Is it possible that I'm slightly autistic?

[Dougie_D]

I'm 32. When I was born, doctors didn't really know what was wrong with me. They later diagnosed me with "hearing loss" and I wore hearing aids. I went through all the doctor visits/speech therapy, etc.. Then I got an ear surgery where it helped my hearing...but I'm wondering if I was actually born Autistic and had hearing loss to go w/ it. I'm not sure... There are TONS of similarities between the two. Because of all the awareness of Autism I've actually had people say that they think I have austism but they don't know about my "loss of hearing". Then lately I've been starting to freak out. What if I was just born Autistic w/ NO hearing loss but only sensory losses where people assumed it was hearing loss. What if my parents actually found out I had Autism instead, but just went through the motions of telling me I had hearing loss because it would be easier to tell family, teachers, etc.... like my hearing loss was a total cover up because Autism would have seemed more difficult to explain.

 

Either way, I feel like I'm constantly alone with both equations.

[metrogirl]

What if you have neither and something else is completely going on?

 

When my son was 4, I surely that he was deaf. Turns out he wasn't deaf but diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. I would repeat things to him over and over (the reason why I initially thought he was deaf) and it turns out his brain wasn't processing what was being heard.

[oitnb]

Besides the hearing loss, do you have any other signs/symptoms of autism? I have two autistic cousins, and they never experienced any hearing issues.

[agent1607307371]

I'm sure it's a possibility, but it's also something that can't be diagnosed by posters here. This is something you're better off seeing a doctor about.

[Dougie_D]

I guess I'm overthinking about it. I've always wondered if my upbringing would have been different if I was diagnosed with some form of neurogical problem instead of just being hard of hearing. I had an ear operation that helped my hearing in one ear, so having hard of hearing was definitely a proven fact I guess. But I think people assumed it was a lot worse than it really was maybe???? I guess since there is more awareness about Autism, it's more comforting to say I have it instead of just someone growing up with being hard of hearing. My parents have NEVER mentioned Autism to me. I don't know if they have ever thought about it as well. Like maybe my Dad wouldn't have been so hard on me or maybe even myself if I knew I had some form of it. I did take a test (when I was 26ish?) and determined that my personality was an INTP which gave my parents and myself clarity in a way? After doing some research, I believe I'm more of an INTP rather than Aspergers...because I can definitely understand jokes and humor and I have more emotions in conversations.

 

The bottom line is: The majority of people assume that if someone has some sort of social awkardness now, they would label them with being Autistic. Which is actually not the case for a lot of people including myself (at least I believe after doing more research JUST NOW). I just needed to ramble.