Is there anybody else?

It began with ticking clocks. I can't stand them. I can hear a clock ticking in another room. I can hear a watch ticking a few feet away.

Weird. I wondered - does anybody else hate ticking clocks? So I googled, all kinds of stuff came up.

A lot of it was about autism. Well, I sure as hell wasn't autistic. I just didn't like ticking clocks.

Or flourescent lights. Or computer monitors, because I could see the flicker. Or criss-crossing conversations. Or talking on the phone, crowded visual fields ...

Sure, I had an autistic uncle, and i rock sometimes and have strange eating and sleeping habits but ...

Holy shit.

The neuropsych exam was easy. Really, really easy. Norman Rockwell paintings showing people in certain ... poignant situations.

A sailor is standing intimately close to a blonde bombshell on the street. Her hair is thrown back, she's smiling and leaning into him. He's going to get lucky, for sure.

Through the window are a bunch of rich old men, neglected their martinis and cigars in favor or leering enviously through the window at the lucky sailor.

The doctor asks, "What is the ... irony here? What is the point?"

My eyes scan: Sailor. Blonde. Rich old guys.

I can't understand the painting. Why are they looking? Why is he so close to the girl, is he telling her a secret? Is he a spy? Do the old men know he's a spy? Is there some other detail I'm missing?

I don't understand the painting. 30 more seconds.

I hand it back to the doctor. "I'm sorry ... I just don't know what it means."
(I figured it out 12 hours later, in retrospect. They have money and privilege but yearn for the common pleasures of youth.)

The doctor grabbed another image, "I think you'll do better on this one." The Embedded Image Test - a triangle was hidden in a detailed drawing of a baby carriage.

"There it is", I pointed.

He glanced up from his watch, "fourteen seconds. Most people can't find it at all. Of those who can, ninety seconds is the average time."

The test went on for another 2 hours. This particular doctor had tested over 6000 people before me.

This is how I learned I had mild Asperger Syndrome, or as I prefer to say, I am Aspie. This is where I started to learn about the misunderstanding, the prejudice, the differences and amazing gifts of neurodiversity.

Welcome to my blog.