What is it about AS that makes people hunger for a diagnosis

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Ive noticed that more than any other condition people seem to strive to obtain an AS diagnosis. Ive noticed this in myself too. I feel like theres a profound sense of validation attached to the condition its as if it would take all the traits that we associate with shame and rejection and turn them into positives. It would make us part of something much much bigger than ourselves.

That doesnt satisfy me though.... what are your theories.

It's like this: life crystallises into shape around that one insurmountable fact: they must all be like me. Doesn't work very well, but it's all I've got. Then, along comes autism. Explains it all better. Good news: life's been confusing? Yes, you've had a bag over your head all along. Bad news: the bag stays.

We look for the diagnosis the same way we' ve been looking for answers all along. To get past the diagnosis and find that, still, no one cares? Well, what did you expect?

AS is a "pervasive" condition. It affects the way we think, feel, behave, perceive the sensory world, speak, interact with others, manage tasks, and so on. So we feel "different" to 98-99% of the people around us. It is no wonder, then, when we discover AS and find that the feeling of difference has a name and is a known difference, we want to get an objective opinion to validate how we have felt all along.

It is like discovering that you might have been adopted - it affects your very concept of yourself. So sure - you want to find out for certain.

Most other conditions lack the pervasive nature of the autism spectrum, that is why the old name was "pervasive development disorder" = we grow up different in so many ways.

(PS: I am writing this from the perspecive of someone who was diagnosed in their fifties, and only first suspected that they might have AS less than 2 years earlier.)

as far as i can see, AS has become a fad.
there is a growing stereo typification of AS as a desirable way to be.
people read that people with asperger syndrome look younger for their age than non autistic people.
people think that AS carries with it superior intelligence, and a sterile and clinical (clean) way of looking at the world.
people have read that "aspies" are like wide eyed clueless and innocent anime style geniuses that suffer a tragic lack of appreciation due to their poor idea of social dance steps.

it is not surprising to me that pimply faced teenagers who are not popular flock to a self diagnoses of AS because they find succour in such an identity.


there would be few thinkers that would derogatorily appraise such a description of a person, and so there is a major influx of contenders for the condition.
i think there are vastly fewer sufferers of AS than is suggested by this web site or in other statistics. even if a person has "diagnosed" in their profile, i often do not believe them. i do enjoy talking to people sometimes, but i only really like saying what i have to say, and i have little interest in what their reply may be, even if it is supportive and reinforcing.

i have never identified with anyone else in my life. even if i meet someone who has the same basic view of life that i do, i do not feel any inherent understanding of the way they think.
i was diagnosed as a low functioning autistic when i was 6 months old, and alarm bells were ringing in my family when i was only 3 months old.

i had no interest in any way in the ways of the human world and i showed no curiosity, let alone an interest to involve myself with the people in my world.

as time went on, i was re diagnosed as HFA because i was not mentally ret*d, and finally i was diagnosed with AS.

anyway, i do not feel part of a club. i always stand alone in my own world and no one lives near my mind. i do not need to feel validated by assigning myself to a club of other people. i just see the life i am living through my own eyes, and i care not that anyone else ever will understand it how i do.

Then why bother joining and participating in a community of aspies and autistics, b9?

Those actions seem to directly contradict your statements.
To paraphrase the Bard, "Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much."

What I have noticed is that the people who post the I hate it and will do whatever it takes to fit in no matter what the cost tend to be people in there teens and twenties, while those feeling a "profound sense of validation" tend to be in our general age range. There are plenty of posters like the OP who buck the trend and what I see is anecdotal but that is my observations.

I'd say (as a woman in her thirties and not a 'pimply teenager') it's a matter of finally finding out that all the many differences that I've spent my life dealing with have a name, are part of some established body of knowledge and that there's finally a group of people out there who I have something in common with.

So, you know, lifelong loneliness, a feeling of finally having somewhere to belong, and some sense in which I am 'normal'.

because i like talking on occasions. i am not concerned with whether i get replies any more.
i know that what i wrote will be read by a few people, and i guess i do like it when i imagine someone reading and "getting" what i say.
i do not have a low opinion of people. i think most people are very nice and "acceptable" (an open glitch for you to burrow into if you are that way inclined).
i do not have any physical maladies and i always amuse myself with what i think, so people are not vital elements to my satisfaction, but i do like them.

people are fascinating if i take the time to examine them. each one has a different personality.

i realize now that i am not the only sentient being in the universe (which i surmised i was when i was a child) and if i was consigned to life on a planet with no humans on it, i would probably start to wonder whether it is fruitful to follow any philosophical train of thought. philosophy just means "love of thought" and i love thinking, but if their was no one who could ever be able to be told what i thought, then i would probably stop thinking.




i answered you with thought and consideration, so you are wrong.

i read what you said and i responded



what understanding of shakespeare do you have? your blind application of that phrase to quote my post is rather banal because it is ineffectual..

what ruddy damned blinking ever!!

I think validation is the base of it, but I think for ASD a formal definition and recognition is more meaningful than to most. ASDs tend to be more subject focused. If an ASD is falsely and ludicrously accused they feel compelled to mount a defence, just because it's false. Where as most people are personal focused. The correctness of the accusation doesn't mean so much. It's whether they feel good about themselves or not. A “Get lost prick”, and have their peers/friends tell them they're wonderful will protect their person. Being personally affected is more important, the rubber stamp doesn't mean so much. In fact, they may identify with a condition that justifies themselves even if a diagnosis is refused and they don't qualify under it. For ASDs, I think the formal recognition gives the evidentiary clarity they seek generally.

I definitely appreciate that. Even though its blatantly and patently obvious that I have OCD I have only accepted that I have it now that ive been formally diagnosed. I dont even really believe in psychology as a science as far as im concerned the categories are totally arbitrary even if they do correlate with neuroscans. The way in which categories and deifnitions change on the fly with the DSM is all the evidence we need of that. Theres no real scientific and indeed intellectual rigor that I can see.

However I still wont claim that I have aspergers or any other condition until its been verified and systemised.

Neither is it surprising to me in all honesty. Aspergers is becoming a byword for "lacks social skills and is antisocial". Johnny doesnt want to play with the other kids and fidgets alot thus must be on the spectrum. I do however not agree that its being overdiagnosed. Many professionals seem incredibly reluctant to even consider it outside of the most extreme and debilitating symptoms.

Im sure you can appreciate the fact that Aspergers isnt an identifiable neurotype. Its not a disease in the same sense as cancer where there are clearly quantifiable phenomena at work. Its a loose and rather vague set of behavioural markers with qa uestionable neuroscientific basis

It has become a media fad but all of the reports bullying seems to suggest that the teen aspies peers do not see it as the way to be. The bullying or just being outcast past or present plus social media like this is a reason people react strongly or overreact to a diagnoses.

In my case I had accepted that I was different then most people in the ways society deems more important ie social skills decades before my diagnoses. What the diagnoses has done has has given me a path to realize how it is not just social skills but how pervasive my differences are so now I have a fuller explanation for why my life has been the way it has been. That the style and topics of conversation with others on the spectrum are closer to what I like plus for the first time in my life I am able to talk about certain very personal topics without fear of ridicule and with people who may have had similar experiences does produce a bit of bonding.

i am sorry but i do not understand what that statement precisely refers to.



again i am sorry. you have to present what you say in unambiguous terms to me. i am happy that you are trying to communicate with me, but i am sorry i can not make sense from your words.



punctuation is important. i can not think of where the missing comma's should be inserted into sentences written by others, and so it is just a slurry of words i read that i quickly lose track of when people write without comma's to show me where i can breathe and consider.

also, i can not believe i spelled "diagnosis" wrong.

He's saying that the fact that aspies are bullied suggests that our peers dont consider us to be the next "in thing"

Above is a "revised" copy of the paragraph. Punctuated for you.

That's validation. You say you don't need validation (see quote below) and yet you just contradicted that.



All of that is fine, but doesn't really answer my question.
You can talk about things on many, many, many forums on the internet.

You stated:


Yet you've joined and you post on a forum dedicated to people a specific disorder you've been diagnosed with.
That's the same as joining a club and participating in it.
Why do so unless you're looking for validation/advice/responses from others in the same boat?

If you really just wanted to talk there are plenty of generic places to do so.
You, instead, chose to join and post on a forum specifically for people like you.
It seems like you just don't want to admit that the reasons you did so have to do with wanting to belong and getting some validation.



Just because you responded doesn't mean that I'm incorrect.
I believe my rebuttal clearly shows the holes in your explanation.



I said 'paraphrase' not 'parasitically phrase'.
Please do not misquote me.

I think my application of that phrase was quite germaine to my supposition that you say you don't care about joining a 'club' and don't need that kind of validation, yet your actions and further statements seem to contradict that.
Given that the origins of that phrase refer to someone being insincere and that the colloquial usage is a general way of saying that, I think it's perfectly appropos.

I apologize that my question upset you.
I assure you that was not my intent, it just seems like you made some statements which your actions don't seem to match and I wanted to understand why that was.

That's validation. You say you don't need validation (see quote below) and yet you just contradicted that.



All of that is fine, but doesn't really answer my question.
You can talk about things on many, many, many forums on the internet.

You stated:


Yet you've joined and you post on a forum dedicated to people with a specific disorder you've been diagnosed with.
That's the same as joining a club and participating in it.
Why do so unless you're looking for validation/advice/responses from others in the same boat?

If you really just wanted to talk there are plenty of generic places to do so.
You, instead, chose to join and post on a forum specifically for people like you.
It seems like you just don't want to admit that the reasons you did so have to do with wanting to belong and getting some validation.



Just because you responded doesn't mean that I'm incorrect.
I believe my rebuttal clearly shows the holes in your explanation.



I said 'paraphrase' not 'parasitically phrase'.
Please do not misquote me.

I think my application of that phrase was quite germaine to my supposition that you say you don't care about joining a 'club' and don't need that kind of validation, yet your actions seem to contradict that.
Given that the origins of that phrase refer to someone being insincere and that the colloquial usage is a general way of saying that, I think it's perfectly appropos.

I apologize that my question upset you.
I assure you that was not my intent, it just seems like you made some statements which your actions don't seem to match and I wanted to understand why that was.