Where do you fall on my spectrum of asd?

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First write down your personal traits as one person with autism and say what diagnosis you have and your severity of traits and daily functioning how you feel about social things and your learning styles. Then try to think about some other people you know who are autistic and how they are different from you. Then I would try to show views of these other people and how they feel and think and also people on wp may help you describe themselves. Then I would put some of these different individuals presentations into a book to show what different people on spectrum are like.

Misread and accidentally clicked High Functioning Autism!

Well, on your scale I qualify as Aspergers - but I've always been called a High Functioning Aspie IRL.

Aspergers.

I appreciate all the information you included. If you're going to turn this into a book though, I highly suggest you run this through spellcheck.

On your scale, low function. I haven't figured out how to click on the poll to vote yet.

In 1972 at the age of 8 I was diagnosed as mentally ret*d. I was verbal sometimes, other times nonverbal. Gross and fine motor problems, severe sensory issues, meltdowns, when I was vernal I had and still have to this day periods of mutism. I was a mess, and after lots of test at the end of second grade I was officially mentally ret*d. That haunted my soul until two years ago this month was I was diagnosed as autistic. I'm okay with that. I've become very adept at adapting and finding ways for me to have a better life. On really good days when I get enough sleep, I can with great amounts of work, pass as NT for very short periods of time. I have a higher than average IQ for what that is worth, excel at things that I'm interested in, but if I'm not interested you'd have an easier time teaching a rock to fly. I have an AAC app on my phone and tablet, and work very hard at preventing nonverbal periods.

I did work for a while. A good while. I learned to drive. I still stop at all the pretty colors though and have to remind myself the green means go. I was married. I worked so hard as "passing as an NT" that finally I hit burnout. I lost a lot of my adaptations and skills at being someone I wasn't. So these days I seem more profoundly autistic than I did for years. I've been on full disability now for 15 years. I have cognitive and language impairments that often leave me stuck waiting for my head to catch up. I can and do now walk long distances and ride a bike but I'm still not capable of running. I am working on it though. My doctor told me how they work with children like me to get them able to do more.

I'll be 51 in September, but most people think I'm in my 20s which is so funny. I had to study facial expressions and body language, still have trouble with eye contact, and depending on where I am and what I'm doing, look like I'm autistic, mainly because I am. It's been an interesting adventure getting here and one of my friends, who is on the spectrum herself and has met Temple Grandin and spent some time with her, says that I remind her of Temple Grandin. I'm okay with that, I worked very, very, very, very hard to get here.

When I'm well rested, and all the other things I have to do to be seen as High Function/NT people get so confused when I tell them I am autistic and not actually "high functioning" but when they say that, I say today. Now. Tomorrow I might be hiding in the dark, padded, closet wrapped in my weighted blanket rocking and crying. But that weighted blanket? I couldn't afford to buy one, and my insurance wouldn't cover it, so being my mother's daughter, I bought a sewing machine, fabric, poly pellets, and made my own blanket. That's what momma would have done. She was autistic to, so we really understood each other and she helped me grow and started me on the path to become the woman I am. She'd be proud of me.

I have loud hands, I stim quite a bit, but it helps me so I no longer have the shame, guilt and fear. I live alone, my own apartment, make my own meals even if it's just an omlette every day for three meals a day for weeks and months on end. Language is hard for me, because inside my head is pictures, movies with all the details, turning that into English is hard, yet when I'm in good shape and really focused I can be quite cogent and people tell me I should be a writer. Today I accomplished a lot, and I didn't sleep enough last night, so I seem/feel/am more limited than I usually am. Words, when I have them, can be hard.

I have a bunch of comorbids from years - decades of abuse. My father was seriously violent, all the time. After being diagnosed at 8 he called me "the ret*d" until he told me I didn't live there anymore. In retrospect, I might have taken him literally and shouldn't have, but just packed stuff, got on my bike and left. Never looked back. I was 17 at the time. I lived under a tree for a almost a year through a New England winter, took showers at a friend's house worked and saved and got help getting a place to live. Grew, learned more, got better at pretending and blending and eventually got married. What I didn't learn was how not to be abused. So my now late husband (No I did not kill him, but he tried to kill me a lot.) abused me like my dad did only worse. It took a lot of time and work to heal enough to be able to leave the house let alone walk the 10 miles into the city. Walking helps my head, so I do a lot of that.

I can be hopelessly literal and clueless, well a lot of the time. It's only been the last fifteen years that I've started to grasp humor, sarcasm, nuance, and the finer language skills that always eluded me. I'm growing every day. I have a pretty good life now, and a partner and new family that I love and who love me. My partner was also married for a while, four children, three on the spectrum, she's NT but her ex-husband is not. Her children are all adults now and working on lives and families of their own. Her daughter Erin, my friend Erin, is 26 and like me never finished high school but went and got herself a GED, and went back to school. Because her father was in denial and wouldn't allow it, and because resources were not available she only got officially diagnosed last year as did I. Because the college wouldn't help her without an official diagnosis. I left no stone unturned to find a doctor that had the knowledge and experience who would world with adult women. So Erin got her diagnosis and school is going better.

So enough babble, that's me as short as I could make it and leave out the really horrible stuff.

I like the saying "If you've met one autistic person, you've met exactly one autistic person."

And I don't like functioning labels because they are largely useless. It's a spectrum, and we are all on it somewhere. We all have value, we are all different, and that's a good thing.

Now I have to try to figure out the poll. Wish me luck!

Sami

Based on your categories High Functioning Autism seems to be the closest fit though its not exact...for instance I wouldn't say my interests are super 'typical' as a kid my interests where more typical for boys much of the time. Even now I imagine if someone who never saw me and knew nothing about me just saw my room they might assume its a guys room based on the posters, movies, taste in music displayed by my CDs/cassettes/vinyls, and decor. So my interests are not super out there or weird....but a bit different than what I see most females more into.

I wouldn't say I have less social problems than acedemic/developmental....acedemically I am kind of all over like can do well with reading, writing, research oriented projects, but am absolutely terrible at math, then average with most other academic things.

I also have a bit of clumsiness, but not sure if its more just my lack of feminine qualities....or actual clumsiness, I just know I do not move like most females....seems like there is something more delicate about their movements than mine. I mean whenever I am around females my age or older it almost feels like they're a different species entirely, certainly make me more nervous than males don't know why since I got picked on a lot by both. I definitely find it easier to interact with males especially initially not sure why but I guess females seem more complicated....of course cats and dogs are the easiest to interact with its very obvious what they want/dont want, or like and dislike humans play mind games and what not, sometimes try and people please and all kinds of stuff that can make interaction more confusing.

I did have teachers here and there suggest maybe I had ADHD, because it seemed like I didn't focus...though one teacher observed me looking like I wasn't focusing, but noticed I always seemed to have taken in the information regardless so he didn't think it could be ADHD. But did explain to my mom that It would look like I was not really focused or letting my mind wander too much and I wouldn't really look at the teacher while he was talking but yet on tests and projects it was apparent I was taking in the information taught. I might very well have some kind of learning disability in math though. I graduated highschool, did get diagnosed with depression and anxiety at the age of 15 because I attempted suicide and seems any of the potential autism traits or anything like that was over-looked due to focus on the depression and anxiety. As of now I know I am somewhere on the spectrum...and also have co-morbids.

The problem is I want to put this spectrum scale into my book but don't want to sterotype or upset anyone.

As for the misdiagnosis label possibilities part, Here are the list of possible labels I would of diagnosed as in 2 different parts of my lifetime:
Age 2 at Regression to Kanner's Classic Autism with Regression (Regressive Autism). Possible misdiagnosis of this label are the following: Deafness, Lead Poisoning, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Neurodegenerative Diseases (ie Juvenile Onset Tay Sachs), Rett Syndrome, Childhood Dementia, and Delayed onset of symptoms of Anoxic Brain Injury ( ie from near drowning)
Today with my Autism Spectrum Disorder that is so called "HFA". Possible misdiagnosis of this condition are: FASD, ADHD, OCD ( I also have), Prader-Willi Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injury, Sematic Pragmatic Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, and Tourettes Syndrome

Your scale is closer to my observations than much of what I have read.

The comments from btbnnyr are a good idea. Write down your traits. Write down others traits. Look for patterns.

To hopefully aid your fine-tuning, consider my amateur personal observations. I am seeing a pattern of two rough categories of average-IQ to high-IQ autistic spectrum people, described here harshly (without polite nuance, sorry):

1. Aspergers (Unintentionally Overbearing)
CLUELESS, OBLIVIOUS (to social norms and rules and expectations) and does not see and cannot understand what they are doing wrong.
AWKWARD, BUMBLING, INDELICATE, but cannot see that.
ANNOYING, but cannot see that.
EXAGGERATED, LOUD, but cannot see that.
ARROGANT, DOMINEERING, UNCORRECTABLE, and cannot see other's perspective.
OVER-BEARING, INCESSANT.
OVERLOADS (get upset due to not being accepted, not being understood).
SELF-FOCUSED, cannot see outside self.
Society tends not to accept them (because the person seems to be unwilling to stop doing unacceptable things).
Can improve self and seem less like this, with time and assistance.
Tends to have very good working memory for facts and rules--which are enforced.
Tends to be limited to relatively simple logic and concrete discussion.

2. High-Functioning Autism (Suffering Trying To Fit In)
DIFFERENT, can see difference but cannot change it.
DISCONNECTED.
BORING (to others).
CONFUSED (by society's rules or by how to satisfy expectations).
MENTAL SUFFERING (due to over- and under-reaction in brain).
The person cannot accept society on its terms (because his brain gets overloaded trying to "be normal").
Cannot make much improvement, must find ways to ignore or avoid the situations.
Is one of "the excluded, who think different and feel different".
Has only brief short-term memory and loses track of conversations and his own train of thought.
Has uncontrollable, auto-neuro-triggered over-reaction to sensory inputs (noise, light, temperature, texture, etc.) and social situations.
Has states of being overwhelmed (a mental processing shutdown).
Is often pained (or tormented) by what would be normal sensory input.
Retreats to the comfort of being away from social complications (private room or office or nature).
Unable make sense of self-contradictions of others' actions and ideas.

BOTH
And both of these groups exhibit traits like these:
Monotone, flat affect.
Emotionless or jumping between high and low extremes.
Singular focus, special interests.
Quite literal.
Often does not notice social details and occurrences.
Gets into a mental "groove" or "flow" of thinking or working and hates being interrupted (losing focus).
Tries to "fake being normal", which is hard and is ineffective.
Has difficulty identifying and understanding other people's feelings (alexithymia), but has plenty of real emotions himself.

NOTE:
This is a pattern I am seeing. My totally unofficial opinion. No judgements. Just literal. I am #2.

None of them exactly but Asperger's is the closest.