Define "mild"

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hanyo,
technicaly all aspies are high functioning.
high functioning is actualy determined by mental capacity [inteligence], to be diagnosed as such,people have to be one point or higher outside of the intelectual disability spectrum.
people who are in the high functioning spectrum develop awareness in all areas,coping skills and work arounds better than we will ever do but that isnt part of the autism-it shoudnt suggest how difficult someones autism is,its part of the mental capacity side,we are very different in some ways in how we express autism but thats because we dont have the mental capacity to be independant in coping with ourselves and daily life.
'low' and 'high' are spectrums within autism,everyone has different mental capacities and different levels of encouragement and support behind them.
its all a big complex mess and cannot be judged by a functioning label.

functioning labels are also useless,theyre just used to stereotype,create a hierarchy,make assumptions and discriminate against us.
itd be great if one day we can be supported based on our individual differences and difficulties; and not a label that people have long had in their minds means either useless and a burden-OR-independant and doesnt need daily support.

"mild" means the opposite of "intense"

I'm mild but I was in special ed growing up and had language issues and I was called ret*d by other kids and scored in the ret*d range and I needed an aid through school, I couldn't go through school on my own without help with my school work. I think my anxiety is bad because I can't handle stress well. I think you can have mild AS and have other issues so it may seem like you're not mild. There have been other aspies out there who have had better success than me because they have gone to college or made it through school with no help. People have tend to under estimate me and would act like I was incompetent.

I am mild. Even when I was diagnosed at 8 years old, they still said it was only mild, but enough to diagnose. But as an adult I do feel I fall into the ''between NT and Autism'' category, where politically I am normal but individually there are barriers that make me struggle.

To me I feel the AS is a ''my best is never good enough'' type of thing, by which I mean in a social perspective. I do my best all the time and even lack some of the symptoms that are supposed to be common in Aspies making them socially inept. I can recognise non-verbal cues and all of that stuff, and I can enjoy and understand jokes and sarcasm and all of that stuff, and the list goes on and on. Technically the only thing that gets in my way of socialising properly is shyness, frequently feeling timid and nervous, and living with social phobia where I can get panic attacks in certain contexts with people. By panic attacks I don't mean visibly, I mean the type where my heart races and my mouth goes dry, which sometimes makes my face go red with embarrassment, but not all the time. If all of those things went away, I think I would be a better socialiser. I know I will. It's such a shame it is holding me back.

Also I may only be mild but I feel like I am unfixable. My brain is too stubborn to change, and feeling confident on the inside and the outside is more harder than it sounds. I have been trying for therapy but they're taking so long to get back to me. I think only a change of lifestyle will help me. I need to be took under somebody's wing and be took out and about a bit more, meeting different people and feeling like I am actually doing something with me life, then I might feel more included and happier, rather than watching everyone else around me having a good time.

Sorry to ramble on there, it probably wasn't any help to you (the OP) at all.

Don´t kick yourself. Any contribution is relevant to show the vast variation in how AS affects people.

I am not mild. I can't even get through school right (I have been on independent study-a type of home schooling-for 4 1/2 years now and I am going into a special ed class), I am extremely good at memorizing things, I get really obsessive, I have severe meltdowns off my meds, I desperately need routine, have horrible tactile sensitivity and other sensitivities, and my social skills are poor (Though I have picked up some things-for example I don't correct people when they use a word wrong unless it's rude like "that's so gay" or something because I know that'll piss them off. That's something I've picked up). Though my bff says I'm great socially with her-though she admits I am bad with everyone else-we only see each other for a few hours like..... once every couple of months and it's been that way for years.

Last edited by HopefulFlower on 28 Jul 2013, 4:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Thank you! Well said!

Is it just me or do many people with Mild Asperger's seem to not have very many sensory issues or none, they mostly have social issues? They may have routines too and engage in stimming but they seem to adapt so well a change isn't an issue to them and they can control their stimming and stop it.

Sometimes I think I go from extreme to extreme. Today is a bad day for me concentration wise and socially. But I don't know, I'm not an expert.

I am mild and have bad sensory issues tactile, bright lights and hearing. My social skills are much better than they used to be through lots of work on it and studying psychology. Still I am very introverted and eccentric, and get burned out from social interaction fast. I have difficulty maintaining a good amount of arousal either too lethargic or too hyper. I become obsessed with things easily have a hard time keeping balance so I am always trying to stick to my routine. My ability to handle changes has improved the hard way by just having to deal with it somehow. Meltdowns are far less common now tend to shut down instead. Have the ability to pass for NT and spent most of my life trying to. 2 different sides to me NT facade and ASD hidden real me.

I think you shouldn't even consider yourself mild/moderate/severe. We all have difficulties when it comes to our aspergers. We don't share the same difficulties but we all have them. Just focus on your own stuff and don't compare yourself to other people. It's not a competition.

Why would a persons case being mild or moderate or whatever be anything like a competition? Some of us are mild some of us are severe. I consider myself moderate. It doesn't really matter anyways it's just a little detail to our case. We're not comparing ourselves to anyone we're comparing ourselves to a structure-a view of what we see as mild, moderate, and severe. When I said I was not mild I had nobody in particular on my mind. And nobody was saying anything about other people not have difficulties. You are right we all have them.

I'm just saying that everyone will have a different interpretation of mild/moderate/severe, so why compare? Someone who is severe or moderate doesn't make you more of an aspie than the mild case. In the end we all have aspergers.

You are right I agree. But there nothing wrong with sharing what we consider ourselves and hinting at our interpretations. And nobody said moderate and severe aspies were more of aspies than others.

I like that in the new DSM your severity level is coded differently for social communication and repetitive behaviours (including sensory issues). This means that if someone has severe sensory issues but is only mildly socially impaired they can be coded as level one for social communication (mild) and level two (moderate) for RRBs (sensory issues) or the other way around. It's still a somewhat subjective distinction between severity levels, psychiatry isn't an exact science but I think this is an improvement.

I do have them, but they are way less obvious than the social issues. I can sensory overload, but it takes hours and I can always keep myself under relative control.
That part about stimming interested me. I can stop stimming, but only if I make a conscious choice and divert one part of my focus specifically into it. It makes me wonder how hard is it for others to stop their stimming, if they even can in the first place.