*edited

Post Reply New Topic

No offense taken.

even though I don't believe AS is a disease, if you want to look at it from that standpoint, do you need a Dr to tell you that you are depressed? Do you need a Dr to tell you that you have a stomach ache?

Since I think of it more of a personality type (influenced by neuroligical structure, like most personality types), would you need an art critic to tell you that you are an artist? Would you need a band teacher to tell you that you are a musician?

I don't need a Dr to tell me why I don't make eye contact with anyone, why I don't long for human contact most of the time, why I say the wrong things at the wrong volumes, why I know exactly where the quarter I dropped this morning is, but I can't find a sock in a basket of clean laundry. Why I can write code for 20 straight hours and not remember to eat or sleep. Why I chew on my shirt, why I can't speak at times, and can't stop speaking at times. Why I have avid interests and avid food intolerences. Why certain textures soothe me, and certain textures cause me physical pain.

I know why, because that's who I am. And Sometimes that can be described as "Asperger's Syndrome". a Syndrome is a grouping of symptoms, not always a specific disease. My Daughter has a chromosomal difference from most people that can be described as "Williams Syndrome" but because Syndrome describes a grouping of symptoms, there are a few people who do not have her chromosomal difference but still have an "official" Williams Syndrome diagnosis. Why? because symptoms = diagnosis for Syndromes.

I think handing ourselves over to the medical/psudo-scientific community for SUBJECTIVE testing is unwise and irresponsible. You know yourself better than anyone else. There is no greater authority on your psyche.

I guess there is a lesson to be learned here. Everyone has their own opinion and no one's is absolutely correct.

Space is right in his assertion that WP needs to be a place where we all can feel welcomed.

Space: consider yourself lucky that you live in a country where there is access to healthcare to all. It would make a big difference here in the US if we had that kind of system. You might see more officially diagnosed people on WP. Also, consider yourself lucky that you were someone who got the diagnosis and have that support system. They didn't even have ADHD when I was little so you can see why I fell through the cracks with something as "new" as AS. Had that diagnosis been available when I was a child, I'll guarantee you, that's what I would have received.

I havn't told anyone about it because I'm not entirely sure if I really have it or not. But that's probably just me because I always have to know everything exactly right. And because people keep telling me there's nothing wrong with me

OK, but not possible.

I recently discovered WP at 60, it explained my life.

My first post, At first I thought it was a joke.

It did seem like a spoof site. Something caused by computers and anime.

But I found my life here, it has helped, I do not care, perhaps I just have WP.

Canada sounds wonderful, the death rate in New Orleans has doubled due to lack of medical services.

Still in ruins, 250,000 people still gone, over two years later.

I have never heard of anyone my age getting a Dx.

Being new with limited services available, first the children who will most benefit, and along with them the un Dxed parents. We are still picking up the pieces at the university level. People with long lives before them.

It will not happen for adults now, but will provide for a better future.

We may as well ask that all the young who have support not clog up WP, but their medical support ends at young adult, and us old folks have the miles, and are still going.

A support community, everyone helping everyone, is the best we can do.

The sad thing is I ACTUALLY feel you have a point! But I feel your statement EXACTLY as expressed is true! You MEANT "People shouldn't say they have AS unless diagnosed by a licensed doctor.". You SAID that "AS should be diagnosed". It should be refined and defined by EXPERIENCED people.

Just look at the Jesus project: http://www.jesus-project.com/intro.htm they keep trying to rewrite history. Don't they know that every generation they have less ability to do so properly?

Likewise, there are at least 3 spectrums for AS out there, and that doesn't count older ones. SOME are even mutually exclusive.

Frankly, I like labpet's idea. THAT is nice! If there is an obvious structural difference, GREAT! That is PROOF! It is like testing for an AMD chip in a computer. MOST run a routine to see how it reacts. The BEST way, however, is to actually look at the chip!

Heck, even AIDS can't really be diagnosed. A number of things can cause similar symptoms, and some people are immune to HIV. SO, in theory, a person could test positive for "AIDS" and not really have it.

SO, if I get a chance, or there is a DEFINITIVE way, I just may find out. Otherwise, I will settle for knowing that I react like one. I have a good collection of AS weaknesses and strengths, etc...

Still I, for one, certainly couldn't hurt your cause.

Absolutely.

I've shown autistic traits my entire life, and it was actually LFA that I was showing when I was much younger. Then I started talking around age 5, so that diagnosis would have been null and void if they were to have gone ahead with it.


Space: No offense taken. I was just slightly peeved when you made this topic. It's just that I know myself better than anyone, and certainly better than any expert will. I don't say I have AS/HFA just because I found out about it on the internet. I say I have AS/HFA because I most likely DO.