Guest Post: Am I Autistic?

This week is my blog's very first guest post, so it's something I've been excited about sharing. It's by my online friend Kayleigh Hyland of Kayleigh And Her Friends. Kayleigh focuses on a range of subjects, most notably body positivity and sharing inspirational and positive stories from many others who she meets online. You can check out her own blog here, and also find her on Twitter and Instagram as kayleighann88 and kayleighandherfriends respectively. Of course you can find me in all the usual places online, but this post isn't about me so without further ado, I'll let Kayleigh take it away:

Am I Autistic?

I’ve asked myself this question since I found out what Autism was. There are traits that I see in myself which mirror the traits that put you on ‘The spectrum’.

I struggle with breaking routine and like things to have an order, I also have anxious and obsessive compulsive behaviours. Though in themselves these disorders are not typical of people with Autism, they are more common than in the average person. I can also struggle to concentrate when there is a lot going on at the same time and if I’m into something, like a TV program for example, I will talk/think about it a lot until I replace it with something else.

However, I do not struggle with social cues, in fact I have a better understanding of body language than most people.

I maintain good eye contact and I can differentiate between when someone is being ironic and when they are serious.

I think this is why there is a spectrum as a lot of us will find that we relate to a number of the behaviours even though we are not diagnosed as Autistic.

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