Self identification

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Although I've never received an official diagnosis sometimes I think of myself as an aspie and most people as neurotypical. Does this make me a presumptuous jerk or are there others who do there same thing?

I am kind of wondering the same thing. How do people who have been professionally diagnosed with AS feel about people who are self-diagnosing?

Some don't particularly care or mind.

Some are okay with self-dx, as long as you're clear that you are self-diagnosed. Some of those would prefer you qualify any statements that you're autistic.

Some focus on the possibility that you might be wrong, rather than the possibility that you might be right.

Some are against it entirely.

There are probably several other more nuanced positions I missed. There's no single position. My own opinion is do what works for you.

I think you should do what feels right. I don't have any problems with people self-diagnosing themselves as long as they aren't diagnosing themself with evey disorder in the DSM.

Some people don't have any way to get an official diagnosis.

This seems to get forgotten or left in the dust in the rush to tell people they need an official diagnosis.

I prefer to refer to myself as a 'Human being with quirks and a few social difficulties'.

I am not officially diagnosed so don't refer to myself as having Asperger's. I only suspect it as a possibility at the moment, I am not 'sure' that I have it. I have something, but I am not sure what exactly that something is lol. Therefore see my self definition above!

I'm officially diagnosed, but I was self-diagnosed for about a year before then. Judging from my informal study of WrongPlanet self-diagnosis it seems like self-diagnosis of AS is pretty accurate.

Well, due to the difficulty for many to get an official diagnosis, there are a lot of self-diagnosed people here. I don't see that as a problem, as I don't see people who aren't on the spectrum wanting to be Autistic ("I wish I was Autistic, my life would be so much better."). So people tend to gravitate towards a self-diagnosis because they innately feel that it fits how they are. So who am I to say if you are wrong and don't belong because you are not "official."

I identify myself as a Kinks Fan because I'd rather be known for my interests than for my problems. I still don't wish to be cured.

I'm in the second category Verdandi mentioned, yet when it comes to thinking of yourself as an aspie I don't feel I can really say whether you should think of yourself as such.

I want people who are self diagnosed to make it clear they are self diagnosed. I'd rather there were different words rather than phrases for different levels of certainty. Because that's not available I feel pretty strongly that people should be clear about self-diagnosis.

Yet there's a difference between communication and your internal state. I don't think I can really tell you that you can't think of yourself as an aspie. I don't quite understand thinking "I'm an aspie" rather than "I'm probably an aspie" (which I totally blame my boyfriend for, he refuses to identify as an aspie no matter how many people tell him they can't see him as anything else), yet I don't think that I should tell you you can't identify with that rather than probably.

So basically:
-Be clear in communicating with others.
-Don't claim to be diagnosed, in fact when it might be relevant specify that you're self diagnosed
-Self diagnosis has reasons to happen
-Internally do what works for you, 'probably an aspie' seems best to me, but I can't tell you to think differently, only to communicate with me differently.

No, not a jerk.

Only a trained and licensed mental-health professional can make a real diagnosis. This is because: (1) Other disorders may mimic some symptoms and comorbids of AS; (2) Other disorders may alter your subjective perceptions of your symptoms; (3) Your "diagnosis" may be wrong; and (4) While your "diagnosis" may be correct, it may not address other disorders that may coexist with AS.

Also, without an official diagnosis, you may be unable to receive the proper and appropriate treatment, and some social-system benefits may be denied to you that you would otherwise be entitled to.

Worst of all, you might be tempted to treat yourself, and with dangerous or illegal substances, and end up putting yourself in jail, in the hospital, or in the morgue.

Please seek an official diagnosis, ASAP.

I don't mind especially if you're mild. I don't like it when people get a diagnosis of mild AS. Yes, yes, you probably need it blah blah, kinda impaired, got social anxiety and depression. I just think one has to have a certain level of impairment to be diagnosed. I couldn't get a job, couldn't talk to people, hardly learnt anything in school, would freak out over any change, routines were pretty obvious, and had poor self help skills. And I'm actually below Asperger's.

Anyway, it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

I welcome self diagnosers with open arms. Just don't hug for too long, it's awkward.

Let me be clear it's only what I think to myself not what I say or type to others either I have it or I don't and until I get an official diagnosis I identify myself officially as suspecting that I do or I say I have Schrodinger's diagnosis meaning I'm an aspie and a neurorypical until a diagnosis collapses the wave functions

Probably a lot of people are in the grey zone between "normal" and being a full-blown aspie. The question is then ""what is the point of getting a diagnosis?" The diagnosis would only prove what one already knew, that one either just about qualifies or just about doesn't qualify for a diagnosis. I include myself in this category but am in fact on the (huge) waiting list for an official diagnosis, which I expect to be exactly what I have just written, namely that I am in the grey zone. But even being in the grey zone can cause a hell of a lot of difficulties in your life and you still need to pinpoint why you are having these difficulties. What if you are by constitution an extreme introvert who can't really establish any connections with anybody, has problems with executive functioning, always has obsessive interests which you pursue to the exclusion of all else, freaks out over change or sudden challenges, spends loads of time on bizarre stimming behaviours, has several (largely disguised) tics etc but can make eye contact and deal with social situations if you have to. I'm not quite a clinical aspie but my life is still bizarre, difficult and a mess and it seems to lie in my genetic makeup as far as I can tell.

I don't think you're a 'presumptuous jerk'. I'm sort of self-diagnosed. I've not said to myself that I definitely have Aspergers or ADHD, but I do think I probably have one or the other. I have never claimed to have either condition, either on-line or in real life.

When people start threads where it's helpful to know if the other posters have an official diagnosis or not, I will always declare this. This would be in the case of questions like - How does coffee affect you? Do you have any physical conditions? Does anyone else in your family have an ASD? When the thread is about life experiences, like bullying, friendships, etc, I don't always feel the need to declare anything.

My signature shows I've done an on-line test and there's no mention of a diagnosis, so I think it should be obvious that I don't have an official diagnosis.