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Episode 82 - We Take An Online Autism Test!
42 Plays3 months ago
Welcome back to ADHDville, the podcast where hosts Paul and Martin (ex-co Mayors of ADHDville) explore the wild, wonderful, and sometimes confusing world of ADHD—and beyond! This week, we’re diving into a big question: Could we also be autistic? 🤔
In this episode:
- We take online autism tests (AQ-10, CAT-Q, RAADS-R) and share our scores.
- The overlap between ADHD & autism—why so many of us wonder if we’re masking traits.
- Hilarious (and revealing) Autism quiz questions like: "Do you have compulsive thoughts about getting injured in extremely specific ways?" (Wait, is that not normal?)
- Pub Quiz Time! Test your knowledge on bizarre animal space experiments (spoiler: one is a total lie).
- A listener question: "How do I remember to drink water?!" (Spoiler: We struggle too, but we’ve got hacks.)
Whether you’re neurodivergent, questioning, or just love a good detour into random facts (hello, space geckos, this episode is for you!
💬 Drop a comment: Did you take an autism test? What was your score? Let’s chat!
👍 Subscribe for fresh ADHD (and maybe autism?) insights every Tuesday!
💬 Put quill to paper and send us an email at: ADHDville@gmail.com
Theme music was written by Freddie Philips and played by Martin West. All other music by Martin West. Please remember: This is an entertainment podcast about ADHD and does not substitute for individualized advice from qualified health professionals.
This is an entertainment podcast and does not substitute for individualized specialist advice.
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Transcript
Welcome to ADHDville
00:00:00
Speaker
Straight into it. Back it but in the proverbial room. And we're back in the room. actual room. I know. And this episode is for anyone who is ah interested in how we, the ex-comers of ages.
00:00:16
Speaker
score on a bunch of online autism tests and then we kind of get into it. um So, yes, so let's dive into it. Yeah, we're we're going to dive in headfirst.
00:00:27
Speaker
um So let's go to a place where the distractions are landmarks and the detours are the main roads. Welcome to ADHDville.
00:00:36
Speaker
Oh, yes. Intro music. Measure up. Measure up.
00:00:56
Speaker
There we go. that' That's more measuring the stretching, isn't it? Yeah.
Meet Your Hosts: Paul and Marty
00:01:05
Speaker
Anyway. Hello, I'm Paul Thompson. I was diagnosed. Yes, I was. No denying it. Denying it by now.
00:01:11
Speaker
With the combined AD, H and the D crawling towards a bunch of years ago. Two, in fact. A pair of years ago. pair of years. Are you doing anything for a pair?
00:01:24
Speaker
Not in this game. in this game. And I'm Marty West, and I was diagnosed with the combined ADHD poo-poo bladder in 2013. And we start off, um as we have been recently, um sitting in the Crown's Agitated Head pub.
00:01:40
Speaker
yeah um And we are going to... Yeah, and we wait we but but so in the week, we did an an autism assessment test, so we're going to dig those out.
00:01:55
Speaker
There is also pub quiz. I do like a pub quiz. I'm excited about that. And we have one listener question at the end. so we've got a lot to crack through, T. Okay.
00:02:08
Speaker
so And I don't know what the question is, Cyrus. I know, know. I'm sure you can pitch in. So let's quickly jump into the into the official tractor and we're going to drive off. Where are we going, Mr. Dompson?
00:02:24
Speaker
Where should we go? Let's go. We go to the park, Martin. Oh, I do like the park. Let's get in the tractor and go. Yes. Let's go. Squeeze squeeze
00:02:39
Speaker
are
00:02:52
Speaker
Did you know, the way, Park Life, did you know I don't know how it is in the States, but in England, when he went to the park, you went to visit the ducks and you took a load of bread with you. Yeah. do you know that it's about the worst thing, the worst thing you can give a duck or a swan is bread? Yeah.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it's weird. Yeah. Why wouldn't duck one bread? don't know. This planet's really bad for them. Anyhow. Make it bloat them out.
00:03:22
Speaker
um Exactly.
ADHD and Autism: Overlapping Traits
00:03:24
Speaker
and um The reason why we we decided that we would do these online a autism tests is because if you have ADHD, there is a fair chance, there is a good cracking chance that you may also and be masking some autism.
00:03:44
Speaker
some aut
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah. Autism is a big subject, obviously, at the moment. now more More people have it than they than they think they do.
00:03:57
Speaker
ah would so I would suspect so. So we just dipped our toes in. All right, and Mr. T. Then autism, autism and in all its guises, and so i think that's a really important thing to point out.
00:04:11
Speaker
Autism, you know, it can be confusing. It's like what is and isn't autism? It's a minefield. Yeah, because certainly there's a whole bunch of traits that overlap with ADHD. and yeah So almost think of them as like a sort of a brother in and sister.
00:04:33
Speaker
You know, that they're kind of quite closely linked and they kind of tend to fight each other a lot, of like squabbling siblings. Siblings, yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
Squabbling siblings. Right. so um i yeah Yeah, that's true.
Paul's Autism Test Journey
00:04:52
Speaker
So I found a bunch of tests. There was like the AQ10, the the RAADSR, and the AQ. The TLDR.
00:05:04
Speaker
so So there was a whole whole bunch and i did about four of them. um yeah I made I didn't so much. let's Let's kind of see where you netted out.
00:05:24
Speaker
Well, I netted out a one. I can't. I have to be be honest. I have to be honest. I didn't actually know which one it was or wasn't, right?
00:05:35
Speaker
ah becausewa has like I can probably guess based on your score. The first one I can probably guess.
00:05:43
Speaker
Right. The first one I did was the longest one, Martin. It had 80 questions. ah dont yeah I know. In my mind, in my silly little mind, 80 questions seems about the right number of questions.
00:05:57
Speaker
Some of them are only like 30. Right. Well, how can you possibly with 30 questions? ah So on the one that had 80 questions, I came out as, they as their words, overwhelmingly autistic.
00:06:14
Speaker
All right. 139. 139 I scored. I'm not sure what out ah of, but probably out of about 150. That could be. And when I did it, I was, have to say, I was conservative. When they ask you, they provoke questions, like with all of these tests, they provoke questions.
00:06:33
Speaker
And i I erred on the side of being conservative about how I responded. You know, I wasn't trying to, like, push my score. best if that makes sense and I came out high clearly I suspect that was the cat cue I suspect yes just based on your think so your score and right so so yours just check you are male right
00:06:58
Speaker
something hundred thirty nine so on the thirty nine yeah and so on the catque the average autistic male goal um let me just check you you are you are you are male right um And I'm average.
00:07:13
Speaker
Averagely male. um The average autistic male score is 109. Okay. On that, and you're 130. okay on that a yourre hundred and thirty over um i and uh and basically if you get over 100 that indicates camouflaging autistic traits so that's like so that would be you kind of just kind of dampening down your autism traits so my so you said you were conservative right
00:07:50
Speaker
um i On my test for the for the kaqueue I think I to go down the middle and ah was trying to answer them and take away the masking part of it you know like the compensation part of it so i was trying to kind of okay so i was trying to kind of um so if it would say you do you find socializing hard work yes then i and then i guess that's a good point yeah and then i would think well actually you know what i can and i sometimes do i
00:08:37
Speaker
coming in and and talking to a whole load of people. There's part of me that actually quite enjoys that. But then I think back and I go, cry yeah, that's only been in the last 10 years or so.
Interpreting Autism Test Results
00:08:52
Speaker
For most of my life, have to kind of go, ah well, yeah forget my coping strategies. Let me just concentrate on the on the earlier part. And then I go, yeah, no, I do find it difficult.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah. So I scored for the CatQ 154. I'm exactly the same. Ooh. 154, Thompson. But I think that probably... Congratulations.
00:09:20
Speaker
So you're 139, was it? Nine, yeah. yeah Yeah, and you were conservative. know And I think I was a little bit more... I was not as conservative. Rambunctious.
00:09:33
Speaker
um was a little bit more like... Come on, let's go. um You're rumbuctious. Right, and not to think about who I was now. I'm almost like trying to think about who I was in the past. Okay.
00:09:45
Speaker
So, yeah all right, so you're 130 now. So we're both. That's fair, because like now I'm i'm quite comfortable in social situations now. boom yeah but definitely was time. Because I've lost lot my shame. It's little bit...
00:10:03
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I'm bit less less a bit more shameless now. Yeah. um less Less giving a fuck, basically, about how I've come across. So the average male is 100.
00:10:15
Speaker
for that for okay both of us um did you have another test that you did i did about three or four other tests but um as as you know the the indisciplined part of me and probably ironically autistic part of me I didn't actually note down what the tests were that I was doing.
00:10:38
Speaker
All right. Go on then. Have you got a score, though? All the other tests. like No. Oh. Well, some of them, they just sent me. They just didn't even give me a score. They just said, oh, you're you're low.
00:10:52
Speaker
All right.
Online Tests vs. Professional Assessments
00:10:54
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, I... Yeah. They just said I was low. Low? All right. So you had one that was... Low underwhelming kind of level levels of autism.
00:11:07
Speaker
Right, right, right. So I had... heads ah um I scored 174 and 160 is strong evidence of autism.
00:11:19
Speaker
a Okay. I did the CATQ and then on the AQ, the autism spectrum quotient, I got 36 and basically 79% of autistic people score over 32.
00:11:37
Speaker
So I'm kind of definitely scoring high and there as well. Yeah. Actually, now I'm remembering, I was kind of like over the limit on one of them.
00:11:48
Speaker
I was over the cusp level. So was like, you know, okay, you know, the elements of autism were clearly there, shall we say. Right.
00:12:01
Speaker
And then I did the AQ10, which was a very short test. And it's called five, which is like middle, which is like meh. I don't know. man Might be. Might not be.
00:12:14
Speaker
it was like That was an underwhelming risk response. But the CATQ, the RADS and the AQ was a lot higher. a lot higher. Yeah.
00:12:25
Speaker
boom So what what are we what are we saying about this, Martin West? Well, because my I just found well, I did a bit of research on the research and it it came up that, you know, there's a lot of actually this lets let's take a step back.
00:12:46
Speaker
with As ever with our podcasts, we're not a telling people how to
Exploring Neurodivergence through Tests
00:12:51
Speaker
think or behave or what to do kind of podcast. Or experts. There are lots of other experts. We're not experts.
00:12:57
Speaker
There are other podcasts that would do that for you. So, you know, we're not that. We're just like we'd like, oh, we've just started this journey kind of a thing, you know, and let's see where that goes or where it doesn't, okay? Yeah.
00:13:13
Speaker
So that's it. Okay. So I really, where do we want to be really clear about this. And in fact, we were chatting before we came on air about this. Okay. What do we want to say about this?
00:13:24
Speaker
I mean, are there conclusions that you can make um or are there not? So my, my conclusion was that limited for me personally, I'm,
00:13:35
Speaker
fairly limited level of, like, it helped me, made me exclude Asperger's maybe, for example, because a lot of these tests are, tend to be high um Asperger's slash high performing autistic types as a bias, right? Right.
00:14:07
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's, that's my, what I got from it. It's so it's, it is about, you know, performing autistic people and or Asperger's.
00:14:20
Speaker
So it helped me define what I, a little, a little bit about what I am and what I'm not in terms of the, the autistic spectrum. All right. um Yeah. I just had like a, Ooh,
00:14:35
Speaker
My takeaway is that it's these things are for people who think they might be autistic and then have a little suspicion that they are.
00:14:48
Speaker
And then they go on and they see what their tests are. And then to me, it's like a signpost that, that if you're the,
00:15:00
Speaker
Well, basically, if you are autistic, that's that signpost will lead you to and you will do more research and you'll go deeper and deeper and deeper into it.
00:15:12
Speaker
And then you'll be able to kind of either self-diagnose yourself after a lot of... research or you'll go and get an official.
00:15:26
Speaker
So yes this is kind of like a toe in the water. It's like a little... yeah Let's test it. Dip in the toe. Yeah. let's It's like a first. it's I think it's probably people's first, one of their first yeah into you know um first things that they do, right? The first little bit of research is these schools. Yeah.
00:15:49
Speaker
Because you're not, I guess it's a point to define what it's not. It's not going to define you as being autistic or not. No.
00:16:00
Speaker
It's not going to give you any particular answers. At best, well for me personally, at best it might might start to define, in my case, okay, um probably I'm definitely not Asperger's, for instance.
00:16:15
Speaker
So that but that was pretty much it. And it made me kind of curious to maybe develop it further if I have the cash to do it or the cash, the time or the will to do it.
00:16:26
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's that's it, really. it's It's the, it's the um yeah. um Yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
But there were some really interesting questions that will pop up. I think, i think for me, as we were saying earlier, it's how you think about those questions. Like I can remember there, and there was another podcast, right.
00:16:55
Speaker
And it wasn't to do with the neurodivergent at all, but the host was in my mind was clearly or autistic. Right. I mean, I mean, he just had that mind, um, you know, he could, um,
00:17:13
Speaker
he would note down the gas prices for petrol prices everywhere and it all it in the cat he would go home and log it all.
00:17:25
Speaker
he could He could say pi numbers down the hundreds, right? he could he could just ah He could stand there for hours and just go through 3.14 and then just go on and on and on and on, right?
00:17:42
Speaker
And then he did the autism test and then he came back negative. And I think it's oh on these online quizzes, it's down to how you think about the question.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah, how you interpret them. Really sways the result.
00:18:03
Speaker
Totally. Yeah. yeah i'm just I'm just trying to because i think of some of these questions. before I got my ada but i've got my ADHD diagnosis kind of almost to you two years ago, remember I did an online ADHD test, okay? Yeah.
00:18:22
Speaker
And um it came out kind of low. And then I watched ah and i um a podcast on YouTube and actually told me how to interpret better, how to kind of how to approach the test. so So I redid the test. It came out high.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. And point being is now, I mean, clearly, I mean, I'm so obviously ADHD. It's just ridiculous, you know. Right. Yeah. it's know to me It's who's answering the quiz. Is it your masked self? Yeah.
00:18:56
Speaker
Or is it your unmasked There you go. Exactly. Yeah, I try to put that masked version of me away. um Or is it or even beyond that, is it the ADHD version of Paul two years ago?
00:19:14
Speaker
or is it the ADHD Paul of now? you know, i know now more educated about it, you know, more aware and a lot more unmasked.
Intrusive Thoughts and Autism
00:19:26
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So did you, did you write down some of the questions? I think yes you, there were some weird ones that pop out that made you kind of like sit up.
00:19:37
Speaker
one of them said, one of them was, the provocation was, I sometimes have compulsive thoughts about being injured or having other bad things happen to me in extremely specific ways.
00:19:56
Speaker
What? To me, that sounds like, i mean, I know, God, how many times we're going to say it during this episode, but I'm i'm certainly not an expert. To me, that sounds like schizophrenia.
00:20:09
Speaker
Wait, what? Does it? Yeah. Well, schizophrenia, people, autism, autistic people were diagnosed before 1980 in America.
00:20:21
Speaker
It was lumped under schizophrenia until 1980. Right. it's only early since 1980 that it wasn't considered a kind of, um you know, on the spectrum of schizophrenia, which is insane.
00:20:35
Speaker
Right, so hang on. So I'll read this out again. i sometimes have compulsive thoughts about being injured or having other bad things happen to me in extremely specific ways.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's me. Is it? And I said yes, absolutely. little lowly Oh, blimey. Okay. Okay. See, this is interesting.
00:20:58
Speaker
This is interesting. So maybe I'm not ready to want to to really... ah Maybe I don't know myself well enough yet to actually respond to that question.
00:21:09
Speaker
Right. don't know. Because my gut reaction, if you like, or if I'd answered this, you know, maybe even couple of years ago would have been, no, I don't.
00:21:22
Speaker
Right. ah but Okay. But because I spend quite, ah I have spent quite a lot of time internally looking at myself, i I already know the answer. so So the answer comes out straight away, which is um I sometimes think, so when I'm walking down the road, say I'm walking to work, right?
00:21:41
Speaker
I'm going to work, I'm going to the station, I think, yeah, I'm just walking down here and there's a gas station or petrol station there. What if a car just kind of came out of petrol station and then just hit me, right?
00:21:53
Speaker
And then I ended up in hospital so that I didn't have to go to work that day, right? Right. that is ah and That is me fantasizing, if you like, or having these intrusive thoughts about specific injuries
00:22:11
Speaker
that would happen to me. like Oh, but I wouldn't think about, I do that, but I wouldn't think of specific injuries. Well, not necessarily specific injuries, but but it's kind of like, here's a very specific specific thing where I'm walking down this thing and think, oh yeah, ah a a car could just hit me and then I end up in hospital with some broken bones, but nothing serious, but I would but i would then not be able to go to work.
00:22:42
Speaker
Oh, I won't do that. I do that. Well, there we go then. That's it. That's it. Right. i The most common one I have is like if I'm going down a long straight road, ah if I go down a long straight road, I'll think, what if I didn't wait for the next turn left or right? I just took a left and went down this field.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah. I'd like yeah over the canal and see what would happen and where I we did where would i end up. And before I know it, I'm at home.
00:23:16
Speaker
Right. and Like having gone down the rabbit hole of what the outcomes might have been. All right. So that doesn't sound like there there's any specific harm. It's just like you're just going off. No. You're just going off road for a while.
00:23:29
Speaker
Right. Yes. right it's I mean, ruin know ruining someone's crop. Right. It is plowing your way through their cornfield.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah. Whereas think. definitely have those thoughts. Well, I read that question very literally, which is also very autistic. Right.
00:23:52
Speaker
Yes. Because it said, right. Even the way I read the question was autistic because it said things. So I sometimes have compulsive thoughts about what about being injured or having other bad things happen to me in extremely specific ways.
00:24:10
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Mine isn't very specific. Although it kind of is, isn't it? Yeah. why It is. i mean like It's so very specific.
00:24:21
Speaker
So down the road and drive, right? yeah And then I kind of think, yeah what would happen if I just swerved off to the left into the incoming traffic? Like, yes what would happen?
00:24:33
Speaker
i mean, you don't do it, but you kind of think, yeah you almost kind of see yourself like swerving off and you hit someone and then your car would start rolling and then what would that be like? And then it'd be upside down and the radio would still be on and they'd be like, wham, playing, you know, Merry Christmas.
00:24:51
Speaker
Last Christmas you gave me, or whatever, you know, something horrible. And you just like. Every next day you gave it away. And you're hanging upside down, know. Right, listen to George Michael Yeah, and you're thinking well, you know, he's dead now and I almost died these it Me in that situation i'm already going down another tunnel thinking George Michael, or he was Greek and thinking Demis Roussos Right Was he Greek? I'm upside down Yeah
00:25:25
Speaker
He was. All right. There we go. Some yeah famous Greek people. So that that's me thinking specific intrusive thoughts that are very specific. Yeah.
00:25:37
Speaker
Yeah. Have you got any any other and other questions? Yeah. um I'm more interested in finding out about things more than i am finding out about people right
00:25:57
Speaker
And how how did you yeah how did you answer one? I said, um no, I'm not. No, I think i because that it's not actually yes and no. It's not black and white.
00:26:08
Speaker
ah thought i think it was like a little bit yes and a little bit no, because somewhere in the middle. I think what they're getting at is like people with ah who are autistic are generally more obsessed with objects than they are about people.
00:26:22
Speaker
You know, like noticing when I was a kid, for example, I noticed a lot ah the um number plates of cars a lot.
00:26:33
Speaker
Right. And I kind noticed I wouldn't go down a rabbit hole of like, you know, like trying to kind of do kind of mathematics about whatever, because there wasn't there wasn't any is too random. Right.
00:26:45
Speaker
Number plates. But I was kind of obsessed about number plates. Right. So I answered yes, because okay i I will be interested in someone for like little bursts of time, right? Like I'll be interested in you during this podcast, but then we stop recording and then I'm not interested in you anymore.
00:27:10
Speaker
I'm interested in something else, right? That was quick. I know, right? I just move on. and And i think... how much like How much do I know about typefaces, right?
00:27:27
Speaker
How much when I'm just going down the road, Am I thinking about my brother or my sister-in-law a little bit sometimes? But most of the time, I'm going, all ah that's ah oh, look, they use Times for for for that font.
00:27:45
Speaker
that's ah' That's not... Right. ah i wouldn't Yeah, I wouldn't have chosen that font. Don't use Comic Sans. Right. Yeah. um But now he's saying that.
00:27:56
Speaker
Yeah. ah so Now I think i could it be easily I could have easily got my score up then. I mean, um so in all honesty, right, if someone said, okay, right, here's two here's two books, right? One book is about...
00:28:13
Speaker
Um, you know, you're, you know, someone that you know, right. Um, and, and it's got some stuff in there and then there's a book of like things that you're really interested in. It could be like, whatever it is, right. ah Whatever you're interested in.
00:28:29
Speaker
um yeah I like synths. I like all all kinds of music stuff. I like yeah books and stuff. um And then if if that happened to me 10 times, I might pick the book about the person twice, maybe three times.
00:28:43
Speaker
But I'd probably more spend more time interested in ah things I'm interested in.
00:28:54
Speaker
I don't know. i almost feel like interesting people. I flip-flop. Well, yes, but I think for me, in all honesty, interest interesting in other people is like almost when I have to be, when something's happened or someone's upset or there's some or there's a question that I need to have answered or there's some drama or something that needs to be yeah sorted out, then, okay, my attention will turn to that.
00:29:24
Speaker
but But if everything was flat, my attention would go, oh, it'd be over here. I'd be looking at this thing and this going down this rabbit hole and listening to this podcast. Right. You know.
Objects vs. People: An Autistic Trait
00:29:36
Speaker
i Yeah. funny Funny enough, today, on the way back from a client, i went i was teaching English to a client. where there was like four clients in a room and they work for like some industrial kind of company that make so massive like massive pieces of steel for like creating dams and stuff like that like each one piece of machined steel weighs about four tons right for one piece right and in front of their warehouses they've got this like
00:30:10
Speaker
lines and lines and lines and lines of steel ingots right well i was absolutely fascinated actually i did i photographed them i asked permission i photographed spent two hours photographing these massive two-ton steel ingots today
00:30:34
Speaker
And I also like the relationship between objects. So, yeah, there you go. All right. Fair enough. it's It's interesting how
00:30:46
Speaker
it's it's like, yeah, because there's a part of you that the feels like it should say, no, I'm way more interested in people than I am things.
00:30:57
Speaker
And then you sit there and you, like, really think about it. And you kind of go, oh well, actually, yeah, I am interested in people, but but I'm interested I spend most of my time interested in things than I am people. Yeah.
00:31:12
Speaker
And also the relationship between things. You know, so...
00:31:19
Speaker
It's interesting. Yeah. It's interesting. yeah I suppose in the end, this test, it helps you go down that like path of getting to know yourself.
00:31:29
Speaker
What's more autistic than that? Yeah. Right.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:41
Speaker
Hello? Dead space. Mm-hmm. Hello. Yes. Ted's base. I like a bit of Ted's base. Yeah. I suppose we were talking about is, you know, you know, putting to one side autistic or not, not autistic or whatever, just getting to know ourselves. What, how do we function? How does our brain work?
00:32:02
Speaker
What do we notice? What do we, don't we notice? What do we get passionate about? What we don't get passionate about. Hmm. Right. and Which is always an um poison ongoing thing, isn't it?
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah. and And I suspect that a autism test would probably because I haven't had one, so I don't know, would probably be going into how you answered those questions more, right?
00:32:32
Speaker
You would have the discussion that we're having now. And then that would like sway one way or the other. You might kind of go, oh yeah, actually I would, I would now answer that differently after I've chatted about it.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah. So have you got any other any other questions that you popped up for you? no. no always I've got a couple more. okay well Okay, so we're 33 minutes in.
00:33:03
Speaker
Okay, all right, just a couple. In a social group, yeah I can easily keep track of several different people's conversations. Where do you score on that one, Martin?
00:33:14
Speaker
Um, I said, no, ah couldn't, I could. Yeah, me too. Right. That was obvious for me. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
I mean, I'm the polar opposite of that. Actually, it would, it would do my nut in and do my head in to keep track of more than one conversation.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another one, another easy one. I find making up stories easy. Yeah.
00:33:47
Speaker
Where you on that one? Oh,
00:33:52
Speaker
do I find them easy? You know what? To make tell stories. That was an interesting one. I don't or i haven't found it easy for the longest time, but.
00:34:04
Speaker
since I became interested in stories and storytelling and how you tell stories and how they're constructed and how, um, how they work, then I, I find it easier to tell stories now to kind of like make them up as as it were, then I used to. So I kind of, I'm, I'm more about that. I wasn't so good at making up stories.
00:34:33
Speaker
Okay. for most of my life.
00:34:39
Speaker
I mean, you know, if you put a gun to my head, then all of a sudden, know, Cyril the squirrel has lost his nuts and is on a quest through the forest to find his nuts. And he meets all kinds of interesting forest creatures along the way. Yeah.
00:34:59
Speaker
Hurrah! Yeah. hurra
00:35:02
Speaker
I'm personally rooting for that squirrel. I've always found it really easy to make up stories. I used to do it with my son at, you know, story time at at night. We're going to bed. I ah make up stories all the time.
00:35:15
Speaker
Oh, this is still famous. He still remembers the story. Oh, wow. I like that. That's so cute. Yeah. At least I love that. I really miss that.
00:35:26
Speaker
But that's a whole other episode. Probably a whole other ep to a whole different podcast, actually. I used to love that. Yeah. There's one involved, Harley Davidson, a yellow Harley Davidson that he still talks about today.
00:35:40
Speaker
all right. Well, perhaps you should write it down and then try and sell it to Harley. Yes, ah probably should. Okay. All right. Well, interesting then.
00:35:51
Speaker
Cool. Okay. But just let's just let's just like to ah probably worth summing up or repeating what we said at the beginning. We've never been a podcast about telling people how to think or anything. We're not experts. We're not that kind. We're not experts.
00:36:07
Speaker
This is just how our experience so far has. we kindve been we've been having conversations ah recently, me and Martin, about, ah well, I think I'm autistic. What do you think? Yeah, I think I'm autistic too.
00:36:20
Speaker
That's it, you know, pretty much until up till now. i now so i so I sit in the, could be your autistic camp unless I yeah really started to kind of deep, deep dive and then I mean, you know, so these tests for me are like little
Self-Diagnosis vs. Professional Help
00:36:40
Speaker
signposts.
00:36:40
Speaker
They're like, yeah, you you could be, and maybe you want to investigate that further. um Yeah. And that's it. And you could if you've got the cash.
00:36:51
Speaker
I think it's quite expensive, right? but Certainly in the States it's expensive. yeah i mean there's a Yeah, I mean, there is value. I mean, i i in exactly...
00:37:02
Speaker
the same value in you, I believe that you can self diagnose yourself as ADHD. You can self diagnose yourself as or oh autistic. Um, um, but if you need, um, assist, if you need accommodations and an assistance, then you're only going to get that.
00:37:22
Speaker
If you go for an official diagnosis, which yeah, in the States is it costs money, lots of money. Yeah. but we're We're lucky. We've got internet.
00:37:34
Speaker
you know ah well There's hazards, obviously, on the internet in terms of learning, terms of learning you know developing your learning about autism. there There are hazards in there because there's a lot of nonsense talked about it.
00:37:49
Speaker
Now, probably more than ever, and it could get worse, guys, in the near future, in September. But... um I think I personally, my personal mentality is with like my ADHD, my preferences to lean into my ADHD, lean into whatever autistic elements there are about me and and see what pops out, you know, see what I learned from it.
00:38:14
Speaker
You know, just end of story pretty much. Yeah, I mean, the there is a part of me that i that does like rules and systems.
00:38:27
Speaker
And when my ADHD side can let go of its need for novelty and change and you know and and trying to ah not can can conform, when my autistic side, or at least that's how it feels to me,
00:38:46
Speaker
has some sort of control then it can put systems in and those actually work really well like um yeah you know but i can brush my teeth i can do all kinds of things if i have a system and rules that i follow yay yeah it's just about trying to keep the adhd side amused enough yeah for my autism side to kind of function and make things happen Yeah.
00:39:12
Speaker
Well, on that side of things, you know, a lot of people saying, you know, it really helps you if you become vegan and you give up alcohol. um I've done neither of those things. I like a glass of wine and I like, i'm um it's going to be difficult for me to become vegan personally yeah for many different reasons. i'm But, you know, you know.
00:39:36
Speaker
I say I am almost a vegan. I have meat about. Are you? About once a week, roughly. Okay. um I wouldn't say, I mean, I'm not, yeah, I'm not, I'm not vegan, but you know, and but yeah, I, my meat consumption is literally once a week.
00:39:58
Speaker
If that, sometimes it's like once a whole night. And I'm kind of quite good with that. It's fine. I, you know. Yeah. emma red Yeah. with Oh, it's just not, it's not impossible.
00:40:10
Speaker
I have some problems with textures and things, which is also a trait, you know, textures of certain, I, I, I hate with a passion or 99% of cooked vegetables, but raw veg, I love for instance, for example.
00:40:28
Speaker
Right. You know, see how does your partner cook differently? being being an executive chef that she is ah she's great she um she and well that's another thing if if i if if i have to prepare for myself a salad okay i won't do it she prepares it for me i will love it and and you know consume it joyfully Yeah, it's just weird.
00:41:02
Speaker
um i love rolf I love raw. love raw veg. You know, a raw carrot. Oh, God, it's like heaven to me. Right. Today, and I bought four bunches of radishes, but so ah for example. I love raw radish.
00:41:16
Speaker
like i mean you can I mean, I've got loads of ruffanages growing outside. They grow really quickly. lovely They're good. Do they? yeah yeah they Yeah, they're very simple things to grow. They're just like weeds almost.
00:41:32
Speaker
i mean, once you start them, they're great. great I bought some asparagus today. Have you got asparagus? All right. Lovely. Love asparagus.
00:41:43
Speaker
Tomorrow cooking as but asparagus risotto. Oh, very For my girl, for my lady. Right. But you know what? I think because we're British, we're British.
00:41:55
Speaker
da da da um Our vegetables were cooked to death. so Yes. they were They were cooked. So if you were supposed to cook like carrots for like 10 minutes,
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah. It would be like 45 minutes and you'd have these like mushy orangey lumps. Right. I mean like. it It induces for, to me, it makes me want to have to vomit. Right.
00:42:24
Speaker
The smell, the smell of overcooked vegetables is just to me disgusting. Yeah. And it put me off vegetables for life. Yeah.
00:42:35
Speaker
ah So I think, yeah, our culture did not do us any favours. Yeah. No, no, exactly. Yeah. All right.
Pub Quiz: Animal Testing in Space
00:42:45
Speaker
Let's crack crime Because we've got we've got a quiz to do and we've got a list question to crack through.
00:42:52
Speaker
So yeah um while you're pulling that up, benna we're going to... I've already pulled it up, Martin. Great. Well, let's just crack into it, I think. that just but I'm an extremely well-prepared person.
00:43:04
Speaker
Oh, that's that's what everyone's always said about you, Paul. Paul is
00:43:13
Speaker
I'm prepared with a pen and pencil to write write the answers down. Liars. They're all liars. They're all liars. They're all liars. They're all liars.
00:43:25
Speaker
That sounds like you're getting your quiz prepared, Paul, this kind of gap. No, it's prepared. I'm looking at it now. All right. Do we need to go somewhere? Are there some, like, you know, particularly, you know, music?
00:43:40
Speaker
Right, let's just cram into the coffee, the tractor, and let's yeah go to the coffee place. Yeah.
00:43:49
Speaker
um
00:43:58
Speaker
I'm going to have a green tea.
00:44:09
Speaker
of Franciacorta. know All right. Yeah, which is like a Prosecco. Because it's in the evening. We're kind of we're not synced as ever. It's almost nine o'clock here in the evening.
00:44:20
Speaker
So i've got i've got a i've got a I've got a quiz for you, Martin. Oh, pub quiz. Pub quiz. And it's even on it's on a theme of testing. Oh, all right. It's even, you vaguely relevant to what we've just been so everyone's back in this Okay. So everyone can play along. Let us know what your scores were in the in the comments.
00:44:44
Speaker
Yes. Yes, please. Yes. So it's about, it's very specific. It's about weird animal testing examples in space travel. Okay. Yes. All right. I've left out the more gruesome ones.
00:44:58
Speaker
Thanks. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. ah know like yeah temptation was was was high, but... but So I'm going to give you this four of these. okay And within each each of these, okay I'm going to give you four examples of animals that have been involved in some way in space travel.
00:45:23
Speaker
But one of them is false. I made it up, Martin. Oh, I see. Which one is false? My mind. and little mind Okay. All right. Are you ready? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:45:34
Speaker
So going give you four, one of which is false. Okay. One, like the space dog, which actually a stray dog from the streets of Moscow 1957. nineteen fifty seven true yeah she had no She had no return plan, unfortunately.
00:45:52
Speaker
Poor dog. yeah um They knew. And she actually died of overheating a few hours into the flight. Okay. thought you said that this was wasn't bad. I've already got no dog death on number one. No, there's much worse, Martin. You have no idea. Oh, no. This is one of the easier. This is much...
00:46:15
Speaker
No, there's much. You've no idea what I left out. Do you know, right? No idea. If a dog dies, worse if a dog dies in anything, I have to pre-check.
00:46:26
Speaker
Right. So if there's a film that my wife wants to see, I have to pre-check whether anything bad happens to the to the to the dog. No. and if it if it If it does, then we ain't watching it.
00:46:40
Speaker
So that's the level, right? No dogs die. That's the level, okay. How is she on fruit flies? Because that's the next animal. Kill them all.
00:46:51
Speaker
kill <unk> Kill them all. fruit flies the second one martin yes it was used in the night 1947 by the the by the american space agency think called nasa 1947 it was used on a v2 rocket launch to test fruit flies on um uh for radiation exposure martin that's going to be true Because, like, science has always... It survived, it survived, came back mutant-free, which is thing. There go.
00:47:22
Speaker
Because fruit flies are used a lot in science because they reproduce quite quickly and they're understood... really well okay so okay so fruit fries so that does not surprise me in the slice go on what about squirrel monkeys with diapers okay well that seems a little weird late nineteen forty s and nineteen sixty s us and ussr okay They had tiny little custom space suits and diapers.
00:47:57
Speaker
ah Monkeys included um Albert, Miss Baker, who survived, and who survived. Okay. The names, three of their names, Albert, Miss Baker and Ham. Okay.
00:48:10
Speaker
Number three, and number four. Okay. Okay. This is the last of them. Flatworms, 1965, American testing. um They wanted to tell which way they so they squirmed, anti-clockwise or clockwise.
00:48:28
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So which one of those? Like of the space dog, fruit flies, squirrel monkeys, or flatworms? I'm going with flatworms because the squirrel monkeys...
00:48:44
Speaker
Well, at least I think monkeys did go in in space at one point. With diapers? Probably, yes. They were tested for their G-force tolerance, apparently.
00:48:55
Speaker
Right, because you don't want monkey poo spraying around the place, just free floating around with with all the... Yeah, and you're correct. You're right, Martin. Flatworms was the odd one out. It's completely Yeah.
00:49:12
Speaker
Completely false. Okay. One in the bag. done, Martin. Okay, next one. Bullfrogs in microgravity tested between the and the 1990s by NASA and others.
00:49:25
Speaker
in and the nineteen ninety s by nasa and others Okay. Bullfrogs. All right. Studied particularly for their inner ear balance, reproduction, and swimminging swimming in zero gravity. Swimming.
00:49:42
Speaker
Bullfrogs. Well, that makes sense.
00:49:45
Speaker
Pygmy hippos, Martin. 1960s, USSR. USSR. Mission. General bowel... ah um Testing their bowel movements, apparently.
00:49:58
Speaker
Pygmy hippos. um It was one of which was called Jerry. Okay. Number three, moon jellyfish were actually um transported into space and actually some were born in space studying the development of gravity gravityening sensing organs.
00:50:20
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Yeah. I buy that. Okay. Outcome jellyfish born in space had trouble swimming properly when they actually returned to Earth.
00:50:31
Speaker
Interesting. Okay. Dogs in spacesuits, another dog one. Okay. ah us The the um soviet Soviets in the 1950s and 60s. Actually, just general dozens of suborbital and orbital flights.
00:50:53
Speaker
Yeah, they did. Notable amongst which were ah dog one dog called Belka and another one called Strelka. All Now, it sounds like a pub.
00:51:05
Speaker
It sounded a great name for a pub. Belker and Strelka. Right. Well, I'm going for option two, pygmy hippos, because it just seems like that's such a big, and right too big.
00:51:17
Speaker
what Why go with something big? It's a That's why I called it. i did That's why i spec specified pygmy hippo. Yeah, but even so, it's a big thing. It's very specific, isn't it?
00:51:30
Speaker
It's too large. that's two out of two. Okay. I'm winning this. ah they but They're quite big. There were dogs bigger than the pygmy hippos.
00:51:41
Speaker
Okay. ah This is going to test you. All right, here we go So you got two out of two so far. Well done. lot Sloths, sloths, however you want to pronounce it, sloths in zero gravity.
00:51:56
Speaker
Okay. General testing to see if they if they move just as slowly, actually, with zero gravity. Okay. Okay. One of the weird factors, weird outcomes is they vomited almost continually and made the the research almost pointless. okay Two, Utes in orbit.
00:52:18
Speaker
Soviets between 1985 and
00:52:22
Speaker
um studying limb generation in space they're actually new to send to space having had some of their limbs cut off to see if they would grow back that makes sense in space that makes sense geckos all right They were tested in microgravity with and sex studies.
00:52:42
Speaker
Again, not post-Soviet. This is actually Russia, Martin. and All right. And to see how um the andronnic how ah the development of embryos in space.
00:52:54
Speaker
Number four, octopuses or octopi. ok Zero gravity again. Trying to understand consciousness from an alien-like animal in space.
00:53:08
Speaker
That makes sense to me. I wouldn't buy that.
00:53:14
Speaker
Which one is that for? Sloths, newts, geckos or octopuses? I have to basically go with sloths because seems like such a pointless thing, such a big thing and so pointless to see if they're slow in space as well.
00:53:36
Speaker
Like, What scientific... Yeah, I know....science forward. Right. It's almost as if someone autistic created this quiz, isn't it?
00:53:50
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's just like... i I tend to think of it as like what value could you get out of that experiment, right? And I can see value in most of them. And then there's ones like the sloth. It's like, hey, it's a very big animal to like start shifting around.
00:54:10
Speaker
Have you never been curious to know how slow you'll be in space?
00:54:17
Speaker
No. Because there's already many people who have gone to space or at least gone to zero G that you don't need to know the effects on humans because you can just do humans. Okay.
00:54:31
Speaker
You don't need to have put a sloth in that. in in that Anyway. Right. Okay. Is that right? Three out of three. Oh, come on. I'm looking for for a clean sweep now.
00:54:44
Speaker
This one is a tricky one. Okay. Okay. This one's trickier. All right? Okay, here we go. Okay, come on then. That's a little bit less autistic when I did this last one. Okay, then. Okay.
00:54:56
Speaker
One, Japanese quails in space. Come on! Little birds. po to so Post-Soviet, this is Russia, in 1990s and the 2000s, Martin. recent.
00:55:10
Speaker
Quails were one of the only animals to lay eggs in space. Actually laid eggs in space unlike any other poultry.
00:55:21
Speaker
Right. Okay. Two tortoises around the moon. 1968 Soviet mission.
00:55:33
Speaker
Tortoises around. Tortoises orbited the moon long before humans did. Okay. Okay. Three. interesting Cockroach conception in space.
00:55:46
Speaker
Post-Soviet. Very specific. 2007. Okay. Test
00:55:53
Speaker
okay test to see if insects can mate and reproduce in space. Okay. Yeah. A bit of detail. One coach, they gave one of the cockroaches a cockroach a name. It was called Najezka, which is actually Russian for space milf.
00:56:18
Speaker
What? Yes. Number four. Moving on.
00:56:26
Speaker
Come on. Space milk. Come on. Cockroach called space milk. Okay. right Okay. Right? Yes. Number four. Last one, Martin. Snakes around the moon. Orbited around the moon.
00:56:42
Speaker
Orbited the moon before humans did. All right, just like tortoises. Okay. So Japanese quails, tortoises, cockroaches, called space milf, and snakes.
00:56:57
Speaker
To see if you can get the full... Here we go. Right. So I don't think it's it's it's quails because egg production and food would be very interesting for space to travel, right? If you were going to the moon, could you take things to eat? Yeah.
00:57:13
Speaker
So that's fine. um And that also... so I think that's the same reason for the cockroach conception. It's like, because in in insects are quite nutritious, right? So if you could yeah if you could ah yeah if you could get insects to reproduce in space, that could be food.
00:57:36
Speaker
So think the tortoise round of the move. Even if they're strange names. Yeah, even with this. Does the name not throw you a bit?
00:57:50
Speaker
No, i mean, it's it's a it just, I just have to ignore that. Space milf. I did pronounce it wrongly. Space milf.
00:58:05
Speaker
Space milf. Space milf. So it's either tortoise around the moon. See, you get to learn and the Russian on this podcast.
00:58:18
Speaker
Yeah, i'm i'm I'm now fluent. I can now go into Russia. I could ask for a yeah for a space milf.
00:58:28
Speaker
Excuse me, comrade. Can I have a space milf? Excuse me, Comrade comrade West. Yeah. um I'm going to go think need to go back to the gulag.
00:58:41
Speaker
ah think Yeah. ah think I think I'm going to go with the wrong one being tortoises going around around the moon. right Maybe snakes a little bit more interesting than tortoises.
00:58:55
Speaker
Is that your final answer? Yeah. Yeah. I'm ahead anyway. It snakes. It was snakes. Oh, snakes on a plane.
00:59:09
Speaker
Three out of four. How did you do at home, dear listener? How did you do at home? By the way, the space milf, the Russian space milf, she actually got pregnant during the orbit, while she was orbiting.
00:59:21
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. That is interesting. All right. um All right. Well, ah what we will do. Well done, Martin. Well done.
00:59:32
Speaker
Thank you very much. I'm going to scroll down and we are going to say that let's do the ah post office. Yes.
00:59:43
Speaker
Thing um where you will say your feedback. you i would say your feedback is vital to us. We read all the comments. We might read yours out on a future podcast. Yes, we will.
00:59:57
Speaker
ah Indeed. I read. I'll just read out two. Like this one. Right, which which was ah from Debbie, who said that last week's episode, which was the episode on do things, how the world seems to change when you suddenly realize you've got ADHD. um ah She said, good episode, shared with the neighbors again.
01:00:25
Speaker
so she turns turns it so So she turns it turns it up and makes sure everyone else can enjoy it. The podcast. Fantastic. Turn it up. Turn it up.
01:00:36
Speaker
And and um and again, um from our official, the ADHD town crier, ah least Alexandra said, love...
01:00:50
Speaker
I always feel seen. um Lovely. and And this is, and a like Alexandra is the one who who gave us a ah yeah a listener question.
01:01:02
Speaker
So if you have a question for Paul or myself, get in the comments. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't even have to be ADHD related.
01:01:13
Speaker
We will have a crack at anything. Exactly. If you want she want a little piece of our wisdom. ah Right. um So this is, a yeah.
Staying Hydrated: Listener Question
01:01:27
Speaker
So her question was, and perhaps you might have some ideas on this, how how do i remember water during the the the the the day?
01:01:39
Speaker
And this is a problem that I have. How do you remember to what? drink water. to drink water during the day oh okay water okay you know because summer's coming right and i forget to drink water and then i wonder why i've got a pounding headache and my skin is is like a yes the gecko or a tortoise um and uh yes and i'm Right.
01:02:07
Speaker
Right. Because, you know, because. And also Alexander, she lives in Greece. Even more reason to drink water. Absolutely. Yeah. Because, you know, yeah i I don't have any advice. I'm really bad at it. I always forget to buy water.
01:02:22
Speaker
It would be the last thing I would buy. Yeah, I know. know because it's water. only drink water because my girlfriend remembers to buy it. Oh, right. There you go. So you have to partner up with someone who's really into it.
01:02:40
Speaker
um Yes. yeah cause um Because our ADHD brains, I think they they put it under a hey hey boring, not essential category.
01:02:51
Speaker
So it's just like meh. what if you if you happen if you What if you have water, but you squeeze like lime juice into it, so it gives you slightly more incentive to drink it?
01:03:08
Speaker
Does that work? Yes, that would be one way. So... it's Yes, it is a hack because ADHD brains like novelty, right?
01:03:19
Speaker
So that could either be putting things into the wa water is itself. like You can get like little packets of of of of of flavorings.
01:03:31
Speaker
You can just shove it in there. say It makes it more yeah interesting. Lime, lemon. and You know, even the actual thing that you drink it out of, um if that's fun and yeah um and you, you know, like, ah yeah that big sea you you're kind of carrying it around.
01:03:55
Speaker
know Yeah. um What about a big straw, like a massive...
01:04:02
Speaker
A massive his straw. Sure. If it, if it, if it, if it, if it works in me, there's, there's, there's also, um linking hydration to something else.
01:04:15
Speaker
Like, I don't about you, Paul, but I find it's easier to do things if I, if I link it to, uh, so if if I have a habit, like I, you know, I don't have, uh, so if I drink tea in the morning or coffee cereal or something,
01:04:31
Speaker
ah And if the habit is, if you try and build the habit onto that, which is like, oh, and a glass of glass of of water, for example, well you know or every time i go to the bathroom, for example,
01:04:49
Speaker
I then kind of go, oh, I'm just going to get a glass of water or something. It's almost like trying to find the habit to bolt onto something. else My water has to be on the kitchen table for me to drink it.
01:05:04
Speaker
Right. If the water is in the fridge, I won't drink it. I'll forget. if it's on the kitchen table, right, which is in the middle of the room, visit much more like to pick it up visible.
01:05:16
Speaker
Like I have to walk around it daily. Yeah, yeah. um Yeah, also, like, you know, I mean, ah for for things like that, I sometimes a reminding, a daily reminding alarm on my on my phone that will just be like, drink water, and it will ping up yes you know at some point during the day, which is help helpful.
01:05:45
Speaker
But, yeah, I think just... I think yeah if you can have like novelty to it. Yeah. Have a big, have a big flask thing.
01:05:58
Speaker
um Fill it up first thing in the morning and then carry it around with you. um that's helpful i mean like uh i call i used to call it my my emotional support water bottle like i i liked having it there always with me i carry it around um So that was helpful.
01:06:28
Speaker
so Also, as you said, if you got if you can find like a really cool water flask, of which there are many now, you know you find something that you know you find particularly funny, or you could do what I did I've got on the back, I found this um sticker in Germany when I took my son, because he lives in Germany now, took my son to to a town called Magdeburg and I just found this sticker. it was like ADHD Antifa sticker, which is really, really cool. Actually, I'll hold it up back to the camera.
01:07:06
Speaker
Antifa ADHD. This is really cool. you know Find a sticker that you like makes you makes you like chuckle, makes you laugh when you see it.
01:07:16
Speaker
You can even make your own sticker. Stick that on the flask and it's ah another reason to pick up your flask. to like It's like emotional pick you up. like yeah Or put a post-it note up on the wall yeah na you near your yeah near the tap or your glasses Yeah.
01:07:41
Speaker
There we go. All right. Well, I think there's a whole bunch of interesting...
01:07:50
Speaker
um If anyone else has got some hacks, get in the comments. Share. Yes, share the knowledge. Share. Talking of comments, yeah it's time to go to the outro.
Closing and Staying Connected
01:08:02
Speaker
It is. So it just leaves it for me to say that ADHD Phil is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us most fantastic.
01:08:16
Speaker
And feel free to correspond in the comments. But wait, there's more if you want to see our beautiful, beautiful faces. you can head over to the YouTubes or the TikToks.
01:08:31
Speaker
And you can also pick up a quill and email it at ADHDville at gmail.com. But in the meantime, be fucking kind to yourself. And I beseech you, fellow ADHDers, know thyself. Sons of the Hounds, come hither and get the flesh.
01:08:52
Speaker
There, says the mayor. That's that. Wow.