My AS assessment--I now am celebrating!

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Thanks, Sartresue.

My name is a combination of two Hebrew words. "Neshama" means "Soul" and "Ruach" means "Wind, Breath, Spirit."

Here is how it's pronounced phonetically: Neh-SHAAM-ah RU-aach. The ch sound is a gutteral sound, as in German.

so, Neh-SHAAM-ah RU-aach, is the pic on your avatar, you?

Merle

Yes, that was me at 17. When I was a senior in high school, a friend took a series of black and white photos of me for a graduation present. I still have them. This one is my favorite.

Note the embroidery on the shoulder of my shirt. It was a peasant shirt, the kind we used to wear back then. My mother always criticized me for wearing a "potato sack" for a shirt, but that only made me all the more attached to it.

Ah, but we wore only the most elegant of potato sacks, beads and feather from salvation army counters. . .

Merle

Jezz, you old hippie chicks just go on and on. The world has certainly changed hasn't it?

EXCUSE me, I am a hippie chick, but I am NOT old. And neither is Merle. Are you, Merle?

It was really nice to see this thread bumped. That week was a doozy wasn't it neshamaruach? LOL

-Your dx sister

I meant to imply 'old' as in seasoned or experienced and not as to age. 50 is just a good starting place in life as far as age goes.

I'm still trying to figure out the whole, "High-functioning Asperger's" thingy. It just doesn't make sense, as Asperger's is the highest functioning ASD in most parts of the world.

If you display the required [core] symptoms, you have Asperger's, which is "high-functioning" by design (i.e., many are capable of partial or complete independence, and that's what "functioning" tends to be based upon).

It's nice to know that is indeed a picture of you, Neshama. I was wanting to ask but didn't want to pry. One of the things I have been wondering about is, is there a stereotypical aspie expression? Do you have it in the picture? I have a real hard time with faces to begin with, but have begun to suspect that there is some kind of tell-tale look. The sideways, head down, look-away, look I'm beginning to see more, or notice more.

When I zone out I sometimes get a frozen exaggerated frown that actually hurts after a while.

As far as avatars go, I'm shocked at how clueless I am. After 6 weeks my wife pointed out that the avatars aren't always pictures of the people they represent. Really? Apparently some are actually cartoons.

It's probably in the eye of the evaluator - it's like the less severe the core symptoms, the more likely you'd be given a "shaded" diagnosis. Core symptoms might be present, but the severity is open to interpretation.

On the spectrum, maybe "High-Functioning Asperger's" is just a shade past "Eccentric Normalcy."

Z

Oh, G-d, it was impossible! Especially for you, with the psychologist falling ill and your having to wait two weeks. Arghhhh....But it all came out well in the end for both of us.

Ah, yes, well, I have loads of life experience, some of which I wouldn't mind forgetting, which, given my age, is not really a long shot anymore.

I agree with you.

When I got the diagnosis in the mail, it simply said "299.80 Asperger's." So that's what I go with now.

I don't think my symptoms are terribly mild. At least, that's not how it feels to me. I know other Aspies who have what they refer to as "mild AS," and they are able to do things that I cannot (like teach in a public school system every day). I would not last a week in any full-time job. I have been able to work full-time in the past, but at a tremendous cost to my health and well-being. I am a very strong-willed person, and I can use my will for tremendous good. I can also use it to drive myself right into the ground, and about six years ago, that's just what I did. I haven't worked since.

I am very fortunate in that my husband shares the daily tasks with me, so that may have made me appear more high-functioning than if I were going it alone.

old? Old is always 15 to 25 years older than I am, I am an ageless flower child, only the body grows old.

Merle

I don't know that there's a stereotypical Aspie anything. At least, I haven't found one that applies to everyone.

I chose the picture for my avatar because it's one of the few I have in which the fierceness and the focus I feel inside actually appear on the outside. There are several photos of me from childhood and adolescence in which my eyes are averted and I'm looking fairly lost.

I also chose the picture hoping that someone I knew in high school might be an Aspie and wander in here and recognize me, but I realize it's a bit of a long shot. It'd be kinda cool, though.