I have been recently diagnosed as autistic, and now I seem to see autism everywhere in my social circle. My brother, a daughter, at least two friends. . . Either there are a lot of undiagnosed autistic people out there OR I tend to become friends (more comfortable) with fellow autists, OR I am just being silly and am attributing autism to NT people with strong interests. Fellow neurodivergent folks of all types, what is your experience? (Edit: changed ND to NT. oops!)
I think we do it automatically. I only realised recently how prevalent we are, to the extent where my favourite comedian ‘came out’ to me in a conversation with him the other month.
Same thing happened to me with music. I have two favorite musicians that I listen to mostly 95% of the time: Ren Gill and Residente. About 2-3 weeks ago, I heard a new-to-me song from Residente where he says that he was diagnosed as autistic in childhood. I haven’t heard Ren come out as autistic, but it’s evident to me that he is. A lot of his songs cover struggles that autistic people endure. He even has a songs where he sings “na-na-na-na-nee-nee-nee” and shares how his mind works, which sounds pretty autistic to me. I almost want to go on his YouTube channel and tell him that I think he’s autistic in case he has as much self-awareness as I did before I found out (zero), but it might come off as rude. Perhaps if I frame it in a caring and inclusive way, it will come across better.