November 27, 2022

My autism evaluation included an IQ test. But they didn’t tell me that ahead of time, so I assumed every part was testing for autism.

I felt relaxed and confident the whole time – trusting that I would be good at the parts autistic people tend to get right, and bad at the parts autistic people tend to get wrong.

In fact, they were testing for a gap between speed and accuracy. That’s common in autism. I had the gap, but also the surprise bonus of a high overall score.

I know that IQ tests are a narrow measure of specific skills, not a fair representation of general ability. But mine gave me more confidence in conversations.

Whenever I feel like I can’t keep up, it doesn’t mean the information is too complex for my brain. All it means is that I need more time.

P.S. I write from my personal experience as an autistic. What I share is not a substitute for advice from an autistic medical professional. Also, some of my opinions have changed since I first wrote them.