According to the Pooh Pathology Test....

So...according to the Pooh pathology test, I'm very much not autistic.  

I'm retaking the test now to see which questions are probably the autistic ones (because I took this a few days ago and didn't really pay attention to which questions were about which things).

So....

# 9 might be one.  It asks, When I feel overwhelmed by my senses, I have to isolate myself to shut them down.

I think this would apply to autistic people who are sensitive to sound. I don't think I am. I'm sensitive to sight and touch.

I think people with a sound sensitivity would be the ones who most likely need to isolate themselves. For me, if I became very overwhelmed, I could close my eyes.  Or just look the other way.

Even with a strong sound sensitivity, the question might not apply to an autistic people, because they might accommodate their own needs by wearing noise-canceling headphones.  

I do sometimes feel overwhelmed. Let's say in a crowded place where there's a lot going on, and I've been having to stand a lot.  That would be hard on me. But I wouldn't need to totally isolate myself.  Leaving the situation and going somewhere less crowded, less intense, and being able to sit...that would probably be enough.

I wonder what's more common, though——people who can withstand crowds and intense sensory input for long periods or people who can handle only small or medium doses?

#15 is Sarcasm and tone of voice are often lost on me.  This is very much not true for me. I get sarcasm, and I think I'm hypersensitive to tone of voice rather than hyposensitive.  

Statements/questions like this mess with my head, though. Because I think, Wait. Maybe I'm not autistic. And also, I think...Maybe I AM autistic and I'm wrong about being good with sarcasm and tone of voice.  Maybe I've been misunderstanding people all these years. 

#25 is I take things too literally, so that I often miss the intention behind what people are trying to say.

I think that is supposed to be an autism question. 

I don't think I often take things too literally.  

Although in psychological tests I sometimes do it.  It's hard to know how to answer questions with words like often, always, frequently...OR with questions about whether people tell you that you're a certain way.  

Speaking of, one of the psychological tests I hate the most is the depression one.  It's the one that asks about your negative feelings.  The lowest choices are not at all and several days.  I hate that, because I feel forced to lie. I don't have these feelings on several days a week, but I definitely don't never have the feelings either.  

I've come to wonder if it's a trick test. Maybe they pretend that they're screening you for depression, but they're really doing a study to see how people respond to not being given the choice of something like Seldom or Occasionally. How do people react when they're forced between two extremes?  

Anyway.....I think my answer to Pooh #25 would be that I know how to NOT take things literally, but sometimes I need to be told whether I'm supposed to take things literally. The only thing I can think of where this "Sometimes" applies is in taking psychological tests.

And the last autism-related Pooh question is #33-I'm under-sensitive to social cues and the prospect of danger.  

No. I don't think that applies to me.

Now I have to figure out if I'm more offended that the test refers to autism as a pathology or that it says I'm not autistic.  

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