A question concerning high functioning AS and stims.........

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I just thought of something. I have a feeling that OCD being co-morbid with Aspergers would cause an aspie to stim more than an aspie without OCD as a co-morbid disorder. I am nearly 99% sure that I have OCD since it runs in my family and I display strong symptoms of it. Lots of my stims involve numbers (I will count things while tapping my foot) I'll also do things like tap on things while having a song stuck in my head, which may sound normal, but I get the "stimming" feeling inside of me when I do this.

If this is the case then I definitely don't have High-functioning autism. I knew that my stims were irrational when I was 5 years old and tried to hide them since I was 5 or 6 years old. I've heard that MOST high functioning autistics lack common sense (sorry for lack of better wording) as they usually don't realize they are acting in a manner that isn't normal. I lived my whole life without anybody thinking that I was "different" since I didn't lack common sense and didn't stim in public ever. The only thing that would have made me seem a little "different" is how I was so quiet growing up, but most people figured I was shy. Wouldn't most high-functioning autistics be recognized by most people as being "different"?

That's what teasing is for, or parents who think something is "wrong" with their child.

"Common sense" isn't in relation to knowing social norms; people with AS say the wrong and socially inappropriate things all of the time, the majority do. This is no different to motor mannerisms, or anything else to do with ASDs.

This missing realisation of what repetitive movements one does can apply to AS too.

I stim a lot but I have a secondary diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome. Remember only 10-15% of touretteers yell out those 4 letter words but we stim and tic a lot. Maybe your touched with tourette ?????

IQ: 141 stim constantly. If I tried to supress it, I'd be melting down every hour on the hour, like Ol' Faithful...




This is precisely why AS should be classified as a SSI disability. I have worked very hard for 35 years, in fact often been fired because I was too busy working to socialize with the fat F*****rs who sat around on their asses all day laughing and goofing off. Fortunately, I always had my family to fall back on when I couldn't keep my financial head above water. Now, my parents are retired and living on a fixed income and my employment prospects are worse than ever. The career I spent 30 years in is technologically obsolete and I'm not trained or qualified for anything else. I seriously fear ending up in a homeless shelter, and eventually living under a bridge down by the river. It's great to hear that some Aspies are working for NASA, but that doesn't change the fact that some of us are rapidly losing any employability we ever had, with no 401K or pension to look forward to. That's what I get for being so obsessed with my career that I won high ratings and awards for years for employers who rewarded me with a few pennies more than minimum wage, and then a pink slip. Thanks Clear Channel, Thanks Cumulus, Thanks Citadel.

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That carries with it the assumption that if a person knows that their stimming is socially unacceptable to others, then they will be able to stop it, or will be able to stop it and still keep functioning without doing something even more conspicuous. That isn't always the case. A lot of autistic people presumed to have little to no social awareness at all, have a lot of such awareness, but the inability to stop doing the things that are considered strange.

there are exceptions to every rule so it can be a possibility

I agree, I don't think it matters which label you have. If you say you are high-functioning, then go with it. I'm considered high-functioning (but at 40 I've had alot of years to perfect my cover), and my stims vary. Sometimes although I'm not stimming, I'm almost non-verbal. I hold a job and have a mate and kids.

I find that alot of younger people with ASD try and figure it out perfectly. I never knew and managed (albeit with varying degrees of success at times).

Tourettes is what I initially thought I had before looking into Aspergers.

It makes me feel so sad. It makes me feel so mad...

I've been told that I lack common sense by other students who would never eventually grow to do anything like the things I'm doing now. I guess the "normals" start out ahead, but their capacity for growth is less and they have more to unlearn. I got frustrated at times with one of my NT friend's lack of attention to learning auto maintenence. He doesn't own a car anymore. I guess running without oil and coolant became too expensive for him.

I would also get frustrated with family members' lack of willingness/capacity to think of solutions to problems, which go beyond whatever is lying around in the immediate area. The thought: "You can still think about tools you don't have and then go get them!" means that I lack common sense, apparently.

Don't read into your symptoms and/or diagnosis too much. The only way to know how high functioning you are is to... yes, that's right, assess how highly you are functioning. I'm sure there are people who have "more severe" AS who don't stim at all, and plenty of others who are relatively "high functioning" who stim a lot.

According to the US paradigm the autism spectrum goes from autism, then to Asperger's, then to PDD-NOS as far as low to high functioning. The functioning level has nothing to do with stimming, as someone can stim a lot but still have friends, significant others or a job. Someone can barely stim at all, but if they've never held a job and never been able to live alone, they'd be considered low-functioning. It has nothing to do with intelligence or stimming.

I wonder why you would think that high-functioning autism is the "worse" one to be, it's the term I prefer when describing myself.

What is the difference between PDDNOS and AS?

The level of functioning. PDD-NOS generally have an easier time keeping jobs and making friends. I fail at the friend part but I've held many good jobs in my life, so they told me I am PDD-NOS. I understand this definition is exactly the opposite of how it's viewed in Europe, which is why I just say HFA.