Does lack of a couple things totally throw you out?

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I've had bad issues with this ever since I learned of the existence of AS. I do understand my diagnosed and possible other conditions complicates matters, but I have most of the basic AS stuff including strong special interests, bad social skills (worse when I was a kid when the school was concerned), bad meltdowns, even a muscle tone and coordination problem.

But one doctor told me that I can't have autism because 1: I care about people more than objects and 2: I can read non-verbal cues and I was giving her eye contact.

So does the lack of a couple of things kill the diagnosis, or does it mean something like I might have PDD-NOS or something like that.

Care about people more than objects? What in the blazes diagnostic critera is that?

Please, someone confirm that standard is not a real one.

What kind of a doctor is he or she? If he isn't a specialist in autism spectrum disorders, I'd be skeptical about his or her ability to make that kind of judgment. None of those things the doctor mentioned sound like they'd exclude an Asperger's diagnosis to me.

People with Asperger's can make eye contact. Individuals vary. Some can't, some can but find it difficult and others don't mind. Some have improved with practise or age. I seem to remember I was terrible at it when I was a kid, but I can do it now as long as I don't have to do it too much. And with certain people, it's impossible. It's a similar story with being able to read non-verbal cues, in that Aspies vary in their abilities.

As for caring about people more than you do about objects, I've noticed that some Aspies can care for people very deeply. I care strongly for certain people, or people who have been afflicted by natural or human-caused disasters.

So if the core stuff is there - you've mentioned things like a lack of social skills, special interests and bad coordination - I wouldn't be throwing the potential for an Asperger's diagnosis away just yet. It sounds like you've seen a few doctors. Have you been officially diagnosed by someone who specialises in autism spectrum disorders?

A job in marketing forced me to look people in their eyes. I can do it still, but I feel great discomfort. However I know how much eyecontact means to NT, so I usually focus a lot on pleasing them by doing it. The same goes for non-verbal cues and irony, I learned this by trial and error through my adolecence, loosing my 2 friends and the rest of my social life in trying and failing. As a young adult in a creative business, my other, bigger and smaller aspie quirks was hidden behind my excentric lifestyle as an artist.
Your doctor would have tossed me out of his/her office with a big NT stamp on my forehead.

All because a doctor believes a stereotype is a diagnostic criterion doesn't make it so.

Lack of eye contact is only one criterion. Same with preferring objects over people.

Lack of eye contact isn't a diagnostic criteria I believe.

Also, it's perfectly possible to become obsessive over people if you have AS, it's the obsessional nature that is the thing, not what you are obsessing about. Having AS doesn't mean you can't care about people. As for non-verbal cues, again, incorrect. There is difficulty reading non-verbal cues, and it's often the more subtle ones not the obvious ones, and maybe it takes a lot longer for someone with AS to learn them but doesn't necessarily mean impossible.

Actually the doctor that said that isn't an autism expert. One doctor the day before put down she thought that I had an autism related disorder then the other doctor seen that and she basically asked me if I care more about other people than that chair over there. When I said that I did care about people more than the chair she observed I was giving eye contact and she felt I was responding to non-verbal cues and then she told me I couldn't have autism. I mentioned my special interests and she said the bipolar was doing it.

I really don't know what people see in me, but I've had people that have just met me suddenly ask me if I'm autistic. On the other hand, I have had people say there was no way I had that.

Oh yeah, and there are some things about me that got better over time that people might not be aware of. For example I had trouble with conversations until I actually asked someone to help me with that in college. And as a kid, I didn't understand teasing and I took things like sarcasm literally but now I understand it.

Something happened that has made me think about one serious thing, am I handicapped by my traits? Truthfully the social mistakes I make are minor. In the past, I had a coworker that was diagnosed, and he did things that even I was shaking my head at socially.

Yesterday my roommate brought over a friend. I first suspected something when he kept talking about a tv show a lot. Then I noticed that he didn't give me eye contact at all when I talked or looked at him. Okay, I am not a doctor, but this made me want to ask about it badly. But then he did something that could probably be considered a bad social mistake. Me and my husband were watching a show. He comes in, sits on the chair by us, starts playing loud music and he was singing to it. My husband (a clear NT) kept giving him agitated faces but he didn't notice.

Basically I had a lot of problems as a kid, but now I don't have a lot of problems. I might just be a person with traits.