I'm so AS, I don't even appear to be AS?

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News Flash: Me and [insert anyone else] are so completely different, that that type of comparison is not very telling of anything, especially not diagnostically. So, "comparing myself" to you, verdandi, the godfather, or the hot blonde next door doesn't exactly lead me anywhere. The only thing I have is the daily manifestations of my neurology, and the ability to query the great hive intelligence that is the internet.

I didn't accuse you of anything, I offered you advice. I know as well as anyone that services are actually not that easy to get for most people.

I know you didn't. Someone else on the other hand, by implication...

Yeah, that's part of the problem. If you need the help it makes it harder for you to put yourself in a position to access it.

Try, try again. My sliding-scale Mental Health Center (which I believe has some State funding) sent me to a PhD at our State Children's Hospital ("Mental" children) who is an expert on it for diagnosis. I was already in treatment at the Center for Depression, and it didn't cost me a thing extra with their referral. I have been paying for my Depression treatment, but not that much.

Then why the constant barrage of posts comparing yourself to others (or asking others if they do this or that) with statements saying that this or that character trait makes you NT or ASD?


I got that joke while others did not, perhaps I am NT.
I am literal so maybe I am ASD.
I hear voices, am I crazy?
I have brown hair, does this make me ASD?
Etc...

It's all rather pointless after awhile. It is a spectrum and we are all different and will all have differing traits. The DSM manual is the only thing you got if you cannot figure out how to get professional services.

There is no such thing as 100% NT nor 100% AS.

Aspies will get jokes and won't get jokes.
Aspies will take things literal and not take things literal.
Traits are not black and white.

An NT may take something literal but does that mean they have AS? No.
An NT may miss a joke, does that mean they have AS? No.
It's not black and white.

You don't need to have all the symptoms to have AS.

lol. Autistic thinking tends to be characterized by black and white thinking, thus that might be one more autistic trait I might possess. I'm *really* getting the feeling my cognition is more autistic than the majority of the autistic females here, lol. (It's no joke, really, as autistic males tend to score "more autisically" than autistic females on various metrics.)

SWBluto, I think what you have is a serious case of Sophomore Syndrome. In case you never heard of it, that's when a student learns a lot about one specific disease and decides that they have it, because they see too many things in themselves that are like some of the symptoms. Way back in the late sixties, before anyone ever heard of Asperger and his work, and Autism was called "Childhood Schizophrenia", my husband was working on his Master's in Psychology, and I watched him go through that at least half a dozen times. The only way you're going to find out for sure just what your problem is is to get a professional diagnosis (and even then, it might be wrong, but at least it'll be closer than your own!)

Well now you know. Aspies don't take every single thing literal they hear nor jokes. Just like an aspie isn't inflexible in every single thing nor are they oblivious to every single between the lines reading. I know this because that is me and I have seen the same with other aspies too so I learned it's not black and white.

Is it offensive to users here who have been diagnosed with Asperger's that other people would be here, trying to figure out if they also have it, rather than getting a professional diagnoses?

I feel like I have a pretty good idea what kinds of things most average people find offensive. But I always talk myself out of posting opinions/questions on this site because I can't get a good handle on what will offend people here.

I read a good number of the threads here and am constantly asking myself what matches with me and what doesn't. But that seems to be seen as a bad thing by some who have posted in this thread and other similar threads.

I'm still trying to figure out if I am an Aspie who just lucked out in that my special interests (Hockey/TV/Movies) weren't in areas that would stand out as weird and in fact may have helped get on in an NT world.
Or, if I have the sophmore syndrome that people have mentioned, and I should stop reading everything I can find on Asperger's and over-analyzing everything I read and see.

If I have Asperger's, I am one of the lucky (maybe unlucky depending on your point of view) ones who was able to keep it from everyone and pass for NT. Albeit a goofy and immature NT, but I never minded being seen that way.
So, I don't really see how I would benefit from a formal diagnosis other than satisfying my curiosity by having a firm answer to the puzzle. But even then, I don't know that I would be satisfied until I heard the same thing one way or the other from many different professionals, and that seems like more trouble than it's worth.

I read somebody here post that you should only go to a Doctor who is qualified to diagnose adults with Asperger's, so I asked my general practitioner if she thought I should talk to someone else. She referred me to a neurologist, I called with some questions and was assured by two seperate secretaries, who said that they addressed my concerns with the Doctor, that the Dr. was indeed well qualified to make a diagnosis of Asperger's in adults.
I went for a visit, answered about 10 questions, and after declaring that Asperger's was a form of Autism and that Autistic people don't have any friends the "qualified professional"
dismissed my concerns.

Sorry, I am going on and on when I probably shouldn't.
The point I was never getting to is...
I score Aspie on all the online tests and NT on none of them, but I havn't had the same struggles as many of the posters here.
I don't know that I fit the diagnostic criteria, because I'm hung up on some of the terms in there, and can make rational (to me) arguments both to support or to disprove myself fitting the criteria.
And my question is...
Is there a better place online to look for answers to those kind of questions without offending people who only think you should seek professional help?

Sorry if this was the wrong place for this, or if that was too much information.

It's not offensive. This is one of the reasons this forum exists, I think.

I think what kfisherx is pointing out in swbluto's threads is he says "I did this one thing, does this make me AS or NT?" and there's no way each individual question can be answered that way. At this point I'd just advise him to pick the answer that seems to fit best and go with it, barring an official diagnosis.

Last edited by Verdandi on 15 Jun 2011, 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

People who have a lot of autistic traits vs. those who do not have autistic traits...don't really know how else to put it...

So yeah, pretty much--stimming, posture, tone of voice, eye contact, and so on and on.

I didn't get the joke.

Also, I don't think I said "look". I said "seem". That is different. Obviously, someone doesn't have AUTISM painted across their forehead. Still, I can often tell if someone is autistic when I am around them because of the way they act, talk, etc. And I have not met one with severe Aspergers who acts and talks like someone who is neurotypical.

I don't mean this in a rude way, but perhaps you are not severe as you think you are. If this is "one more piece of evidence" that that means you have other pieces as well. Maybe you think your condition is worse than it actually is. I am high-functioning yes, but I cannot pass as neurotypical even if I try.

I agree with this.

I am not saying this is the case, but some people try so hard to identify with a label that they cannot see other possibilities. I was convinced for years I had Aspergers. Then I thought to myself maybe I was manipulating myself to fit the Aspie label because I wanted so hard to fit into SOMETHING. So, I let it go a couple years until a psychologist randomly told me she thought I had it. Then I went for my diagnosis. Maybe you have it and maybe you don't. You won't find out by creating online calculators or stewing on wrongplanet all day. I mean, yeah, WP is great to communicate with others, but still, you will not get your diagnosis here. You can compare yourself to those who have been diagnosed, and you may relate to them or not. Lots of things can look like AS, but aren't. Or maybe you do have it...who knows? No one because you aren't diagnosed yet. Again, you can also compare yourself to those who think they have it but have not been diagnosed. Some of those are correct about themselves, and I can also bet that many of them are wrong. It happens. I think it is good idea to separate yourself from the label until you know for sure and to be open to other possibilities. You are who you are regardless of a label--if you need help you need to make sure you are getting the correct help no matter what the label might be.