Do you think there is some truth in this?

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Would you say that all weird and ecentric people that are lonely have not many friends most likely have aspergers? Some NTS can be ecentric but ALOT aren't.

At the moment I am thinking if a person acts really ecentric he must have aspegers. Thats just my opinion.

Belive it or not people with dyslexia can appear quite ecentric as well but not in the same way as somebody with aspergers.

No, I think a lot of people are just weird.

No.

^True.

No, not all. But perhaps many, sort-of.

We humans like our carefully-drawn classifications and lines, but nature rarely respects them, slipping all sorts of intermediate cases into the mix to trip us up--Pluto and the Platypus, for example.

I've seen a lot of writings that imply or outright say that Aspergers is an "end" of a spectrum--like there's a line, and if we just move a tiny bit further away from "classic" autism then suddenly we'd be "normal." I don't buy that. I think the continuum goes all the way to NT and beyond to people who are so finely attuned to nonverbal communications that they seem to be mind-readers even to NTs. I imagine those people do pretty well in the world, although they might have a rough time doing their taxes or changing a tire or writing software. But it seems to be perfectly okay today to have those sorts of shortfalls, so perhaps nobody has named their syndrome yet.

I think there are people who don't meet the clinical criteria for Aspergers, but they have some Aspy characteristics and would do well to understand those. They're probably uncomfortable in social situations and "inappropriately literal", just not so much so that they draw attention to themselves and have trouble in school and other over-structured environments. I'm an engineer, and I have a number of co-workers who seem slightly out of sync in ways that are very Aspy--but I'm sure most wouldn't meet the clinical criteria.

some weird people or lonely people might be bipolar or schizophrenic.

"there is a thin line between madness and brilliance," as the old saying goes. I recall in one show where a person is recognized as being "academically gifted," but eccentric. However, this doesnt mean that he/she has AS/HFA/PDD-NOS . . . the main factor in the spectrum is lack of non-verbal communication; but just because someone is eccentric doesnt mean they cant/wont pick up on that. Now their mentality may skirt the border between autism and NT, but they are still NTs because of nonverbal understanding (note, i dont mean NT in a bad way . . . just a way to label and keep thoughts straight).

I've helped out in the special ed class at my school and there were a few kids who can be classified as pretty eccentric. Everyone's brain is differently wired, and things like LD, ADHD, ASD, any other developmental disorder, or any mental disorders are just the most extreme variations of brain wiring that is classified under a label so that a person can be accommodated better in the society. Other than that, there is no use in labels. Everyone is eccentric in one way or another, there's no clear line beyond which one can be considered as "eccentric". Every single person has their own little quirks, things that make them different and unique. Some people just happen to show it in more visible ways, or willingly try to be eccentric because they have a non-conformist attitude.

But yeah, I recommend not going around and diagnosing people in your head. Although if you choose to disclose to someone who is close to you and whom you consider "eccentric", it might be fun to get them to take the AQ test or the Aspie quiz.

BAP = broader autistic phenotype. usually people who have *some or all* of the characteristics of the Asperger/HFA personality type, but do not warrant a diagnosis because they are functioning OK in their lives (they are not experiencing clinical levels of impairment, distress, etc). Often found working in technical jobs like engineering, physical sciences, computer science, mathematics, universities, etc. These people generally score significantly higher than average in the AQ Test - even well into the AS/HFA range (32-50), but without having any (current) problems of clinical interest. Often these people have had greater problems than average in adolescence, like high levels of anxiety and depression, and greater than average difficulties with social and romantic interaction, and maybe some form of unusual sensory sensitivity, etc.

This would broadly describe me - including subclinical issues with sensory sensitivity, alexithymia, and executive dysfunction. I score in the range 30-40 on the AQ Test, but I am married and have a well-paying job (IT and number crunching, with many unfinished degrees and two completed ones).

However, there are many ways to be unusual (un-NT). Some people are Bipolar, or ADHD, or OCD, or Borderline Personality, or ... They all have interesting genetics and neurological functioning, and some of them overlap a lot with ASDs.

I think that people are just strange, in general.

The diversity of human psychology is astounding. But what is even more astounding is the degree to which 7 billion people can have such diversity of neurological funciton, and yet, by and large, retain sufficient commonality to build societies.

Any aspect of human psychology, whether it is numeracy, literacy, logical reasoning, spatial awareness, sexuality, emotional capacity or any of the myriad other ways in which we understand our brain function, can be seen along a spectrum. Every person is an outlier on some element of neurological function.

The mistake that we sometimes make is the assumption that a person who is an outlier on a different spectrum shares our own outlier status. So to answer the original question, no, I do not think that all of the people that the OP describes are Aspies. But even if they aren't, their experience with their neurodiversity has much to teach us in dealing with our own.