Describe mild Aspie please

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How would you describe a mild Aspie? (I'm mild but I want to know how full blown and other milds would describe it.

Intelligent and self-aware enough
To see the world
You can't quite be fully a part of

Like a flock of gulls
All gathered together
Yet you fly alone

In dry and barren dessert
You find a well
But cannot drink.

Poetry aside. Life is beautiful and painfull
in equal amounts.

I'm diagnosed as high functioning, people on the spectrum are individuals and it really does depend on many different factors. For instance, the person could suffer from poorer motor coordination, less cognitive abilities or they could have more difficulty when it comes to processing and prioritizing which leaves them with poorer organizational skills. I do think a person who is mild can become more competent through strict routines and different coping strategies, they certainly helped me.

When I say we, I mean more so me but then it just came out like that. I know I cant speak for all mild aspies.

Well mild aspies are sorta half aspie/half NT. We can relate to both aspies and NTs but not fully to either. In a way, we can interpret NT behavior but still stand have our cynical, distasteful opinions towards NTs. We have an understanding towards our fellow aspies but were not nearly as severely affected as our fellow aspies. We can do what everyone else can: hold a job, have a relationship, have meaningful friendships and socialize. But getting that is still extremely hard. Much harder then 99% of the NTs out there. While we can socialize, we still get exhausted and socializing is not natural yet we can do it and come off as normal. From surface glance, our lives seem normal but once you go beneath the surface you still see the struggles and quirks. We are most often then not mistaken for NTs.

I'll emphasis, that I dont speak for all mild aspies, I only technically speak for myself.

Let me add theres a difference between mild autism and mild aspie. Aspergers is a mild form of autism. Mild aspergers is mild of mild autism, if that makes any sense. I wrote about mild aspergers. Mild, mild of autism.

^ This is me to some extent, though the whole "actually doing part" of every social situation puzzles the hell out of me I muddle through and can often pass as normal, though I am constantly second guessing myself.

I have been described as mild. As someone put it to me, "I never wouldn't of guessed you had Aspergers". That's right, I can pass for a NT apparently. Yes, I think having mild Aspergers is like being half aspie/ half NT, you have your sensory issues but you are able to act normally enough that not many people notice that you have these issues in the first place.

Mild aspies are indistinquishable from neurotypicals. Most likely to be thought of as shy etc. People with full blown Asperger's are much more obvious and noticeable.

Mild aspies shade into people who are broader autistic phenotype [BAP].

I think mild AS is basically borderline AS. So I can describe myself as being very mild or borderline or mild. They could be considered borderline AS/NTs.

I think they slip on and off the AS criteria, they run into roadblocks or limitations and can get through them but they may need help sometimes to break through. They can hold down a job but they may have a hard time getting one. They can be very social or have normal conversations but not all the time. They can do fine with change and deal with it and sometimes they may not be able to handle them. They have a better time controlling their obsessions and not letting it take over them and not talk about it all the time nor go into monologues about it. They do appear normal than awkward or odd. Even if people do notice something about them, they may think they are dumb because of their literal thinking or how they process information or think they are rude people and shy and asocial or lack common sense. But as children, kids could really tell they were different so they were labeled weird or odd or insane or crazy or ret*d or stupid. They may have difficult with eye contact too and they have an easier time copying people and using scripts to get by in life. They may also have normal TOM or close to it. They may have it impaired at times. They will be good parents than bad ones (ones who were described in horror stories about being raised by an aspie).

Some may be isolated and have no desire for friends, some may need lot of help in school to get through it, some may struggle in relationships and struggle with getting dates in real life so they may find it a lot easier meeting people online and then meeting up with them.

They may see they see things the NT way such as how they answer the smoothie question and then see things the aspie way. They may be able to relate to NTs and aspies but still struggle but relate to them other times. They are like living between two worlds.

Some may still be extremely naive or have poor social skills. They still have immature emotions and social skills. But I think the milder the aspie is, the sooner they overcome their traits and the quicker they learn the skills. I think they may also be able to do it on their own than needing therapists to help them with it. I think it's also possible for a mild aspie to be textbook AS since my ex claimed to be textbook aspie but he had no problem getting a job or holding one. That's because he had always been a manager at places so things were his way and his own routines. Plus I couldn't tell he had it unless he said what his symptoms were. I couldn't even tell he had sensory issues so he handled them well. He seemed to deal with changes well too. Maybe that is what mild AS does to you. You cannot see it. But with some mild aspies you can see it if you are with them long enough such as seeing them everyday at work or in school or if you are in a relationship with them or friends with them and you see them often enough.

If they are unable to work or need social security or need voc rehab to be able to get a job, maybe they have something else that impairs them or they have a symptom or a few that isn't mild because that is sure giving them road blocks and limitations.



Hard to describe mild AS since everyone with mild AS is different.

I have mild AS and here are some points that are due to my condition being mild:-

-I didn't show any Autistic signs until I started school at 4 (even then nobody knew what was wrong, they thought it was ADHD at first)
-I had an imagination when I was a child and I played imaginitive games with other children
-I am average with intelligence but I needed extra help at school because evidentally my learning was slightly behind the other children in every subject, especially maths, science and technology
-I don't (or never have) stim
-My tantrums/outbursts have always been verbal, even when I was a toddler
-I reached all the milestones at the average ages, even speech
-I do (and always have) have normal eye contact
-I can relate to NTs
-I don't speak in monotone (unless I am a little nervous of the person I'm speaking to)
-I have self-awareness and can hide my AS easily, only the anxiety disorder and the Social Phobia can bring it out a bit
-I can express my feelings normally, and I always was able to
-I can naturally ''read'' body language, tone of voice, and other expressions like that
-I have good theory of mind (and I passed a Sally Anne test when I was 6)
-I can do small talk
-My ''special interest'' is mostly fitted around people and social interaction (not sure if this is a mild Aspie trait or not)
-I am good at listening, I don't go into my own world so much
-I can pass of as an anxious NT, and if I tell people that I'm a normal person who just ''suffers with my nerves'' that would be basically it, and nobody would suspect anything else, so I'd be completely covered

That's all I can think of at the moment, but....yeah

(EDITED) I've just read and answered the smoothie question and apparently I didn't answer it ''the Aspie way''.

Last edited by Joe90 on 30 Nov 2011, 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Interesting posts. According to them, I'm somewhere in the middle of Aspieness yet high-functioning (to be DXd, hopefully). I can pass as an NT but only for limited periods of time. I think I don't have much social anxiety, can manage changes in my life and hold down a job, but everything else points in the direction of moderate traits: sensory issues, face-blindness, poor social skills, apparently "off", special interests, poor eye-contact, obvious stims, weak ToM, inability to sustain relationships. Although I spoke early, my usage of speech has always been particular. I managed through the support of my parents and at least one particularly helpful friend. You might say he is an unpaid counselor / life-coach to me.

This is really quite good, Quaker.

Thank you

Two words:

Not me.

Okay I'll elaborate a bit. I have Aspergers on the borderline between AS and autism rather than AS and BAP. My Aspergers is bad enough that I have to live in a care home. I have severe sensory processing problems, moderate difficulty with communication (just because I can talk a lot doesn't mean I am always getting my point across) and poor understanding of how the world works. I also do not seek friendship like a lot of people with AS.

I would say a mild Aspie is someone who can cope in public, doesn't have severe sensory issues and can get through more than one day without having a social burnout. That's just my opinion though, I doubt it is fact.

It would take a fool to measure anothers suffering and compare it to ones own. We all suffer........ how we deal with that suffering is the deeper issue I think.

I know as a fact that over 50% of people in the UK dx in mid-life with AS have developed severe mental health problems. I don't think it would be sticking ones head out too far to say that most of this 50% would be in the 'mild' camp.

People who are more towards the classic end of the spectrum have generally a more intigrated sence of self, where as many with AS on the.....dare I say it again 'light' side are very prone to a whole range of psychological difficulties that would be alien to many of our brothers and sisters in the spectrum.

Again, we all suffer, and perhaps it is of greater value to own our suffering and help ourselves and each other live more creatively within our limitations and more abundantly within our gifts.

I think I eventually decided that 'mild' in reference to Asperger's means that the person clearly meets the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's, yet doesn't have those traits prevent them from doing any everyday activity. (However they likely still have difficulty finding a job and likely have difficulty with some everyday activities).

Note: mild Asperger's doesn't mean mild mental health. There are certainly people with mild Asperger's who have developed not mild anxiety or depression.

I don't identify as mild (I mean, I never will be able to drive and I have days I literally can't get through a quick run to the grocery store), but when someone says mild that's what I assume they mean.