Do I have Asperger's/Autism?

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I'm a 21 year old man and was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at the age of 15. I have persistently kept on doubting the relevance of this diagnosis in a way that I think I either don't have it or I fall under another subcategory of ASD.

I will list down the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria and comment on the different parts of it and how they relate to me:

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**A. A lack of any clinically significant general delay in spoken or receptive language or cognitive development.**

- *I did have a significant delay in verbal communication. **I did not form words until the age of 3, minimum.** My native language is Arabic but I live in Sweden thus Swedish is my primary language. Because of my delayed use of language I never learned Arabic because I was preoccupied with Swedish. It felt like it took a great deal to speak, even today am I unable to communicate coherently.*

**B.Qualitative abnormalities in reciprocal social interaction (criteria as for autism).**

- *My social abilities have largely been poor throughout my life, albeit not bad to the extent of being identified as autistic before uttering a single word. I had a poor understanding of "sharing", thus I would behave selfishly. I had noticable difficulty in obtaining friends and would constantly be bullied or picked on by peers and relatives. I am to this day unable to establish any meaningful relationships with other people. I am usually very cold, display little emotion and appear to be uninterested in most cases.*

**C.An unusually intense circumscribed interest or restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities**

- *I used to play video games for a minimum of 5-6 hours every day. In that sense it was a repetitive and restrictive type of interest. Although video games are equivalent to cocaine so I can see many people with similiar obsession, regardless of medical label. Much of my interests were abnormal when I was a child, it was usually only solitary interests. For instance, I adored the look and smell of my perfume as a child, the colours were beautiful. I had a wristband that I disliked for its texture but loved it for the smell. I played with toys with myself and not others. Nowadays I don't have any intense interests, I only study and surf the internet.*

**D.The disorder is not attributable to other varieties of pervasive developmental disorder; schizotypal disorder (F21); simple schizophrenia...**

- *I do not have any of these conditions as far as I'm aware. Psychologists, doctors and curators have several times suspected me for having schizophrenia due to how I talk. Displaying very little emotions, communicating in a monotone manner and have difficulties forming words.*

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Some general information about me that isn't in the list:

* I have a mean IQ of 87. The test was administered by a licensed psychologist. He remarked that my abilities were extremely uneven, in certain parts my IQ was estimated to be 150 and in other parts as low as 60-70 (of the test).
* I am extremely sensitive to light, sounds and other stimuli, athough not touch (used to as a child).
* I have difficulties reading my feelings, 90% of the time I feel nothing. Even with the absence of depression.
* Depressed since the age of 15, declining for the past year.

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Does it sound like my Asperger's diagnosis is actual or autism? Or perhaps none? I feel like this entire diagnosis is crap, honestly. A label to be used just because someone is a bit different. I have never felt as if it is true to me.

I would say its a definite Maybe.

People cannot just diagnose somebody based upon an Internet presentation....though they can speculate.

I would say there are some indications that you might have Aspergers-autism.....but one would have to meet you in person in order to be able to offer a more definitive impression, based upon credible evidence.

Is obtaining a diagnosis free or low cost in Sweden If so, I would try to obtain a diagnosis through this way.

It's almost free here in Sweden, athough the process of a reevaluation is going to take more than 6 months and they will probably be mad at me for wasting resources since they are tight on that.

I already have Asperger's diagnosis. I just can't accept it, feels "fake".

Aspergers is a form of autism/ASD. In order to be diagnosed with Aspergers, you should not have had the language delay before age 3. From reading your post I can see you do understand the language well. At this point in your life, what difference does it make what difficulties if any with language you had prior to age 3? I see nothing in your post that would indicate you are not autistic.

Your Aspergers diagnosis was 6 years ago which is fairly recent. It is likely the clinician who diagnosed you is still practicing. You should ask him or her why with a language delay you were diagnosed with Aspergers if it bothers you.

But does it mean I can't have Asperger's, only autism?

Also what indicates I have autism? Can't "normal" people have these problems?

Common symptoms of language delay are:
* not babbling by the age of 15 months
* not talking by the age of 2 years
* an inability to speak in short sentences by the age of 3 years
* difficulty following directions
* poor pronunciation or articulation
* difficulty putting words together in a sentence
* leaving words out of a sentence

Common causes of language delay are:
* Hearing impairment: It’s common for children who have a hearing impairment to have a language impairment as well. If they can’t hear language, learning to communicate can be difficult.
* Autism: While not all children with autism have language delays, autism frequently affects communication.
* Intellectual disability: A variety of intellectual disabilities can cause language delays. For instance, dyslexia and other learning disabilities lead to language delays in some cases.
* Several psychosocial issues: These can cause language delays, as well. For example, severe neglect can lead to problems with language development.

Source: Language Delay

In general, those with Asperger's syndrome have no significant delay in verbal communications. But Autistics can. Therefore you may fall under the High Function Autistic category. But in my humble opinion, there is very little difference between these two labels.

Since you were diagnosed 6 years ago as Aperger's, I feel you probably have that condition.

Damn. Now I'm even more unsure. Autism or Asperger's.

I don't understand how this works. I am studying medical physics and have a relatively normal speech when I'm not stressed out. My intelligence is uneven in many aspects, common in Asperger's.

Not sure which one I have. I have the diagnosis Asperger's but because of my speech delay I'm starting to think it's autism. I made it clear to my psychologist that I had speech delay, yet I got the diagnosis and not autism. Most doctors and curators insist I have asperger's although they probably don't know the difference.

Really confused now.

Sorry Quantum. I didn't mean to confuse you. In my opinion, Aspergers and the (High Functioning) Autistic are almost one and the same. In 2013, the U.S. revised its classification placing Aspergers as tentatively within the Autistic Spectrum Disorder category. Europe did not immediately follow suit and kept the Aspergers classification. This year

clinicians worldwide may be using a new, streamlined set of criteria to diagnose autism.

The criteria are part of a highly anticipated update to the “International Classification of Diseases,” a diagnostic manual produced by the World Health Organization (WHO). The latest draft of the manual, dubbed ICD-11, collapses autism, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) into a single diagnosis of ‘autism spectrum disorder.’

This change mirrors the criteria in the ICD’s U.S. counterpart, the fifth edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5), released in 2013.

Source: New global diagnostic manual mirrors U.S. autism criteria

"Normal" people have these problems, autistic people have most of the traits associated with autism.

You wrote about several traits associated with autism such as unusual sensory sensitivities the problem with wristband texture and a strong attachment to the smell of perfume. You wrote about difficulty understanding others needs and your own unusual lack of emotions.

"High Functioning Autism" is Autism without intellectual disability. Aspergers is Autism without intellectual disability and without language delay before age 3.

Like it was said before I can not diagnose you based on a few internet posts. Your clinician might have had legitimate reasons to diagnose you with Aspergers that we can't figure out.

Welcome to WrongPlanet, Quantum.

I agree with jimmy_m; in adulthood, it really makes little difference. This is partly why the new ICD-11 diagnostic manual has lost Asperger's Syndrome as a specific sub-type of autism (in common with the USA switch to DSM-V) - all autistic related conditions will be diagnosed as Autistic Spectrum Disorder (or Autistic Spectrum Condition in places which prefer less negative-sounding language). Language delay may be an important diagnostic sign for people diagnosed very young, as it can indicate the need for speech/language therapy, but it doesn't necessarily predict abilities later in life.

Also, language consists of many components, and even for those without significant language delay, there can still be problems with the pragmatic parts of language which require knowledge of another person's intent (often described as having very literal use of language.) So even those diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome often have language impairments, they are just subtle enough to not be noticed so easily.

There is also a sub-set of autistic people where language is delayed, but once started, learning is very rapid. The babbling and single-word stages of learning to speak may be almost absent, so that the late speaker starts speaking already using relatively complex grammar (I was a little like this as a child.)

The other things you describe match autism pretty well, and are quite similar to my own traits (I have the ICD-11 style Autistic Spectrum Condition diagnosis, consistent with Asperger's Syndrome, but prefer to describe myself as "autistic"). Your command of English suggests that you have overcome any language delays remarkably well!