Mindset difference across spectrum

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I'm extremely withdrawn, and dislike socializing. Diagnosed Asperger's.

I prefer to escape into my own head. If I had been diagnosed prior to DSM 5, I would've been diagnosed with Asperger's because I didn't have the speech delay.

Every time I hear people describe differences between HFA and Asperger's, I feel that the description of HFA fits me better, except for the speech delay part.

I often wonder if it's all really the same condition but just on another level. To me it's like saying colds and flu are the same thing because there are a few similar symptoms. However there are some people who can never lead an independent life who are classed as the same condition as those they say are geniuses. Plus USA no longer go with the world wide definition of Asperger's, when there are different symptoms, such as IQ levels and Aspergers doesn't have speech delay and has motor difficulties.
I'm finding it difficult to look for help with Asperger's when they class it the same as what they call low functioning autism.

I'm an aspie and I can carry on two-way conversations with one or two other people when I want to, but I am less social than ever now. I just don't feel motivated to do so. I need to be able to enjoy my interests and hobbies and I only really can when I'm alone with no interruptions or distractions. It wasn't all that long ago when I had to live in an environment where I was lucky to have any privacy at all.

I like to spend half of my time socializing with people and the other half of my time alone, in my own head.

[quote=Iliketrees]Am I though - am I an exception to a rule? I'm not convinced that HFA and AS are two distinct profiles, there's so much variance in people with either diagnosis, I think they're the same thing.[/quote]
I meant what you had typed here. I acknowledge the difference, because of childhood differences in speech, but in the end, they are more of less the same. My experience is just where I felt what I had said above was the case.

Why is this often framed as either it is all the same autism or totally different conditions?. Because the DSM f****d up and in an effort to cover up thier mistake made things worse that is why. The DSM acts as thier is no such thing as subcatogories. First they made Aspergers a seperate diagnoses, then made it all one thing. There is throbbing pain, shooting pain, and hundreds of sub categories of cancer. There is no debate that curable cancers with minimal symptoms is cancer, or that what you feel with a minor bruise is pain, yet it is understood that a minor bruise feels very different from having your bones broken in multiple places.

I lost interest in engaging with people, nowadays I only do that online or I don't at all. In most cases people who I "engage" with offline are people that seem to persue me more.