The autistic community made me LESS autistic.

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This is the problem with these kinds of evaluations. And a lot of the people who answer or try to answer these questions are probably kind of mixed up, as a lot of people are. Even if the test is made better, it still seems to me to be kind of a stupid venture to try to test people with asperger's syndrome or ASD, that kind of thing, and people do not even know themselves and they want to fit in to being an aspie, to anything, so they slant their answers. I do not know much about testing, but I assume there is an effort to account for this kind of bias, but in such a generalized case as a constantly shifting developmental disorder I do not know if it is really possible.

Last edited by littlebee on 23 Apr 2013, 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I shall clarify my last message since it might come across as rude for NTs. Most NTs are nice and loving people, since according to statistics, most people are neurotypical. The best people I met so far in real life are NTs. The worst, also NTs. There are many kinds of people in every group and I was talking about the burnout I sometimes experience when socializing for a long time with shallow people. I apologize for the inconvenience and uncomfort caused

And what sort of "effort to account for this kind of bias" would you suggest? If people want to term themselves "Aspies", with no practical advantage (the test has no real medical standing), what effort would reduce that "bias"?

Edited 4/24/2013 to remove bolding that was left over from the first draft of the response

Last edited by AgentPalpatine on 24 Apr 2013, 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

It would be interesting if there was a study broken down by when (by age) Adults were DXed. While it may be beyond statistical methods, I would'nt be surprised if you saw even more profile differences between adults DXed at different points in their lives.

You would'nt happen to know if there is any thing out there along those lines, would you?

I don't think there is. Perhaps I could do my thesis on something like that. I've got a whole research future ahead of me and tons of project ideas in my head, I just have to figure out what I can do and when. This seems like a good project for my BA thesis because the prof who agreed to supervise me does adult/teen ASD research. But I don't know for sure. It's an interesting thing to research and I wonder if there are any population trends vs. individual. Some people here seem to have regressed, while others have become more functional. There's likely a bunch of variables, like comorbids, playing into this. I'll see if I can find anything on it, because so far I've been researching the benefit of social/therapy groups for adults with ASD and there isn't much research on that, either. A lot of research is on social skill teaching, and changing the individual, grr.

Hi. I have taken out the part when you bolded my words, as it makes it seem like I did it to these words (and I also corrected a couple minor typos.. Please do not alter any quote of mine unless you indicate you have done that.

Re your question, reducing bias on ones answers to that test has nothing to do with whether the test is medically recognized or not, as far as I can tell. It is interesting to see oneself slanting data in order to fit oneself or someone else into some kind of frame work. The reason I got hip to it is just the other day, a few days ago I realized I was doing it with a test I took, and that was interesting. Plus you slanted the emphasis in my message by bolding certain words as if I myself did it. I will not speculate about that, but doing this must have served a function for you. I am assuming those words were in some way painful, but why? By your reasoning,, what does it matter if someone thinks the testing venture is kind of stupid, since if the test is not even medically recognized? I do think the test is good fodder for inquiry, but obviously this is not what the designers of that test intended. I am feeling/intuiting you are in some way angry with me for saying it Anyway what I wrote did not imply just that test but possibly other tests of the same kind, some of which may be medically recognized, though about that I do not even know.

Personally I do try to reduce my own bias-- a bias that is based on fear, anger, not facing reality, avoiding feeling a feeling, putting my head in the sand, denial etc..or even a 'positive' bias such as a way exaggerated idealization which I am especially prone to. I am not that good at it, but better than before, and the opera is not over until the fat lady sings. Thank you for reminding me to try to be more impartial, and no, I am not being sarcastic but am genuinely grateful.

Imo some things just cannot be measured that well by these kinds of tests, though it still can be kind of interesting.

An oversight on my side, my orginal response was going to discuss more of that portion of your post, I changed my response and forgot about the formatting. I just edited that post to remove that bolding, which should not have been in the post as it was posted.

I do question why you refer to what by all acounts is a good-faith inexpensive method to help individuals find out if they might be on the spectrum as a "stupid venture" (your words, not mine).

Edited to add that the error in the referenced post has been removed 4/24/2013.

I am questioning it myself:-) Will get back to you on this.

I find myself assuming the most autistic end of the questions apply to the most extreme version of that trait in autistics I've met or heard of, and therefore rating traits I have less intensely than I would if I did not know any other autistics.

For example, if a question asks about distress at changes of routines, I think of the LFA girl who bit me because we went in the family change room instead of the women's change room, and use her as a benchmark for the most extreme resistance to change. Most people have probably never even thought such a minor change could cause such an extreme reaction.

Even before I knew autistic people I didn't think my reactions to change were that bad, but when I described them during my evaluation, what I was told is that I have an extreme need for routine.

I do not think it counts as extreme compared to your example, but I suspect these questions are predicated on assumptions about what NTs are like.