"fake aspies" and self diagnosis. DISLIKE, sorry.

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To the person who wrote a long rant several pages back about people on here trying to conform to a stereotype and how this proved they're not autistic:

Threads like this one and attitudes like yours are part of what cause people to behave like that. It's not like as a group autistic people are as immune to social pressure as some like to claim. I have read autobiographies of (diagnosed) autistic people over the years from 1985 to present and you could see the evolution of ideas about what autism is, by the way autistic people wrote about themselves. Even the same person writing in 1986 and 2004, for instance, wrote very differently in response to very different ideas of autism.

Pressure to escape being labeled a "fake aspie" only increases some people's insecurity and many will express that insecurity by frantic attempts to sound like some kind of stereotype. This is especially common among those who have created NT-like personas --they just add on a new stereotypical aspie persona. But it doesn't mean there's not a real autistic person under that persona. I don't think this phenomenon will fully stop until all pressure such as the pressure created by threads like this one stops, as well as other various pressure outside of communities like this.

I also never really believe people who claim they can "just tell". The fact is maybe you know about the experiences of you and the usually few autistic people you know. But other people are different. Just because someone isn't like you it doesn't mean they're not autistic. I've known a lot more autistic people than usual and because of the extreme variation I have seen I would never presume to judge by someone's writing (or drive to conformity) whether they are autistic or not. There's just too much variation.

In my opinion, one should not claim to have Asperger's syndrome if one have not been officially diagnosed. Why? Specialists have experience in finding traits and symptoms in people which may lead to a diagnosis. People who believe they have a diagnosis is just as often wrong as right. I do believe there are many “fake Aspies” (self-diagnosed who wouldn't recieve a diagnosis by a specialist) on this forum. The reason I believe so is because we all do find traits in nearly all different diagnosises available. This means, if I were to diagnose myself, I'd be antisocial, schizoid, narcisstic, etc., merely because I believe most of those symptoms could describe me. But I'm certain I wouldn't apply for any of those diagnosises (except schizoid, maybe) if I were to be questioned by a specialist. “Seek and you shall find”. This statement applies for everyone and all diagnosises.

When I was told I might have Asperger's, I almost laughed because I had read about it and I believed none of those symptoms applied to me. Well, I was wrong. I could never have guessed myself. In my opinion, people should not claim to have Asperger's unless they have an official diagnosis. I guess many of you (especially those who don't have an official diagnosis) will disagree. However, keep in mind, of course there are people who are self-diagnosed who would recieve an official diagnosis. But I believe there are, as mentioned, many “fake Aspies”. Maybe they want to feel special. Maybe they want to be associated with geniuses in the past who appearently had Asperger's. I don't know. But, as I mentioned, there are true Aspies among those having a self-diagnosis. Don't get me wrong.

b9, I haven't been spinning tales of how I was pushed out of life as a child because after 46 years, even I'm tired of hearing me whine about how much life sucks.

And to extend one of your metaphors, if someone sees you go by in a car but has no idea what a car even is, they're unlikely to identify you as being borne in a self-powered conveyance with an internal-combustion engine. They're at least as likely to conclude that you've been eaten by some metallic monster, or can control strange otherworldly demons...

StuartN, I would like you to explain, if you would be so kind, what is "self-contradictory" about noting that some of us cannot afford competent psychiatric assessments. I don't know of any psychiatrist who volunteers his/her time; we have a tendency to "fall through the cracks" when it comes to government programs, as we are often able-bodied, and our problems with earning money aren't obvious at a glance; and I can't speak for anyone else, obviously, but my family can't pay for me to be assessed either (remember once again that by the time the diagnosis even came into existence, I was 30 years old; since it was new, and regarded as a "disorder of childhood", I would not have received the diagnosis even then).

Hey guys I made an apology topic for this topic which you should check out. It should hopefully explain alot .

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7bDVZwf2E&feature=related[/youtube]

This attitude by a few who have been professionally diagnosed with Aspergers is akin to "holier than thou." I applaud those who have been able to get a clear DX. I have not. However, since my daughter was DX'd a few years ago, it makes perfect sense that I have it too. She is very much like me, only I am nearly 50, & at my age it's damn near impossible to get anyone to see what I see in myself. I've taken the online tests...I test very high on the spectrum. I've also done scads of research on the subject. I know I am not the only in this predicament...there are plenty of people who happen to be in the very same boat. Just because there are some who don't like the fact that there are self-diagnosed individuals here, doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed. This is NOT a private little club. And I seriously doubt that anyone who has self-diagnosed would rather jump on the autism spectrum bandwagon than be normal. It's insulting!

I don't get why people don't understand how varied autistic people can be.

As far as the "How could people possibly be autistic and be mainstreamed" thing, which also totally ignores the extreme variation in school situations through different locations, times, etc. (So it can vary according to the exact school, if school existed, as much as it can vary according to the person's personal traits.)

There's also the problem that this is one possible trait. Autistic people vary a heck of a lot more than to all have the exact same troubles in the exact same situations.

If I were going to pull that sort of thing, which I'm not, I could say "Anyone who doesn't have to work like heck to understand words (far beyond auditory processing difficulties) and doesn't have long stretches of time when they don't even know what words are for, well they don't seem very autistic to me."

Which would be equally ridiculous. It's one trait. Some of us have it. Some of us don't. And not everyone who has it is going to talk about it all the time. And it's so completely wrong to judge someone's autisticness by whether they fit one possible autistic trait, even worse when you judge whether they fit it by whether they talk about it. It just shows a total lack of understanding of the fact there is no single trait (at least not at that level of detail) that all autistic people have been shown to have (researchers have been searching for such a trait for decades now and not found one).

I don't think it's true that every person who can legally offer a professional diagnosis is aware of how Asperger's can express itself in an adult. If someone knows nothing more than the basics of the criteria and not the myriad ways that criteria can manifest, particularly in an adult, then they are not qualified IMO. We've all read posts here by people who were dismissed because of eye contact, or because they were married or had a real job. Maybe diagnosticians should require certification.