The autistic community made me LESS autistic.

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While I don't doubt the fact that I have Asperger's, I sat down with a friend yesterday and she went through the AQ test questions and answered some based on her experience with me. With her answers mixed with my own, my score came out as 29. Most of the items where I did not score autistically were the social ones, because I have many friends and am comfortable socially, because almost all of my friends are on the spectrum and the NTs I work with or hang out with are all aware of my diagnosis and how it affects me. Here are the items I used to agree with, that no longer apply to me:

I prefer to do things with others rather than on my own. Slightly agree, as I like back-and-forth interactions that often help me see the big picture about certain subjects better, instead of focusing on just the details which I have difficulty getting past on my own.

In a social group, I can easily keep track of several different people's conversations. I usually can't, but when the topics talked about are simple and concrete, I often hear pieces of conversation here and there and talk about anything that pops up in my mind that relates to what people are saying, or sometimes even echo what other people say. People don't seem to mind, generally.

I find social situations easy. Yes, because people adapt to me and I have learned to adapt to them. Gradually, I've become a lot less rigid in social situations because I no longer feel anxious around people. I've also found ways to accommodate for myself (i.e. speaking up for my needs, making own sensory accommodations) so I'm no longer scared that I won't be able to cope in a social situation. However, NTs do have to adapt to me a lot. People on the spectrum, however, not so much; how much we each have to adapt to each other is pretty equal.

I find myself drawn more strongly to people than to things. I am fascinated by people, but often treat them as variables within psychological theories. I constantly apply what I have learned in psych to people, so every person I meet provides more pieces of knowledge to my own theories. Objects are not as interesting, I find, because I am an expressive person and there is not as much expressiveness to be had with objects. And I do have a craving for socializing.

I find it hard to make new friends. Not at all... People seek me out, and I enjoy it when I'm not time-constrained.

I frequently find that I don't know how to keep a conversation going. I speak my mind a lot and there's always something on my mind, so nope, I always have something to say to keep a conversation going.

I enjoy doing things spontaneously. When it relates to my special interest, oh yes, and I've built my life around my special interest.

I enjoy social occasions. Definitely, again when I can engage in my special interest.

New situations make me anxious. Nope. I look forward to new situations and new knowledge/experiences to be gained.

Overall, being an extroverted and successful Aspie, answering the way I did to all these questions apparently scores me below the autistic threshold. Since I will be going for a reassessment this year to get a more detailed profile of my learning strengths and difficulties, I wonder if not having the above characteristics would weed me out just because I am extroverted and feel comfortable in my "niche".

Sounds like you're doing better in the world. I wish I could say those attributes applied to me, but they don't. I'm as reserved, friendless and non-social as I've ever been.

IMHO, another arguement for making ASD determinations based on neurology, not observed "impairments".

Well the thing is if you're confident and extroverted but still meet the social criteria you shouldn't be weeded out. You still have an impairment in emotional or social reciprocity (maybe more emotional in your case), have trouble with non-verbal communication (stilted prosody and facial expressions counts) - it's non-verbal expression and understanding others' non-verbals and don't have peer relations developed to age appropriate level (only make friends with others with disabilities- I'm not sure if this is enough to meet that criterion but maybe).

You should still get the diagnosis if you meet the new criteria regardless of the AQ. The AQ is probably a bit confounded by the trait of introversion which is more common among people with AS and probably other social disorders but not there in all cases. An introverted NT would have a higher score than average because of the questions you listed.

I see lots of ASD type traits in your anwsers were I think you may not, the score was moved down based on interactions with close friends right? the same would likely happen to me although maybe not to the extent you had. Friends know and have adjusted to you, ASD friends may not know how to notice some things in you etc. Do your re-evaluation with a stranger and your old impairments will likely come back/be more visable in some form I'm thinking as the learned stratagys and simular intrests won't be there to mask over your ASD traits. I know noticing my impairments to their full extent is impossible for me becouse its natural for me.

1. I prefer to do things with neurotypical people rather than on my own.
   
2. I find myself drawn more strongly to neurotypical people than to things.
   
3. I find it hard to make new neurotypical friends.
   
4. When speaking to neurotypical people, I frequently find that I don't know how to keep a conversation going.
   
5. I enjoy social occasions with neurotypical people.

I just went to my first aspie meet up in toronto it was pretty dam cool.