ASD diagnosis but not sub-catergorised?

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Hello! I wanted to post this to ask whether anyone has gone through a similar experience as I have and if anyone has any good recommendations.

8 years ago now I was diagnosed as being on the ASD. However I noticed other people being diagnosed with other sub-catergorised forms of ASD, such as Aspergers and High Functioning Autism. I wanted to know if I have a sub-category too.

I talked to the psychologist who labeled me with ASD about it and she seemed very confused before repeating 'You're on the spectrum, everyone's different'. However, during general discussions with her she would refer to me as having Aspergers! So I am very confused right now. I don't think I have Aspergers because I talked later in life during my developmental stage as a child in first school. I presume I have High Functioning Autism. Also, I have talked to another psychologist who seemed just as puzzled when I asked the same question, she also said that 'everyone is different, it's a spectrum so it varies' but she too referred me as having Aspergers.

So I am very confused with it all has anyone gone through a similar experience? I am considering getting a reassessment for my ASD and to ask for a sub-categorisation.

Sorry for the long post

Thanks!

Lot of doctors don't seem to follow the criteria anymore and IMO many autistic people were diagnosed as having Asperger's when in fact they did not and they actually had autism than AS. The AS criteria states no delay in cognitive development or adaptive behavior or self help skills or curiosity of childhood environment. But yet it seemed like many aspies struggled with daily living and talked a little late or have communication issues when that was only listed in the autistic criteria, not AS. So I think that was why they got rid of Asperger's and made it all ASD because they find aspies are no different than those who have classic autism. Now you need to have communication issues to have an ASD so those who actually fit the AS criteria probably wouldn't even fit the ASD criteria but yet would still have the restrictive and repetitive behaviors. I know for one that doctors would diagnose a kid as having Asperger's than classic autism because they were verbal and it didn't matter if they talked late or struggled with living skills or holding a conversation. But what label you have is irrelevant now because it's all Autism Spectrum disorder. Asperger's is no longer a diagnoses.

I had language delay growing up until 5th grade, communication issues, but never had a problem with daily living, but I was still diagnosed as having AS and I know I had cognitive impairments as a child. But I think those issues were separate from autism because of my history of hearing loss so those parts were dropped for me from the criteria and it didn't count as me meeting it for the ASD criteria for communication. I probably would't even fit the ASD criteria or SCD because my issues wouldn't count if they were caused by hearing loss unless they want to call it environmental factors and still say I meet the ASD criteria. But then again I only met 8 out 12 in the AS criteria so I don't know. I figured my medical history affected it because of my hearing loss so not everything counted for it. I was told I only needed two more to actually meet the AS criteria but when I look at it, it says meet 2 for social interaction, one for repetitive and restrictive behaviors and you need to meet the next four to have it so that is seven total. But I was told sometimes I will fit the other two. But I have been confused about my own label as well. Only person who can explain it to me is my old psychiatrist who gave me the diagnoses but he is retired and I don't even know if he would remember me or remember any details. I also think other symptoms I have in the criteria probably weren't strong enough to a degree for me to meet them but then I read on here they don't need to cause you a significant impairment and they can still count towards your diagnoses if you have other impairments so that confuses me more. So would that mean I am a real aspie then?

But I had obsessed about this before and I also tried to get retested for autism to see where I am or if I actually have it but my therapist just tossed the aspie label at me and told me to take it and to trust her with it and she didn't want to really talk about it with me and told me to not even bother because I could just get confused if every doctor says a different thing about it and talked me out of doing the tests. I didn't even know if did any autism tests in 6th grade because I can only remember my mom and him talking and going over my history and we were seeing him for a few months. I was asked for three wishes and I remember them both leaving and me being alone. Also I was told online by several people to just accept the diagnoses and move on and it wouldn't change anything. My problem was I wanted to be genuine, not a fraud and seeing other people online being so technical about autism labels about rather people have it or not and even my ex was so hung up on he kept saying "I don't see how you can have it" just because I wasn't good in math or because he thought I was too childish to be an aspie and he was basing his stereotypes on here by other members and I didn't have a high IQ and any special interests that were useful and he also thought my self help skills were bad and thought I had some LFA in me. So that got me obsessed and trying to see if I was NT that is f****d up from my medical history or on the spectrum. But now I think it doesn't matter and f**k what anyone says. It's just a label. But it sucks how any psychologist would just cut you off and not want to discuss it. I mean how is that helpful? Isn't the whole point of therapy is talking about whatever you have on your mind that is bothering you just to get it out so you aren't OCDing about it?

If you want to get reassessed, go ahead but you might get talked out of it like I have. Even my own mother thought it wasn't a good idea and thought I shouldn't do it because it would be too stressful and it was stressful enough when I was 12. Yeah what if I was so anxious I goofed up on the tests screwing with the results making my scores higher. When I am calm and relaxed, I am okay and do much better and I process things better and bam I don't have AS according to my mother and I only have it when I am anxious. So does that mean when I miss a social cue or take something literal, I was anxious? What about my learning style, did that mean I was anxious in school so therefore my learning was visual and concrete? This is where I am also confused. What if I get obsessed and tune the whole world out, was I anxious? I mean isn't that like saying someone doesn't have clinical depression because they are not having symptoms because they are on medication for it or having a happy moment? My cousin has Bipolar and she seems normal when you meet her but does that mean she doesn't have Bipolar just because she isn't having her moment? Then when she does go manic or start getting impulsive or exaggerating her emotions, all of a sudden she does? So I can understand when someone told me online years ago my mom doesn't even know what she is talking about. I wonder if that is something my psychiatrist actually said or if that is how she sees it. My nephew has ADHD, he is fine at home but in school not so much so he takes his medicine on school days only, does that mean he doesn't have ADHD when he isn't in school? My dad has it too so it's not like he is going to do ADHD every single minute and when I go to my autism group, everyone there seems normal and like regular people, that doesn't mean they don't have AS right now just because they are not showing any symptoms. But to my mom's logic, theirs probably come and go so they must not be true aspies either.

There was an Asperger's from 1994 to 2013 under the DSM-IV.

There is no longer an Asperger's under the DSM-V, though it is still under the ICD-10.

Most likely, you now "merely" have Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level One, Without Intellectual Impairment.