It’s a mix of general autistic things, and things I personally do as a cis-autistic. Autism presents very broadly so you’ll have to navigate what works for you! Feel free to suggest more in the comments.
- Develop a special interest and learn a lot about it! Tell everyone about it!
- Use obscurer words in your every day vocab. Examples; greetings, mayhaps, overmorrow, variegate, betwixt, whence.
- Stim! Examples; echolalia, repetitive movements, stim toys, music.
- Interpret things literally, especially when it’s coming from a stranger.
- Plan everything!
- Develop a more monotonous voice and/or flat/blunted affect.
- Accentuate your quirks!
Other common traits of autism are sensory/processing issues, meltdowns, and social clashing.
“Can have symptoms of autism without actually being autistic” applies to like… one or two, and even then there’s a good chance you’d still be ND, for example ADHD. There’s a lot of overlap between the traits of Autism and ADHD, which can present the same, but often come from a different place. Like autistic stimming tends to be more self-soothing and ADHD stimming tends to be more can’t sit still. Variations possible of course.
Social clashing is what I call being like fundamentally misunderstood by, often, NTs. The Double Empathy Problem touches on it as well.
“If I was tested and was diagnosed with ASD then it’d feel right. But if I was negative then I think I’d feel uncomfortable” That sounds like a very reasonable thing to say as a cis-autistic as well. Of course being denied what you are would be uncomfortable. I was actually told that I wasn’t autistic as a teen, it was really devastating, and I proceeded to believe I wasn’t autistic for a good 10 years with the accompanying self-deprecation and internalized ableism. Then I got fed up with society and one day I found myself researching autism again and couldn’t believe how seen I felt. I requested a re-diagnosis and low and behold, I am officially autistic since February 2022. So yea, doctors can be wrong. Getting a no doesn’t mean you’re not autistic!
Fetishizing is fine actually. You can have a fetish and still treat the living target of your fetish with respect and autonomy.