For people with autism, making eye contact during conversation can be difficult. For some, this means making no eye contact at all; for others, it can mean making too much eye contact.
It might sound strange, but it's a symptom of being on the autism spectrum. If you find yourself constantly walking into things, you might be autistic.
For some people on the spectrum, a phrase like "it's raining cats and dogs" might be something they take literally. They have a hard time understanding these less-than-logical turns of phrase.
A person with autism is often a slave to their routine. A change, no matter how small, can totally set them off.
While they may be totally friendly, at the end of the day, someone with autism may prefer their own company to that of anyone else's. They aren't anti-social; rather, social interaction is just confusing, draining, and hard.
A person on the autism spectrum can understand what emotions are in theory, but they have a hard time putting that knowledge to work in real-time. This can lead to awkward or upsetting interactions.
It's not just lights and sounds, either; for some people on the autism spectrum, even textures can be so abhorrent that it throws off their entire day.
Much like the inability to understand a colloquialism, a person on the spectrum may not understand jokes or sarcasm. They require a level of out-of-the-box thinking that is hard for a person on the spectrum to process in real-time.
A person on the spectrum has routines and rituals that are sacred. It can be something as simple as the way they get ready in the morning or as elaborate as the way they keep their home each day.
A person on the spectrum can get caught in a loop of repeating one word or phrase. Pay attention to your own syntax and see if this symptom applies to you.