Is the majority of the people here really, "mild asperg

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Heck, I wish. I think for a while after getting diagnosed and having lots of friends and independence in college I was thinking maybe I was mild. But then it occurred to me that I was raised by disciplinarians who used threats and spankings to scare me out of some of my symptoms. In the end they failed. I still have lousy eye contact, I still have trouble talking to people, and all of that. The only thing I got out of their constant yelling was the ability to drive though still not well. My friend who has AS is better functioning than I am but he still shows classic symptoms such as stimming and pacing.

I think a good amount of my college friends would be considered mild asperger's...minus the stimming.

Wow... sounds just like me

I would say that I'm on the mild end... I have a college degree and a decent job. I can drive. I have a son. I can go to the store when I need to and take care of life's necessities.

Of course also... I have sensory issues, I can't stand being around other people for very long, I have very few friends or relationships to speak of, and all the little mental quirks that make Asperger's so damned frustrating.

I've often almost wished that I were more highly-afflicted, so that I could just live that life and be content with it. I'm in a weird place right now where although I am certainly different from most people, I'm normal enough to be expected to be just that... normal. Yet I daily fail to live up to this expectation. It's an in-between place that is difficult to navigate.

But I guess that is my lesson for this life

When I put something like this, I got told that I ''offended everyone on WP''. How come others don't have that said to them (not that I think you offended anyone, I'm just saying.)

I used to be severe, but now I'm mild. Things get better over time.

I'm not sure. When people meet me for the first time, they tend to think that I'm mild. However, if they get to know me better over time, they realize that I'm more autistic than they previously thought I was. When I say "mild" here, I am referring to communication challenges only. From all the people with ASD I've met in the past, I've observed that no one has every single symptom "mild". If they did, they probably wouldn't need the diagnosis in first place.

My therapist says I have severe aspergers, typing is worlds away from speaking, I could never be this eloquent or concise in words, I could never give off this range of emotions or sense of humor in person, I sometimes think that someone who reads my writing knows me better then someone who hears me speak.

I think that your thread went down a bit differently. And I think it was only a couple of posts that offended people, and not particularly the first post. Some of it was probably a misunderstanding.

I would not know if I was severe, moderate, or mild Aspergers

The Bad
1) I can't drive
2) I can't live on my own I never have
3) I can't take the bus I always miss my stops
4) I have to be told to get up for work
5) People hate me for no reason
6) I feel anxiety around people causing blood pressure spikes
7) I constantly get yelled at on jobs for being too talkative
8 ) I have injured myself on jobs because I do not pay enough attention
9) I have explosive violent meltdowns
10) I have light and noise sensitivities
11) I do not handle change well and it has caused me to be laid off from my last job
12) Working around large machinery scares me
13) Vibrations cause me severe anxiety
14) I am unable to trust. I will not even accept compliments
15) I forget instructions at work minutes after recieving them
16) I have never gotten a job through an interview
17) I have poor eye contact
18 ) I feel anxiety when touched like shaking hands or when some pats me on the back or god forbid hug me
19) I am constantly injuring myself on jobs
20) My memory is bad I have even forgotten to stop working at quiting time a couple of times staying an additional 2 hours that the bosses refused to pay me for. I have also forgotten to turn of coolant causing floods in the shop.
21) I loose intrest and focus in things quickly causing me to wonder around the job of to find some way to stall going back to work.
22) I laugh at inappropiate things sometimes insulting people
23) I never know what is going on with someone I have a hard time reading faces or motives
24) I rarely leave the house except to go to the store or for a walk really late at night for exercise.

The Good
1) I can cook a meal
2) I can do some house work
3) I am clean
4) I am not afraid of confrontation
5) I can hold down a job for almost a decade (Even though its low paying)
6) I work well by myself
7) I can do my own shopping

What would you rate me?

Last edited by Todesking on 02 May 2011, 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I believe that I am very heavily affected by it. I think I walk the line between "high functioning" and "classic" autism.

How is asperger's not mild autism?

I think of it as one in the same and it generally is without intellectual retardation.

Not everyone has the same severity, and for many, the difference between having an autism, PDD-NOS, or Asperger's diagnosis is who assesses you.

I also dislike referring to AS as "a mild form of autism" as it leads people to believe that it is something that causes few, if any, problems. While this may be awesome for the people who insist that Asperger's isn't a disability, for the rest of us it can cause some trouble.

I'm mild, if I have it at all. When I was younger I had a lot of the classic signs. I rarely talked, was in my own little world all the time, ect. Now I've pretty much become normal, I just come from a different POV than most people. I dislike being around people too much, but still go to parties and such. I talk to people and most people don't notice that much of a difference in me. And I've learned to talk. I'm about to graduate with my BBA in accounting and have the highest GPA in my class, so I function fine too. I do have a problem talking to professors, but it doesn't matter because I do so well.

Driving is stressful, but I can do it. However, I almost failed my driving test because I didn't understand what the man wanted me to do. It was frustrating. But he was kind and passed me.

I think the only time people around me can tell something is off is when I am PMS. Then my speech doesn't make sense, my stims become more pronounced, and I have a really hard time looking at people in the eyes without having a meltdown, lol. If I can't sleep all the time during that time, I try to hide away and get absolutely nothing done, so I guess that is kind of not as well functioning as I would like, but it passes within a couple of days.

Oh, I hate, hate, HATE driving. It took several tries before I got my license. I can manage for the most part, but still get very tense and confused while driving, and if I'm going somewhere out of town, there's no way I can be the driver.

I've been diagnosed with several different things (on the spectrum, I mean), but no one's ever said mild anything. I've gotten Asperger's, severe Asperger's, mild autism, moderate autism, just autism, and a few "ASDs."

They could definitely be autistic, but possibly with less communication difficulties and higher adaptability compared to another person on the spectrum. They could be married to someone who is also on the spectrum, perhaps if they are compatible in terms of their interest, or one of them just happens to be more flexible. However, for someone who is more strongly affected in terms of their communication and perhaps in terms of their sensory/motor issues, I would imagine that it would be very difficult to find an NT who would be patient enough to endure being in a relationship with such an individual. Most NTs I've come across had high emotional demands and low tolerance of detail-oriented thinking, so it would possibly take EXTREME dedication to devote an NT's life to a person with such characteristics.

Also, regarding being diagnosed as "mild" vs. "severe", the basis for this judgement is highly variable and, when it comes down to the basics, has no meaning. Someone can be "mild" in one circumstance, but then once the circumstance becomes different, they would appear as more "severe". For example, one person may be able to keep a job that is highly routine and requires minimal interpersonal communication, but they might not be able to keep a different job for even a few days due to a shift in demands. One autistic person may be able to do door-to-door sales, for example, while another cannot due to variable ability in communication; however, the latter may have less significant sensory issues.