Signs of Asperger's in a female

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Hi, Hey, Hello!

A few hours ago I was on Yahoo Answers (Y!A). I frequent Y!A, maybe that's a tad bit embarrassing, but it passes the time.
Ok, so I ended up reading a question someone posted about Asperger's and I've told myself that I will answer it and find this person an answer. I like the points, and I enjoy acquiring new knowledge. The thing is, that I don't know what to say. I didn't know what Asperger's was until recently and almost everything I can find is on how much harder it is to diagnose females with it.
Asperger's has intrigued me, that's why I've made this account.
answers(dot)yahoo(dot)com/question/index;_ylt=AuwDYBPIbhXwF2tGQWDcSGgv53NG;_ylv=3?qid=20130130083936AA34Iaj the question that started this.

"Asperger's Syndrome, Social Anxiety or just Shy?
Is it possible for someone with Asperger's Syndrome to not have a hard time making friends?
Does this sound like Aspergers

There's a lady that thinks that one of my friends might have Aspergers.
My friend is a female, age 20, it's obvious she has a hard time making eye contact (but she forces herself to do it).. when she does it she almost always crosses her arms (she seems hostile, in a please stop talking to me kind of way).
I heard that people with Aspergers don't have much of a sense of humor.. but my friend she uses sarcasm and jokes a lot (she's very funny).
She's outgoing around people she knows (she has a few very close friends, I'm one of them).
She's not as outgoing in public but she can make friends.. it takes her a bit longer than most of us.. but she can.. and she does. She's also dated a few guys
She's clumsy
She quotes tv shows a lot
She sometimes makes this weird humming noise when in public (it's not loud but if you get close enough to her you can hear it..)
Uses a lot of hand gestures when talking. also rubs her neck and arms when talking to people she doesn't know very well.
Her facial expression is almost always the same (in a Kristen Stewart kinda way).. but I know she has a lot of emotions.. she's not cold... I've seen her cry and I've seen her laugh (she laughs a lot)
She looks around a lot.. and pays good attention to detail (I swear she'll make a great detective)
Very smart (but in a Rory Gilmore way (Gilmore Girls).. she reminds me of Rory Gilmore.. her humor, how she talks.. etc she's just a bit more awkward and quieter that Rory.. kinda like the actress that plays her, Alexis Bledel.)
Another thing about her.. she can watch the same 3 Youtube videos over and over all day long.. for about a week.. without getting tired of watching."

Does that sound like Asperger's or not?

Basing it SOLELY on that list you provided, it doesn't really sound like asperger's to me. It doesn't mean it's not, though, as there could be more to the list going either way that you may not have thought to include. I know a lot of people separate the signs by gender, but I don't think this is always a good thing to do. It really depends on the individual, not on their gender.

This page has a couple charts that gives examples of how AS manifests itself in females that you may find useful:

http://www.help4aspergers.com/pb/wp_a58 ... d4f6a.html

It depends as much on their social environment as on their AS. If they luck out and end up in a social situation where others are accepting of AS traits, many AS people have no trouble making friends.

To me, your friend does sound like she's on the spectrum, although fairly mildly affected.

The majority of these are my daughter, quite a few are me. I don't think I match enough to be considered on the spectrum, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't mind as it would give me a bit of an explanation of why I am the way I am. I think in my family it is genetic. My brother is, and my sister and I strongly believe my dad is on the spectrum. I have 2 children on spectrum. My daughter presents differently than my son.
My son does like to socialize he is just not accepted by peers. He was often made fun of because his "eccentricites" and awkwardness. People often misunderstand the intention behind what he says. I wouldn't assume just because someone has Asperger's they don't want to socialize. My brother is also outgoing, although many think he is odd. They are all HF with high IQ

It is possible to be gregarious and on the autism spectrum.

My son and I are both extremely gregarious.

With him it is obvious he is on the spectrum, he is a complete clown and absolutely hilarious. Lots of people love him to bits, including his university peers, but he doesn't make close friendships at all, his closest relationships outside the family are all with his support staff.

With me it's a bit more subtle - from the outside I probably look like I establish and keep good friendships, I know loads of people, I even have friends who invite me to stuff and drop by for a coffee occasionally, but I have never had close friendships except with men and then I can count the number on one hand. I've had female friends who consider me to be their best friend so clearly they felt close to me, but I never felt very close on more than a superficial level to any of them.

To me the person you describe seems to pretty much fit AS

Sounds rather like it to me.
Also sounds like you're rather observant... though I could be mistaken. 2nd-hand data and all that.


A few questions maybe worth pondering:
#1. Does she focus on what seem like technicalities and minor details at the expense of the "bigger picture"?
#2. Does she show any discomfort when exposed to certain sensory stimuli? e.g. Bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, tactile pressure, etc ... generally the variety that most folk wouldn't be considerably concerned by...
#3. Assuming she doesn't seem particularly fascinated in culinary processes (some are), does she display significant and seemingly arbitrary restrictions in her diet?


... Oh, and we definitely have senses of humour. They're just wired differently. But then that isn't so strange. A British sense of humour is quite drastically different to a German sense of humour, for instance. Mine is quite dark, as humour goes... typically angled to what most find gravely offensive, and I'm dead serious about that.

These are very helpful charts! They are interesting, thank you for posting the link, i had been looking around for them =)

The book is really good too.