"fake aspies" and self diagnosis. DISLIKE, sorry.

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Maybe this has been SAID already, but...

Professional diagnosis is, itself, a CRAPSHOOT. Fellow members have written about trying to get a PD only to get someone who really didn't know what to make of the situation. Or they rendered an improper diagnosis. Or the PRO just blew the person off and told them they couldn't possibly HAVE Asperger's because of this flimsy excuse or that without even GOING in-depth.

There are people out there suffering terribly with difficulties that can't be reasonably explained without simply calling them A**HOLES. The very least we can do is provide a place where they can find some level of identification at the level of apparent symptoms.

I take this very seriously. Currently, I am in the process of trying to find ways and means of getting a professional diagnosis. However, I've already run into someone well-meaning who says, "Oh, THERE'S nothing WRONG with you...YOU'RE just a little SHY." SHE don't know the HALF of it!

It's important for us to focus on our own journey; more will be revealed to others about oneself and whether or not they fit on this spectrum, another one, or none at all.

This is my first time posting here. It's actually my first time here period. My brother who believes he has Aspergers gave me the name of this site.
My husband and I are in the process of having our son evaluated to see if he is autistic or has aspergers. While I was taking the test for Aspergers for my son I realized that almost every one of the questions pertained to me. After doing some research I found that I have almost all of the symptoms of Aspergers. My entire life would make sense if I have Aspergers. But I can't afford to get diagnosed and like so many others I don't have a lot of faith in doctors of any kind. So tell me how am I supposed to get help? I have a son now and I have to learn how to help him be more adjusted to this world than I have ever been. I don't want him to go through the same things I did.
It's certainly not some great club I want to join trust me. I just think you are being a little shortsighted in your post. There are so many different people with different situations you shouldn't lump them all together just because they haven't been officially diagnosed.
And if anyone is a parent with Aspergers who has or may have a child with it as well please pm me. Or anyone who has any recommendations for research or anything really, I would be grateful.

I knew there would be a point where some Aspies were 'better' than other Aspies, I.E. more disabled or more weird.

It's stupid, really... and it's a shallow victory.

Not everyone can afford to get a professional diagnosis. Whether or not that person has aspergers or not does not concern me. I'm sure there's a very good reason why some people feel they can relate to this spectrum including NTs. I see nothing wrong with people sharing their own personal struggles and experiences in a world that is very socially conscious. Not all of us, aspergers or not can "change" how we percieve or get percieved by those who take their social interactions and abilities for granted.

For a long time, I struggled so much with these problems even when I went homeless. There were some things I learn to adapt but so many so many things I found not only hard but unable to do no matter how much I tried. In today's society, so many people do not seem to understand how greatly communication relies on one's circumstances. I use to think it was about money and while money helps, I think the second if you're not mute, is your abilitiy to effectively communicate. Human beings are the most social creature and I think it is this that has helped them survive.


I went through one doctor after another and while many could have been co-morbid with aspergers, I had been wrongfully diagnosed for so many things. There still isn't enough people who specialize in this condition even here, in good ole' America if you want to call it that.

Yes, I know there are people who do in fact use any illness, ailment, disease, impairment because they either think they have it, suffer from hypochondria, or attention. I leave it to these people to find constructive way in which to vent or find help. Hypochondria is another condition, whether or not these peopl annoy you, they need help in.

In short, I think it is very dangerous to generalize anyone who does not fit into one's ideology of a label. There are so many people with so many beliefs, backgrounds, circumstances, problems, and other issues not being dealt with elsewhere. I think they have the right to speak.

Oh, this thread again?

You know I think I should have posted on a different forum. My bad. I will look for a help forum. Sorry for the interruption.

I'm kinda on the fence on this one. I do think its possible to read about AS and immediately recognize yourself. On the other hand, I do think there are some who latch onto it as an attention-seeking label who don't have it or fully understand it and think its a badge of honor, a 'gift' that only means they're extra-smart and shy. There are also those who are formally diagnosed, clearly DO have it and are in deep denial about how pervasively its affecting their lives, that's kind of annoying, too.

All this talk about how expensive it is for those in the US without Health Insurance to get diagnosed, however, is nonsense. Even without Obamacare, Uncle Sam takes care of his own, as long as you ASK. No one is going to come to your door asking "Excuse me, did you need some Mental Health care subsidized?" In any community there's a facility where the courts send people for mandatory anger management therapy, drunk driving rehab courses, all that stuff judges can order you to do in lieu of actual jail time - wherever that place is in your area, also deals with low-and-no income folks who need counseling and psyche meds, but can't afford them. Depending on your income, treatment and/or evaluation may cost you something, but it won't be an arm and a leg, and if you're poor enough, may be free. If you can't figure out where that is in your neighborhood, call the nearest suicide prevention hotline, surely they will know.

The notion that anyone who has AS would have been diagnosed at an early age is just hokum. Even now that's it recognized and watched for, that would depend entirely on where you grow up. Some school systems have better facilities and funding for screening and evaluation than others. But before 1994, Asperger Syndrome was virtually unheard of even by most Mental Health professionals, and if you went through the US public school system back in the 60s and 70s as a lot of us did, you were either 'normal' or 'ret*d' and there was nothing in between. Social anxieties and difficulties fitting in were just personal defects - weaknesses that grownups thought they could 'fix' if they berated and punished you enough.

I first self-diagnosed back in 1980, when I began to see news items on television about Autistic kids. I knew the minute I saw them stimming, that whatever was affecting those kids, I had some form of it myself. It wasn't until more than 20 years later that someone sent me an article on Asperger Syndrome that I finally understood what it was - and another 4 years after that before I found myself in contact with a Mental Health professional for other purposes and asked immediately to be evaluated for AS. So I can't discount the self-diagnosed entirely - I was one of them - and I don't think it's possible in most cases to tell online whether or not their self-evaluation is accurate, not that I'm professionally qualified to attach that label in any case. I do think that if you view it only as a 'gift', and that it's not affecting your life in any debilitating way, if you don't consider it a handicap - then whatever your symptoms may be, they probably aren't serious enough to constitute an actual 'disorder'.