Growing out of Asperger's?

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When I was younger I fit the DSM-5 criteria perfectly. Now that I'm older I miss some of them or they are very mild and now I tend to make friends easily. I don't know what changed. It seems people like my quirkiness. And it helps that I act much more friendly. I still tend to creep people out on occasion or act inappropriately and I still have difficulties reading social cues or knowing what I did wrong or what is expected. And I'm still obssessive about my interests. Sensory intigration issues are still present as well as my inability to read emotions and other triaits. I've been told by 2 psychologists I definately have mild AS. Also many of my family members have very strong AS traits. Is anyone else faced with this problem?
Personally I think the way the DSM is written illustrates one of the problems of how humans like to process information vs how the world really is. The brain likes to catagorize things as being blue or being red, when in reality the world is different shades of purple, but the brain wants to simplify it to process it better. Also I think the DSM-5 is underestimating the abilty of people to learn and adapt and compensate for any difficulties they may have.

You sound like you do have it and you are lucky to find people who accept your quirkiness so there is your answer. The reason why many aspies struggle to fit in is because so many people are intolerant of differences or they just can't handle being around that aspie. I've been pushed away before. I was just hard to be with. I don't know if I still am or not. Not everyone has issues with me.

Hi Marty, that's great you can make friends easily! As people get older they tend to be more accepting of difference and quirkyness. Where as kids and teens are more likely to reject people they perceive as different. Perhaps things have got easier because your peers have grown up!?

It's a combination of two factors: The maturity and acceptance level of those around you as well as your own perfecting of the scripts that you use to fit in. While this makes us seem to "grow out of it", we're still the same us.

I will never grow out of it. I have managed to partially grow into it.

You can grow out of the diagnosis. That happens rather often with the milder cases when a person's autistic traits no longer cause impairment. It looks like your case may be something like that, combined with a friendly environment.

You can't grow out of the neurological arrangement, though. So you will always be quirky, and always have a lot in common with diagnosed autistic people.

Honestly, I think enviroment has a lot to do with it. I work with a bunch of people who share my special interest. Does that mean that I can talk to eveyone now and make friends easily? No. It means I'm lucky and on top of that I work in the arts so quirkyness is extra accepted. If you were to throw me back into the real world, I have no idea how I would do. I can talk to my co- workers very easily and even develop friendships with them. I can't talk to anyone else though unless someone I know is there for support. My point is, symptoms will look better and worse at different intervals throughout your life, depending on your enviroment.

I think developing coping strategies is more plausible than out growing the condition. People who appear to grow out of a condition (in my opinion) just have well developed coping skills. I liken the idea to a dyslexic overcoming the difficulties inherent to that condition. Being able to read successfully doesn't mean the condition is no longer a struggle, or ceases to exist, it is just that the person has developed necessary skills that allow them to function.