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AeroJake
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06 Jul 2010, 10:21 am

I am seeing a social worker who is trying to help me deal with issues like social isolation and the resulting depression which is bad enough to need treatment. He gave me a test used to assess pervasive developmental disorders and said my answers were consistent with a diagnosis of Asperger's. I am not planning to be officially diagnosed simply because it would take too much effort, and I can't think of any way I could use the diagnosis to get disability benefits at work, for example, because my work environment (engineering) is full of socially awkward people anyway. The only reason I want a diagnosis is to be 100% certain that I have Asperger's so I can simply say "I have Asperger's" without vaguely feeling like I'm lying or using it as an excuse to myself or others.



fiddlerpianist
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06 Jul 2010, 12:58 pm

AeroJake wrote:
The only reason I want a diagnosis is to be 100% certain that I have Asperger's so I can simply say "I have Asperger's" without vaguely feeling like I'm lying or using it as an excuse to myself or others.

Your being 100% certain is, most likely, mutually exclusive of getting a diagnosis. Certainly it may be a useful tool and a professional opinion, but there are plenty of people here who are diagnosed but are not 100% certain.


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SuperTrouper
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06 Jul 2010, 1:12 pm

I needed a diagnosis because I need services (such as the Autism Waiver in my state, Medicaid, SSI, therapy, OT, etc.) to live a half-decent life and not depend so much on my parents.

I agree that if you "don't need a diagnosis," then you probably don't have have autism spectrum disorder. You may be subclinical or have what they call "broader autism phenotype," but if you don't need help in certain areas, then you are not significantly impaired in them, and do not meet DSM criteria for a diagnosis.