9 Signs of Asperger’s in Adults You Shouldn’t Ignore

Asperger’s in adults can be hard to spot — especially since it’s considered a hidden disability and autism tests aren’t always straightforward. In this episode, I break down nine key Asperger’s symptoms in adults that many people overlook, helping you better understand the subtle signs of autism.

We’ll explore:

• How to recognise Asperger’s traits in adults

• Why Asperger’s often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed

• How autism presents differently in men and women

• The role of sensory sensitivities, social struggles, and special interests

• Why some people go their whole lives without knowing they’re autistic

I’ll also share resources, tools, and checklists to help you decide if seeking a formal assessment might be right for you. Whether you’re autistic, suspect you might be, or love someone who could be, this episode will give you clarity and understanding from someone who’s autistic themselves.

🎁 FREE Autism Bulletproof Brain Book & Training → https://www.bulletproofbrain.org
🎓 Autism Coping Secrets → https://www.learnautism.net/copingsecrets

📄 Helpful Guides & Checklists:

• A Doctor’s Guide to Adults with Asperger Syndrome

• Diagnosing Adults with Asperger’s Syndrome

• Autism Diagnosis for Adults

📚 My Book: Autism for Adults → https://amzn.to/3LVNH5J
🧠 ONO Fidget Roller (My Fave) → https://theaspieworld.com/ono
🗞 50% OFF Autism Parenting Magazine → https://theaspieworld.com/apm
💬 Online Therapy (sponsored) → https://theaspieworld.com/better

📹 Watch More Content → https://theaspieworld.com/more
⭐ My Top Recommendations → https://tinytaw.com/danrecommends

If you’re reading this, you’re amazing! 💙
Comment “I am autistic!” so I can notice you and reply back.

🔗 Resources & Links Mentioned📢 Join the Conversation🔴 Subscribe & Follow

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So Asperger's in adults. In this video, we're going to be
covering nine ways that you can spot Asperger's and somebody
quickly come in up. Hey, I'm Dan, I have Asperger
syndrome, ADHD, OCD and dyslexia.
I make weekly videos on the subject.
So make sure to hit that subscribe button and join the
most accepting family on YouTubeand learn more.

(00:22):
In this video, I'll be covering some symptoms that have been
proven to help identify Asperger's in somebody.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Asper world where we
understand autism from an autistic person's point of view.
And so before we get into the video, I just want to ask you
guys a quick question and I would love to know what your
background is. If you're a parent or partner or

(00:42):
loved one of somebody who's on the spectrum or you're a
healthcare professional or industry professional in the
field, let me know in the comments below, just because I'd
love to start that conversation with you.
OK, so let's get started. Number one, people with
Asperger's syndrome will find social situations very confusing
and they won't really understanda lot of the social cues where

(01:07):
typically people understand bodylanguage a lot more with social
cues like whose turn is to talk next, when to finish talking,
how long to talk for what, the boundaries and that conversation
and things like that. But people will Asperger's
syndrome. If you want to listen to this, a
video on the go, I actually haveall of these on a podcast.
So you can listen right now on your mobile device or on your
car or wherever you are. Just go to your podcasting

(01:29):
platform and type in the ASP world and you'll be able to find
me. Or you can just click the link
in the description down below tolisten to this.
Podcast just sometimes don't have that ability and this is
one way to identify it. And it's super common within
people with Asperger syndrome. I myself suffer from this issue
as well. So social situations can be very
confusing and because of that, Ikind of tend to ignore and

(01:52):
isolate myself from social situations.
I don't want to get involved andI avoid them like the plague.
This is all down to the fact that autism affects the
communication part of the brain and This is why it's a
neurological disorder. And this is how you can really
tell. It's like the first steps of
really telling if somebody has aneurological issue where there
may be something on the autism spectrum there.

(02:13):
So this is a really good one to look out for.
So number two, people with Asperger's syndrome will find it
quite difficult to make small talk.
Now, small talk is the conversation that people have in
social situations that just kindof comes naturally to them and
they have this natural ability to just talk to somebody who
they may have met in the bus stop or in a shopping centre or

(02:34):
whatever. But people lost burger syndrome
have a huge issue in engaging inthis talk.
I mean, how do you start a conversation?
It's quite difficult. I find it quite difficult to
start a conversation with a stranger or somebody I don't
really know or somebody who I'vejust encountered for a few
seconds. I mean, I'm not sure why there
needs to be a conversation in the 1st place, but this is
something that I found that I dodifferently to a lot of other

(02:56):
people and that I've always kindof like noticed that this is a
trait. So when you're dealing with
somebody who you think maybe on the autumn spectrum, lookout for
this fact that they more often than not will have difficulties
with small talk. OK, so #3 the person with
Asperger's syndrome may find it difficult to have some
imagination and, or just imagineimaginative story writing or

(03:17):
when someone telling the story, they can't really imagine it.
I have this massive issue, right?
So this is an example from me. My girlfriend, she'll come in
and she'll say like, I did this and work today and this person's
over here and they stood there and they had this thing here and
there was this position there. And I'm just like, I have no
idea what, I can't imagine how the layout of her office looks
or whatever. I can't understand how you know

(03:38):
the layout of, of the, the, the school or whatever.
It's really difficult. I have to really see it with my
own eyes to understand it. And I find this really
difficult. And it actually kind of also
effects my directions as well. And I'm like, when we're driving
someone, we're trying to find someone, my directions are
really poor because I can't imagine what's next and stuff.
So this is something to look outfor because it's a huge, huge
one that's, you know, definitelyeffects people on the autumn

(03:59):
spectrum with Asperger's syndrome #4 people with Asperger
syndrome are normally pretty good with picking up details and
facts about something that they may be really into.
So it's fine. Details are quite often common.
So for instance, when I, when I first met a guy who I'm not
friends with called Tom, he, I noticed that he changed his

(04:20):
trousers during the day. And we were in, we were in a
college course together and halfway through the day he
changed his, his trousers or hishoodie.
And I'd always noticed that he changed his clothes.
And I'd always say to him like, hey, you know, you're changing
your clothes. Or like when somebody does
something quite minor, like theymaybe change their hair halfway
through the day, I'll notice that the changes there.
And so those small, small details are, are really

(04:41):
interesting because a lot of people just ignore them and they
don't really realize them. But people with asparagus
syndrome really find those fine details.
And I'm good with facts. Like I love learning about facts
and I always retain information about facts.
I don't know why, but I find this fascinating.
But people on the autism spectrum definitely retain these
facts, especially with asparagussyndrome.
It's a crucial 1 to look out for.
Guys, if you are interested in knowing how I became confident,

(05:03):
got that BDE energy, then make sure you download my free autism
building a bulletproof brain starter kit.
You can go to bulletproofbrain.org right now,
Click the card here, link in thedescription or in the bio.
Or you can just go to bulletproofbrain dot.
Org Make sure. You put www.beforeit and
download the free checklist starter kit right now.

(05:25):
I promise you, you're going to be.
Amazed now #5 is social imagination or trying to
understand what the other personis thinking.
So people with Asperger's syndrome have an issue with
figuring out how the other person feels or how another
person, you know, what they may be thinking.
So for instance, I was talking to somebody about a topic and

(05:48):
that topic upset them. I wouldn't really notice I'd
upset them. I'd have to wait for them to
tell me. Damn, this has upset me.
You shouldn't really talk about this topic.
And this happens all the time, especially with their feelings
as well. I don't understand other
people's feelings. I don't know if they're happy or
sad. They have to really kind of tell
me. I mean, at very extreme levels,
I know someone's happy or sad, but generally it's difficult to
judge that or gauge that. So this is only to lookout for

(06:09):
when you're trying to spot if Asperger's is the condition that
a certain person has. If you guys are interested, I
did a video on unusual Asperger's symptoms, which are
more unusual types, and I'll leave that in a card above here.
So you can check that out after this video if you're interested
in seeing some unusual traits ofAsperger's syndrome.
OK, so number six, people with Asperger's syndrome can usually
focus on certain things for longperiods of times.

(06:32):
Now a lot of people call this zoning out, but I like to call
it zoning in. So a lot of people say, oh, the
zoning out of kind of reality, but it's more like zoning in and
it's kind of like what? Like, for instance, sometimes
I'll be somewhere I'll see something on the floor, maybe
it'll be a bit of electronic equipment.
And then I'll just look at it and, and I just zone it right
into it. And I'll start thinking about
the complexities of it, how it got there, what it's made of,

(06:54):
what its purpose was, what I could really use it for, how it
could take it apart, use it for something else, what it looks
like, what it kind of resembles,and all this kind of stuff.
You know, it may take moments and moments out of the day for
me in my mind, but it'll be likeminutes and minutes for
everybody else. So this is something to
remember. If you see somebody zoning into
something and zoning out of whatyou'd call a typical
environment, then this could be another causing factor of the

(07:17):
Asperger syndrome. So #7 is being rude
unintentionally. Now, I have this a lot, a lot of
people find me arrogant or rude,but it's not like my intentions.
I've never intended to do that. So people with asparagus
syndrome never intend to be rudeor arrogant.
It just may come across like that because again, it's all
down to that social communication and the social
imagination and understanding what is going on in that

(07:41):
conversation and where your boundaries are.
So I may say something, which isan obvious fact, but something
to be aware of is being tactful in your approach to
conversations. So one thing I'm not is I'm not
very tactful in conversations and may say the wrong thing at
the wrong time. And it's really difficult to
gauge that. So somebody with Asperger's
syndrome will definitely have those issues.
Trying to really pinpoint the the right things to say at the

(08:04):
right times. OK #8 is strong narrow interests
now. People with Asperger's syndrome,
everybody I know on the spectrumand I know loads of loads of
people now thanks to YouTube. We all have the narrow specific
interest like my specific. Interest is like.
UFO conspiracy theories and I know like as much as I can get
my hands on, I buy books on it and then I just like overindulge

(08:26):
in it and I just I just love learning about it and it's like
I just love focusing on it. It's almost like my relaxation
in a way. But people with Asperger
syndrome may have a specific topic that they're really,
really into and it could be anything.
It could just be, you know, it could be a movie star, it could
be learning about movies. It could be anime, it could be
Pokémon, it could be absolutely anything.
But if you notice that they havean obsessive, unusual or typical

(08:48):
but obsessive focus on an interest and know a lot about it
like a hyper hyper focus, then this could be a causing factory
again due to Asperger's syndrome#9 is routine.
So people with Asperger's syndrome like to do things in a
certain way that inflexible and very repetitive.
So like, I like to get up the same way every single day.

(09:10):
I like to do the same thing. I like to wear the same clothes.
I like to have my morning routine exactly the same.
I like to have my day routine the same.
Or when we go anyway, I like to plan out what we're doing and
have that routine in place because those things make me
feel calm and make me feel more secure and safe.
And without them, it would causea meltdown or an outburst or,
and it would just seriously upset me.

(09:30):
And so people on the autism spectrum, especially Asperger's
syndrome, love routine and certain rigid and flexible
patterns. It's just comfortable to live
your life like that. I find it chaos outside of these
patterns. My brain can't cope with it and
my mind can't cope with it. It's, it's difficult to explain,
but it's something that is thereand it's a, it's a huge, huge

(09:52):
factor in Asperger's syndrome. OK, so I know I said I was only
going to give you 9, but I'm just going to give you an extra
bonus one. This is number 10 now #10 I hear
there's a lot from people who. I know people with Asperger's
syndrome may find it really difficult to make new friends or
just make friends in general. I remember in primary school,
this was really difficult for meto make friends.
I didn't really have many friends in primary school and

(10:13):
then a secondary school it was even more difficult to make
friends. But I found that by playing
music, because I'm a multi musician as well, and I taught
myself to play instruments by playing music, I found other
people who played music and I then made friends with those
people and they've been my friends.
They're my only friends really that I've had my entire life.
So it's difficult to make friends because you have to find
some way of relating to them. And often the world can be very

(10:35):
isolating. So if you see somebody who's got
a huge difficulty in making friends, this could be down to
the fact that they have Aspergersyndrome.
Guys, I wasn't always this confident and I definitely
wasn't always this able. I'm able to hold down having.
A full time self-employed job. I have children and a
relationship. Across the Atlantic.
How did I do this? I teach you all of this in
Coping Secrets, which is my entry level program that

(10:58):
everyone can get. You can get it right now for
$27.00. The link is in the description
or you can just go to learnautism.net forward.
Slash. Coping secrets.
I'll make sure that it's linked everywhere in this video and the
link in my bio so you can get your hands on it, but honestly
the feedback I got, people love it.