Does anyone have a copy of the proposed DSM-V criteria?

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So does that mean that people like me can be Aspie, even if we can't be aspie? It would be nice if there were a recognised term for the entire cultural group already established. Even though I feel very accepted here, I don't feel there's a functioning descriptive term for identifying what I feel accepted into without spending 20 minutes explaining what I do or don't mean to anyone who asks.

E.g. in my first ever session with my first ever therapist, she asked me what had brought me to her. And so I gave a convoluted account of my journey of research and self discovery and finished by saying that I had realised that I have many sub-clinical autistic traits which explain a lot about my life. Her response was to laugh at me outright (warmly, but rather dismissively) and say "Oh, I don't think you're autistic at all!" I was so thrown that I said "I know, I'm not, I just have some of the traits" (thereby dismissing myself too which is even better for the self esteem!:oops:) and then I didn't dare bring it up again even though it was the primary reason for arranging the meeting in the first place. I'm in no doubt that she was wrong to react the way she did, especially since she'd known me for a sum total of about 7 minutes by that point, but it still would have been easier for me if I'd known that there was a definite term for a definite group to which I'm definitely eligible so that I could say, with confidence, "no, you're wrong. I AM [insert term here]".

I don't identify with what autistic people write in their books about their lives either. Most of what they say makes no sense to me, and I am diagnosed with autism too. Like the repetitive activities to make sense of a confusing world. I don't eggsperience that. The world is not confusing to me. I do my repetitive activities because I like to do them, for fun. Always been that way, as back as I remember.

Really? Seriously? You're the first person I've heard comment on the fun aspect without the confusion aspect and all any of the books ever comment on is the confusion aspect. And this thing of repetition/ritual to avoid confusion - I don't get that at all. My rituals are purely for Fun! That's why I assumed they wouldn't count diagnostically, because I could stop any time if I wanted to.

By the way btbnnyr, I've been meaning to say for ages how much I like your blog. I read most of your "written" one in one sitting a while back and it was brilliant! The more visual ones are good too though I'm not so great at deciphering visual language so maybe they're a bit lost on me. But I love the style all the same. I wish I was that artistic.

Thank you, verry merry berry much.

Yeah, I like to do repetitive activities because I like to do them. As far as I know, I am keeping all objects in same location and orientation because I like to keep them there and that is how I like them to look. I carefully arrange my stuffed animals into a familial looking group, and I have three bunnies having a bunny-only conference facing each other, and the large stuffed tarantula is carrying a small stuffed tick on its legs. I am not confused, and this is not my way of alleviating confusion. I just like the way certain arrangements look and feel.

Also, for routines, I have them, and I stick to them, so I don't have to think about doing things. OK, I will do this, then this, then this, always in this order, like I am a programmed robot, cuz this is just an easy way to do something to get it over with so I can do interesting things instead.

Other repetitive things, I like to do them too. Even if they are pointless, I enjoy the feeling of doing them. I am not confused. I just like to do repetitive things. I would be a model sweatshop worker.

As for stopping them, I don't think that I could stop having routines and rituals. If I stopped one, then I would start another. I enjoy repetitive actitivies so much that I would have to keep them in my life always. I don't recall feeling confused or living in a world of confusion even when I was a kid. I never felt confused. As a kid, I followed my natural instinct and did what I was naturally driven to do. Repetitive activities were a big part of that, and I enjoyed them all.

Whenever I read what some of these autistic authors are writing about, I don't know what they are talking about. The only one of them who makes a lot of sense to me is Temple Grandin. But I did not know what she was talking about when she said that she was frustrated about not being able to communicate in early childhood. I was not frustrated at all. I did not communicate, and I was not frustrated. Communication, the whole thing, was unknown and irrelevant to me, so I don't think that I could have been frustrated by something that I was not aware of eggsisting.

Up until now I have only read Temple Grandin: Thinking in Pictures.
It was good to read evidence of my own thinking.
I have repetitive behaviour that I like and it is a lot of it, but in other situations it is to prevent more overload.
I do have a lot of stimming and I have stimming I just do because I just enjoy, but in social situations it is due to - I guess confusion or just being able to handle situations or due to prevent overload.
I do stim a lot talking to people (rocking, twisting fingers and hands), especially when I want to talk like in when I am excited and want to tell it.
I had a group-therapy lately and I was the only autistic person and I did stim a lot, because I felt distressed and overloaded.
Waiting for the train to go to the autism-center for therapy I stim like turning in circles and I enjoy it, because it feels good, but I guess it is also due to prevent being overloaded by all this stimuli at the station.
I do start this stims without noticing and at a certain moment I notice I do it and when I notice it I need to do it, because it relaxes and feels good.
btbnnyr, I also like your blog a lot though I do wonder if neurotypical people would ever understand the patterns...I don't know if they ever would understand?
Greetings from my three cats for you!