeat their
parents or the spouse or the person who's next immense a something and then
that person will repeat them so if you say we're going to take the dog out then
the person will be like we're gonna take the dog out and then they'll say okay
we're going to put this in a bin and say I'm gonna put in a bin that's a little
repeat everything you say and this is a form of echolalia and it's just a way of
that person registering that data to then repeat it so I also have a version
of that where I'll say something and then after I say it my mouth will move
and then also comes like a mimic it under my breath after I actually say the
word and this is quite interesting I like a lot of people that's biggest and
them do this and you may find that people with Asperger's syndrome actually
have a slight American accent even if they're not American because they're
learning this vocabulary and language from TV and film and most you know 90%
of TV and film are American you know these days so it's something to very
much look out for and if you're watching this video and you and you may think
that you know somebody you know has Asperger's syndrome then this is a
common characteristic across the board
okay so last but not least is number seven and this is difficulty with social
cues and I'm gonna break us down into different parts so you can can
understand why I mean so people last burgers you never have a difficulty with
social communication because there are unwritten rules that you pick up through
just like learning things socially but because people with Asperger's syndrome
is brain works slightly differently to that have a new typical person they
don't really pick up on all these social clues things like knowing when it's
their turn to talk in a group conversation you know when do you talk
when that person stops talking then you talk or you talk over them I have an
issue with talking over people and not knowing when it's my turn to actually
talk and a lot prompting is missing and there's other issues like knowing when
to stop talking so a lot of people with Asperger syndrome will just talk and
talk and talk and talk maybe about the specific interests and then they'll not
know when they should stop talking to let somebody else talk or when it's
enough time that they finish talking and this is the issue I actually have no
idea when it should stop talking and I just kind of go
and just talk and talk and talk for ages and ages and people got really annoying
to be but hey ho you know that's that's how it goes another one is like issues
with knowing if someone's losing interest in the conversation so you may
be talking to somebody and you don't know if they're losing interest off
they're actually interested in the new conversation now this is a difficult
concept to grasp and it's something that is learnt socially but across because of
the condition you don't technically learn those social conditions and the
last one I'll talk about on here is issues with nonverbal communication so
70% of how we communicate is nonverbal so they'll be gestures with your hands
like signals gestures body poses all this kind of stuff all of these are
social conventions that you pick up doing again like the development
socially but if you've got Asperger syndrome you kind of miss out on these
things and they are really hard to grasp so if you have issues with social
communication and things like that then it's a possibility a strong possibility
that combined with the other things I've talked about here that you may have
Asperger's syndrome I will leave a link to my next video over here which is an
Asperger's test video so you can check that out and also in the link in the
description below you'll be able to check out how to get
an autism diagnosis video series that I made because that would be very very
helpful to some of you if you want to pursue it so enjoy my next video I'll
see you next time guys peace