Yes. Endeavour Morse is the first that springs to mind. I'm sure there are others, but would need to think about that more.
Orchidaceae
joined 2 weeks ago
I am still in the process of working this out. My field (engineering) has a high proportion of people on the spectrum, but the hobby (special interest) I am most active in currently (orchids) seems to very few. I think I need to try a number of other clubs/societies as well as resurrect some of my other hobbies, but it's a real struggle finding the time and energy to do all of that.
Yeah, IT and engineering (particularly elec, mechatronics and aero) have a very high proportion of people on the spectrum.
I only sought and received a formal diagnosis last year, despite being aware that I met the DSM V criteria for over 15 years prior. I had toyed with the idea over the years, but only pursued it last year for health reasons. Getting a diagnosis meant that I had a few more levers to pull with my employment.
Some selections from my report (I was diagnosed as an adult, but my mother was interviewed as part of the process):
- Sitting in small places/repetitive movements e.g., as a child sitting for hours under mums sewing machine playing with buttons
- Limited playing with toys but fixated areas of interests
- Not allowing foods to touch each other, noted issues with colour and texture of foods
- Very formal language even as a child no child talk
Hmm, not sure. I can talk about lots of things (not just special interests) including divisive issues such as politics (and sometimes even when I know I'm likely to receive an unpleasant response), but it's difficult to neatly categorise what types of topics cause this. If I had to guess, it would be topics surrounding my (emotional?) needs that are most likely to trigger this. The current one (and this was a challenge to even type) is the fact that a combination of health+work+life factors is currently making me feel like I'm stuck with no good options to resolve them and hence going to miss out on a lot of things in life that I value.
It's not necessarily dependent on who the other party/parties in the conversation is/are, either. For example, I have an incredibly non-judgemental and compassionate GP and yet one of these instances occurred when trying to work through my health issues this year. My wife is incredibly understanding and patient as well, so it's not as though it's an unsafe environment for the above conversation either.
I also don't recall feeling like this when I know I was nervous/anxious in my teens and early twenties trying to talk to new people (before I became practiced enough at small talk). It could definitely be anxiety, but if it is it's not the typical way I experience it.