you're not a doctor, stop telling people they don't have AS.

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So, you could deduce my emotional state from my words? Your deduction was way off. I was emotionally neutral when posting what I did, well, I might have been happy as I was daydreaming of something cool.

Yes.

Usually faceless, physically voiceless but electronically talkative - for many of us (including me) considerably better at communicating here than they are in person -, and named insofar as it's needed; and the strangers to me are the people I meet everyday. This lot here almost make sense some times. ^^


Absolutely.

SirLogiC, your psychologist's reasoning (and yours) is flawed. If you have AS, you will indeed have it for your entire life - if you don't believe me, just take a spin by the Dino-Aspie Ex-Cafe here, we've got plenty of examples.

Aimless, I actually was diagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder - back in 1989, when I was getting out of the Air Force. At the time, AS wasn't a diagnosis yet, so I couldn't get that one. I went to a DSM-III, read the description, politely disagreed with it, and went about my business. 12 years later, I heard about AS (well, in the interest of accuracy, my sister read about it in a magazine, then told me about this article that had been written about me). I looked that up in the DSM-IV, and found that it explained rather a lot about me. I then showed the DSM-IV entry to my wife, who said that the entry should have been illustrated with my picture. So far in my life, I haven't found anyone who agrees with the SPD diagnosis - but many, many people who agree with AS.

Daniel, just to clear up something that's been bugging me since I first read your (second?) post in this thread - the word is "caregiver", not "carer". Your caregiver has to give you care, but doesn't really have to care about you in the process. About the only "job" I can hold down is as caregiver for my autistic daughter (since my wife became legally married to my cohusband, in order to gain military-dependent medical benefits, the Army pays me to provide my daughter's basic care. The pay isn't much, but it's better than nothing...), so I'm familiar with the term. (The rest of my family could be regarded as my "caregivers", but since I'm 46 and not officially "disabled", they don't get any money for everything they do for me, just love, gratitude, and access to anything I have left over after paying bills.)

I said I used to be self diagnosed. I am currently diagnosed with PDD- NOS. Not that it matters

I do believe people do incorrectly diagnose themselves based on online information. I have been ridiculed for having Aspergers. They said it's the trendy thing for people to have. I was told it meant someone could be rude and anti-social, while having an excuse, and a reason to believe they're intellectually superior.

I do think there are a lot of misconceptions about Aspergers that leads people to believe they have it when they do not. Many of the symptoms don't convey well in the guidelines.

That being said, I do not see "have aspergers-undiagnosed" and assume they're incorrect. I knew I had it before I was diagnosed (but I will admit that's after a doctor mentioned it). I do think that it's something people need to be careful about saying. There is a very negative attitude about AS out there, and most of it is because they believe we're cerebral narcissists who try to excuse rude behavior.

When in reality, that has NOTHING to do with AS.

That is so true. I do think it's hard for people that had someone else recognize the symptoms, meaning a parent or teacher or whomever, to comprehend what it is like to go through life not being lucky enough to have someone who cares enough to notice and take them to the doctor and try to get at what the problem is. Some of us not only have this but have been condemned and pathologized for it for decades by personality disordered opportunists in our families, which is a double curse.

That being said, I don't think this is an issue for this forum because the administrator of the site made the categories, has decided that undiagnosed people are welcome to post, and doesn't seem to have a problem with it. To me the issue was decided from that point forward. People get confused about where they are, I think, meaning the internet, where it's unwise to take anything at any more than face value. I don't care about the status of 'formally diagnosed' people here because I have no way of confirming it, they could be a troll or a liar, just as well as an actual diagnosed aspie...I really don't know who is formally diagnosed (supposedly) or not here, and I really don't care. I never check to see and everyone is on equal footing with me.

i don't know. for me, self-diagnosis isn't just a necessity (current lack of health insurance), but it's also sort of a self-affirmation of things i suspected but didn't have the words for. i knew for the longest time that i was "wired" differently. my learning patterns didn't fit what was "normal." i used to wonder why, even though words and language came easily to me, i had struggles with things others considered simple: left and right, telling time, directions, simple math (addition, multiplication, division, etc.) i couldn't coordinate things well, and felt very challenged, confused.

i thought for a while that i was ADD (because of the hyperfocus alternating with short attention), and that i had some form of dyslexia (difficulties with left vs. right.) when i finally heard about AS, i thought: well, yes---it kind of fits (in terms of social challenges, etc.) and then when i read about NLD----it was as if my life were explained to me.

i think most people know themselves pretty well, and what their strengths and challenges are. some don't. but that's true anywhere. i am glad that i've had opportunities (including this site) to fit the pieces together and to make sense of a lot of mysteries.

All I can say to anyone who is complaining about self diagnosed people is why? I self-diagnosed when I was 17 years old after years of severe difficulty and a lot of people agreed with my opinion. Two years later I was officially diagnosed. Did it make any difference? No not really. Now I just had the paper saying exactly what I knew already. Whether these people have AS or not, we shouldn't tell them to stop 'faking' or to leave because they just want help and advice for problems which a lot of us who are diagnosed face. I personally prefer to get help and advice from a large group of people I don't know rather than a care worker, they just too personal.

I started researching autism spectrum disorders because my stepson had some very peculiar behaviors I was trying to understand.

Once I became aware of AS, I started reading everything about it i could get my hands on. I have read 20-25 books and hundreds of scholarly articles about it. I have also read extensively on all the conditions that are often misdiagnosed as AS. I'm NT but let's just say Aspergers has become my special interest.

I went to a psychiatrist in our town who is "qualified" to make the diagnosis. I started talking to her about some of the current research and she was CLUELESS! She hadn't read even 1/100th what I have on the topic. And yet she can say yeah or nay because of her degree?

We have not had our son professionally screened for AS because we don't see the benefits of having a formal diagnosis, yet I can tell you with 100% confidence that he has AS, and so does my husband.

To say that a person can't claim to have AS without a Dr.'s stamp of approval is small-minded in the extreme.

Well said.

I did go to a psychiatrist to try to get diagnosed but he refused to make a judgment either way. He just wanted to help me work things out in my mind about a lot of the issues going on without delving too much into AS as some monolithic entity. I suppose it's because once you get a label on you, you're more likely to fail to look beyond the label, starting to use it as an excuse to be an ass, etc.. Self-diagnosis for me is sufficient for an explanation of everything about me. But I'm not looking for an excuse. And I frankly don't give a sh*t if people think I have AS or not, nor do I care about others' diagnosis status. Posts on WP are mere snapshots of ourselves, and are not sufficient to make a judgment one way or the other. Thus I just go by people's word. It's not like I have anything personally invested in anybody else's diagnosis status on WP anyway.

Plus at this point in my life, an official diagnosis would close more doors than it would open.

I agree that it is a shame that people argue this here. There have been a number of such threads since I joined and I have never before participated because I have no personal interest the debate. But even I, somewhat tone-deaf on such matters, immediately understood that comments rejecting those who don't have an "official" diagnosis would, quite naturally, cause distress and hurt to some members.

I have tried to understand whether those who openly reject the self-diagnosed are merely oblivious to the discomfort they are likely to cause, or if they lack compassion and just don't care.

I don't disagree with you, my only additional point is about comorbids or other diagnosis. You probably know more about AS than most doctors now, but what about ADHDF, ADD, OCD, depression, anxiety, dispraxia and all the other related conditions which many people are also suseptable to or share similarities with AS? You can't possibly read up on every potential issue and thus you can't be sure you have the whole picture. Sure you've probably got a big chunk of it, but i went to get a diagnosis for AS prepared to argue my case and having done a lot of reading and i came away with ADHD-PI as well, which i didn't even know about.

So while i'm going off topic slightly becuase i agree with the sentiment of the thread (self diagnosis is not the same as no diagnosis) but it's not good to get too blinkered and write off a diagnosis as just a piece of paper or assume all doctors are bad, or even that it's pointless if they're not AS specialists.

Hmm, I think one possibility is that it has more to do with overly relying on the official diagnosis to provide that person with an identity. It would explain the vehemence with which some folks disapprove of self-diagnosis. In some ways it's not too much unlike people of other minority groups saying stuff like "so-and-so is not a true black person!" etc.. I tried to explain it a bit within the context of the gay Asperger's thread (Click here!) recently, but I think it also applies to neurology as well.

I agree! *raised fist salute*



Excellent post.

I am softness. I am 32. I was dignosed by a DR. But I still think that Doctors shouldn't do it we should As we would what 2 look 4. I am Autistic with selective mutism. And my berother's girlfriend says that I COULD CONTROL IT IF I WANT> And her idiot friends are just as freeking bad!! !! !! ! I am PISSED MAJOR!! !! !! How the heck would they no? I was born an auty. They even say My daughter is normal. 9!! ! She is 4 I love they I am!! !!

That doesn't really answer my question. Isn't Schizoid considered a psychological condition; something that's a reaction to life events? Isn't that why they won't diagnose unless someone is over 18? If some had the characteristics of a schizoid but showed them as a toddler wouldn't that indicate there was something else going on? Why does it have to be severe? Isn't it a spectrum? Also, they did take me to a doctor. I was in play therapy and on anti anxiety meds by the 3rd grade.