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thinkinginpictures
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06 Oct 2013, 1:31 pm

I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrom at the age of 8-11 with such a severity that it impairs my life.

But I've also read that people with ASD have difficulties with imagining how other people might feel in a given situation.

But I can clearly imagine how it would be to me if I were sentenced to death and about to be executed, even though I have never experienced it.
Its not the death that scares me, it is the situation, that cleanliness, total control and lack of my own control. Kinda like when I go to the dentist, except you know you never return.

Does that mean I do not have ASD?



Raziel
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06 Oct 2013, 2:28 pm

thinkinginpictures wrote:
But I've also read that people with ASD have difficulties with imagining how other people might feel in a given situation.

But I can clearly imagine how it would be to me if I were sentenced to death and about to be executed, even though I have never experienced it.
Its not the death that scares me, it is the situation, that cleanliness, total control and lack of my own control. Kinda like when I go to the dentist, except you know you never return.

Does that mean I do not have ASD?


1)ASD is a spectrum, so not everything has to apply to you 100%

2) you imagined how it would feel for YOU.

If I imagine if it would feel for ME to be homeless for example I can do that upto a certain degree pretty well, BUT if someone tells me a complex social story what the person has done with all different kind of facial expressions, I've a lot of trouble to understand how the person feels and why.


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Willard
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06 Oct 2013, 3:49 pm

thinkinginpictures wrote:
But I've also read that people with ASD have difficulties with imagining how other people might feel in a given situation.


First, diagnostic criteria that apply to children do not apply equally to adults, who have certainly garnered enough experience over the course of their lives to understand some things that children do not. The older you get, the less some things will apply to you. Not because your Autism is going away, but because you are learning 'Coping Mechanisms' that disguise it.

Second, Lack of Empathy is not about imagining how a hypothetical 'situation' might feel - that's Sympathy.

Empathy is more about the ability to automatically sense and interpret nonverbal social signals and body language and knowing immediately how to respond appropriately.

If you walk into a room and someone you know is standing there quietly, looking out the window, would you know immediately whether they were:

A) Feeling sad and in need of a hug
B) Watching the kids walk home from school
C) Remembering an amusing story
D) Stewing over something that makes them furious

And would you know instantly how best to respond to that mood?

If your answer in every case is "yes, probably" - congratulations, your Empathy Skills are excellent. If, OTOH, it is more likely that you would have no idea what they were feeling unless they told you and even then, you felt awkward and flummoxed as to what you should do next, then your AS diagnosis is probably spot-on.



serenaserenaserena
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06 Oct 2013, 4:37 pm

Asperger's Syndrome is and autism spectrum disorder, so yes, you do.


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theclash123
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16 Oct 2013, 7:55 pm

many people that meet me are pretty surprised when I tell them I have Aspergers. Probably because I'm fairly social, my social skills aren't that bad, and I have a lot of empathy for people. However, I'm also a bit awkward and I have high intelligence but little common sense. Like many people have said, it's a sprectrum. Just because you don't have some symptoms of autism doesn't mean you're not autistic.