Anyone who didn't identify AS in themselves?

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It seems that the vast majority of the people here are either self diagnosed, became diagnosed after they figured they identified AS within themselves, or are just in someways related to some with an AS. So how many people here didn't identify AS within him or herself? I was diagnosed at 8 ( I think, I really have no idea what was going on) and I had no idea what it was, and I only really figured out what it was recently. To be honest I doubt that if I wasn't diagnosed with AS I would think that it explained me, I think I'd be more likely to think I had ADHD or maybe OCD. So, is there anyone else here who is more like me on this subject?

I was told by a professional at age 13 that I probably had Asperger's. Before that point in time I hadn't heard of autism as anything other than non-verbal people.

Then I did the research myself, and eventually was diagnosed at 22.

I think if I were told it before I knew what it is, it would probably sound stigmatising and would offend me. But after I read my official diagnosis, I realised there are worse things I could 'be'. I don't know, I just rather think my problems are solvable, even if it means getting a label that I wouldn't have agreed with if I got it when I needed it.

My friends and family pointed it out jokingly a lot before my diagnosis but I'd never taken it seriously because at that point I thought I HAD to be a genius to qualify as someone with asperger's. I'd never mentioned that my friends joked about it to my therapist when she mentioned she thinks I have it, so I guess I was diagnosed without realizing it myself first.

It was suggested I had Aspergers or HFA by a therapist when I was about 12. Today, I had another doctor ask me if I was autistic. I'm currently after a diagnosis.

I was told I had it at age 12 and if I was never told I had it nor if I was never diagnosed with it, I don't think i would have self diagnosed and claimed to have it. I may have thought I have traits of it or am just a nerd or a geek (not computers) or just someone who is socially awkward. I would have been stuck on with the textbook case of AS and assume I didn't have it. I wouldn't know it was a spectrum also. I don't know if I still would have come here but my profile would have said "not sure if I have it or not."

My mom researched it when I was seven, but was thrown off the trail by all the emphasis on social troubles. We didn't come back to that until after my first semester of college, when a therapist said he thought I might have it, and to get tested for a legal diagnosis. That's how I found out.

I didn't know I had it until I was diagnosed at age 28. It immediately resonated with me. It explained so much. But I had not expected to be diagnosed with Asperger's.

A friend told me I might have Asperger's. I heard the name before, I didn't know what it was. When I started researching it, I could identify with a lot of the things I read.

I was diagnosed at around 2 or 3, so I never really took the time to understand any of it really, until I came here anyway.

I got diagnosed NVLD at 17, along with schizoid and schizotypal and whatever, the people diagnosing me said I was "almost but not quite" for Aspergers, but I think it was them specifically avoiding the diagnosis. I thought their diagnosis was dumb, partially because the schizoid diagnoses were inappropriate to give someone who's 17, said the treatment provider they referred me to. So, I didn't think of my diagnosis of NVLD until this year when I actually met and became friends with someone with NVLD, and I saw so many similarities of him in myself. I started "crashing" more or less. Then I went online, looked up NVLD, and it described me and my problems dead on. Then I reran my VIQ and PIQ tests for myself online, and it came out with the same results as my original diagnosis.

I didn't even consider it until a few years ago when people kept asking me if I either had it or could have it. Before that I just figured I was a little quirky and had life long social anxiety.

But I am not sure if I have it or not...who knows.

Sometimes I think I might, other times I think 'nah, I am just odd' lol.

As I thought - the majority of people who've replied so far are mid-twenties. Me, I am 46 (Gen-X to you younger folks) and if someone had suggested to me when I was in my mid-twenties (just out of college and trying to support myself) that I was eligible for membership on the autism spectrum, I would have been supremely flummoxed, rationalizing that someone was being cruel/putting me on or just ignored the idea!

My mom knew when I was a kid, and didn't tell me or get me evaluated. I was the one who first mentioned it to a psychologist, but apparently it was known long before then.