I see a lot of people saying they're autistic on here. It's actually quite astounding. Am I the only non-autistic person???

You will come to meet people who are. And if there is a good amount on vizzed then yes. I am one, I have some friends on here are one. We find it hard to sociliaze after when we either finish school or college. That's why people would come here. Not only looking for a place to heal and to play games, but to have friends they were not able to make in the real world due to whatever happened. And I would say mostly comes from bulling for no reason whatsoever. I thought you were already used to people like that around on here? '-'

I wouldn't be that surprised to find a lot of people who are in a place like this. And considering the autism spectrum is quite wide you can have quite well functioning people who are still technically autistic.

I am not autistic (that I know of.... never needed to be tested for it).

Can't say I've ever been tested, but I've usually shown to have a pretty easy time reading other people and I tend to keep a open mind on things, so I mean I rather doubt it.

On the other hand my dad, brother and grandmother (Let alone a few of my cousins) are all autistic so there is also that.

The wording almost makes it sound kind of insulting, tbh.

As for me, I have mild symptoms of Asperger's, but as of right now I have not been tested as autistic/Asperger's.

maguc :

I didn't mean any insult. I just didn't know so many people here had autism.

I have Aspergers, which is on the Autism Spectrum. I only have a light case of it, though, as you can see. The biggest problems I'm dealing with right now are mostly social problems. Sometimes, I don't know what to reply with or what to say to the other person. I don't know how to start a conversation effectively, which is why I usually say something random until something happens. Although, I do tend to strike up conversations from time to time.

To my knowledge I'm not and don't have symptoms of any other conditions for that matter though someone could maybe make that assumption since I'm far from the best at socializing outside of vizzed. I do not think I've ever been tested for autism or anything else either though so I wouldn't know for sure, it might be the case. I don't think it's that surprising to find people on here who are like geeogree said since I would imagine it is easier to socialize on here for many suffering the effects of it, I feel that way sometimes myself.

There actually have been a large amount of autistic users over the years and it's great that Vizzed can provide a place for those users to feel like they fit in somewhere. I've got a sibling who is autistic and he's always struggled fitting in and finding friends. I actually have a few people I'm related to who have some form of autism.

I'm Autistic, but there's nothing wrong with that.

I am not autistic; however, it is very common on my dad's side of the family. My half sister is autistic and so is my brother. He had a very rough time his whole life and learned to read and write when he was 23 years old. In Puerto Rico, the therapies were a joke and sadly took  a very long time for him to learn when we moved here as teenagers because he was very embarrassed and did not like to have extra help or be in a separate class. As an adult, he had no option but, to learn and we write letters to each other every other week to stay in touch. I'm happy he learned! My nephew he is showing signs of autism and is currently undertaking speech therapy as he is almost 4 years old and cannot speak much and cannot express himself at all so he starts making a loud noise to express his frustration and try to explain what he wants which is mostly a combination of sounds rather than actual words. Since therapy and Preschool, he has been doing a lot better and is starting to form sentences and say words in both English and Spanish. My other nephew learned to talk at the age of 5-6 after extensive therapy in Philadelphia. I too had difficulty growing up. I could not pronounce pr or pl at all until 7-9 years old which in the Spanish language is used a lot so it did make me very self conscious. I hope my future kids do not have that problem but, if they do I'll be very happy to know how to act and how to seek help. We are all special in our own ways and we all endure different obstacles but, we should see each other as equals.

Txgangsta :

I didn't see your post as offensive, but maybe because you take the direct critical stance on things.

Well, LOL, seems like my little thread, spawned off a popular thread!

I was diagnosed as "Borderline Autistic" or PDD-NOS, when I was a babe (not counted as Autism at the time). However, my mother never told me about it. Later on in childhood, I was diagnosed with "dissocial personality disorder" (which was really 'caused' by autism and reaction to abuse). When I tried to switch from Reserve to Active Duty in the military by joining the Reserve Officer Training Corps, I was asked to take a mental examination, and that's when they said my last 2 diagnoses were wrong and I actually fall under the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Yea, that's petty good to hear I took unneeded treatment as a potential criminal from family, teachers, and counselors  when I was really "socially handicapped" by a brain disorder.

Well, it turned out that my high scores in "tactics" seemed to have been a side effect of my "Disorder" and at that time the military couldn't take in Autistic people, so I was honorably discharged (though I'm not a veteran since I was never in Active Duty).  I've got letters saying that the ban was lifted for officers and that I can rejoin, but my... eh... impulse(?), for the military as long left me.

Since I scored genius level on my IQ, they are currently trying to figure out if I'm just a High Functioning Autistic person whose a genius or a Savant.

I also happen to be the first person in my family to get the diagnoses and now I have about 3 family members (with more going to get tested) who are diagnosed with ASD.

A lot of folks don't think I'm Autistic because I socialize really well and very rarely show physical signs of it, but that's because I've became pretty good at "hiding" it and don't usually say, "I've got ASD!". I feel like that once someone thinks you are Autistic they just subconsciously start treating you like the Lepers of the Bible. Ironically, as my thread said, tends to usually be mostly Christians --in my personal experience.

As far as math goes, just in the US there's an estimated 4,411,765 people with ASD (or 0.015%),  about 641,000 (or 1%) is in the UK, and about 73,000,000 in the world (or 1%). However, each year the ratio is closing in. So, your chances of meeting an unidentified Autistic person is high; although, coming across a diagnosed person is rarer, it's still likely.

If you care, I recommend visiting NIMH or Autism Speaks. Even though Autism Awareness is still a struggle for children and Adult Children, those with High Functioning Autism or Asperger, have little to no help and ire in the work force due to their inability to do certain things and relatively "normal" appearance. Asperger's and High Functioning also do not count as an Educational Developmental Disorder (which means schools do not have to help these kids) or in the Americans with Disability Acts list of 'reasonable accommodations' that employers have to make to make a job easier (which means the employer can fire them without helping them and can't be sued for it).

I am not, but my sister, Binky (That's her nick-name) ,is autistic. She is six, and she can't really have a conversation. We got her an IPad Mini Two for Christmas, and her school is going to pay for a program so that she can tap on words and it says them for her. The program costs three hundred dollars. My sister, though autistic, is one of the brightest kids I know. She learned how to play Cut the Rope all by her self. We think she is going to be a physicist when she grows up. I have learned about autism because of this experience, and I love Binky all the same.

I am not, but my girlfriend has 3 cousins (all brother and sisters) that are autistic. Two of them are a little.. Out there, loveable just a little much sometimes. And then there's one that is actually very intelligent, soft spoken, and just easy to talk to. 

I am not but I have dated a guy who had mild autisum. I mean it's a common thing to find now days.

I am not but I am not surprised that autistic people might find forums like this more safe to express them self than they would face to face. All the power to the Vizzed user. Autism or no.

I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when I was 3. I didn't know of that until I was 12, however. I figured I was just socially awkward.

With my learning that fact, however, I have been inspired to fight my "condition" and try to function as normal as possible- prior I would have just pined it on my "awkwardness".

No, I am not autistic, and none of my family is autistic. I know someone from our school who has autisim tho.

I'm not autistic myself but I've known many people with autism in different "stages".

Some of my closest friends have largely overcome it or otherwise don't let it get to them. On the other side of the spectrum (literally) I've known some kids with horribly low-functioning autism who's families struggle to make ends meet. It really sucks.