Pattern recognition is inherent to how the human brain works...
Pattern recognition with history autism has to be the worst version of this.
Sadly this describes every day of my life and has led to some serious, serious depression problems. Being able to spot things from miles out sounds pretty amazing on paper, but it's really truly a special kind of hell when you can't actually do anything about all the horrible, horrible things you see in the horizon. To anyone else who is also like this, I truly hope you shoulder it well. It is not an easy thing to live with.
I spent so long being part of /r Collapse. It was a bit latter than expected, but it is finally here.
Spent too much useful time going for longshot jobs, and trying to be something I'm not, instead of settling for what little I can get, like other people.
In the short-term, I have co-workers questioning why I'm doing things "wrong" and "correcting" me, then I watch as my back gets strained, and we lose time, making the "mistake" I had seen coming.
I am so autistic that when I went for my adhd assessment recently, they had me do this computer test with letters and sounds, and the sounds one, I recognised the pattern within maybe 2-3 minutes of a 30 minute test. Which voided my adhd results
I think the actual worst part about this is that pattern recognition isn’t supposed to be a neurodivergent thing. Pattern recognition is like a built in feature in humans, but most people have it beat out of them in school
I thought that's part of the reason we excelled as a species, seeing the patterns to eat or run from and knowing which is which. Plus getting curious about new ones and if they dont eat us figuring out what to do with them.
The worst part is when you try to gently warn people, and they look at you like you’re the crazy one—only for the exact thing you predicted to happen five minutes later.
Then they look at you again in shock and exclaim, "omg! You were right!" To which I typically reply, "I know."
They just continue on in frustration, annoyed, not understanding why things aren't working out.
Nah, the worst part is when they gang up to say it's your fault even though you were the one warning them and not participating in whatever happens
The part that depresses you is that somehow it's your fault for noticing it sooner and not trying hard enough to convinelce others.
give an example?
I joined a large friend group that had been together for 7 or so years. There was a person that I noticed would tell different people slightly different versions of stories. Normally I'd dismiss these as white lies but I noticed a pattern. The person in question saw relationships as transactional and I highly suspected that these white lies revealed a much deeper penchant for emotional manipulation.
I tried to warn some people that I thought I could trust within the friend group, but this upset some people and I had the step way back. After all, who is the new person to come into this group and fuck things up? I kept my mouth shut and out of the drama as I had to watch this person build a giant rift within the group.
Thankfully a few people had finally remembered the warning I had given years before and started comparing notes on the stories this person had told everyone. In the end I was vindicated when people started confronting the lies, but a lot of people had to go through therapy for the years of suffering that person caused in the meantime. I'm not giving too many details, but it got bad: suicide attempts, cops, legal battles. I had to just sit there and watch it all.
Where the PATRIOT act ended up
Where GWOT ended up
Where the dotcom and housing bubbles ended up
Where the ai bubble is going to end up
Not sure of their intended reference but: Cassandra in Illiad esp Trojan Horse incident Legolas, LotR, and many other Elves in Silmarrilion and Apendices Various Atreides in Dune (though they can force people to listen, lol) I had the (mis)fortune of later viewing video of an incident where I "activated." Atm it seemed to me a very long slow progression (like 10 seconds?) But video-wise it all played out in like a second. The other takeaway was that all the stuff that I saw as "obvious" was greatly exagerated in my perception, so it was obvious to me, but impossible to get neurotypicals to credit (even to want to do) the zoom in and slow motion analysis that would be needed. I found the experience very upsetting/isolating because it proved impossible to get people to understand my perspective.
I'm not going to lie- I understood none of this.
It's simple: The OP Trojan horse a Legolas elves while Atreides Dune lol'd an ATM on the slow while the obvious was exaggerated. And it was upsetting impossible perspective.
They activated ass to mouth. That's what I picked up.
I go Prince-of-Persia/MaxPain. It has probably saved me sometimes, but mostly it just results in people thinking I'm a spaz.
...this has not helped my understanding at all lol.
I think their comment has two parts.
First, they're saying that this is a longstanding trope in mythology and literature, the character who can see the future but isn't believed, like Cassandra. Lord of the Rings isn't my thing, but I assume they're giving examples from there as well. Dune is kind of a digression, in that those characters could see the future by recognizing how patterns were going to play out, but there wasn't any element of not being believed.
Second, they're talking about being neurodivergent themselves, and having experienced this kind of pattern recognition prediction thing. They're saying that once someone caught this on video. It's not clear exactly what they predicted, but apparently, looking at the video, it's still obvious to them what the cues were that they observed and used to predict whatever it was. I guess the people around them didn't see it, and were mystified about how they knew to do whatever it was they did in response. They think that the others should be able to look closely at the video of the incident, maybe zoom in and play it at reduced speed, and understand how they recognized what was going to happen, because they could point out all these cues; but they're frustrated to know that won't happen. Subjectively they experience the situation as though it lasts much longer than it does in the video, as though time slows down, which they tried to explain by using video game references.
give an example?
Every couple weeks for the last 11 years my blueMaga family members are convinced this latest thing is going to put Trump in prison and then all the bad things they've been hearing about will go away again. Currently we're at "Bill Clinton is going to blow this whole thing wide open".
Same with "Russia's finished this time, Ukraine is about to turn it around!" since the invasion.
I worked around 18 wheelers for awhile. Eventually you develop a sense for who is going to be a problem driver before they've even fully pulled onto the lot.
Obvious signs are the company they drive for. Some companies stress hiring competent drivers with good track records, others get theirs by training people with zero record. Condition of the tractor is another easy tell. Some states generally seemed to send worse drivers as well, for example we got a lot of bad drivers from IL.
And then you've got how they pull inside in the first place. Missing the turn in, not a big deal. But missing the turn in when they were going 40mph? Did they fly or creep through the gates? Either side of the spectrum is a worry. Once through the gate were they able to follow the preponderance of signage and context clues to direct them where to go? How did they brake as they came to a stop? Speaking of brakes, do you smell theirs? Not a great sign if you do. Did you have to tell them to engage their air brakes?
Then you've got the driver. Young driver? Not a good sign. Are they in a hurry or agitated in some way? Do they have a pet jumping all over their lap as they check in or a spouse/co driver they're fighting with? Music absolutely blasting to keep them awake? Is the driver acting like this is all new to them? How good is their english and are they going to be able to follow simple directions?
And then you've got how they actually approach their dock. Wasn't a large lot, so some drivers before they've even started to back up have already put themselves in an unwinnable position just by the way they approached the dock. Did they decide to circle round the lot in a weird way? If they're having to back up at an angle did they choose the correct way, or are they trying it blind side for zero reason?
If a driver started checking a few too many of those boxes, I knew they were going to do their best to hit something. You'd tell these drivers to open their windows, literally follow you around the lot and hand hold them as they backed up, and they'd still manage to hit something.
Every single decision that every single middle manager has ever made and forced everyone to follow through with.
I have double powers as I’m neurodivergent and grew up in a highly traumatic household so you learn to pick on tiny signs that it’s about to pop off. Feel my life is fight or flight at all times.
Entire too relatable. I grew up in much the same way. Having that feeling as my baseline, my "normal", made everything else feel wrong, but I could never fully put my finger on why. I developed a sense of stoicism so that I could get through each day showing as little outward reaction as possible. However, I confused that stoicism for calmness and stability; inside my mind everything still roiled as my instincts and senses were always watching and waiting, preparing for the next time things became dangerous.
Decades of living with that level of hypervigilance paired with the effort needed to put forward a stoic exterior has worn me down. The physical symptoms of chronic mental and emotional exhaustion are debilitating; the body really does pay a toll for the mind's wounds. Maybe if twenty years ago I had the knowledge and resources that I do now, I could have done something to stave off what I'm going through.
All this to say: if you aren't already, please seek counseling as soon as possible. Don't make the same mistake I did; just like the smoker who denies that their habit it harmful, if you don't work to heal your psychological wounds now, then it will eventually catch up to you. Be well, and take care of yourself.
I became so good at masking because of coming from a environment where my needs weren't met and my true self wasn't safe to exist. I was often more concerned about making sure my parents didn't pop off that I developed an unhealthy way of looking at the world where I put the needs of others above myself - to the point of complete self destruction in front of people who cared about me.
Over the years I finally realised what was going on, but it took being with another person who also has autism and C-PTSD to observe the behaviours in one another and finally take control. In some ways it is a little tragic we both went through so much hardship while having our basic needs ignored from a young age, but in another way I'm so grateful for the miracle of having found a person who perfectly fits my broken parts so we can guide each other through it with understanding and experience.
I regret the times I've treated others unfairly because of the pressures of life and not having the resources or wisdom to do things properly. I'm doing my best now to make amends for my past mistakes, heal myself and move into the future with healthy boundaries. I've been hurt in ways I can't even begin to explain, I require a certain amount of medication just to function but I'm still here and I feel optimistic for the future. It's going to be hard work to rebuild the things I've lost, but I'm motivated to do good for myself and for the new family I'm building.
give an example?
Dudes, why all the downvotes?
Thats pretty difficult as its almost like intuition. Your brain has learned about these micro signals and must picks up on vibes.
Just describe the situation
Or knowing precisely what point people are attempting to make five words into the first sentence and then politely having to sit there and wait for the next five minutes while they laboriously meander their way through it.
How about being a witness to a conversation between two others and you can tell neither of them understand the point the other is trying to make.
Bonus points for when they actually agree with each other but just haven't put together what the other is saying.
Disclaimer: Severe ADHD here
Those are the times that make me feel like maybe I have the occasional social insight. lol. While I get confused by so much that happens, I often feel like I pick up on subtle clues and situations like that. So I feel it's a mixed-to-fuck-and-hell bag of social genius and social stupidity. It's confusing. lol
I love that actually. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I go “hold on, A, you're trying to say x, but B understands y, whereas B tries to say v and you understand w”
Always leads to the most flabbergasted double stare when they realize I'm 100% right and they'd have talked past each other for hours.
Sometimes with an undertone of “but I wanted a fight” by one of them.
This is a dangerous "skill" to have, though. Very easy to slip into the trap of assuming you know what they're talking about, only to have them end on a different point than you expected and then suddenly you're responding to a point they never actually made
I can’t do it. I try so hard but I interrupt every time and then they say “that’s not what I mean will you let me finish” then I have to sit quietly while it was exactly what they meant.
It’s critically important to develop patience here in order to deal with people getting older and taking this to the next level
My mom is a great person whom I dearly love but she’s fallen into the stereotype of old people rambling. Nothing is a simple question or statement anymore. It’s always a long meandering story with lots of detours
A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.
Community:
Values
Rules
Encouraged
.
Helpful Resources
