I'm Not An Aspie. I Lied During My Assessment.

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I just feel a fraud. My Mum is physically disabled & has mental health problems. My brother has mental health problems, (although his were self-induced, as he smoked 'legal; highs. Ergo, I know about disability.

I look at the various posts, on here and think to myself, "I'm not as autistic as those people," and then I start to wonder.

@ToughDiamond: I score around 30-ish on the AQ Test, but I failed the Systemising Quotient Test miserably. I ask myself, do I lack social skills because I don't socialise, or because I'm an aspie? Don't get me wrong, but my late Dad pointed out that I'm not all that great at conversation.

When I was getting my MA results, my parents, during the car ride home, noted how the people, in my group, were more sociable and 'with it', especially the young women.

Is my not going out, due to having asperger's, or because I don't have much money and not many friends?

I know I have been diagnosed, but the session only lasted for a couple of hours and I didn't do any tests. I wish I was 'more autistic', (a genius at something, very good at systemising and poor at recognisising other people's emotions). Altenatively, I wish I was normal, with lots of friends, a partner and earning lots of money. But I don't think I am normal, or an aspie.

I'm pretty sure you are somewhere on the spectrum, just not exactly fitting the stereotype.
As for being "a genius at something", there are some first-hand expiriences in this thread: viewtopic.php?t=354958 Well... contrary to the popular belief, being a genius at something can suck too. And the newest studies show that about 1/3 of the autistic people have such a well-defined gifts. Nothing close to all.
The media pick up what is a potential bestseller, not what reality is.
Best wishes to you!

Perservation seems to be a core factor for you, and it is a prominent feature of OCD, so perhaps you could look at that more comprehensively and there may be something of use to you? Pubmed has a lot of studies that are freely accessible, this is one:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23016554

Well, Me personally my assessment was done b4 I knew what autism was..

I don't think many folks here see you as a fraud, if that's any help. To be a fraud, I think there has to be a payoff, and I don't see one in your case. Where's your payoff? What advantage have you gained over others by this "lie?" Maybe you're just feeling too much guilt when you haven't hurt anybody?


I took those recently and the results said I'm poor at both systemising and at NT social skills, yet my performance in a science job that required systemising skills was deemed very good, and my life story contains a lot of things that could well be called social success. I discarded the results as useless. Frankly I've long suspected that the Baron-Cohen tests aren't very good, though that's more of a personal, intuitive view than a carefully-researched The test I suggested before is the Aspie Quiz:
http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php
I can't prove it's better than the Autism Quotient test, but personally I prefer it, it seems less reductionist, and more human to me, and I'm allowed to respond with "don't know."
Here's what I got just now:
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 128 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 101 of 200
You seem to have both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits
Here's the chart it generated:

I don't fully understand those charts, but no worries.
Note how the test doesn't try to medicalise people or reduce it to a simple "have I got this disability or not?" - I think that's a reflection of it having a better handle on the truth of AS.


I don't know. Perhaps, like me, it's probably a mixture of both, I don't socialise much, and when I try after not doing for a while, it's harder, so I try to push myself a little, to keep up the skills.


Both, I suspect. But you'll find out in the end, if you really want to know, by studying yourself. In my case the root cause is probably ASD, but I'm not too worried about it, I think I know the kind of people I need to avoid, and if the right types aren't readily available, I'm stuck with solitude, until I solve it, but it's probably better than forcing myself to socialise with people I haven't learned to relate to and maybe never will.


Like somebody already said, autistic people aren't necessarily geniuses. And you may be seeing NTs as being a lot happier than they are. Most people don't earn lots of money, many relationships are painful, and I would question whether ordinary friendships are particularly great, especially when they're numerous.

It's not necessarily an unable to lie thing as a so bad at lying that they might as well not even try thing.

I'd like to point out how having a higher iq can increase your suicide risks statistically speaking.

I agree with what's been said before it's hard to fluke a system that gives you money. Not to mention illegal there isn't any real fraud going on. You can try all you want. But chances are no matter how fair there is no chance in you pulling that off. You believe you are a fraud so you feel like a fraud.
When there is no fraudulent behavior. It be ignorant to not have any prevention measures.

I agree with what's been said before it's hard to fluke a system that gives you money. Not to mention illegal there isn't any real fraud going on. You can try all you want. But chances are no matter how fair there is no chance in you pulling that off. You believe you are a fraud so you feel like a fraud.
When there is no fraudulent behavior. It be ignorant to not have any prevention measures.

OP, have no idea whether you're autistic or not, but you can certainly obsess with the best of them.

Also, comparing yourself to other family members is pointless. Whatever they have will not affect whether you're autistic.

Maybe there's some truth in that, but if I'm convinced it's the best thing to do, I don't usually find lying all that difficult. But it's rare. To me it's almost a form of violence, certainly it's a big power move. So I might lie to enemies if they seem to be overpowering me, and I might even lie to a friend to protect them, in the same way as a lifeguard might knock out a drowning swimmer to stop them struggling so that they can be rescued.

Sorry if this has been answered before and I've missed it, but I'm still waiting to hear - what was the motivation behind the OP's so-called lie?

Not to sure. I'm pretty sure he is just overthinking it and he didn't really lie about it. My parents are disabled have various both physically and mentally and you got to realise the thing is that not every disability is the same physical disabilities might seem more authentic. But you are just giving yourself a hard time. Everyone is different. There are some threads I don't even try to reply to because I am not interested in it doesn't mean that I'm not autistic as one person. It just means everyone is different. You seem to be in denial. It's normal. You just have to remember that it's just paranoia and They obviously wouldn't just let you get away with that. Anyone can see through it who is educate enough. Some people I just can't think of as autistic. Sure you can have symptoms. But you have to act autistic if that makes any sense. Just because I'm not as autistic as EzraS doesn't mean I can't communicate with him on various issues he has. It's just means I may not have the same level of experience with the things he's dealing with. It doesn't make me invalid. It's just denail imo.

I'm just going to make a leap of faith, and don't take this the wrong way. but You making a thread and how you reply to each post points to more of a reason why you are autistic. You always deny everything they say.
It's black and white thinking I do it all the time. It's more of a problem of you not accepting you being autistic. Vs.
not being autistic at all.

This also comes off as OCD to me. One of the big factors of OCD is self doubt and overthinking it and obsessing about it and then seeking reassurance. I don't know if the OP is autistic or not and don't rally care since it's just a label. She is still her but she keeps seeking reinsurance she isn't autistic and can't let it go.

That would be my guess too. Paranoia in the sense of worrying too much, that is, not paranoia in "proper" sense of the word. There's no such thing as a crime without a motive or a victim, ergo the OP is not guilty. How to get rid of paranoia is another matter. I should know, I'm paranoid on the inside and it just won't go away.

While I have no professional qualification to diagnose or otherwise, I have absorbed a bit of knowledge as I researched the spectrum and underwent an assessment which indicated my cognitive profile was autistic.

It seemed fairly clear to me that the diagnostic processes have been set up to guard against fraud. For example, assessors using Simon Baron Cohen's Adult Aspergers Assessment tool would usually warn the person that the starting point is that they are Not autisic. It is also explained either before hand or with the report at the end that the assessment is looking at the number of traits which are identified, the spread of those traits, whther they have been lifelong or not. It does not seem to be decided on one key question, eg whther people said things one has said have offended them

There are unspoken things which point to being on the spectrum as well as answers to questions in screening tools, and the tools are screening not diagnosing instruments. The typical population tends to score around 15 on the AQ quetionaire for example, so a score of 30 suggests that there are some significant differences between that person and the population as a whole, while scores over 32 have proved highly consistent with those of people already known to be on the spectrum by other means. Scores around 30 are interesting areas. So, the asseor will be looking at how you answer or frame what you say in the face to face interview. They may observer your thinking process, perhaps ask some questions so you can describe How you solve particular problems. They also talk to people who have known you for a Long time. There are assessors who will do the face to face part of the assessment at a distance with tools such as skype, but they are quite careful to specify how they want the interviewer to set the camera so they can observe body language, eye contact, any repetative movements etc, of which the interviewee may not actually be aware.

Example, I always used to think I was quite normal, a competant electronic engineer in a slightly specialist area, OK a bit awkward socially (an annual report at work drew attention to it) , but surely that was just through getting a bit out of practice because I moved away from home age 22 to a new town, didn't like the loud unstructured socialising in the pub etc, but i was social in my cycling club and where I went to worship some Sundays etc....

.... but someone well informed rather punctured that image by a point blank question "Are you Aspergers?", the assessor told me at the end, "Definitely Autistic, can see it a mile off."

I don't show every trait, I don't think anyone on the spectrum shows every single trait. But, in the overall picture (even if not in all the individual details) there were enough aspects consistent with the autism spectrum for an assessor to conclude "Profile Autistic"

You may have been in the same situation as I was.