I'm new here, I have a question for diagnosed Aspies

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I believed that most of those things were just character faults, people just made me believe that I was lazy, weird, mean, rude, etc., until my psychologist talked to me about Aspergers and showed me some materials and a quiz. I was almost shocked, I would go through the list and "Yeah, that's me", "OMG, I have that!". This might explain the severe anxiety I have been dealing with for years because I work in an environment that is very Aspie unfriendly: bright lights, lots of people to deal with, multitasking, deadlines, frequent changes in procedures, meetings, lots of stress.

A few of the characteristics like "having no friends" isn't limited to certain aspies. But a huge amount of the rest describes me well.

I'm a diagnosed Aspie. I don't really have that much compassion, or at least I don't feel like I have compassion for others (except for my mom and one of my brothers). However, I have a great imagination and can feel emotions pretty strongly at times.

Yeah, the way I put it is ambiguous. People may have no friends because nobody wants to be friends with them or they're too busy to have social life or some other reasons. I don't have friends because I don't desire any.

I think that it is hard to apply any characteristic to all aspies, we are all so different.

Just a hunch but I suspect in general more female aspies would agree.

I would say that I am but possibly express it differently. I am very emotional but I'm not sure if people pick up on it. I am very funny too and get humour.
I can be very caring towards people. Especially if a NT says that someone is upset I look out for it and try and be nice.
I can however forget to do things like ask how they are or remember their birthday and may not pick up that someone is upset myself. As I have anxiety and depression I am quite sensitive towards it and look for it in people and sometimes think I can read signs other can't.
This week I left work late so that I could collect a card in my own time for a colleague that is retiring that I have known a few weeks. I have a thing about leaving on time and getting home quickly too. I will go between being insensitive and missing things to making a big gesture. I baked a cake and took it round to someone as a surprise as they seemed a bit down about their birthday and I know how that feels.

I am imaginative in that I can think of solutions to problems, I associate slightly random things together that others don't. I'm creative and as a kid I drew, wrote books, danced and composed music. (I am more of a Science person though). I will alter recipes and do substitutions but then again certain ingredients go together and that can be learnt. A lot of creative things can be learnt or improved with practice or just picking up details from around you e.g. observing and altering it a bit.

See there's different types of empathy, aspies dont lack empathy in general, we lack certain types of empathy, the type that requires "theory of mind". As in you can make out accurately enough what a person may be thinking in certain situations through the situation and non-verbal cues. Many aspies are compassionate and feel for people but they cant make out what a person is thinking. Next, as for the fiction part, I think many aspies enjoy fiction(not all), I certainly dont. But if you ever read aspergirls from Rudy Simone, shes a huge fan of fiction. I don't see why aspies cant be imaginative. I used to be very imaginative as a kid cause I didnt have friends.



Yeah do so. Im curious. I dont think anyone here can "diagnose" you. We can give opinions, but our opinions can be heavily shaped by what you describe. In the end, its the professionals call.

I try to be.

I think you're question is more about emotional empathy, and that is not something easily lacked. I don't know about you, but most Aspies usually lack social empathy. But I can get set off by my emotional surroundings (or if it gets too loud for me to bear it, ).

Thanks for the comments so far. It'll take few weeks to get an appointment for that test, process paperwork and get insurance approval, but I'm actually looking forward to the test and what they tell me. I think I'd rather be diagnosed with AS than just plain, unexplained anxiety. I don't want to try any more drugs, they scare me. My life has been a misery for almost a decade now due to amxiety. I want to know what causes my anxiety. Having an AS diagnosis will allow me to ask for some accommodations at work or perhaps will push me to find a more suitable job if I can't make adjustments to my current work environment.

I did. See my long post on page 1.

Cheers!

Adam

I was just scheduled for a pre-test evaluation this coming Monday. The whole testing takes 3-5 visits.

http://www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/autism

Adam

Aurrghh!

I am SO sick of hearing about so-called professionals dismissing the possibility of AS based on atypical characteristics. It's NOT what DOESN'T fit that matters. It's what DOES fit that matters.

All that matters is whether you HAVE enough qualifying symptoms. If you, do, you've got it. It's THAT freaking simple.

I agree with a previous poster. Those guys are idiots.

"These two psychiatrists are idiots." - Dammit, i was supposed to be the one saying that

I'm the OP, started this thread. So I had my pre-test evaluation today. I was interviewed by a psychologist (PhD) for over two hours. She has no doubts that I have Aspergers. My psychiatrist doesn't know what he's talking about. The actual test will take place in a few weeks.

That's exactly what she said: you diagnose AS based on the symptoms the patient has, not based on the symptoms the patient doesn't have. There are some things that are more or less common to all Aspies, but there are many symptoms that are, like "optional", but they are misunderstood as required for diagnosis, mainly face blindness and lack of empathy, imagination and feelings. Many psychiatrists will not diagnose a person with AS if they don't have the above symptoms despite a gazillion of other typical symptoms the patient might have.

Adam

Greetings! You and I seem to be at exactly the same stage and asking exactly the same questions. I had an evaluation at the autism centre a few weeks ago. It lasted an hour and at the end of the evaluation I was told I had Aspergers, in their view. However it wasn't an official diagnosis because that is done at their centre in another city. So my Aspergers has been confirmed but not diagnosed, so to speak. It's a strange in-between stage and I haven't yet made an appointment for the formal diagnosis so I suppose I'm undiagnosed still. I keep asking myself questions regarding the symptoms I DON'T have or don't have anymore (I'm 57 and I suppose one learns with age). Someone said on this thread that what is important is the symptoms you DO have and not the ones you don't and I think I'm coming round to that view, too. Looking at my "case" I can see as clear as day the autism-related impediments I have had my whole life. The fact that there are other, worse impediments that maybe most people on the spectrum have doesn't change that one bit. If you have one or two fingers missing it's not as bad as having 10 fingers missing but it is useful to realise that that's WHY you couldn't play the guitar; which was otherwise always a mystery. (metaphor)

We can all have emotions and imaginations, it's just that some of us, like me, internalize them instead of telling everyone what we think & feel. The Spectrum is wide, featuring a lot of different types of people.

Welcome!