You Can't Be an Aspie If.....

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Nearly every post I've read on this forum, as well as most articles about Asperger's list quirks/traits that Aspies are supposed, so I thought I would write a list that listed traits that every Aspie should have and if you don't, then maybe you're no Autistic.

To be considered an Aspie, you must:

1. Possess a special skill/talent, (I don't);
2. Lack empathy, in the same way a robot lacks empathy;
3. Have meltdowns immediately after having a sensory overload, (I don't, although I do have taste/smell overlods);
4. Be unable to recognise the facial expressions of other people, (I can);
5. Be unable to recognise if a person is sad/angry/happy, just by the tone of their voice, (I can do this);
6. Be a systemiser, (systems are of no interest to me. My CD collection is no particular order. I don't have a system
for cleaning my home - which is untidy);
7. Be interested in categories of things - linked to the idea of systemisation;
8. Be hypermobile, (I'm not);
9. Have walked on tiptoes, as a child;
10. Have no understanding of idioms, (I understand idioms);
11. Have 'odd' voices, (pitch, tone, etc. I sometimes loudly and quickly, sometimes, when talking to myself, or my
cats, my voice is normal);

Given that I don't meet the above criteria, I guess I don't have Asperger's & that I must have over-exaggerated/lied at my assessment. All the academic papers/articles/forum posts make me think that if you don't have certain characteristics/quirks, then how can you say that you're an Aspie.

I think you maybe...er....going over the top a little?

Just putting it out there like...

None of us have every single item on the list. Oh by the way you missed the abilty to be able to give the day if the week for a date 50 years into the future or 50 years in the past.

I have to confess it has been a while since I flew over a city in helicopter for half and hour and then drew and exact copy on a massive wall...I must get into doing that again sometime soon. But there I go being ironic (although perhaps lacking humour)

I think you may have misunderstood 1, 2 and 3 BTW

I am very similar. I scored surprisingly low on the systems test, probably because I am not good with computers or mechanical things at all. I use the computer to type and surf the internet. I have no understanding of the inner workings of computers. I am not good with technology in general, but I would like to become better.

I think there's a problem in rigidly defining anything like ASD by a checklist , as in you meet a,b,c ,d , e and f you have it and someone else meets a,b,d and f therefore they don't.
It's not a one size fits all diagnosis. Some 'symptoms' occur more frequently than others amongst us.

It's not so "cut and dry."

An example:

Aspies are not like robots when it comes to empathy (though they might want to portray that image).

Voxish: I could have gone on listing criteria, but it would have made for a very long post.

I'd like to point out that most of the stereotypical traits for asperger's are really just stereotypical traits for boys with asperger's, since Hans Asperger only worked with boys. Hooray for bad research bias!

To be considered an Aspie, you must:

1. Possess a special skill/talent: I don't really.

2. Lack empathy, in the same way a robot lacks empathy: Not to that degree

3. Have meltdowns immediately after having a sensory overload: Nope. There's many times I don't have one under those conditions. And other times when I have one without warning.

4. Be unable to recognize the facial expressions of other people: I'm not very good at it, but I can get some right.

5. Be unable to recognise if a person is sad/angry/happy, just by the tone of their voice: I'm better at tone of voice.

6. Be a systemiser, (systems are of no interest to me. My CD collection is no particular order. I don't have a system
for cleaning my home: My room is what my mom calls "organized chaos".

7. Be interested in categories of things - linked to the idea of systemisation: I've never been that big on that. I go though phases.

8. Be hypermobile: I have no idea what that has to do with autism and I'm not.

9. Have walked on tiptoes, as a child: Nope.

10. Have no understanding of idioms, (I understand idioms): I get them more often than not.

11. Have 'odd' voices, (pitch, tone, etc. I sometimes loudly and quickly, sometimes, when talking to myself, or my
cats, my voice is normal); I don't talk. But I make weird sounds sometimes.


I was fully diagnosed by the time I was 3. How do you test a 3-year-old's understanding of idioms and so on?

Here's what I fit from your "criteria":

To be considered an Aspie, you must:

1. Possess a special skill/talent, (I don't); Me neither
2. Lack empathy, in the same way a robot lacks empathy; No way!
3. Have meltdowns immediately after having a sensory overload, (I don't, although I do have taste/smell overlods); I don't get meltdowns right after sensory overload, most of the time it's something else that pushes me over the edge
4. Be unable to recognise the facial expressions of other people, (I can); Used to have immense trouble, but I can do it now
5. Be unable to recognise if a person is sad/angry/happy, just by the tone of their voice, (I can do this); Same as above
6. Be a systemiser, (systems are of no interest to me. My CD collection is no particular order. I don't have a system
for cleaning my home - which is untidy); I am a systemizer, but I don't clean things in a particular order
7. Be interested in categories of things - linked to the idea of systemisation; I am interested in categories, so what?
8. Be hypermobile, (I'm not); I'm not
9. Have walked on tiptoes, as a child; Can't remember if I did as a younger child, I do it now sometimes
10. Have no understanding of idioms, (I understand idioms); I understand idioms, I just process them literally before I work out the figurative meaning- which takes less than a second longer than most people
11. Have 'odd' voices, (pitch, tone, etc. I sometimes loudly and quickly, sometimes, when talking to myself, or my cats, my voice is normal) My voice is normal most of the time, but it can be really weird/monotone to high pitched and "babyish"

I don't fit most of what you listed either .