Think I may have schizoid personality instead of autism

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I have been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum but I think perhaps I have the schizoid type personality and difficulty with processing things instead of autism. I am quite an independent person. I have 1 real friend and the rest I know only from online but I'm fine with that. I'd be happy to live by myself and be able to do what I like without others interfering without being invited and just talk to my friends and keep up with events from the internet. In fact I did that for a year. You can thrive with less than you think.

What you describe seems typical for autism.

The reason I say this though is I don't have much trouble socially and I don't want to fit in with other people. I want people to accept me as I am and if they don't, that's their problem. I'd accept pretty much anyone though. Also I can be awesome at socialising if I really want to be. I can't do that always but if I have an important reason then yes.

Someone told me I was no
good at small talk a few years ago, and I checked with a few others, who agreed. I'd had no idea. You may be awesome at socializing, just, sometimes we may not be aware just how others see us.

I've been told that a few times.A lot of you say you felt different growing up but I didn't, I've always thought it's other people that have a problem and not me and even though I've been diagnosed I still can't help but think that. Lol I've been reading some of the posts on here.
It's so strange. I'm kinda shocked actually.

It's not entirely clear how to distinguish schizoid PD from aloof AS (not all AS want social contact). However, schizoid PD makes no mention of intense interests, need for routine, stimming or sensory processing issues, so if you have any of those, I'd say AS is more likely than schizoid PD. Also, schizoid PD says onset must be in 'early adulthood or earlier', while AS must have onset in early childhood, so if you had an onset in middle childhood or later, that would indicate schizoid PD.

Hmm again I'm unsure. I had a speech delay in early childhood and developed selective mutism. I had intense interests as a child but not anymore.
I don't have any sensory issues. I do have trouble with too much information in my head at once and multi tasking and I can freeze and have trouble talking or moving; :-/. That rarely happens though, most of the time I seem as 'normal' as can be.

Do you prefer one label over the other for any reason?

I don't know what you consider "awesome at socializing" to be - if you mean gregarious and outgoing, shaking hands and slapping people on the back, then that would not be autism or schizoid. If you mean that you socialize enthusiastically when there's a conversation that you find engaging and interesting, that's very much AS/HFA, in fact, we're kind of known for hijacking a conversation when its about one of our personal obsessive interest topics and not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise.

Many people with High Functioning Autism are capable of socializing fairly normally, for limited periods of time, although it tends to take a lot out of us psychologically and can leave us mentally exhausted and in need of lots of solitude afterwards, to decompress from the stress of trying to juggle and interpret other people's social cues.

Ultimately, what autism boils down to, is hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli - we have too many neural sensory connections and processing all the incoming signals gets overwhelming - "sensory signals" includes everything from light, sound, air temperature, language interpretation, facial recognition, noticing and understanding body language and facial expressions, and so on. Trying to juggle all those different functions at once can be too much for our brain's processing chip. The more other humans you add to the mix, the more intense it can get. Often, its just easier to fade into the wallpaper and watch silently, rather than try to navigate the chaos.

Wanting to fit in is an individual preference. Personally, I've been generally indifferent to it. I've seen the way people treat each other and heard the things they talk about and I'd just as soon pass. Its nice to have a friend or two, with enough IQ and common interests to hold up an intelligent conversation, but humans in general are stupid animals and frankly, I'd rather hang out with actual animals - dogs are much more trustworthy and genuine than people. OTOH, it is good to develop enough social skills to get a date once in a while.

In my experience, the people who accept you as you are, are usually people who are similarly socially alienated themselves. Others may pretend to accept you in the beginning, but beware of NTs feigning acceptance. They're just as likely to turn on you when its politically expedient and throw you right under the bus, just to curry favor with the social mob.

Actually, Schizoid PD does mention intense interests (ICD-10, Pleasure is only taken in few activities, if any, and when they do it becomes a intense interest). Sensory processing issues and stimming are also not a necessity for an autism diagnosis. Schizoid PD has been called "late onset autism" and aspergers has been called "early onset schizoidism" by some professionals in reference to the extreme similarities of the two disorders. Schizoid PD can occur in childhood and has been diagnosed as early as age 1. The more extreme the Schizoid PD, the more distinguishable it is from aspergers. Statistically speaking, aspergers is far more common.
The main diagnostic difference in childhood tends to be conduct disorders.

That's obviously a misdiagnosis. A one-year-old child has barely even developed a personality.

I heard they only diagnose it after the age of 18

Well, the diagnosis ended up being correct by later observations. The doctor noted a complete lack of an affect, lack of interest in anyone or anything... etc.

The DSM is more of a guidebook than a set of rules... An expert in a particular area of field can override the DSM in regard to their patients without fear of backlash.

Hmm fair enough

Actually, nothing in the DSM requires you be 18 to get a schizoid diagnosis. In fact, the only personality disorder that requires a minimum age is antisocial personality. However, most clinicians are hesitant to diagnose any personality disorder in a person under 18.

And I don't think you can reliably diagnose schizoid PD in a 1 year old. If I saw a socially aloof 1 year old, I'd diagnose autism, not schizoid PD.