Question about aspergers

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Sounds like me. Because I am not diagnosed, I was raised as an NT and had NT-esque expectations bestowed upon me. Whenever I failed to meet these expectations, I was told to suck it up and do better the next time. Today, I have very little trouble with social interaction for the most part. I can make eye contact and carry a conversation (which is why I tend to choose to associate with people with similar interests to mine) as long as it's something I'm personally interested in, and I can read faces and body language fairly well. However, I still tend to miss sarcasm and certain figurative uses of speech, and I still take things too literally and I cannot for the life of me lie on someone else's behalf (no white lies or sugarcoating here). I'm also very picky about how things should be and I easily annoy others because of my pickiness and overly sensitive emotions. When it comes to more professional and impersonal settings, such as speaking with a professor or a counselor, I will stutter and stumble and I've even had a meltdown at one particularly recent appointment. Directions confuse me easily if they aren't clear enough, and interacting with others on a daily basis burns me out quickly. So yeah, there's definitely more to it than just socializing.

I've always been kind of into people. Since I can remember, I've always based my activities around social interaction. When I draw, I draw pictures of people, always have. When I write, I write stories about people, always have. When I play on the Sims 2, I build social groups and make them party all the time (using cheats to maintain party mode). When I used to play with toys as a child, I always made them interact with eachother, even if they weren't human-based. When I used to play with Lego, I used to get older relatives to build me a house or school or whatever out of Lego, and I had lots of little Lego men and I played with them in it.

I'm not saying social interaction is my obsessive interest, but throughout my life I've always lived in what I call a ''social mind''. It's funny how I've grown up into a Social Phobe.....

I've got another question. Sorry if this sounds kind of offensive, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it. If somebody can live by themselves, hold down a job, have a few social relationships, etc. but is kind of weird and really likes cars or something, what is the point of diagnosing them with a disorder? Do we need to pathologize everything? Maybe he's just antisocial, you know? Or Dutch, lol. Just wondering.

I think you would still be autistic (as that is a brain wiring) however if you had no problems as a result you would be unlikely to be diagnosed with it.
However it may still be possible to be diagnosed with it due to issues that are not related to sociability and also proving that social ability is learned in an atypical manner, and social ability is an acted science rather than an innate understanding?
However maybe it would be possible to rewire the brain to be close enough to NT through all learning the NT things that the persons brain is no longer wired in a way that would be classified as autistic? However this would need to include more than mastering social cues, it could involve needing to learn to filter out irrelevent noise, focus less intensly on interests, reduce any sensory problems etc.
Just my thoughts

Philippepetit I see what you are saying, I think the main point in that case is not to access services, but to help the person understand who they are and help others understand them too.

What does the book say about people who use both sides equally?

I always test as using both my left and right hemisphere equally...it really does depend on what skill set is needed at the time (i.e whether I am studying my science course and doing a lot of math or whether I am indulging my hobby of arts and crafts...).

I think that depends on what kind of person you are. I, for example, am a person who needs to know for sure. I want to know if a "professional" sees the same kind of traits in me as I do. Of course you could then say "getting a diagnosis doesn't mean it's for sure, the professional might be wrong". That's true, but getting someone else's view on the matter might help and if getting a diagnosis can ease the suffering even just a little bit, then I'd say it's worth it.

I've got a boyfriend, I've got a couple of close friends and I've got a job. Just because I have those things it doesn't mean life's easy for me. It takes an extreme amount of energy to keep my friendships alive. And when it comes to work, I feel terribly anxious every time I'm there because I need to do thing I'm rubbish at (talking to customers, multitask, be around loads of noise for hours and hours etc) and I get tired and annoyed so much easier than my colleagues. I want to learn how to handle that and how to handle my anxiety, aggression and social issues. I think the point I'm trying to make (sorry for the rant) is that just because one might be able to function (in a limited sort of way) in the NT world, one might not have an easy life. And if seeing a psychologist and getting a proper diagnosis can help ease the pain, I don't see why that's a problem. Do you know what I mean?

The assessments that are used now are kind of like trying to identify a dog by its shadow. They don't directly examine the wiring of the brain and aspergers/autism is about the wiring of the brain. Everything else is an effect of that (neurological) or an effect of the effect (psychological). You can (and should) learn all you can and do a very good imitation but that wiring is still there.

According to Tony (the man) Attwood. Aspies fall into 4 broad categories based on the strategies they fell into at about 8 years old when they started to realize they were different. People that saw it as a terrible thing and became depressed, people in denial and became arrogant, people who retreated into their imaginations and finally people who imitate and study NT's.

So what your asking does exist but none of us end up bill Clinton, maybe Daryl Hannah.

Wait - what? I wasn't 8 years old when I became aware I was 22.

I'm kind of critical of mild AS but when people have co-morbid problems like anxiety (making their symptoms worse) or they might be independent with families but have communication issues (not in speaking but in what they say, how they empathise etc) then yes, I don't mind if it's diagnosed. AS long as they are seeking help.

I'll be lucky if I ever get a job and I don't even want to date because of how hard it will be to relate to the person, and making time for them. I'm too into my writing and research. My most impairing symptom is my sensory issues and the co-morbid ADHD and the co-co-morbids PDA, ODD, PMDD, and epilepsy.

I don't know why people ask "What ?" on boards. Re-read.
I think but I'm not sure that you're reading too much into my comments.
I'm sorry I'm not being difficult, I really do have trouble parsing things some times
but I don't see the connection between anything there.
Can you ask me a direct question.

I'm diagnosed AS though I have a particular academic interest in Human Psyc and behavior. Though I understand human behavior better than most, it's still not "natural". Human behavior and social conventions can change fairly rapidly and there's only so many books/white papers I can read to keep up.

For emphasis. I'll also reply in any way I feel like.

I'm feeling terribly ODD right now and will tear people apart just for the stimulation. So take great care to not provoke me.

Also, I was criticising Tony Attwood's generalised statement.

The first sentence was in reply to you, the rest was a reply to the OP. That's how I do things.

Now I'm going to go steal ice cream from a small child (sarcasm - just in case).

Threatening on the internet is silly. He was talking about an possibly subconscious process that happen as we become self aware, not the discovery that is is explicitly aspergers. I discovered when I was 22 too. But it's you mind believe what you want.