Asperger's syndrome self-diagnosis

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I agree with this, I believe that I could be diagnosed as a very mild Aspie or that I am just on the BAP, but yes, they are so similar and we have many of the same struggles. I may able to mask my issues better than a severe Aspie can(most of the time) but Asperger's and people with Asperger's are the ONLY thing I've ever TRULY identified with. I never knew what my "deal" was before, I just called it , "it". I'm telling you. I see so much here that has explained the way I've felt my entire life and I REALLY thought that I was just defective somehow. So maybe us that have very mild cases don't suffer as much but it would be nice to feel like we are welcome, I think most of us relate to everyone here very much.

Who says everyone who self-diagnoses gets their information from the internet?

~Kate

What's BAP? I tried googling it but I got auto parts stores and stuff like that.

Broader Autistic Phenotype.

Broader Autistic Phenotype. It means that you have some or many autistic traits. Usually occurs in those with family members on the spectrum or can be spread throughout families who have no classic autistics or Aspies. Some people consider ADHD to be on the BAP. It's a controversial topic.

Right on. Considering we are typically of average or above average intelligence and often have a penchant for logic, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that we could self-diagnose and likely get it right - assuming one is objective, of course.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure a lot of people in my family and my husband's family would most likely fit into that category. Especially my highly intelligent alcoholic Uncle.

By "some people," does that mean there are professionals advocating that idea? That's what I'm taking from your statement, but I want to be sure. Any idea what proportion of the profession that might represent?

i agree with having a 'not dx but identify with .... ' option on the site. it's a slow process getting assessed here and i'm waiting in line. i have ocd, anxiety and depression but i know there is something bigger than that affecting realtionships, work and functioning - every aspect of my life really - and i'd just love to know for sure what it is. some people who are just a bit quirky or have social phobia label themselves with ASD.

Also, I don't know how old you are, OP, but it seems to me that's much easier to get a DX in childhood when the behaviors are more apparent and also much easier to get a DX now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. They weren't really handing out this diagnosis when I was child AND I am girl. My mother was told that I had some autistic behaviors and I was also suspected of having seizures but all of my brain imagery came back inconclusive. This was in 1994, I believe Asperger's was officially put in the books that year and I believe it was discussed with my mother but I am not sure. She told me later that they told her that I was "ret*d' somehow. I've always been coddled for being bright and was an excellent student so I can only assume that they mentioned Asperger's to her and that she wasn't at all pleased to hear it.

Anyway, they settled on ADHD but I never identified with most of the other kids who had it, and I'm only 25. Getting a diagnosis in childhood would probably have been much more difficult for many people on WP who weren't severe cases.

I'm not sure, I don't think the concept of the BAP is taken that seriously by most professionals but I could be wrong. It's hard to find a lot of info online.

I've had a similar experience, and I'm 27. My mom told me she always suspected something wasn't quite right with my ADD diagnosis and that she thought there was something more going on. The problem is nobody ever told her it might be Autism in any form, despite the fact that my older brother is Autistic.

Of course, it probably didn't help that my mom isn't NT.

That sounds a bit similar to myself. My mother told me that she suspected autism, but I wasn't impaired enough for a classical autism diagnosis. My father told me that the people over at CDC said that I didn't appear to have autism, but AS had only just come on the books when I there, so they most likely didn't know about it. When I was diagnosed, it helped me a lot since my childhood started to make sense.

Neither do I, over the Internet, and I am qualified to do so in person. That's why these posts and threads irritate me so much...I was self-diagnosed before someone else diagnosed me, and I was 100% right. The further presumption that those of us who self-diagnose want to be considered "special" or"trendy", or that we are "validation seeking" just makes me want to vomit. I want nothing, not financial assistance, not attention, not validation, nothing but an explanation for what has been this amorphous, pervasive, self-undermining "problem" all my life and perhaps some understanding from those who claim to care about me. If I had a choice, I wouldn't be dealing with this at all. Nothing changed with either my self-diagnosis or my formal diagnosis, except that I knew what "it" was that was screwing up my personal life.

And no, I'm not going to support a position that denies what I am and what I've suffered, and will continue to deny that about others, because I believed in my own abilities for a number of years until I had the need to see a psychologist for another reason. I would request that ppl refrain from judgements of what others are experiencing with such labels as "validation seekers" and "fake Aspies" and "wanting to be special".

~Kate

This^^.

In the 80s they knew something was wrong with me but couldn't figure out what, so I bounced back and forth between special ed and gifted. And yes, being a quiet girl and making good grades because of photographic memory can keep you entirely under the radar, especially if the teachers don't recognize subtle stims.

Wow, great post.