Let's talk about Autism (it's not what you think it is)

You can read the full script of this video right here :-)
Hi there, welcome to my video. My name is Nicole Filippone, and today we're going to be talking about Autism.
If you are learning about autism for the first time, it's most likely not what you think it is...
Though Autism does sometimes show up in ways that are obvious, for most autistic people, our autism is invisible on the outside.
So, stick with me as I break it down.
Social skills:
From a very young age, we learn to hide or "mask" our discomfort in social situations. We also learn how to mimic others so we don't stand out. So, we end up appearing "weird" or "quirky" rather than as having social anxiety.
Special interests:
We often become "obsessed" with our passions. But when we learn that most people don't want to hear us talking about them constantly, we learn to limit what we share, even though, internally, we're screaming because it feels like we're bursting at the seams and just want to talk about it with someone who cares.
Executive functioning:
We struggle to start important tasks, plan and organize important activities... we even struggle to get started on things we love to do. Outwardly, we appear lazy and unmotivated, but inside we are fighting with our brains to just... do the things.
Stims also known as self-stimulatory behavior:
We rock, we move, we pick our skin and chew our nails, we bite our cheeks we twirl our hair. Most of us learn to hide the stims that would make us appear odd or stand out too much.
But if you look closely, you'll probably see a few.
This last one is rarely ever spoken about, but is an important one...
IQ:
About 75% of autistic people have average IQs or above, and more than half of us have above-average IQs as compared to only about 16% of the general population.
Why does this matter? Well,
This means that we typically do too well in school to be identified as having special needs. If our parents bring up our special needs to our teachers or school administrators, they point to our grades and tell them there's nothing to worry about.
This is what happened with me when I brought up concerns I had about my son several years ago.
All this to say...
For the vast majority of us, autism is a hidden disability. If we tell you we're autistic but we don't "look" like we are... please believe us.
There is literally no downside.
That's it for this video. If you liked what you saw and would like to see more like it, give the video a like and be sure to subscribe to the channel and click the notification bell so you're notified when I post my next video.
Thanks for watching!

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I wish could just get tested. I relate too well with everything described here. Thanks for the video.