New guy

Post Reply New Topic

My first name is Zach and I'm 31... nearly 32. I've actually had this account since 2007 it seems, but I have never actually posted here before, which probably has a lot to do with trying to deny the fact that I'm not normal to some degree. I'm undiagnosed for Aspergers, but seem to be a textbook case for it as some way into my adulthood my mother found the disorder and found that many of the symptoms matched.

What brings me here after lurking and doing nothing with this account for all this time is the fact that I'm wanting to more directly confront my condition, and the problem for me isn't people knowing I have it, because I'm pretty open about that. The problem is that when I say I have it, particularly on other forums, people tell me I shouldn't claim a disorder I might not even have. The idea that one could claim this condition as "an excuse for being an as*hole" is thrown out to attack the fact that I am claiming this condition.

In truth I should have been diagnosed as a kid, but the system failed me as it's no doubt failed many others who have come up in my generation with the disorder due to a lack of understanding about it, and I'm not sure how easy or difficult actually getting a diagnosis is or whether it's worth it. (It's certainly not worth it just to shut up a couple of forum users.) To some degree I'm probably afraid of a doctor telling me I don't have it and that nothing is wrong with me, because my family and even I have known and felt that I'm different than most other people and it's played a significant factor in me being a social outcast basically all my life?

Is a diagnosis important? Or is matching the symptoms up and the disorder making your life make a lot more sense enough? If I was told I don't have AS or maybe even if I don't have it at all, I would feel very lost with my life and wouldn't know what to do. So I guess I'm kinda lost, and the skepticism has caused me to even doubt myself here.

So yeah, that's the big thing that brought me here, but also it might be time that I actually embrace the autism community as well rather than trying to deny that I am probably a part of it.

From the standpoint of cost, obtaining a diagnosis doesn't make much sense unless:

It helps you to obtain accommodations in school, or to enter some kind of "vocational rehabilitation" program.

It's not useful for obtaining accommodations in a workplace (here in the US).

Perhaps, if you could afford it, or there's some practical use for it, a diagnosis will offer you some peace of mind.

Thanks, and yeah cost, as well as what the practicality of actually being diagnosed is a big factor in why I haven't had one yet.

I just find it annoying when I'm told off like I have no right to claim the condition because I'm not diagnosed and then told to get diagnosed like it's as easy as waiving a wand to go through that process. (Even more annoying when coming from other people with AS.)

Tell them to pound sand.