Maybe I'm just brain damaged?

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It's not about how autistic you are, it's about how you see people who are at a different point of the spectrum. If you think anyone who's less autistic than you doesn't really 'count' as autistic, that would be elitist. But someone at that same level of autism doesn't have to see things that way.

I wonder if I am brain damaged.
I had a concussion when I was around 10 when I ran into something and fell on my head.
It was the only time I went unconscious in my life.
A verry merry berry strange eggsperience it was, nothing like what I imagined before or after.
It is funny how I don't imagine going unconscious like the real eggsperience of it that I had even after I had it.
It must because I did not gradually lose consciousness, but it was suddenly running, then waking up on teh ground, with nothing in between.

"Autism spectrum disorder" is something like an an umbrella term for different symptom complexes which can be (much) more or (much) less present in one particular individual. There is a bigger hereditary factor, but not necessarily in all cases, and in any case multiple genes are involved. So, while brain scans between people on the spectrum and neurotypics differ quite a lot, brains scans of people with an autism diagnoses, even if they appear pretty much to be at the same functioning level, must differ quite a lot form one another, too. I would second Ettina and say, that autism and brain damage do not exclude each other, even if some shrink might say the opposite. On the contrary: if you take a neurotypic brain as the norm, the brain of a person on the spectrum IS damaged.

There is also the theory that birth problems occur more often in ASD families, exactly because of the developmental disorder of the child. Makes some sense to me.

It is very common to develop a personality disorder or some other more or less severe mental health issue on top of ASD. Seems quite logic if one compares the development of an NT child/person with that of someone on the spectrum. In particular if one takes into account that awareness about neurodiversity used to be - and still is - pretty low so that anxieties and pecularities are not handled well by the environment.

If others tell you that you make up stuff or exaggerate things, that might not be true in each case, but in general you certainly have a tendency to work yourself up into some irrational thoughts. Your emotions are still a largely unexplored field for you and you lack the cognitive empathy to keep your own subjectivity in check. Dont be afraid of this exploration. Maybe you manage to get something of the ludic drive a small child has than engaging in role play. Remember that this exploration is very scaring at times for NT children, too, but that unlike you, they pass the main stage of it quicker and more smoothly, and as a child.

Personality development through artistic expression and relations is the key to get a better feel for yourself and others.

I, too, had a head injury (maybe brain damage?) at some point before age 5.

I do not care what other people say about this. Whether you self-identify as autistic, brain damaged, or both, personally I accept YOU, Ashariel, and I hope you feel welcome here at Wrong Planet.

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I didn't expect this thread to pop back up, but I do appreciate the insights offered!

I feel like I've made some good progress on this issue since a month ago. Talking about it really helped me to move past a lot of the frustration I was feeling, and to come to accept that I live in a world where people have vastly differing opinions on what autism is, and who actually has it, and that's just how it is right now.

What I do know is that coming to understand autism has helped me tremendously in dealing with my various issues, and has given me perspective on my life as a whole, so for that reason I'm grateful to have finally been diagnosed.