I have a friend , Leonard, who I believe may have undiagnosed ASD. For years I simply considered him to be a loveable eccentric, but I now wonder if there could be something more seriously the matter. He does actually work (in an office by himself, photocopying documents), but his behaviour is at times quite bizarre. I went with him to a club recently where the cabaret was extremely loud. Leonard was very concerned that his hearing would be damaged and during one number he stuck his fingers in his ears and stared at the stage with the same rigid expression on his face prompting a number of other people to do likewise and laugh at him. He seemed completely unaware of this and didn't seem to care what people were thinking.
He lost his temper with me recently (for the first time ever) for no good reason and afterwards remained totally oblivious to the hurt he'd caused me. He actually had to ask me later why I was being so quiet and uncommunicative towards him.
He often talks out loud to himself and sees no earthly reason why I should feel at all perturbed by this.
When he walks, he kind of moves very quickly in an almost child-like fashion. Occasionally he'll transfer his weight from one foot to the other, again just like a small child would do.
He has a sensitivity to bright light.
He takes things very literally and often can't understand jokes people make.
Often when he's speaking he'll overdo it with the eye contact.
He'll occasionally laugh at his own jokes and repeat them and elaborate on them even when I make it clear I don't find them remotely funny.
On one occasion when we were waiting at traffic lights, he kept his finger on the button until the lights eventually turned green.
We recently took the escalator to the top of the multi-storey high Cineworld in Glasgow. When we reached the top I told Leonard I felt really fearful. He couldn't seem to grasp why as there was glass "preventing us from falling down", so why should I feel afraid?
All of these things and more suggest he may be suffering from ASD. Is this a possibility?
