I've had two people reject my AS diagnosis...

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I concur. The best thing to do is to start off with the question: do you know what Asperger's is?

This can give you a way to judge how to explain it.
If they seem to know a lot (i.e., they have a child with it, or a close relative, or just happen to know) then you're ok with giving the details. If they don't know much at all, only keep going if you are prepared to explain A LOT.

But if they know some, be REALLY careful. These are the most dangerous because they think they know enough to have an opinion about you, and it's usually wrong.

Just my experience.

The truth is that Asperger's could be over diagnosed. There are a bunch of disorders or personality disorders with the same symptoms which could be very misleading even for the doctors. But in the same time it is frustrating when there could be a little possiblity of everything yet people think they know it all. I would trust such stuff only if after years when some accurate and complex procedures of diagnosis would be elaborated. Till then - i'm sorry - we can only speculate.

I don't see it that extreme.
I believe if someone is on the higher end of the spectrum, can compensate very well, didn't have a "typical childhood" or just has autistic tendencies it can be very difficult to tell or even impossible.

I believe that ASD is one of those disorders who can get dx very accurate -if the shrink has experience in it- because of it's complexity and especially with a typicall childhood you can be highly sure.

But in some cases, especially on the higher end of the spectrum, this isn't always possible to tell.
But nevertheless I still don't think that ASD is overdx. A lot of shrinks still have no real clue about it and are still very textbook about it and think when you can look others in the eye you can't be autistic and so on. Many ppl with ASD still need to go to autismspecialists to get dx, because "normal" shrinks can't tell very often. So there might be some missdx and some shrinks that overdx, but I still strongly believe that ASD is underdx and when you dx carefully you can tell very accurate in a lot of cases.

I believe I was diagnosed correctly as my developmental history aswell as my life now indicated it, however I do understand what you are saying.

I don't say I see things that extreme just that it could be so because many symptoms related to other disorders are very similar to aspergers. Someone should have a microscopic mind to give an accurate diagnosis. And I've seen many people diagnosed with aspergers that behave very NT yet they are diagnosed... then I'm wondering based on what they gave such diagnosis: on the stories they have heard? on their first impression? It is hard to understand.

I'm not saying anything about you because I don't know you personally, i'm talking about those who seem neurotypical yet they are diagnosed.

Ok.

And I do also understand your concern because I've been going through the same situation.

The problem is diagnosis is reliant on the honesty of the patient, if your able to look someone in the eye. Won't mention stimming or other embarrassing habits than it's very easy to skip under diagnosis.

Anyhow I've come to the realization that Aspergers aside from being a test in it's self, ... if you can say it without cringing you've got it

The word ignores the spectrum aspect of Autism.

I think it is a lot similar to a word like ret*d. It denotes a traits and not the disorder.

When I tell people I have it, I say I have a benign form of emotional autism. I lack an ability to gauge emotions. When I explain it like that, ignorant folk stare blankly, the open minded are curious and usually ask questions.

People seem to get it when you make it appear to be something, that is more a personality trait, than a mental illness, WHICH IT IS

Sure your leaving out all your troubles in you childhoods by saying that, but maybe sometimes we should. The term AS is just to revealing, at some point we have a right to not have every personal detail of our lives exposed in one term.

Alot of victims of abuse say they have trust issues. No one believes that this should be out in the open. Which is why people often stick to saying they have "trust issues". To the ignorant it means just that, but for the caring person it's possible to read between the lines.

I give you an example of a person like this. Myself:
I had a very typical autistic childhood. I didn't talked, I needed my routines, you had to tell me an half hour befor you could leave the house with me, I had many sensory issues and litteraly got sick after to many ppl visiting I didn't know. I first was supposed to go to a school for mentally retarted, but I started talking befor school started, so I was lucky, I could go to a normal school, after my parents fighted for it. In elementry school I had trouble understanding what was going on, because of my sensory issues and my dyslexia, I also seemed to be in my "own little world", staring out of the window in class. But with therapy because of my dyslexia and so on I could stay in a normal elementry school. Until I was 12 years old I didn't know how others knew when I was sad, of course they could see the emotion in my face, but in never appeared to me. My mother wasn't sure until that age, if I'm a bit mentally retarted or what was going on, but she noticed that I have some special knowledge. The only reason I had friends as a child was, because my mother envited other children over. Even after I started talking, I stayed highly mutistic.

Now, with 28, I still have sensory issues, and routines and all that, but socially most people don't notice it anymore at first sight, when they don't know.

I've had someone reject my diagnosis. Her reason being because I coped up until then. Surely, if I could cope, I wouldn't have even considered asking for a diagnosis? I'm sure many of us hide it too.

Friends were much better. I had one say he wasn't surprised at all (I am not shocked by his reaction - he has mentioned twice that he thinks I have it) and did have someone say I should PM her if I need help - she works for National Autistic Society.

A friend say that when she told her friends her diagnosis, one said "I always knew you were weird". Charming!

Thanks for the reply. However, i was thinking about those who didn't experienced language delay (which is more common in HFA than aspergers though) and can function as good as many neurotypicals (are well integrated, can make eye contact, enjoy small talk, etc.) yet many 'specialists' give them this diagnosis. I've read many of such cases on this forum and I know some cases in real life also. Now anybody who is a bit shy, awkward, nerdy, eccentric or has any other issues could come off as having Asperger syndrome. I can't tolerate such things. And I've found many statistics with the percentages of people who have aspergers and there are huge differences between them. It looks like some aren't honest at all.

Okay, maybe they have tendencies in many cases?

- I can also make eye contact, just when I'm drunk, overloaded, scared or too much into a topic I forget it, can't hold it.
- I do some small talk, sometimes I even like to talk about topics that are considered as small talk, but I have problems with listening when someone else tells me their small talk. But I would still clearly say I'm able to a certain degree of small talk.
- I'm not that well integrated, but that's also because I don't want to or just upto a certain degree and propably also because of my issues with my overload, especcially auditive and because of my depressions. Also I'm interessted in some people and can talk to them, with many others I just don't find a connection.

I just think it's a spectrum.
If there is really no difference between a person and a NT, than the person is NT, but sometimes the problems just can be minor, but in those cases it would be more correct to talk about tendencies, than about autism.

Sorry, but being able to make eye contact or enjoying "small talk" is NOT in the criteria for diagnosing, or not diagnosing, an ASD.

And it's an opinion whether or not someone is "well-integrated."

I was diagnosed by the DSM-IV because I meet the DSM-IV criteria. I also meet the DSM-V criteria. I also can make eye contact and occasionally enjoy "small talk."

I don't want to argue with anybody, I just told my opinion whether you dislike it or not. And I think that for a diagnosis to be precise someone should watch you closely for determining whether you're different and therefore behave different or are normal and just act different in certain circumstances. And doctors can't predict that, they just determine based on the information they receive whether you have some issues or not. I'm not saying that all of you were misdiagnosed just that I doubt that in some rare occasions can't be a little misunderstanding somewhere. Until there are some obvious signs that can't be ignored. That's another story.

Your opinion could be that the sun is made out of a giant blob of purple unicorn poop, but, as you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts.

"Eye contact" and ability to make "small talk" are not, and never have been, defining characteristics of ASDs. That's not an "opinion," that's based on the actual criteria that doctors use to diagnose people.



.....which wouldn't be precise at all since people behave differently when they know they are being observed.

Not to mention that most medical professionals don't have a team of professional ninja stalkers on hand to follow and observe every patient suspected of having an ASD.

Why do you keep arguing with me? I don't remember that I told you something about you or your diagnosis, I don't care and I don't know if you have asperger's or not, as long as I don't know anything about you and even if I would, I wouldn't tell you my opinion straight in your face because I believe the human brain is too complicated to have any idea of what's happening in there. Maybe you want to have asperger's. That's not my problem.

Have you ever heard about people being misdiagnosed? I hear about it very often but you keep insisting that asperger's CAN'T BE misdiagnosed and that's a bias and i think this is what you want to believe. Pshychiatrists, autism specialists and psychologists are not some kind of demigods to know everything about you.

And "eye contact" was just an example which came in my mind, I didn't said it is a MUST for someone's diagnosis.

You just took my words out of the context when I didn't mention anything about that.

If my opinion is made of 'unicorns' then don't bother to answer me anymore. I don't have the energy to reply to all the distortions.

Last edited by AnotherKind on 11 Oct 2012, 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.