maybe i am not an aspie...

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Doesn't anyone else think this is getting to be a bit ridiculous?

Yep, and I'm involved in it....

Going back to the original question, maybe you are and maybe you aren't. Get a diagnosis, without trying to "fake it" either way in the interview.

I was just rereading Tony Attwood, and he describes a diagnosis as a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. If you get 800 pieces, including crucial pieces like the edges and corners, into place, you've got the diagnosis. I suspect only a professional (and not all professionals: Atwood is not too happy about the DSM !V criteria) would know which are the essential pieces.

Will do! how do you "fake" aspergers...? and why would you want to?

write in the search engine are you an aspie. there are two tests. see what you score. because it's very confusing not to know.

You would fake it by reading enough about the traits beforehand to know how an Aspie would react to things: maybe just unconsciously.

Some people might want to fake it to get government or school help (maybe in the form of money, or at least more leniency on grades, an "excuse" for doing poorly), and Asperger's has less stigma than Autism (not so "crazy"). After all, "Bones" on television is a very admirable and beautiful character, and she actually comes off looking a lot saner than Booth. Personally, I was really relieved to get my diagnosis, old as I am. All my life I've known for sure that there was something "wrong" with me, maybe something evil or nasty, that other people could "smell", and I didn't have a clue why I never had friends, and if I made some, I didn't keep them. Even my husband and my daughter eventually stopped liking me. Now I know what it is, and it's nothing bad at all. It's a lot of things of which I can learn my way around the important ones, like I learned to tie shoes, just a little late (if I live long enough....

Interesting. I still wonder if there's something "evil" about me that I'm not able to detect that others can detect so easily. It all seems the more mystifying when many of my peers seem significantly more dishonest than I am, but yet they don't get treated nearly as much as someone to avoid (I've been called "always honest" in the past.). However, I'll admit I do have my revenge and psychopathic fantasies, so maybe there is something evil about me. *shrugs*

Maybe they just notice you're a little different from them but they can't tell what exactly is different about you. The unknown can make some people uncomfortable, confused or irritable which doesn't help with them taking a liking to someone who they think is a little mystifying.

Sounds like a really poor excuse...

In some ways AS is actually less stigmatized (at least in certain groups) than GAD+major depression.

AS is a description that doesn't lead to the guilt they [can] face with developed issues - especially in an introvert.

I have seen people fake aspergers. It is not a good thing.

And "faking" it the other way might be even unconscious, except that any pro worth his salt would look for the masked symptoms, that we all learn as we grow up just for getting along (we _do_ learn to tie our shoes, after all, and many other things), but one might consciously cover things up just to get an NT diagnosis, too.

That was all I meant, like, just be yourself and answer questions as honestly as you can while being interviewed, including, "I used to do that, but learned better", which was some of what I did.

People fake AS? Why?

@Tuttle: Are people able to fake AS convincingly? I've always wondered whether someone could fake AS well, like I've sometimes tried to fake NT, but not at all well.

@iceveela: I'm sorry that your thread turned out this way. I think that you are right to keep doing what you are doing - research ASD here, try to get a professional assessment when you start school, and ignore the invalidating remarks of your stepmother. Not only are they invalidating of you having ASD, they are generally invalidating of you as a person. Whether or not you have ASD, it would be nice if she took you seriously enough to consider it with you.

Thankyou!

Because AS is "cool" in introverted, geek, engineer based groups, while Social Anxiety + General Anxiety + Depression isn't? I really didn't understand




Not successfully enough for professionals or people who've studied ASD themselves - well enough that a random NT would believe them.

Social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression are common comorbids with AS. I am both introverted, geeky, and will hopefully one day be an engineer, so I can understand where this is coming from. The fact of the matter is, one should not need a label of AS as a license to be comfortable being an introverted and geeky engineer.

If there's anything I've realized in the past week or so, it's that I shouldn't fear not being sure about my AS. I know there must be something wrong with society when I can't be myself without needing a label to justify that. Especially when said preferred label is a mental disorder. Why would I prefer to have a mental disorder when there are equally effective and much less derogatory labels I could use to describe myself?

I will admit, when I first found out about AS, I acted much more like an aspie than usual. It's almost as if, at some point, I just stopped caring and tried to recover my identity. It's almost as if I was constantly thinking "I'm an aspie, so I have to act like one." I think I've finally gotten over that now, after several months. The human mind is capable of far more than it thinks it is. It's influence is far more vast than it seems to think.