Mild, Moderate or Severe?

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I'm nearly 40 and up until the last couple of years I really didn't see the importance of anything, not money, not a job or education. At this moment in time though I do have a job and I am in college but it's a struggle. however I would never considered myself to be severe up until I started trying to attain things.

I'll tell you what drives me nuts. People saying that I'm a lower functioning Aspie after reading my post content and making that judgement based on the amount of times a day that I post about my special interests and than trying to train me not to post about them, anymore. That really ticks me off. I'm living on my own, without any assistance.

Every so often this topic appears in a new thread.

To quote a good friend - who now rarely visits WP

"There is nothing mild about Asperger's"

When I first learned about my Asperger's, a few years ago, I initially thought that I was 'mild'.

I stopped drinking alcohol about 3 months ago - which is approximately the time it takes for residual effects of alcohol to leave the body.

I am enjoying greater clarity of thought and much better health BUT, without the anesthetic of alcohol, (which was more or less daily) the underlying Asperger's and my anxiety are much more noticeable.

I seem to appear quite normal to most people - with the exception of being a bit aloof and a little too analytical/serious.
- My IQ falls in the gifted category and I have my own business, which seems to have the effect providing camouflage/misdirection to casual observers

But I can assure you that my personal experiences of Autism are very severe and impairing.

There is NOTHING mild about the effect Asperger's has on me, absolutely nothing.

I may be in the minority or perhaps just an exception

I am diagnosed with autistic syndrome and not AS.
My IQ is a bit above normal so that makes it to what ppl call highfunctioning autism.
I do have a boyfriend and a few friends but I really don't know what to do with friends actually.
But I do really love my boyfriend and know what I want to do with him and so.
I don't have a job and have never had one and don't know if I will get one.
I have what is called "daily activity" 3 h/day (mon-fri).
There I paint/sketch, cooking, ADL-training and health & balance-group.
I don't have my own place yet, but will get a trainingapartment within 6 months.
That's an apartment own by the municipalty that I rent from them and I get personal aid there so I can learn how to handle a life of my own.
I don't have a car or a drivers licence, I'm not allowed to take one and I would probably not be able to handle it either.
I'm often in my own world and being in the world is very tiredsome.
I usually don't see the meaning with stuff others seem to think are important, or I see it in a nother way.
I have big difficulties with understanding time and how thing belong together.
So according to your criterias I'm somewhere between moderate and severe.
According to my doc I've got mild-moderate autistic disorder but if I should have AS I'm seen as a severe aspie.
But my cognitive delayes and my echolalia put me in the group of autistic disorder.

This is a great topic to talk about. Because there doesn't seem to be a clear cookie cutter diagnosis for psychiatric disorders, it can be difficult to gauge the severity. My shrink keeps trying to convince me that I don't have Aspergers but I always come back to the same conclusion. Of course he knows more about psychology than me but I've done a lot of research. I'm starting to differentiate the AS from the ADD in me which I think is a co-morbid issue and I know they're definitely both prevalent. As for the severity of Aspergers, I am typical in accordance with the original post. Why? I don't have friends (at least that I feel like I can connect with). I have been awkwardly drifting through school since freshman year of high school. I had a sexual fiasco during the first two semesters of college. I'm physically clumsy, tripping, hand clumsy, knocking shoulders while walking through doorways, etc. I've been fighting depression for a long time. When I watch The Big Bang Theory and The Rain Man, I know that I am far from their neurological state. I really wish I was mild. I give Another_Alien a lot of credit. Good job man.

Moderate according to the definitions you listed. Mild to moderate -between level 1 and 2 according to DSM criteria.

By your categories, I would be moderate-severe. I am working towards a job, with modifications/support. By DSM, I have ASD (moderate to severe).

I guess im moderate because I can drive

Mild
- University (well, in theory, but my freshman year doesn't officially start until August, and it is already apparent that I am going to have some issues (I had a near-meltdown at the scholarship office when I was told, by the third person that day, that there was no record of me getting the scholarship I had proof that I received. This is supposedly straightened out now, thanks to the amazing coordinator of that program).)
- Friends (a few, albeit at a distance), and significant sexual experiences (no, but this is due to personal choice)
- A car (Well, it's not my car, as I did not pay for it but I do have a car that is in my name and that I do drive)
- Your own place (no, but I am not yet of the age where this is a necessity)

Moderate
You may be depressed/anxious (somewhat and very much so, respectively).

Severe
You're disconnected from reality (at least partially), and living in a fantasy world to some degree (yep!);
completely unable to become a fully functioning adult (I do not yet know where I stand on this, but I have my trepidations...).

I would say I'm on the mild-moderate spectrum. I have a decent job and friends that I trust, but there are still other issues that I have to work on, like trying to be more independent and handling my stress.

I would have to say that I would fall into the severe autism area but add to it a high IQ so I can appear to be in the mild to moderate range to others in public. When I am stressed/burned out, it becomes more difficult to keep up the act and I come off as more severe. However, I have become aware through video modelling that I appear pretty autistic. I have college degrees, but have not connected it to a job. I have many friends, though many of them are also on the autism spectrum and have somewhat similar issues to myself. I have some NT friends, though the relationships are not that well developed. I do not drive due to become too distracted and exhausted when trying to drive. I have my own place, though its often not been possible to have my own place due to not having employment.

When I was younger I was less clued in about my abilities and would have answered the question as going from severe to mild as at the time I thought I was on a trajectory to have a good job after college, would live on my own, and had many friends (at the time my friends on the spectrum mostly weren't aware of it either; they interpreted their time in special education as the school systems being rather difficult, rather than attributing the difficulties to having autism as later was the case). To the lay person on the street I would probably appear about the same today as when I thought I was higher functioning.

I actually have a mild form of autism, but I have other disabilities that make holding down a job or doing most daily living skills a challenge for me. I don't deal with a lot when it comes to my autism, but I do have very severe meltdowns/angry outbursts. It really depends on my mood too. Sometimes, I have good days where I can act almost NT-like, but I have bad days where you can really tell something isn't right about me.

Well i got my own place. but none of the other things.