You are very sociable, you can't be aspergers ....

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I'm not an electrical engineer just because I can not afford to get my broken hard drive repaired. No, I am sorry.

I can understand myself a lot better than any pediatric diagnostician can. Even though I have no medical knowledge, I can pick up the DSM or ICD manual and understand the criteria for autism, partially because they are easy to understand, and also because medical knowledge used to be my special interest. However, I can't say the same about hard drives. I don't understand how they works. I probably wouldn't understand the instructions for fixing them.

Sorry. Your metaphor fell flat.

So far, I have not met any very sociable autistic people, but some autistic people have told me that they know a few very sociable autistic people who are very socially inept.

No it did not. It does not matter how much you think you know, you are not licensed to diagnose someone. Just like no matter how much I may need the knowledge or privileges of a certain profession that does not make me able to do their jobs. And the fact that you know yourself so well is not an advantage but a problem. You can't see yourself objectively, it's not possible. I "diagnosed" myself. Which means I recognized the diagnostic criteria in myself while studying psychology, but of course I still went to a professional to check it. Suspecting something and getting it confirmed is not the same thing.

If all of your traits can be explained by being an introvert with OCD, I see no reason to complicate things by adding AS to the picture. But if you have issues other than just obsessions/compulsions, becoming easily overstimulated, and desiring quiet social interaction in small groups, then you should probably be checking that out.

Another approach would be to concentrate on dealing with your OCD, and then see what's "left over" after you have resolved that problem.

I don't think most people know enough about Asperger's to be able to make the judgment on whether you're too sociable to have it or not. A lot of people seem to think if you're a nerd, or socially inept, you have Asperger's, but it's not that simple. Other people seem to think you have to be like the worst Asperger stereotype they know of, or their friend-of-a-friend's high-functioning autistic child, to have Asperger's. And it's not that simple either - Aspies can learn survival skills or have a "good day" when their symptoms don't seem as bad. From what I understand (and I'm not a qualified expert either, just a psychology buff), you have to have at least had pragmatic language problems (learning what to say and when to say it, and the implied meanings of things) when you were a kid, plus sensorimotor symptoms (coordination problems, hyper- and hyposensitivities) and/or repetitive behaviors.

As other people mentioned, the only way to know if you have it for sure is to get checked out. And yes, OCD and introversion alone can interfere with socialization. My boyfriend has OCD but definitely doesn't have Asperger's, and he sometimes withdraws from the world when he's having bad symptoms. But when he's feeling relatively good, and especially if he's had alcohol or some calming influence to help him relax, he socializes fine, and seems to be able to pick up on certain things more easily than I can, and I don't even have Asperger's myself (by my best judgment), just a suspected childhood history of pragmatic language impairment or social communication disorder without any of the other Asperger symptoms.

Let me repeat myself--there are too many obstacles to getting an official diagnosis to discriminate against those who are self-diagnosed.

Of course, I can't be objective about myself, but I still realized I was autistic before anyone else in my life recognized it. This includes special ed teachers and licensed clinical social workers (your run of the mill therapist)--people who are, at the minimum, very influential in getting those qualified to diagnose others to diagnose me with autism, and knowing where I can get a diagnosis.

And oh, you are just as qualified to make a diagnosis as I am. So, just like I can't tell if someone is autistic, you can't tell if somebody isn't.

I am not sure if I have Asperger's but I have a difficult time socialising and making friends even if I sometimes feel social and don't like being alone ALL of the time. I do, however, need more alone time to myself than most people I have encountered and tend to tire quickly when i do socialise.
I have only 4 friends and they are all mostly online (live in different cities) and no real life friends where I live. They are all male, 2 of them have Aspergers (I find them fascinating to talk to) and the other 2 act like they do even if not diagnosed lol. I have not had a female friend in 20 years now. My social life is a disaster usually but that does not stop me wanting to be social sometimes.

Most people say "You are fine, don't see any issues with how you socialise." Then I start second guessing because I don't know if they are genuine or just being polite, The recent two people who said I could not possibly be aspie are my mother and a trainee social welfare person. In my mothers' case, she mentioned someone she had met and told me (based on that experience) that I most certainly don't have aspergers syndrome. Trouble is she then immediately rebutts any further discussion. I am over all that, its just how my mother is.

Essentially, I really am not wedded to aspiehood or OCD-ness or any other thing. I have very clear traits and behavioural quirks and all I really want is to understand who the hell I am so I can get a handle on the remaining issues in my life. I have got a grasp of most of my troubles but there are some tough ones that won't budge and some that resurrect themselves.



Thing is, I am either aspie or I am not aspie, diagnosis or no diagnosis. In fact, not sure if having a diagnosis is irrevocable either. Haven't they changed all the diagnostic rules recently?

Repeat yourself all you want, you are still not right and it's still not discrimination to treat someone with a confirmed disability different than those with a suspected one.

It's great that you recognized the symptoms (and sad that the professionals did not) but again it is not the same as getting them confirmed.

But I'm not telling you you’re not autistic! I'm telling you neither of us can know that. Only a licensed diagnostician (preferably with experience diagnosing Asperger’s) who has had several hours with you can do that.

Even if you are correct in your suspicion I think you would agree that there are a lot of people out there who suspects all kinds of disorders and that they are not always right. In general this is a problem for us who actually are diagnosed if these people go around and claim to actually have the disorder as if it is confirmed. It creates a lot of confusion about the disorder and also possibly prejudice against us. I have no problem with people suspecting the disorder, being on this forum and telling people about it. But it has to be clear that it is a suspicion, not a confirmed diagnosis.

I have no idea why people need to be told the obvious

I dont need a doctor to tell me my leg is broken if i can see the bone

What you are basically doing here is not putting any faith in the science of psychiatry at all. You are more than welcome to do that, but then it's pointless to want to describe yourself as an aspie at all, since it's after all a diagnosis. Yes the diagnostic criteria will change and yes there are some concerns about it, but there are no doubt that 95 % of the people diagnosed with Asperger's will fit the diagnostic criteria for the new diagnosis. The debate is whether 1 or 2 or MAYBE 5 % will be "left out". Those are not numbers that should be ignored but it is miles away from making an old Asperger diagnosis irrelevant.

Yeah and my head hurts so I must have a brain tumor.

Diagnosing high functioning autism spectrum disorders in adults is among the hardest diagnoses to confirm within psychiatry! The symptoms not only usually resemble a bunch of other things but it has a high comorbid with the same disorders. Stating that it's as obvious as a broken bone just reveals your own ignorance.

Well, I didn't want to jump into this topic, but I've heard so called 'experts' tell me I can't have Asperger's because I've been able to hold down stable, full time employment. Say what you want about only experts being able to recognize it but my experience has been that I know more about ASD's than any medical expert. It's just like in school where when I would try to correct the teachers I would be told they are right because the teacher is the one who has the knowledge, never mind the fact I was verifiably right: as a student I couldn't be smarter than an 'expert' period and nobody would listen to me.

As well, the 'scientific' diagnostic criteria is awfully generic and open to wide interpretation. What is 'significant impairment' for example? Based on what I was told it means you are basically a child in an adult's body and need daily support to survive. While a times I act like that I am still an independent adult so I don't meet the criteria. At the same time, I know engineers with a family and house who got diagnosed who are MUCH better off than me. I've adapted well, but still have no friends, no future career prospects and a GF who almost certainly has moderate Autism (and is being assessed shortly). You can say what you want, but the last three medical problems I had I diagnosed myself before having them confirmed by a doctor later.

Just because I couldn't find a competent professional that won't kill my wallet doesn't mean I need to confirm what is blatantly obvious, especially since it provides no benefit. Even my go-in-denial-over-everything mother accepts I have Aspergers because it would be crazy to even think otherwise. It's not a case of being delusional, it's a case of saving what little money I have for more constructive ventures. I didn't spend 5 minutes on google and self-diagnosed: I spend hours at the academic library searching for answers, spoke to people I know who work with Autistic students and talked to a few people I trust. All have told me I'm probably the last person to figure it out and then proceeded to use examples of things I did that I had no idea I did.

Heads hurting is not really the same as SEEING a bone sir

If it is so hard as you say - i dispute that

You can expect some errors. Therefore the black and white diag no diag view has a clear flaw

It does not reveal my own ignorance - moreover it reveals YOUR ignorance of a basic fallacy - the fallacy of authority

Sorry to use the word ignorance but I'm merely echoing...................

Go ahead ask me something if I am so "ignorant" and ill-informed! Jesus this site is hard work.

This is exactly what I think when ever someone phrases it like this.