Aspergers or Autism

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This.
Everybody with autism is different so there needs to be some clarification on what each individual is like.
It's not just autism, most things have a spectrum. When I worked at a care home for people with dementia, every resident had a personal care plan, stating their needs and behaviour. It was no good just saying "this person has dementia" and walk away. Obviously they all needed support of some kind but some needed more support than others. Some people with dementia were more "high-functioning" than others, and could take themselves to the bathroom for example, while others needed incontinence pads because they were no longer able to know when (or even why) they needed the bathroom. Some couldn't have a conversation with anybody and were locked inside their heads, while others still had the social skills they used to have and could hold a conversation or express their feelings. Some could no longer do simple things like play Snakes And Ladders, while others could still engage in activities like that.

To me, they are different presentations of similar issues. I don't have a diagnosis because I was the "smart weird kid" in the 80s (who was a little bit too much of both.) I'm not pursuing one now because there is both no money for it and nothing to be gained by it. All the same, I say I'm a self-diagnosed Aspie rather than "self-diagnosed on the autistic spectrum with no speech delay or other learning disability in childhood and few issues that are apparent from the outside most of the time." It says that with much less typing.
That being said, with stress, it becomes quite a bit more apparent from the outside. In any interaction that goes beyond a few seconds, it also becomes apparent. But I think those things are true for most of us.

I can still function when under stress. Last spring I thought I was going crazy with all the new lockdown restrictions and had meltdown-like panic attacks, but I still went to work. Going to work doesn't emotionally exhaust me even when I'm under stress or depression. The only time I can't do things I normally do is when I've lost a loved one, but that's normal for NTs too. In fact some NTs have time off work with depression or stress.

That is how I manage stress: I work. Work is a relief. The trick would be to manage the stress by feeling it and processing it, not working. Two examples: During my childhood house fire? I did my homework. Immediately after my miscarriage (incl. severe vomiting and diarrhea)? I went to work. True, I functioned, but I sure have a lot of unprocessed feelings.

Joe, can you recall or talk about your panic attacks and previous stresses and not disassociate from them, or feel them strongly? If so, fantastic! If not, that's where I am. And of course there is everything in between. I still feel strongly (or disassociate from) mine so know that I remain in burn out or didn't process them. It's much easier to work. Work is my friend.

From my own personal experiences, I most often apply the term High Functioning Autism (HFA) - that is (HFA) can be that third description in describing the Autism Spectrum.

Why split hairs in defining Autism or Aspergers?

My official diagnosis is Asperger’s syndrome, but I tell people I’m on the autism spectrum rather than specifying because I’m not as high-functioning as people assume when they think Asperger’s (by present criteria, most likely ASD level 2 rather than level 1). There seems to be a huge difference between me and people who actually are overall “high-functioning.” But I don’t know enough to claim to know exactly where any separation(s) should be made.

Really? I don't recall anyone around here denying that "there are different severities of autism."

What a lot of us do object to is a binary classification of "high-functioning" vs. "low-functioning," ignoring the many people in the middle, and ignoring the many people who are "high-functioning" in some ways but "low-functioning" in other ways.

I also don't recall anyone claiming that "autism should just be 1 thing." It's widely recognized that there are many "autisms." The problem is that there isn't, currently, a good way of classifying them, beyond what the DSM 5 currently does (3 severity levels, plus the separate dimensions of "With or without accompanying intellectual impairment" and "With or without accompanying language impairment" and "Associated with another neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral disorder").


Actually it's a multi-dimensional spectrum with many extreme points, not just two.


Yes, and who is denying this?

Aspergers label no longre exists atleast where im from nad as someone who was never diagnosed with aspergers in the first place i choose autism and as a level 2. I was diagnosed with pdd-nos. Honestly 3 level ASD is vastly superior to the DSM-iv autism spectrum disorders.

I probably fit more the "Aspergers" stereotype than the "autism" stereotype -- but I had a speech delay as a child.

The DSM IV defined "Asperger's disorder" in a way that was meaningful in childhood, but not so meaningful in adulthood. Once you have fully learned to speak, it doesn't really matter all that much when you learned to speak.

Neither. It is a autistic neurology spectrum with some kind of disorder compared to what neurotypcals defined as normal.

So, I see myself as a normal human with autistic neurology, very close to often appearing not being autistic. Slightly out of socialy phase.

In order to not being treated different suddenly, I am not telling my job team about me having a autistic neurology. Many of my team seem to have it like me. We all are IT specialists.

This is so true!! ! Like I said in my post earlier, two autistic adults may look similar now but very different as children. When you label things off of just what a person looks like as a child, things get very confusing

The way Asperger's was taken out of the latest diagnostic criteria thing might answer your question. It's as if to say that functioning levels should not exist.

I stopped describing myself as an aspie after researching the origins of the different diagnoses within our spectrum.

This is a good read on the subject:
https://theautisticadvocate.com/2020/01 ... in-a-name/

I say that I have autism level 1, since that's what my diagnosis says.
If people don't know what it means, I add "that's what was previously called aspergers, or a bit misleading high functioning autism".
Why misleading? Well, I am lower functioning in some areas and higher functioning in other.
If anything, having the three levels of autism and the added descriptives Mona mentions, points out that there ARE functioning levels of autism.

/Mats

I sometimes question whether Low Latent Inhibition may have something to do with autism levels. Given that when someone has LLI and a high enough IQ, they are gifted by the experience and notice detail, but when they have a low IQ, it practically seems to be using them instead of the other way round, making all their experience a mess and making them not very operative.

It's kind of like having a program but not enough ram to run it. Then the solution for LLI caused issues is through increasing IQ, mind improvement games and tasks, meditation\relaxation, diet, reading.

People on the spectrum have a lower than average latent inhibition.

https://www.lowlatentinhibition.org/what-is-lli/