maybe i am not an aspie...

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This is why I'm really upset in some ways by people going to testing for an ASD and purposefully making their autistic traits more visible. I wanted my diagnosis to be right and to not have to worry about the possibility to be wrong. I didn't drop my coping skills for how to fit in, but he could see it was an act, and diagnosed me despite that. Being diagnosed despite not actively showing AS traits is so much more meaningful in my mind than being diagnosed because of purposefully showing the traits.

This is why you go to a professional you works with diagnosing ASDs, not to one which specializes in personality and mood disorders. Getting a diagnosis from a professsional doesn't just mean a psychiatrist (in fact, I've never seen anyone recommend a psychiatrist, only psychologists and neurologists), it means getting a diagnosis from a professional who has explicitly studied the topic and knows what they're talking about.

Okay, NOW I am getting slightly off-topic but just a quick response, that indeed, I don't think anyone here recommends psychiatrists. While some CAN diagnose ASDs, I personally cannot stand going to psychiatrists, and the experience there is far different (worse), IMO, than any experience I have ever had with a psychologist.

Okay...I'll go back on topic now....

You're talking about that of which you know nothing. The system you have in Canada is obviously very different to what we have around here. I did not choose to see him at all, but that's what you get with the NHS. And yes he does diagnose those with Aspergers (he told me this himself) but this is the same bright spark who said I don't have it because "You've demonstrated you care about your family".



Well you can believe what ever percentages you like if it makes you feel better, but the fact is nobody knows. If it were known it would still be used as a stick with which to beat the self-diagnosed since whatever it is it won't be 100%. You shouldn't use phrases such as "highly doubtful" if you don't honestly have a clue.

Lastly I omitted 90% because frankly I was getting bored with listing percentages and not for the reasons you so obviously suspect. And you get upset by people misrepresenting your words?

I especially find this amusing because I wasn't trying to say that I'd guess 90% of all people who self-diagnose are correct, just that I'd guess that 90% of the people who put in a very vague "enough" effort are - I'd not trust someone's self-diagnosis based on them taking a few online quizzes (and I see way too many people doing this). I would trust that someone who has put in multiple years of research into actively trying to determine if this does match said person, including looking at alternatives, explicitly looking at why they have symptoms rather than the fact that they do, and such, is probably right.

Someone who's done enough research, it doesn't bother me if they consider themselves autistic. Someone who's only started the process or who doesn't want to follow through with it, I think they should use "I share autistic traits" or something of that sort.


The number I gave has been entirely taken out of context and is now supporting not getting officially diagnosed. It's weird, because I actively support official diagnosis, and will be more comfortable in taking advice from someone who is officially diagnosed (I'll take advice from others with the caveat in my mind of them not necessarily being autistic). I mean, I was self-diagnosed for almost a decade and was actively questioning myself until I got my official diagnosis, and think I posted a total of about 3 or 4 posts on here in the period of time because of not being sure enough that I was autistic.

I mean, yes, I see reason for self-diagnosis, but the primary one I see is not being able to pay to see someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

I have been debating going and participating in one of the studies looking at brains of people with ASDs partially so that I'd be able to see my own brain - at least assuming that they'd get me get even a little information about how my brain looks. I really want to see if my brain matches the theories that have been going on about brains in people with ASDs.

Something like about 1963 I was a Sophomore in college, and the Senior (girl, all of us) who had the room next to my roommate and I decided that she was going to make a project of us and civilize us, so we'd catch the best boys and all that (didn't work: we were budding hippies, and she was the tail end of the fifties).

Anyway, she caught my mechanical walk and slouch, and worked on me for fixing that (said I walked like a Sherman Tank, actually) and she also said that I did a lot of "mugging" in conversations, as in making weird faces, not as in beating up and robbing. She thought that I was trying to be a comedian, and I didn't know that I was doing it at all, but I was obedient and tried to keep my face very still-- "serene" or something.

This was almost twenty years before Asperger's had a name, and she'd picked up on two of the characteristics in me. It was more than forty years before I was diagnosed.

Oh, it's typo on my part. I know what you intented, LL.
We know it's all guess work and 70 right out of 100 is possible. I doubt probable, though. I'm going to define an adult here as: Living on your own, possibly supporting a family, and rubbing shoulders with the working class 40 hours a week. To me: to do this would indicate a high enough level of competency.

Under those conditions I'd find it hard to believe in a 1/3, 1/4 ,1/5 error bias. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts if we did a poll with diagnosed "adults", such ones^ would be inclined to think it much lower. The intuition of experience.

I never said I saw the psychiatrist specifically for an Aspergers diagnosis, though of course this eventually came up and we disagreed about many things. As I said in a reply to littlelily this particular psychiatrist does diagnose those with aspergers but most importantly of all, he is the gate keeper to all mental health services in my area. You don't understand how things work here at all.

I have observed a trend amongst some of the younger members here to assume that everything is the same universally, and that anyone else's views and experiences are either wrong or invalid. Those under 30 are lucky in that their has been a steady progression in the understanding of autism (depending on location) in the last few decades. No such chance of a diagnosis existed when I was a child, and as an adult I have been unlucky in that I have not been able to meet with anyone in the profession who shows any shred of understanding or experience.

So I am left for the moment as self-diagnosed. When you've lived a little longer those of you who are so scathing of self-diagnosis will realise that in time you get to understand yourself a little more, as you grow your critical faculties and see more of the world. With that also comes an realisation that people with a bunch of letters after their name aren't all that infallible.

You do realize that both LittleLily and I were diagnosed after we turned 21 right? We weren't diagnosed as children either.



And self-diagnosis has reason to exist. That doesn't mean that you are infalliable, and doesn't mean that you might not be right. You aren't looking like you want self-diagnosis to be viewed as valid, you're looking like you want it to be seen as meaning exactly as much as a professional diagnosis and professional diagnoses to not have a place at all.

Yes, professional diagnoses are sometimes hard to get. Yes, in those cases you have to resort to self-diagnosis. That doesn't mean that self-diagnosis suddenly doesn't have the downsides that come with it and doesn't mean that it suddenly becomes near infalliable and something that people should always believe you about. I'll give someone who's self-diagnosed the benefit of the doubt, but unless they've shown how much research they've done, and had it be more than I did while I was self-diagnosed, I'll not view them as almost certainly right. (I compare to myself because I know how much doubt there was in my mind until I was diagnosed.)

On the topic of diagnoses:

Lots of people can diagnose you, even nurse practitioners and physicians. Going to certain kinds of professionals improves your chances of getting an accurate diagnosis. Going to a specialist improves them more. Going to a specialist who uses diagnostic tools such as ADOS (as one example, there are other tools) gives the most opportunity for accuracy as far as labels go, but this tool is not required for a proper diagnosis. That guy who specializes in personality disorders is professionally qualified to diagnose ASDs as well, even though he personally may prefer not to and be biased toward diagnosing personality disorders.

That said, I do agree with Littlelily that the ADOS/ADI-R are really among the best bets for an accurate diagnosis.

If you could do that you would be good

I have seen discussions about ignoring posts from people with the status "Have Aspergers - Undiagnosed" (with the general explanation that "today everybody think they are on the spectrum" etc.) If its true doesnt matter, important is that it may affect some people to change their status to diagnosed. The diagnosis-nazis would be the people who have these discussions, making "having a diagnosis" more important than actual facts.

Now we are maybe a little off-topic, so let me state again what I first wanted to say. I think it is wrong to put your status to "Diagnosed" if you are not professionally diagnosed because being personally convinced is not good enough as a fact.

I wasn't necessarily referring to the time at which you were diagnosed, but rather to your comparative youth. When I was in my early 20's I thought I knew it all, and was probably insufferable in many ways.



You have no reason to suspect anything about my reasons for seeking a diagnosis. None at all. Nor my opinion on professional diagnosis. I really do object to your completely unwarranted speculation.



Why, that's very generous of you!

I find it odd that some of the people here who seem to think that official diagnosis is the only kind that count are suggesting that the OP discount the possibility of being on the spectrum because of what her stepmother thinks. Doesn't make much sense to me.

To iceveela, if you're going to college you'll probably have access to counseling services, who could possibly help you with figuring all of this out. You might also speak with disability services and see if you can get tested through them.

In the meantime, I highly recommend continuing to research, and in my book thorough research includes talking to autistic people, both online and offline, if possible. One of the advantages of being a college student is that you'll have access to an academic library, and Interlibrary Loan services which can get books for you that aren't in your university's library system. This was of significant help to me when I was first seriously researching autism. (I was actually diagnosed right before going to college, but it wasn't until the summer after my freshman year that I started thinking that maybe the diagnosis actually had relevance to my life.)

Above all else, don't rely on the opinions of people who don't know much about the spectrum. Their opinions usually are not worth much. Unfortunately, this includes some professionals. I had one psychiatrist who tried to re-diagnose me with "Asperger's-NOS," a diagnosis which doesn't even exist. The reason? I have a romantic partner (who is also on the spectrum). Find out why someone thinks that you are or aren't on the spectrum. Because if the reason that your stepmother (or anyone else) refuses to think you're on the spectrum is because of a stereotypical or irrelevant reason, then you shouldn't take their opinions very seriously. Even if they do have fancy degrees.

Yet your arguments are that you couldn't be diagnosed as a child?



o.O I didn't say anything about your reasons for seeking a diagnosis. I don't see why your reasons for seeking a diagnosis are at all relevant to this conversation.

As for your opinion of professional diagnosis, I said that what you are saying is being viewed as you thinking that self-diagnoses should mean as much as professional diagnosis. I don't know if this is true, I do know that what you are saying strongly implies that to me.

I am sorry if you all honestly think that's correct, but that fact that you are warping what I said to continue to have a useless debate on here is kinda dumb. and in case you have not figured it out, I did not list any symptoms that are not on the DSM-iv in this tread, in a before thread i mentioned that I have anxiety and depression (like MANY other aspies), and mistakenly listed them as symptoms, which is NOT what I meant to do, and many people SHOULD figure that part out in a few seconds. THIS was the origional topic:



YOU are talking about another post, and quit debating pointlessly on a forum. Or falsely interpret what I say in order to have one... STAY ON TOPIC!! !!