Starting to Have Some Doubts

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I was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 14. Now, it's four years later and I'm starting to think that I don't really have it after meeting other people who have been diagnosed. I do prefer to do things alone, but I think that is just my personality. I do love chemistry and Japanese culture a lot, but everyone has hobbies. I don't have a lot of friends, but I do have a few close ones. I actually prefer to be with my family. I am a visual/spatial thinker, but I understand that there are different methods of thinking.

Seeing the stark differences in between other people with Asperger's and myself, I am unsure as to why I was diagnosed.

No two people like Aspergers are alike. My daughter is unlike any other Aspie or Autie I have ever met, yet I am certain that she shares the same kind of wiring that leads to autism, so the label fits, even if it's not as smooth as a glove.

I struggle with this my self. I used to try to understand if something was my personality or was just to do with aspergers. I no longer need to bother doing that after realizing I don't have a reason to be diagnosed since I don't come across any difficulties in life.

It puts me in a position where I hate speaking about autism to anyone because I feel like an over qualified aspergian who will paint the image that if I'm what they see as having aspergers, and I have no difficulties then aspergs isn't a big deal, or isn't a deal at all which is doing a disservice to others with aspergers. On the other hand I can't sit about and let people think I have troubles that don't exist.

Truth is, I have no idea why some like to stim, why some misbehave, why some have trouble with eye contact or anything else to do with aspergers. I just know they do and people expect me to do the same.

You might be what I think of as a 'bridge person,' with some aspie traits but not others, and that's perfectly okay.

In fact, I think a person who is a 'bridge person' can be a very good and valuable participant in our group. And I for one fully welcome you whether you're spectrum or not.

I have wondered somewhat about my own diagnosis, lately.
However, when I saw my regular doctor, today, she told me she believes I AM AS, and I must accept that.
However, after reading the new criterion in the DSM-V, I wonder how well I fit the diagnosis, again!
*sigh* I guess only time will tell that tale....

I feel this way too. Whenever I read about textbook cases, I feel I don't have it or when I read about other aspies, I feel I don't have it. I could say the same thing about OCD and anxiety and ADD because I also can't relate to their problems with it nor don't have what they have with it.

But sometimes I meet another aspie and I can see myself in them and for a moment I feel maybe I really am an aspie.

It has more to do with how your brain developed at 6-18months after birth than how you act at 20.

I know plenty of friends that are atleast on the spectrum and they don`t stand out as aspies especially women however they totally are.


I`m not sure where I am on the spectrum, I`m socially awkward but I believe I might be more empathetic than most.

If I`m not an asipie, I have ocpd, and ADD, and I stimm, obsess, and rather awkward.

I'm in no position to say anything about how a diagnosis works, but to me it seems silly to diagnose a normal 14 year old because he had some sort of behavior when he was very little.

I didn't have any behavioral problems when I was younger. My mom told me that after I was diagnosed she always knew that there was something different about me. I spoke with her on the phone last night and asked if she really, truly believes that I have Asperger's. When I was first diagnosed, she was skeptical. My mom developed an interest in psychology when she was in RN school, and she did a lot of research on Autism and Asperger's. She came to the conclusion that I have Asperger's.

I've come to the conclusion that my social skills and behavior have improved greatly.

It is possible to be mis-diagnosed. Whether you have it or not, if it is not impacting you at all (and if nothing else is either that needs to be looked into), you can just ignore the label. Just as self-diagnosed people take the label for themselves because they relate to it; people who think they are wrongly diagnosed can let go of the label if it does not relate to them.

I'm not sure if it's that easy for aspies to see the similarities/differences between themselves and other aspies without knowing them really well.

You may not have the symptoms to meet the criteria for an asperger's diagnosis. You might still be on the spectrum though. Psychiatrists call it Pervasive Developmental Disorder if the full diagnostic criteria can't be met.

Anyway...it's good to meet a fellow aspie who appreciates Japanese culture. Welcome to Wrong Planet.

Hi, from reading most of two separate biographies, the American scientist Carl Sagan was almost certainly Aspie and on the Spectrum.

His first two marriages did not work out. But he did find happiness in his third marriage.

He did not get tenure at Harvard, but he did get tenure at Cornell. And big TV shows , books, political activism, etc.

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Now, the next thing I think we need politically is more examples of middle-functioning people, as well as the slogan, "We are all middle functioning."