I have asperger's, does that mean I am considered autistic?

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scorpion42
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31 Aug 2008, 9:53 am

Joined in yesterday (not diagnosed but daughter diagnosed and grand-daughter shows a lot of traits also) Alway felt out of place everywhere and a freak and a loner (not by choice) as I have no social skills since I was about 4 years old. Easily overwhelmed by everything.

I have a very high IQ (tested twice) but in some area close to ret*d as with manuals (whether in French or in English same problem). No problems reading, understanding it, just cannot put it in practice as I am just lost when I look at the object, like: my VCR (never used it since my husband died), my answering machine or even my cell phone and I use only one function call, to scared they would no longer work as get confused and I keep pushing the wrong buttons and would have to ask help (which is a nightmare for me) as I messed up more than once. But on the other hand a pro with Excel and Word as I am curious and a freak about learning and will try every functions until I mastered them as there is no risk of moping involved, just start over.

Asperger's Disorder these are primarily observed in the all-encompassing pursuit of a circumscribed interest involving a topic to which the individual devotes inordinate amounts of time amassing information and facts. That me : I keep stats on a lot of things, including car colours and plates numbers when waiting for the bus. Or stats on a lots of things I have no use for. I also go tru phases and get absorb in one subject only exclusive of anything else.

Asperger's Disorder there may appear to be motivation for approaching others even though this is then done in a highly eccentric, one-sided, verbose, and insensitive manner. When I finally realise after quite a long time that people are getting bored with me I then try to avoid these people at all costs including neighbours. Also repeat myself ad nauseum on certain topics. Absolutely dumb at chit-chat and not really interested anyway. Can rant for hours on birds in my backyards (three birds feeders year round).

As far as insensitive goes I made a quite a few major blunders there over the course of my life and alienated quite a few people I deeply cared about. I try to keep remembering the Dalai Lama once said : ``Truth without kindness is cruelty¨ but I always remember that only after the facts!

Highly sensible to some sounds like bass sounds seeping thru the neighbour walls, people talking loud and even felt like I could kill them at times, luckily sane enough to know better, laugh at myself and able to cool down before doing it. Some odours also drive me totally nuts.

Taking care of myself required a lot of efforts now that I live alone and at times I can let things go until it get really bad like no more clean clothes to wear or no more clean dishes. If someone is coming to my house (only repairman as I never have anyone else coming in) then I would clean for hours. In the past always had problems paying bills: forgot or paid twice, problem now solved as I have the companies to take it out of my account automatically every month.

Also quite a few obsessive/compulsive disorders. Lot of rocking and legs swinging. One ex-boyfriend used to call me ‘spastic’.

Long winded also, hard to stop me when I get started!! !! ! Hate myself 90% of the time and with age can laugh at myself the rest of time.

So I think I could classify as high functionning in some areas and low functionning in other areas, and definitely think I finally landed the right planet in this forum. :wink:



fbug
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31 Aug 2008, 3:20 pm

Yes, Asperger's is considered autism, but that is a lot like saying someone who wears glasses is blind.


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wilbury
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31 Aug 2008, 3:25 pm

they always tell me that Asperger's is on the autistic spectrum, but i've always
wondered it myself, is asperger's autism or just a syndrome. i was diagnosed with
ocd before my Aspergers but adter a few doctors sessions, it was clear to them that
i had a form of autism & diagnosed me with Aspergers. once i read a book on
AS, i knew straight away that this was me & what i felt all my life!


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Callista
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31 Aug 2008, 5:35 pm

Consider:

If you have an adult on the Spectrum who is verbal and independent, it is impossible to tell what his diagnosis is without asking for a childhood history.

That is because CDD/Autism/Asperger's/PDD-NOS are differentiated entirely by whether or not you had language problems as a child, whether or not you regressed, and whether or not you had self-care delays.

The only way you can tell that the diagnosis is not Asperger's in the adult is if they STILL have those problems (regression, self-care deficits, or being partly-/non-verbal).

(Rett's is the exception. Most of these cases look like CDD but also have some other symptoms characteristic of Rett syndrome. This is because Rett's is usually due to a specific mutation, unlike autism, which is very polygenic.)

The distinction between Asperger's and the rest of the spectrum seems to be based entirely on childhood history... which is rather arbitrary. The Spectrum is still listed under "disorders first seen in childhood" in the diagnostic guides; but because it is life-long (and because autism is so new as a diagnosis), one would either have to allow moving between the diagnostic categories (that is, a verbal, independent adult who had a speech delay and self-help problems as a child now has Asperger's, though he had classic autism); or else--and this would be my suggestion--describe it like ADHD, with subtypes that include specific additional symptoms that may or may not be true of any given person. That way one would remain with the overall diagnosis of "Autism", but go from category to category as your skills change, just as a child with Combined type ADHD often grows up into an adult with Inattentive type ADHD.


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