How Many People Here Are actually Autistic or have Aspergers

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I am self-dianogsed too but I read that other disorders (DISORDERS????! !! !!) can have similar type symptoms, and people with low self esteem and poor social skills can seem to have Asperger's, so I talked to my Dr who arranged for a referral to find out if that's what I have.

I'm still WHO I am whatever way the testing goes. I'll just have a better sense of "what" I am after.

What other disorders (besides NLD) have similar symptoms to Asperger's?

Schizophrenia
Personality disorders
Eating disorders
Mood disorders
AD/HD
Seizure disorders
Social Anxiety

I'm not recalling all of it, it was an article about self-diagnosis and being careful that it's really Asperger's and not something else such as (blah blah) social anxiety with low self esteem and delayed development or something like that. I did some googling and came up with these possibilities as alternates to Asperger's:

schizophrenia
Borderline personality disorder
Narcissistic personalit disorder
The other diseases for which Asperger syndrome is listed as a possible alternative diagnosis in their lists include:
Autism
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
(http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/asperge ... isdiag.htm)

Self diagnosis is a dangerous practice. In fact, it is one of the most likely ways to get a misdiagnosis, which is the one thing we want to avoid. We recommend you always seek prompt professional in-person medical advice from your local qualified medical professional.
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/diagnosis/self.htm

(Online diagnosis) This practice has numerous limitations and pitfalls that make it no substitute for in-person face-to-face medical advice from your doctor. Some of the reasons that online medical advice may not have the same level of quality as a face-to-face consultation may include:
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/diagnosis ... gnosis.htm

I don't think self-diagnosis is inherently wrong. Certainly people with Asperger's have always known something was a little different, even if they didn't particularly care or if it was other people who seemed freaky and not themselves.

I am taking the step of getting a formal diagnosis because my depression is so severe I had to apply for public health and benefits and had a heck of a time getitng it (would have been snap you're approved if I could have said here is a letter from my doctor stating I have asperger's). Though I live alone working full time 'out there' is way too much for me so I work at home and recieve some benefit and health help.

GaryWW wrote: "I've only been here a few days and it already seems to me that a huge number of the people who post probably don't have Aspergers and certainly aren't autustic in the traditional sense of the word so is this just a social free-for-all or catch-all for everybody who thinks they are a little weird and strange."


Well Gary I did not know you were an expert(not trying to be mean), yet I have been DX with AS. As for "autustic in the traditional sense of the word" most AS Patient have various degrees of Autism. I have always been seen as "a little weird and strange." We all need somewhere to go to express ourselves(you have the right as I do to express yourself, and I am not trying to silence you or others in any way) I hope and encourage everyone that needs to come to WP to come for you will be welcomed. I hope that not only Gary WW but everyone reads about AS, so everyone could better understand. We have enough problems with people misunderstanding us we should stand united against misunderstanding, misinformation. Now I will leave my soapbox, and I wish you all the best.

You CAN be acerbic at times! Then again, I can be also. I think I have been, in 29 years, threatened with being banned aout 5 times. About 2 of those times have been here. Happily, nobody has yet. And, for this system, I think they probably cut everyone a little bit more slack.

You make a good point about how a lot of the worst affected won't be represented here. ALSO, whether you meant to our not, you made a good point about how society is now less demanding, etc... Ironically, *I* am the OTHER way. Just today, a person leaned over me for some nonsense, told me some stupid garbage, made no sense, etc... In the 60s, I wouldn't have had to put up with that. MAN, if I didn't keep my mouth shut, etc.... I would REALLY have problems.

garyww,

The primary target of this forum ISN'T for "traditionally autistic". Oh SURE, there are many here that are, but most that have AS wouldn't be thought of in that way. Heck, look at all those that talk about how hard it is to spot people with AS, etc... Does ALEX look traditionally autistic? Frankly, I don't think so. And I don't mean to insult anyone, I'm just saying the truth to make a point. Some of the people I have seen look downright NORMAL(again, no offense). And many of them HAVE been diagnosed. They state symptoms that match up with the DSM, etc....

Out of curiosity, what are you talking about?

I agree. Something I've been doing lately is watching videos on YouTube made by autistic and AS people talking about themselves and their conditon, and one thing I've found is that the degrees to which they look AS, so to speak, or not, varies hugely. With some, you can tell straight away something is 'off'. With others, I don't think an observer would take them for anything but a little awkward/geeky. I assume that I'm very high-functioning, but I still watched at least one video from a guy where I actually thought I was lower-functioning than him, and he has still been diagnosed with AS.

He believed he was testing people by seeing who noticed that the post counter went in threes.

I have AS, but I don't suffer from it. I do, however, suffer from other people's ignorance and intolerance toward my difference. "You must not really have AS, because I read about it in a magazine and you don't seem at all like that. So there."

I also suffer sometimes from other autistics' ignorance, intolerance and illogical subjectivity about our shared condition. "You must not really have AS, because I have AS, and you're not a carbon copy of me. So there."

No. That was claire333 that mentioned that, and I answered her post - that it was an optimisation employed by Alex, to cut down on the rate of updates to the database, by adding three on each third view..

Looking through the thread, up to when Claire333 mentioned it, garyww had made no post about the view counts, or anything remotely related to them.

He had remarked that the thread was active, but so are all threads that start with such a contentious opening post. I was rather surprised at how restrained the responses had been. Often, this sort of opening post is one where flaming of the OP gets so intense that the moderators are forced to lock or remove the thread - something we really, really don't like to do.

When the teachers of my two young daughters approached me with reports that they found my daughters behaviour odd, and that they recommended that they receive an educational and psychological assessment. I was stunned and under enormous stress. On a disability forum, someone mentioned that my childs dyspraxia combined with dyslexia and dyscalculia could indicate Aspergers. When I read about Aspergers traits, I recognised my husband.

This forum has been good to me because it made me view my children in a way that means that their differences are differences, and not problems, and not something "wrong." There's a particular warmth on this board which makes it pleasant reading. I know that there are people who might click on my nick-name and see that I'm neurotypical and wonder what I'm doing here. Well, I have a lot to learn and a lot to understand, because I want to be there for my children. I'm not a wannabie Aspie. I honestly don't want Aspies to feel uncomfortable if I post.

It's broken though. I went to a long dead thread (to make sure noone else was viewing too) and the view counter increments by 3 for every 2nd view, not every 3rd view.

I continue to occasionally have doubts that I am an aspie..even though I was "asessed"...I do think that there is something up with me though.

Poopylungstuffing, there was a BBC documentary on television recently. The programme took 3 interantionally reowned experts in mental health and 10 people, 5 with diagnosed mental health issues and 5 neutypical.

The three experts, on the basis of observation alone, were asked to guess which 5 were the ones with either OCD, depression, social anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, anorexia, or schizophrenia.

The 10 people were given tasks, and on the basis of observing the interactions between them in a social setting, the experts were asked to initially who they thought was the most neurotypical of the 10. The experts chose a person who had a diagnosis. The experts didn't guess what her diagnosis was, and if I remember rightly they only got 2 things right and accused a number of neurotypicals of having mental health issues.

It was funny to see the experts get it SO wrong, but it did make me wonder why some people seem to get "caught" by the system, and other's remain (blissfully?) undiagnosed.

Seems to me like good 'ol garyww wants this forum exclusive for himself. Guess people in the specter is as different as most people, not one single person are just exactly like you or me. But there is no doubt that people in the specter tend to look at the world in certain ways, and that it sometimes can be soothing to find out that your not alone.
I have not been official diagnosed, but been told by several meds and about ten tests that I might have mild aspergers or some autism. I just might get official diagnosed, or not-depends of what are my gains, or loss, see?
I could, however, just said diagnosed in my profile, but as most things I do in life, I prefer to be honest. But it might come a day when you need a licence to discuss matters that concerns you. By the way, today is my birthday.