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Until just a couple days ago I had no idea what Asperger's was. Never heard of it. But I'd always been one of those 'weird' ones. I started investigating it, and some of it felt very close to home but other descriptions did not. And some of the criteria seems quite vague. I was just checking out the 'you might be an aspie if..." thread and some of that hit me straight in the chest but some of it I felt little kinship to.
The driving problems (I don't drive and even if I passed the driving test I know I'd be in an accident within a week - I'm 43 years old).
The preference for the bookstore if one has to go to the mall (that was ALWAYS me).
But i'm not a math wiz whatsoever, though I love the IDEA of mathematics. I'm not a computer person, though I spend a lot of time using this one.
What really bugs me about trying to decide on my own if I am Aspie, is in the descriptions they say about the low levels of creativity and imagination. Yet I peruse the threads here and stuff and I see LOTS of imagination, creativity, humor - I recognize my written communication style in MANY places here.
What gives?

Hello and Welcome timkibler

We all have our individual abilities so descriptions will vary. My son also does not drive for the same reason you give. It may be something that he will do sometime in the future, but for now he'd rather not.
I am definately not a math wiz either although I have noticed that many of the jobs I have had in the past seem to revolve around money and accounting.
As for imagination, creativity and humor my family seems to have vast supplies of all three, so you see, you may be different than many of us (we are not all alike) and still be autistic. I think socially is where most of us have trouble. Connecting with neurotypicals has always been difficult for me. I just don't think about the same things or think in the same way as they do, from what I can tell, anyway.

As far as the humor goes - mine has always been different - but a lot of what passes for humor I find quite stupid. Yet I have been able to write stuff that some people would call humorous, though definitely not mainstream (ie, Reader's Digest - I do not understand why people think those jokes are funny).
Could someone just be somewhat odd and not Aspie? I just keep going through this back and forth and back and forth, "Wow I think I might be" as I remember incidences from the past, where the Aspie possibility would make perfect sense But then I read some of the diagnostic criteria here and there and it just doesn't seem to match up, depending on how words are defined.
Like, 'clumsy'. What do they mean by clumsy? I can think of many times I have been clumsy, but just how clumsy are we talking about (again, the driving problem)?
Then we have introversion and the Hightly Sensitive Person, and when I studied that stuff I felt that "aha!". The same thing happened when I stumbled onto Asperger's.
This is all really bugging me.

It doesn't matter. Every aspie is different, don't worry about the stereotype. It doesn't make you any less aspie to be bad at maths, I am too.

After further research I find that before one is diagnosed with Asperger's Schizoid and Schizotypal must first be ruled out.
I ruled out Schizoid because of the thing about being uninterested in sex with other people.
So that leaves: Schizotypal or Asperger's or ADHD or none of these but just a person who many people seem to think is rather strange.
I'm interested in why Aspies are diagnosed Asperger's and not Schizotypal.
I really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

I think the differential diagnosis is based on the expressed desire to socialize or not.

Most Aspies, including those who are elective shut-ins, would prefer to be social if the communication impairments weren't present. Someone who is schizotypal, on the other hand, is usually paranoid and seeks to avoid all forms of socialization even in the absense of a communication impairment.

In simpler terms, I wish I could look you in the eye while talking to you but I can't. A schizotypal person doesn't care whether or not he suffers from gaze avoidance because he doesn't want to talk to you anyway.

I do tend to do that, actually. It was one of the Asperger's descriptives that caught my attention. But I have not always been conscious of it, except I saw a picture of myself where I was talking to someone and my gaze is distinctly averted. I've been sitting here most of the evening trying to remember. I know that long ago I read and was told that it is polite or whatever to look people in the eye when conversing with them and I have done so but mainly because I felt it showed the other person that you were listening/exchanging with them. On the other side of this, it has happened over the couse of my life that people have reprimanded me for "staring" at them, which was not a conscious thing on my part and there was no intent to cause them discomfort. But they really were upset.

As far as speaking or being spoken to, I get irritated when someone who does not interest me is speaking to me and they won't cease. On the other hand I have often attempted to add in what I considered a witty statement into a mix of people who I was genuinely hoping to make congenial acquaintance and was met with disbelieving stares and sometimes I find myself standing by myself where people just were. Left to review what I said and why it was not well-received.
Also, when I am in conversation with someone I tend to miss what they are saying because I am trying to think of how to adequately respond or contribute. Then it's a battle to listen and think at the same time and by the time I think of something to say it is often irrelevant to the current vein of conversation.
When I was a child the grownups were constantly getting on me because I 'mumbled' and I have listened to myself on tape and been horrified because in my mind I feel I have a colorful voice but on tape it sounds very monotone.
I could go on... oh, how many times have I been in a room of people who were talking and talking (sometimes gossiping about someone not there) and they completely forget that I am in the room, unless I clear my throat or pipe in a random word.
Like I say, I could go on but I'll stop for now.
So how's this diagnosis looking so far?

I'm not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV), but I doubt anyone would label you as schizotypal. Your description reminds me very much of my own experiences. My doc didn't hesitate to declare me an Aspie after our first session together.

Okay then, schizoid is out and schizotypal is out.
To my mind this leaves one of two choices (unless there's another I am ignorant):
1. Asperger's (or a high functioning autism)
2. Just a person who many people say is somewhat strange but admittedly creative, with a strange sense of humor, who does not mind spending time alone - but enjoys the company of like-minded people which is not a oft-occuring occasion - because of the joy of thinking whatever thoughts that seem important at the time (in this case, trying to determine whether one may have Asperger's) and resents being interrupted from those thoughts or projects that many in the conventional world do not see the value of.

Off to study and think again.

Very informative stuff here.
Thanks for putting up with what may seem like obsessive and even repetitive posts, but I can't let this go until I can be as certain as possible.