Does "Mild" Aspergers exist?

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Like you have some issues within all the required dsm v criteria but there pretty mild (not necessarily mild on there affect on your life but mild compared to other people who have aspergers) and you can pass as normal semi easily and you can maintain and enjoy friendships and relationships though it might be more difficult for you than most?

I'm not exactly sure what your question means; are you asking if some Aspies have less traits than others?. If yes, then yes. My traits(though a having a vast amount of them) are farely mild in comparison to others with less, or hardly perceivable, AS associated traits.

I'd like it to also be known that Asperger's syndrome is often, but not always, manifested in a farely mild form of Kanner's autism(traditional autism).

I don't think all the criteria have been expressed as accurately as possible!
It's a spectrum
I am high functioning in some areas, but not in others
I think I appear normal, but I am not the one watching

you can pass as normal semi easily YES
you can maintain and enjoy friendships and relationships NO

This seems like a gratuitously silly question: of course it exists.

Given that there is range of severity of expression of the traits, there has to be a low, middle and high end of the range. "Mild" is nothing more or less than a description of the low end of the range of severity. The traits can also exist at a subclinical level in the Broader Autistic Phenotype.

But I suspect that obvious answer isn't the one the OP is looking for. The question may be: are you autistic. This is where we need Fnord's standard disclaimer: only a licensed professional can diagnose you.

But you already know you have some traits and that they are mild. You'll either have to live with the ambiguity of that information or get diagnosed.

There is no such thing as a mild aspie. We are all screwed up.

As a legitimate category or diagnosis? No. But if you're asking if there are people diagnoseable with Asperger's who experience it more mildly than than average, then yes. Autism is a continuous spectrum, along multiple dimensions. The categories we impose on it are arbitrary. If "mild Asperger's" is useful for communicating how you experience the spectrum then it's a valid term to use. I would caution against over using it though, for the same reasons that functioning levels can be problematic.

Although not as big a spectrum as autistic disorder, I do think that Asperger's is a spectrum. So yes there would be a "mild" part that borders onto the BAP (broad autistic phenotype) which are NTs with autistic traits. Those right on the edge are what would be called "mild".

The thing is, when we "pass", people assume it's easy.

I nearly didn't get diagnosed because the doctor assumed that since I "could maintain a conversation" it was easy and natural for me. When I told her I was consciously using a script, the whole situations shifted. After 50 years, I'm pretty good at "passing". Very few people if any would guess that I have ASD -- and yet I have no close friends to speak of, really. I'm not terribly upset about that, it's just a fact, but it would tend to bash the idea that if you can "pass" you can maintain relationships as NTs do.

I was diagnosed with mild Asperger's. But I do feel more like a person with true AD(H)D, anxiety issues, and a few ASD traits. Unless that's what mild Asperger's basically means; social awkwardness, anxiety and one or two other co-morbids.

Here's how I'm affected:-

ADHD
-I had a severe mood disorder as a child, and I read somewhere that ADHD can be a mood disorder, but I might be wrong
-through school I fell behind with my work only due to difficulties paying attention. My mind always wandered off, even in classes I enjoyed. I coped better when there was a teacher's assistant to help me
-I wasn't naughty as a child like some children with ADHD appear to be, but I could be hyperactive, as in loud and excitable
As an adult, I exhibit the following:
-unpredictable hyperactivity
-stress and mood swings
-absent-mindedness, eg, frequently going into a shop only to realise I forgot to get money out
-trouble sitting still
-easily distracted then forgetting or losing interest in what I was doing
-trouble even focusing on interests I enjoy
-could be watching something and naturally paying attention to emotions and non-verbal things but not listening to the words because my thoughts are too distracting
-short attention span and agitation
-not very detail-oriented or not good at perfection, tend to cut corners and say "that'd do"
-procrastination with everything; phoning friends, completing assignments, doing the dishes, etc
-having trouble even organising myself, like even getting confused when writing lists, forgetting to write lists anyway, and losing the list if I did manage to write one. And if I clear a space specially to keep notes and lists to help me remember, it will soon get cluttered with other stuff
-I'm often delayed; frequently a few minutes late for work, tend to dither no matter how much time I give myself etc
-have trouble remembering bus timetables, even the buses I get regularly. Also I have trouble remembering other data; people's birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, appointments, etc. I keep track of these in diaries and calendars
-bedroom disorganized and cluttered, a good example of how my mind is
-walking into a room and totally forgetting what I needed to do
-unpredictable routine
-I have to keep everything I need to take out with me in my handbag, and I need 1 handbag only, otherwise I will go out without my key or bus pass or purse or other essentials
-when lending someone something like my pen, I'll forget that I have lent it

Ok these sound like things everybody does, but trust me, it's not like that. I have ALL of those, every day of my life, causing frustration with me and others around me. Everybody makes mistakes, but I constantly make mistakes all the time, getting in a muddle, confused, angry, but then do the same mistakes again the next day, and so forth.

And there are loads of ASD symptoms I haven't got:-
-I can read body language and other subtle non-verbal things from instinct
-I don't take everything literally
-I don't go non-verbal when having a meltdown, and when having a meltdown I WANT to be touched, reassured, empathised, somebody to talk to. I do not want to be alone
-I don't flap my hands or rock
-I'm self-aware
-I can tell white lies and I know how they work, etc
-I generally give off "correct" body language
-I can get obsessed but can't focus well on them
-I am very good in a romantic relationship; know how to love, talk about our feelings, read each other like a book, all those social instincts you need to make a relationship work

The ASD symptoms I do have are:-

-I get anxious and shy around people I don't know or in a group (but might be social anxiety)
-I can't seem to form close friendships with my peers
-I don't like loud noises or crowds
-I'm prone to emotional meltdowns, but might be due to anxiety
-I have got so obsessed with certain people that it looked like I was stalking and then almost got into trouble. But that decreased with age and maturity
-I can be childlike, but not childish

But those symptoms of ASD have nowhere near as much affect on my daily life as the ADHD/ADD ones do, and others notice the ADD much much more. I've even been asked by several different people if I have ever been diagnosed with ADHD.

Lol no we don't need fnord's disclamier.

Brandon,

Of course there is.
And autism is publicly and officially recognized as a "spectrum".
That means "mild" cases too.

Adamantium,

Fnord's socialist maxim is total bull.
There are many self diagnosed autistic people out there.
You only need someone licensed to diagnose you if you are seeking help with money and resources, which, let's face it, many ppl with autism need due to their social handicap. A " license" is merely a specialized Tax ID.
Claiming that only government-sanctioned licensed individuals can determine what autism is, or is not, is quite Orwelian. 1984 (the famous book) type society's make
such statements. Also it treats common citizens like bumbling idiots, as if they are too stupid to ever figure out what autism is or diagnose it to some degree. and I'm sure you know, autistic people themselves know way more about autism than doctors and licensed govt gatekeepers to money and resources, ever will. that's like saying I can't officially claim to anyone that I have a cold until I go see a doctor or a licensed government person. do you see how dull-minded that is?

Cockroach,
to a degree, I agree with you.
in real life it does feel like there is no such thing as miles autism.
as a person with autism myself, I know that it its effects very badly.

Colds have physical symptoms. Running noses, coughs, rough feeling throats. Everyone knows what colds are because everyone has experienced them. You feel your throat getting rough and your voice getting weak and you probably think "oh, I'm probably just getting a cold". They're very similar from one cold to the other and by far the most common passable and temporary illness. However, it's not exact. You can think "I have a cold" and then wake up the next day feeling like utter s**t and it's like "no, this is flu". Or it could be something else. But they are temporary, common, and obvious as to what they are.

Autism is lifelong, not that common (as opposed to everyone having a cold at some point in their life, only 1-2% of the population will ever have autism), and not a simple thing. Colds are just like "running nose, sore throat, bad cough but no weakness and excessive sleeping - this is a cold". Autism is a very complex condition with no physical symptoms (you can't look at someone and decide they're autistic, but if someone is sniffling and coughing a lot you can tell they probably have a cold) so I don't see why you think they're comparable.

I don't think I've ever been able to "pass for normal." Everyone knows I'm odd after talking to me, they just don't automatically think "asd" (Probably because of misconceptions on what it constitutes).
Some people might think I'm fairly mild while others might think me off the wall. I can't tell what I am, I just am me... So I think in some ways, while mild asd exists, it could be also a perception thing, especially since some days are worse than others due to outside stresses.

Yes of course. I have a mild case of it.

It's a wide spectrum, though it can be argued that the term "mild Aspergers" is redundant, since "Aspergers" is pretty much shorthand for mild autism. But can someone on the mild end of the spectrum be only slightly affected by their condition? Of course.