Greetings Earthlings! 🙂
This week I’m going to discuss an emerging personality type that is being linked to autism and AuDHD– the otrovert.
What an earth is an otrovert when it’s at home Aoife?
An otrovert is a personality type where the person is socially capable and comfortable in group settings, but is also quite instinctual, independent and comfortable on their own. They don’t care about being part of a group and will march to the beat of their own drum, but this can make them feel like an outsider or “othered” (‘otro’ coming from the Spanish for ‘other’). Whilst not an official personality type like introverts, extroverts and ambiverts, the term otrovert was first coined in 2025 to describe individuals who don’t quite fit into the existing categories. Most people on the spectrum tend towards introversion, but autists who have co-morbid ADHD would describe themselves as more of an extroverted introvert fitting into the otrovert category.
You can watch a reel that sums up otroversion in relation to AuDHD here:
Personally, I would say that I fit the otrovert personality type. Before my diagnosis I would have always felt “othered” just for being myself. These days I would be described as an independent, extroverted introvert, doing her own thing regardless of social pressures (believe me the amount of scrutiny I’ve gotten for being teetotal in Ireland)! I go through periods of introversion, but when I’m in the right environment with the right people, I’m an extrovert. I run on vibes energized by the people I’m with, but when the vibes aren’t vibing, I will retreat into my phone, or head home to recharge my social battery. This Venn diagram sums me up pretty nicely in the otrovert overlap:
Though not yet an officially recognized personality type as it’s so new, I think otroversion will catch on as it doesn’t fully fit any of the existing ones. Many autists are starting to identify with the personality type, but there’s concern that some may use the new personality type as a replacement for autism, that people will say “Oh you’re just an otrovert!” to dismiss the notion that someone might be autistic. Regardless, I think it’s a good thing that we inbetweener personality types have a better way to describe themselves 🙂
Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂
Enjoy your weekend!
Aoife
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