Self diagnosed people here don't have aspergers

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I was diagnosed when I was a kid as having autistic tendencies. I also had other motor related issues some I grew out of most I didnt. I neded speech therapy to learn to talk properly but until I was I guess around 20-21 I lived with the diagnosis of "Autistic tendencies" untill I began doing research myself and figuring out that my 'symptoms' more alligned with Aspergers. Later a psychologist properly diagnosed me so self diagnosis can be correct

No, they were both experienced pediatricians with a wide range and many years of experiences with children with all sorts of behavioural and developmental issues. Your average college graduate (and it takes a bit more than a bit of college attendance to become a doctor!! !) has none of these things!

For me, the official diagnosis only confirmed what I'd figured out when I read about Asperger's and saw many of the traits in myself.

Yeah I was the same, in fact that was my reaction when the neurologist said: "I am certain you have an ASD" (I said "Yes I think that is true") and then "Have you ever heard of AS?" (I had only read a couple of very stereotyped description of obnoxious trainspotting boys, which fitted my COUSIN perfectly but not ME), to which my response was: "Erm, I don't think that applies to me at all!"

I have been told I definitely have trouble modulating my voice (volume and tone), I sort of knew that because in school sometimes other kids would imitate me and ridicule my voice patterns.

I was the same with sensory stuff, there were so many things I was just told "it's normal for kids to have that", and with most other things to be honest I never even told anyone, and parents etc. just assumed they were more of my anxieties rather than anything different. It was only when I read Tony Attwood's book on the neuro's recommendation that I realised that none of these things had been "normal".

That is, realised for the second time (pesky memory again!), because around 17 or so I read a book by Birger Sellin (I don't want to be inside me any more) after something I was told convinced me that that is what I was like. As a result I concluded I could only be "semi-autistic" though. It was just something I accepted, I never talked to anyone or looked into it further so I wouldn't say it was a self-diagnosis or anything. I recently found an essay I wrote around that time and it was kind of creepy because it's like "burying my inner autist". A fair amount of the really bad sensory stuff had fallen away during puberty and after reading the book by Sellin I sort of tried to deny this part of me for a few years.


It's better than "nothing" I guess, and although I do have a partner (who is almost Schizoid in his need for company, but lacks Aspie-stuff like obsessions that might clash with mine) it is the same for me with friends. I do have a few friends back home though, all of them ones I made after the age of 16 and all of them not exactly neurotypical.


I know and I don't think the people in that documentary had a mental disability. They just "appeared" slow and had some stereotyped movements and other things that some people obviously decided meant they were "far too disabled/mentally ret*d" to have AS.

I disagree with that - someone who specialises in neurological disorders often specialises in Parkinson's stroke recovery and suchlike. The person who first told me he suspected an ASD *was* a neurologist but even *he* admitted he didn't know enough to diagnose, hence his referall to a lady who has worked with autsitics for decades and *does* have that experience.

I do think that unless someone has the right sort of experience (with adults and ASDs) they really may not be suitable to diagnose an adult on the Spectrum (at least in cases where the ASD is not severe enough as to be blatantly obvious, since it has not been diagnosed so far).

KFA91, what does your name mean? Anything to do with Alabama Law?

Did you come over from another site perhaps?

Any time a person has a diagnosis, or a "suspected" case of something, everything he does becomes different. He no longer has normal childhood awkwardness or normal difficulties in communicating due to his youth. He has neurological issues. He goes under the microscope and of course the health care people see strange things. They often don't know what normal is.

I've been around autism all my life. My twin. My older brother. Severely and profoundly autistic respectively. Attention has been on them and it makes everyday life very difernt from the average. I've already been reccomended for a DX but we didn't need the bother at time and seeing my parents distress at the prospect of AS showed me they'd just break down if they thought they had no "normal" children.

I've put hours on end of research into this. I've found perfectly at home on WP amongst the DXed and have never felt more confident with myself than ever.

Your theory may have some meaning, but it's certainly not true for all. Don't stereotype the undiagnosed.

When I said THEY, I meant doctors in general. Remember, we are talking doctors. Even Asperger and Kanner though learned what they did by studies OUTSIDE of college. The got the degree to do what they wanted, NOT to have some new ability to do so. Frankly, if more people were autodidactic, and the degree wasn't so important, attendance at colleges would be lower, and people would probably do better.

And YEAH, I know doctors have to do residency, but nothing is really guaranteed there.

As for your later post speaking of sensitivities? It is NOT common! I STILL remember the first school I went to where I was exposed to such things. In my area, kids ranged from like 6 to 9, and THEY didn't have the problems! My first hearing test was adversly affected! It was at a school. My teachers were shocked. OBVIOUSLY, neither experienced someone with such sensitive hearing or light before. As for "LITERAL"???? Well, when they said indicate if you hear a sound, I DID! I didn't know there was supposed to be a lower bound

Even the idea of INTERESTS! NARROW?????? Mine tend to be broad(though some ARE narrow enough that they last days or even hours, so who knows). STEREOTYPED???? NAW! STILL, there are DIAGNOSED people here with interests similar to, or even that ARE, mine! Just look at serious girl! She has at least one big one I had, and I believe she said an AS relative had ANOTHER!

Besides, does ANYONE think I would want to identify with a bunch of people with a "disease" that makes you stupid and wierd? Sorry, but that is almost how I saw it before. I then found out about AS. It seemed the opposite, but a lot of people here don't fit THAT stereotype either! Frankly, if I DID find that almost everyone here had the type of symptoms I heard of that were like AS, I would have LOVED to associate myself with this board and "disease". Of course, people like steel maiden, serious girl, lab pet, and many others DO fit the stereotype! And WHO wouldn't want to be associated with the likes of them?

So I am walking a tightrope. I am on the board trying to find moe about everything, etc... but not advertising it very much.

BTW As for being slow, I'm slow ALSO. You know, NASA has some equipment that is MUCH slower, relative to how I am to others. They keep it around because it is POWERFUL and PRECISE! You're not going to use a porsche to tow a house! So slow doesn't necessarily mean stupid or bad. Sometimes its a GOOD thing! I was almost heartened to hear some HERE talk about it.

PROGRAMMING, for example! I start out slower! I may look like I am doing NOTHING! In complicated cases, that may be over a DAY! I then just shoot it out FASTER than others and often better. They are happy, and usually don't notice it takes me longer to start! They say I'm FAST!

Steve

I was self-dx'd before my official dx and guess what I was told by the professional, that I was right in trusting my 'gut' instinct and all she did was confirm it and it seems I had already done most of the footwork for her. An official diagnosis can have both its pros and cons and before one gets one, one has to think about what effects it's going to have ie. in work, family, etc. or how having one is really going to help you, what kind of support it can access for you having an official dx and all. It's very misleading to go and tell a group of people that just because you the original poster have an official dx and that everyone that has a self-dx are wrong and aren't worthy of having Asperger's unless diagnosed by a professional.

The quote of yours that I have been referring to did seem to very strongly refer to Kanner and Asperger though.


Indeed but it was still their status as pediatricians that *gave* them this experience in the first place.


100% agreed!

Re: Sensitivities, yeah by the time I started school *some* of the sound stuff had gotten a bit better and tactile stuff had gotten worse (esp. clothing textures, food textures etc.) but I know *now* that this is not "normal", I just didn't at the time I was diagnosed. I was always told it was "anxieties" and I had after all overcome them to some degree.


Yeah the portrait I was vaguely familiar with was very emotionally and behaviourally disturbed boys who spent all their lives trainspotting or rattling down timetables. (That's probably because one of the local "characters" where I grew up did just that, perhaps that is why this stuck in mind).


I'm the same with that too

All I can say is I find it funny that someone needs everyone to come to the same conclusion in the same way in order to feel valid about themselves. Especially when it comes to something as haphazard as Psychology and Psychiatry. Anyone who spends a week on this board and sees all the misdiagnosis that went on and still does would be hard put to accept these subjective observers as experts in the field. That's like saying a doctor feeling your broken leg can determine whether it needs just a cast or a pin and a cast simply by talking to you and looking at it without taking an xray. Neurologists are the only experts on neurological disorders and even they haven't looked at this enough to know for certain. That's why they say they are sure this is what you have, but if pressed (as in if pressed in a court case) they could not say it with 100% certainty. At this point, no one can, but someone who cannot even read a fMRI certainly can't and is making an "educated" guess at best.

You're also not recognizing all those on here who went for a diagnosis and were told they had it but not given an official DX because the Psych felt there was no need and no services, interventions or anything else to be gained by it. Most are told that when they are given the diagnosis. How do you think they feel after they pay money only to hear that? Yes, you have it and we can't do anything to help you. Have a nice day. I can't say there's any reason to go running out and spending your money to hear that unless you just want to have someone tell you that you aren't crazy and it really is your brain. If that's why they did it, glad it helped them out.

When I called the local Autism center here, I was told the last expert Psych, who by the way was a few years out of college herself, had gone into private practice and might decide to give me an official DX if I called and begged hard enough, but that she wouldn't accept any insurance and it would cost $1000 or more (she isn't on my list of approved Psychs either) and they told me that at my age there was nothing they could do for me in the way of interventions, services or anything else. Then, she told me I could drive an hour and a half to pay the same price and get the same thing, a DX and nothing else. Great. Not very encouraging. The answer would be different for someone worried about homework because there are interventions and services for that. In my case, unless I have co-morbids or need SSI, they will do it, but I will pay and to be honest, these so-called "experts" aren't too interested. It didn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Someone on here got their diagnosis from a Neurologist which is better, but right now even a Neurologist cannot say for sure and will only be able to say the same thing, you have it and nothing can be done for you at your age. Have a nice day.

So it all comes back to why spend a thousand dollars to hear that? I don't feel that what they can tell me is valid. I never thought I had anything else, all of this seems to fit, I found it out quite by accident and I never tried to seek any diagnosis before. So why would I come on here and think this is it? It won't do one thing for me other than mess up the life I've built by learning to cope to be perfectly frank. That's a far different story than someone who is still worried about their homework. This is just the reality we live with. That's why I don't care if someone else seeks it out. Everyone does it or not for their own reasons and they have no effect on my life. If it helps them for whatever reason, I wish them all the best. I certainly do not need them to act a certain way to validate what is ultimately my conclusions and decisions. No one else can do that for you anyway and thinking that will take you down a very long and destructive road.

So to the OP, live and be well. Figure out life as best you can and don't worry about everyone else. Take advantage of whatever you can and be happy. In the end, this is all that matters.

half a shekel for an old ex-leper?

"You're cured, mate." Bloody do-gooder.

I'm undiagnosed, but I'm very sure I have AS, and I have a lot of evidences (there are on many of my posts here) from my childhood to this day.

Trust me, I need an official diagnosis because people misunderstand autism and ASD, I have searched for a doctor, but almost nobody in this city knows about AS.

HEY, if I DIDN'T have it, you should be HAPPY I am willing to believe I do. I am probably a little on the plus side of the AS spectrum! I seem normal, am not asking for anything, see the problems, understand even most that I don't have and, though I am not FANTASTIC in math(ALNY), and don't have a very eidetic memory now(at least not yet), I AM very smart, and recognized as such.

And HEY, I'm on the AS side REGARDLESS!

There are apparently a lot similar to me. Some really DO have more strengths. Frankly, that should be worth more than some persons opinion, even if he IS a doctor.

ANYWAY, I'm not going public, so your fear is certainly unfounded!

Steve[/quote]

Um.... Ok, well I'm gonna be Mexican because I have decided I would like to be mexican, despite my white skin and no knowledge of the Spanish language. Mexicans should be happy that I am willing to believe i am mexican. So now my opinions and thoughts can impact the way mexicans live, positively or negatively (most likely negatively since I don't REALLY understand what it's like to live as a mexican). What do I care, I only BELIEVE I am a mexican. I can make myself BELIEVE I risked my life crossing the border. And then I can imply the best way to make immigration easier for mexicans is to send them back to mexico for 10 yrs.

Do you see how this sounds? I don't mind if NTs or people with mental disorders post here, that's totally fine, not a problem. But they shouldn't claim to be something their not. If they think they might be Aspergian but aren't sure, they should make damn sure before they infiltrate an entire community or culture of people.

I am also not insensitive to NT loners, I can still relate to their situation. But they should just identify themselves as loners on here, and not aspergian. However I tend to think there are alot of people exagerating or pretending loner status.