Sometimes I wonder if I even have Asperger's or not

Post Reply New Topic

I've been wondering myself, I only have some symptoms and they're all mild enough for me to have a normal life. There are many traits I don't have at all! Instead I have traits from other disorders that are much stronger than AS has ever been, dyspraxia, anxiety, tics. Any social troubles are a matter of shyness and lack of confidence through years of being aware of some stupid label. It gives me no self belief and has done more harm than good

I was diagnoses at 11 which was quite late on so I'd already grown out of it a bit. People on here say it's not possible but the brain is very flexible, it's not impossible to develop an almost NT brain in the right circumstances. I may have been a proper aspie as a small child but even then it was ridiculously mild and I always had good friends growing up which helped. Nowadays I think it's almost disappeared.

I read people's about troubles here and I don't relate to so many of them. I feel a fraud. Sure I have some sprinkle of aspieness but not enough to confidently label myself autistic. I'm just a bit of a dork. My mum has a habit of exaggerating things and thinks everyone is a special snowflake in my family so I can easily imagine her being overly persistent during my assessment.

Also I understand social nuances and concepts quite well and can totally get where they're from, like feelings of togetherness in political meetings or concerts or following fashions and fads. It makes way more sense than it should for an "aspie."

As of now the consensensus is that one can't grow out of it. But one can't grow out of what one never had. Of course there can be misdiagnoses as psycholgists are not gods they are human and these conditions do overlap. But as you have read real Aspies think they are doing socially ok when they are not and no aspie has all the traits. That is why any ressesment neads to be thorough.

If any of you get a ressesment tell them exactly what you wrote here and tell them you were here and felt out of place and why. If your family objects I would use this argument. It is good practice to get a second opinion.

Finding solutions usually involve eliminating wrong solutions. And that can be painful. That is why it is rare for 17 year olds or 20 year olds to have found themselves.

I know most people on WP argue that there is no such thing as ''mild'' and ''severe'' on the spectrum, but I believe there is. I'm a perfect example of what you would called a mild and high-functioning person with Asperger's Syndrome. I know it's a spectrum and everyone's different, but yes, everyone's different in their own way but there are still a few significant signs that show that a person could be more mild than others. I have read countless times about babies developing typically and showing no peculiar behaviour or other patterns, then they get to an age (usually when they start school) and then soon end up with a diagnosis of Asperger's.

I even remember when I was about 3 or 4 at preschool, I was playing with a toy doctor's kit, and pulled out a toy stethoscope and put it around my neck. Then I noticed another little girl looking interested in playing with me, and so I asked, ''do you feel sick?'', not for real but just playing a game. She said ''yes'' and I felt her chest with the toy stethoscope, then I remember gently putting it around her neck, and took it turns being the doctor and the patient. That's all I remember, but thinking back, and having seen other toddlers playing with each other since then, it does seem like a typical child interaction. I know that's only one thing I remember at preschool but that can't have been the only time I done interactive play with other children. I was only a preschooler at the time, so you can't expect too much from a toddler.

I can definitely say that I have been able to read body language from instinct, even when I was a child. Even the social worker was quite impressed and surprised when looking at my drawings when I was as young as 6, because I drew people a lot with effective facial expressions (my drawings looked typically like a 6-year-old's drawings but it was the way I could express their facial expressions and other emotional readings when drawing them). And it wasn't just happy or sad, it was all sorts of emotions and expressions. I still kept some of those drawings.