What is the probability of meeting an aspie at random?

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I could do Google search right now. But research results are changing constantly. At one moment: "every child in America suffers of autism at one in a hundred; and then, every child in America suffers of autism in two-hundred and fifty." So what is it? Those two make a big difference?

I've heard that you're a lot more likely to meet an aspie if you're a scientist or engineer. I'm an IT student. I'm quite sure I'm an aspie. I know (in other words) am quite sure I've met an aspie in community college. Sure I've met others that I didn't know were aspies, but probably wouldn't know. .

So... I haven't done the calculations, but seeing as we're not hypergregarious, I see that we're much more likely to know that we exist through the Internet than by real life.

So do you know aspie in real life? And if you know aspies in real life, did you find them through the Internet? If you know aspies at all, how do you know them? (Probably through the Internet is my guess)

(1/150 whole spectrum) * (1/(your level of avoidance(1-100)) *
(1/(oddness of your interest(1-10)) * (the sterotypicalness of your obessions (1-100))

Discounting family, I know two aspies in outside life. I met both of them through high school; I wondered about both for a while before I knew for certain. One sat two seats down from me in English last year (the middle seat being empty, of course) and mentioned he had it when we were discussing research paper, and I mentioned mine was on the spectrum. The other I had suspected for awhile, but it was (more or less, I suppose, because I don't think he has a dx yet) confirmed when a shared English teacher came to me to ask for any websites or books I would recommend, as both he and his parents thought he had it.

Considering there's 715 (I think that was the official count they gave us last week) students in the school, 3 aspies is pretty on par with chance and statistics.

Don't knowingly know any people w/ASD's IRL, other than self. Haven't met anyone (in person) from internet (incl. WP), so guess that's for other folks to answer.
Suppose it depends on how extroverted (outgoing & goes out often) or introverted (possibly agoraphobic & socially anxious) any given "aspie" is-I'm the 2nd (phobic & shy) sort.
Once in public where one might encounter others w/same dx, there's no way to know without one or the other person "outing" oneself first. Haven't a universally understood symbolic signal to identify members with shared neurological status, at least not a highly visible one (tiny colored ribbon pins may not get noticed). Don't know that we all could even agree on a single nonverbal shorthand with which to know "hey, I saw 3 'people like me' today when walking down the street".

I read a paper recently that suggested an estimated 0.6% of the population may have Asperger Syndrome.

I feel that any encounter with an Aspie would be in an organized setting, whether it be online or IRL.

Besides, we don't have giant tattoos on our forehead that say "Aspie" on them.

Tim

AS is a subset of autism and therefore less probable. I've heard 1/300. I live in a county of approx. 90000. That would give 300 AS. Now this is not exactly rural but we definately do not have a high density population. It's hard to imagine 300 AS here.

In high school, we had a class of 200. That would mean that I was probably the only one. I did hang around with a guy in the grade behind me that I'm sure has AS. We pretty much avoided everyone else. Maybe person's with AS naturally gravitate toward each other.

At work, I'm in Engineering. I'm pretty sure an older engineer has it. Some of the most talented workers, whom I like to work with most, exhibit AS traits. But I'm not sure if they are.

I live in a county of about 150,000. The nearest AS support group for adults is in Fort Worth, 115 miles away.

Tim

Where I work (software development), probably in the neighborhood of 1 in 3 or 1 in 4.

Outside of that, no idea; I tend to avoid humans to the furthest extent possible; not sure I'd know another aspie if I saw one.

Good fortune,

- Icarus Is Silicon Based

I was helping out in a class at my college for people that need class accomodations. I think some of them had asperger's. Not quite sure.

Incidentally, one of the other helpers was an aspie, and he told me about wrongplanet

So I guess if you put yourself in the right situation, it can be very easy to meet an aspie.

Next to zero...

Somewhat tangentially; Remember that AS is supposedly the new hypoglycemia, or lactose intolerance: the 'ailment du jour' that any socially avoidant, square-peg-in-round-hole person immediately assumes they have.

Given the relative vagueness of the diagnostic criteria and its similarities to a whole boatload of other 'ailments', I'm astounded medical professionals can definitively diagnose all but the most clear-cut cases of AS.

I have known people all my life who were probably Aspies. I know about 14 Aspies, adults and kids combined here in town.

I actually met a woman at my church who I now realize is an aspie. Her preferred subject is a specific, narrow science field, and she rocks back and forth while sitting, classic stim style - occasionally grimacing at me. When she introduced herself to me, I could identify with the way she spoke. This was all a couple of months before I'd learned of AS, so I'd forgotten about her until recently. At the time I first saw her, I mistakenly suspected that she had tourettes.

I'd still have to find out how many people go to my church. I'm guessing that there are somewhere around 500.

In my area, so low that it is not even funny.

HIGH. I can spot Aspies from a mile away in real life, although I myself am not spotted.