are there levels to aspergerdness?

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'It's not fair, but I believe it is true'

yes! i totally agree! i was going to say that too- about it being ok in men, but not women, but... i go on anyway, i aim for brevity... (cough- unsuccessful).

until i was about 16 i was hunched over, hair over face, hidden girl. than i realsied you draw less attention by standing tall and looking- well- normal. looking people in the eye... it made life a lot easier.

its not really confidence- im still quite self critical, but i am- fearless?- im struggling to find the right words, but, headphones in, i swish and stride along. an illusion of self posession.
then people say- i thought you were really stuck up, and men, even friends, say i appear intimidating (dark hair, pale skin, red lipstick, good posture, blazing eyes- they maybe have a point).

its def more acceptable in men than women- and i think id maybe find this all annoying in other women on first meeting them, though most of the girls i have been friends with have also appeared very confident and outgoing, too..

i think that there are 2 types of people that claim they are AS. one "type" has autism, and the other does not.

there are so many symptoms of autism that are not peculiar to autism.

the lack of propensity for eye contact is not peculiar to autism.
unease of social integrity is not confined to autism.

"not being able to attract lovers" is not a circumstance confined to autism.

hyperesthesia is not a singularly autistic manifestation.

some people who read about autism can rapidly believe they are autistic because they share so many of the difficulties of autistic people.
i think some people are very eager to grasp on to the "indications" they derive from a line of inquiry that seems to describe their selves to some extent.

then they explain away the parts that do not match because they are more than 50% convinced they are autistic after some further reading.
they rapidly become 100% convinced and adopt that mindset they think befits an autistic person (subconsciously probably) so they "fit in" (?) with other autistic people.
these people are usually self diagnosed. they may say "self diagnosed" or "diagnosed" in their profiles, but if someone badly wants to live in a world with autistic people who they feel more akin to, they may say "diagnosed" even if they are not.

i think there are levels of seriousness of autism and i think i am quite affected. i am not affected to the level of a significant mental or physiological handicap. i am not intellectually ret*d. i am ret*d in a way that is unspoken.

the "unspoken moments" between me and my conversational counterparts are barren wastelands of emptiness in my mind.
when someone stops to think about something (assuming i will also consider the topic being discussed), i think about things entirely unrelated to the topic until they return verbally to the conversation.

anyway whatever. i do think that some people on this board are extremely charming and adaptable to whoever they are talking to, and i wonder how seriously they are affected.
i wonder how "mild" AS can be.
but i still like to read their posts because i do not get the deep ideas of NT's in writing where i can reread and understand them in real life.

hi DonkeyBuster- ha! i know what you mean!
i dont really like looking at myself in the mirror either, but from an early age started 'practising' speaking, smiling, a range of expressions; it was very helpful.

we should have a stroppy looking women group, and sit about looking haughty until we dissolve into laughter!

b9- what you say is intersting, but i completly disagree with most of it; of course a.s, and a.s.d's share traits with other diorders, nts, whatever; troubled realtionships, synesthesia etc are not confined to a.s.
but for many a.s people 'discovering' a.s is like moving a kalidascope into making a picture- just EVRYTHING falls into place. i dont think people 'convince' themselves- i was the opposite, as my concept of a.s was so different to how i saw myself, that it wook me over a month of research into a.s before i thought i might (also- typical a.s- new interest= obsessive research).

im sceptical about there being many nts on wp masquerading as a.s from a wanting to fit in somewhere. many of the troubling aspects of a.s are really hard to define- i cant explain properly how i cant think clearly- its like my thoughts start running into a groove, or chasm, and i cant see outside it, and can only move forwards. i feel physically weird around other people, and tired by it. its physically painful sometimes.

i have periods when i cannot communicate at all, by eye contact or speech- as though my brain has been burnt. all of this is stuff ive said all my life- finding out this happens in a.s has ment i no longer feel a freakish, pointless looser- that i 'dont try hard enough'. i havent had to convince myself- its all there, in medical notes, in my diaries, fo year and years.

so people may have all teh a.s symptoms, but talking about problems with light, noise, clothing labels etc are easier to describe- quicker- less emotive. funnier, sometimes too- i liked the post a whlie ago about facial recognition, and the guy who couldnt recognise his wife in a crowd! (i have similar problems)..

i am awaiting diagnostic testing, but have seen two clinicians who've both said i am definatly on the spretum, the last saying i 'certainly seem to have a.s'.

there are definatly recognised different sub types in a.s- the male v female presentation is noted as differing substantially.

then there are also the science/maths v creatives.
and some people with a.s have really high maths skills- some- like me- are numerically dyslexic.

so that's another two groups.
im giving these as two examples of marked divisions within a.s which are easily seen and indicate differnet brain types- male v female, maths v- uh? rubbish at maths types.

and look; its a spectrum disorder- take the aspie quiz. you will be over one side, i'll be on the other.

average here i get anxious in stores ,i also get meltdowns because of overload i just cant stand people whining to me and if i go away they just follow and cant shut up...noise is another but that just needs way more then average noise anyway i love my spesial interests gaming

Yeah I enjoy touching a lot also but if it's unexpected I still startle noticably. I think it's another thing I learned was enjoyable after doing it be more social. It was a hurdle I had to get over much like eye contact.

I'd say that there are certainly levels. I'm rather mild; most of my symptoms are either the internal stuff like spacial problems, difficulty hearing or understanding tone of voice, near-incapability of dishonesty, pedantry, need for scheduling, emotional immaturity, that sort of thing.

My outer symptoms (the clumsiness, the eye contact, the stimming, the meltdowns) have never been exclusive to AS and most have been reduced over time to the point where only people who have known me for a long time can really pick them out as a real syndrome. However, my anxiety, stiff mannerisms and general love of hermitry still impair a lot of my social functions; I need friends as eccentric as I am to make it work.

Yes, in many ways all people within the spectrum tend to exhibit various levels of quirks one could say as well, some people within the spectrum tend to be greater at some tasks and not good at others but, this differs from person to person for no 2 people are the same..
In other words, all people within the spectrum are not computer programmers nor does everyone in the spectrum have the same abilities or difficulites either..Anyways, I,myself may not be very good social wise though, I'm able to manage in the real world neverless..

If you're going to call it a spectrum with AS being the odd/eccentric type of social behaviour (see: the mild end), it probably doesn't deviate too much compared to the other types of social behaviour.

You can probably cut up anything and make tiers of severity; some professionals use run-of-the-mill/full Asperger's, and mild/partial Asperger's, to put it in two (then you have NLD and Schizoid PD that start to cross over into "normal").