How many self-diagnosed Aspies actually have it?

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Exactly! A diagnosis is one PERSON'S educated opinion. It is more like art than medicine imho. But what they do is to find out if you are anxious, depressed, ADHD, etc, and then prescribe pills, and have you come back, again and again. They treat SOME symptoms, and try to make the people who come presenting problems FEEL better.

I did this too. I had someone suggest it and didn't quite understand why they'd say something like that. I read upon Autism to try to understand what they were getting at. I then used that to get my point across to my GP as to why I think I've got it. Unlike when I thought I had depression, I couldn't just case "because..." I ended up handing him a piece of paper which explained in detail why.

tall-p, those are my experiences exactly. A couple of years ago I went to my GP and asked to try some of the newer medications. It turns out that my insurance company would not pay for such medications without an official diagnosis. Well, I live far removed from anything, and there is only one psychologist within a hundred miles, and no psychiatrists of any kind. When I paid her a visit, she was adamant that I did NOT have AS. When I asked her how that could be when I have ALL of the symptoms, she got mad and told me that if I didn't wish to "cooperate", I would have to go elsewhere, which is what I did. It turns out that she wasn't professionally qualified to render such a diagnosis, and so she was going to treat me for what she was qualified for. It is true for doctors that when all they have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail.

I self diagnosed myself a year ago, when I was twelve. Then I went to a professional to get it diagnosed. See, I always used to go to counselors and psychologists and they would tell my parents "I think your son has Aspergers" and my parents would just brush it off and not tell me. But then, I had a project in school where I had to learn about Aspergers, and I decided I had it after a lot of research. So I told my parents, and we went to a professional and turns out I have it

So far I have only had two therapists agree I likely have AS....but that is not quite the same as an official diagnoses I don't think. Good news is I will have an appointment with a neuropsychologist or whatever soon....so that should probably help. But yeah maybe it will turn out something else accounts for my differences aside from autism, guess I will find out.

I am quite certian my teachers mentioned austism and ADD/ADHD as potential things 'wrong' with me...as I overheard it a few times. Either way its noticeable to other people whether it's autism or something else.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 04 Mar 2013, 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sometimes it is a matter over understanding how hard you can allow yourself to beat yourself up over things you have control over or whether you really don't have that much control to begin with.

I am terribly hard on myself, quite a perfectionist in many ways. I have a need for clarity, which I often don't get. However, I really do try to do the right things and often fall short, and for me it is important to know why. Am I just a self-absorbed jerk or do I really have a problem with social cues? Is my crushing need for sticking to my original plans/routines getting in the way of other aspects of raising my children effectively? Why is it so hard for me to let go and let someone else be right? Why can't I enjoy my vacation instead of being stressed out by planning and adhering to my packing lists? My life is 20x more stressful than it probably needs to be and as much as I'm told to simplify things, I just can't.

If I can't figure out the source of the problem, I really can't fix it. I would gladly pay whatever it would cost to help me figure all this out so I don't feel so stuck going forward with my life.

I agree. Until I decided I wasn't going to put up with it anymore, almost the entire world told me I was defective and lazy. I will add that though I had my life pretty much on track before I'd ever heard of AS--understanding what it is, and knowing that I'm not uniquely defective--have helped me immensely.

Having said this, my argument is that if a person has a clear-cut case of AS, having a doctor put his or her imprimatur on that diagnosis won't do a thing except cost somebody a lot of money.

I'm coming to the conclusion that some of the people here attach some sort of weird status to spending somebody else's money to get an official diagnosis. I don't understand it, but maybe it's the (undiagnosed) aspie in me.

Who else's money do they spend to get a diagnosis?

Fnord, I'm curious to understand if you are indicating that self-DX's of AS are invalid in your view. I personally don't view a "professional" DX as being the only determination of AS. I do agree that only a professional DX creates a rebuttable presumtion of AS, through there have been some cases that look like false positives, particularly in early childhood.

Given the financial constraints that some of our community faces, I'm not comfortable with the idea of automatically rejecting DX's. I would agree that self-DX's would not be valid in all cases, particularly those involving studies and the legal system.

The better question would be who pays for autism diagnoses out of their own pockets? Insurance companies and the government--meaning taxpayers--cover most of these costs. If aspies had to pay the tens of thousand of dollars out of their own pockets, more of them would feel like I do--that a formal diagnosis is seldom necessary.

I paid for my own evaluation. I do have health insurance, but I did not meet the deductible for the beginning of the year so the entire $600 comes out of my Flexible Spending Account. In my opinion it is money well spent.

My second opinion/evaluation will be at the Seaver Research Institute. Yes, government/taxpayers would be paying for that, but I hope my volunteering for the research study (which includes an evaluation) can provide something valuable to them in return.

Admittedly, some of those appropriately trained and licensed mental health professionals have said things like "If you think you're autistic, you're probably autistic." I know for sure Tony Attwood has.

I think self-deluded poseurdom is exaggerated and it doesn't really do anyone any good to characterize self-diagnosis that way.

Not sure it's just American. However, there is a tendency to discount and discredit people who say they have particular kinds of impairments or deficits and characterize them as "using it for an excuse" or "playing the victim" or saying that they do not have it at all.

I have yet to encounter anyone who falsely claims to be autistic as an excuse to be an annoying git. And I have met many autistic people who are mistaken for "annoying gits" (and I should include myself here) for not understanding social norms and thus unintentionally violating them.



I think to some extent it is an ableism issue - an unwillingness to take disability seriously.



I knew a small group of people who insisted before I was diagnosed that I did not have it and I must have something else, even something that was characterized by behavior so utterly alien to me I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to act that way. Most everyone else I knew said "Oh, that makes sense." This included other autistic people, professionals who were not treating me, and family who have of course been around me for a long time.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "poseur" means "a person who pretends to be what he or she is not" or "an affected or insincere person". It also defines "affectation" as "the act of taking on or displaying an attitude or mode of behavior not natural to oneself or not genuinely felt".

Attaching any invalid label to one's self to justify affecting an attitude of arrogance and entitlement - not to mention using the label as a "Free Pass" to throw tantrums and behave like a jerk - is being a poseur.

It's like pretending to be a celebrity's best friend just to get special treatment from waiters, club bouncers, and barely legal party girls - sooner or later, the affectation is going to backfire, and the person pretending to be someone he isn't is going to get burned.

This has literally nothing to do with my point.

I mean, I agree with that people pretending to be someone they're not is generally a bad idea. I think you are severely overstating the degree of "people pretending to be autistic" or attaching invalid labels, and I don't see any benefit from making such characterizations when there is little to no evidence to back it up. It ends up sounding (to me) like vague gossip.

Nothing wrong with pointing out a diagnosis (self or professional or otherwise) can be wrong, but then taking it to this next level of deliberate pretense? Why?

To me, AS just "makes sense" in that it describes at least 90%-95% of my "oddness" (for lack of a better word). My scores on two of the online tests were high enough to confirm it enough for me.

At my age, attempting to get a formal diagnosis would be futile at best and possibly harmful at worst. I hold down two jobs and no one seems to suspect that anything is "wrong" with me--I'd rather keep it that way.

In other words, I am not looking for "special treatment" (e.g., not being a "poseur"). I just wanted to figure myself out. Having done so, I feel a lot better about my life in general. The explanation was/is for myself. That's all.

Note: I am female and going on 34. Two "formal diagnosis" strikes against me.