Another "Am I an Aspie?" thread

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Thanks, I hope I haven’t forgotten categories where I don't match the criteria, truthfully it seems like it would be a relief to be diagnosed because I have always been a little odd and not understood why. I used to question whether I have emotions though I know now I do, I just don't attach as strongly as others seem to.

I have several times in my life taken on copying friends or popular kids with their own personal catch phrases and mannerisms that make people like them, even now I know I'm becoming disturbingly clone-like of a certain friend. I don't know if copying is a common way of learning to deal with AS or if I'm just unoriginal. The odd thing is I don't copy peer pressured behavior such as smoking even when pushed I just get angry, but I will without meaning to copy the way somebody acts socially. I can't copy interests though, and just go blank for example yesterday when a few people were talking about soccer or rugby or something- I don't even know, I couldn't listen and was actively trying to.

I think I'll give Minds & Hearts a call within the next few days, I'm still building up the courage though to be completely honest. I don't want to be examined nor talk to somebody in such an intimate way. I'd have to write down all these oddities I've listed because in conversation I just wouldn't be able to recall more than a few main ones.

I just realised my youngest sister would also probably fit the profile though in a different way to me. She had trouble with school though was great at Maths apparently, just couldn't work with teachers, so didn't go for grade 11+12 (Optional years in Australia) and got very obsessed with working at McDonalds for a year because as my mum said she was appreciated and could do the same thing over and over, they would call her everytime she was home when I was visiting. She was working I think over the legal amount of hours for a 15.5 year old, and coming home and passing out on her bed.

She also has a massive obsession with the first Australian Idol winner who has mostly been forgotten by the country (I think, my tv broke years ago and I lost interest in getting a new one) to the point he knows who she is and even apparently improvised a song dedicated to her on air. I don't know if a celebrity obsession is a special kind of obsession in itself though. Again I'm just listing all links I'm seeing partially for my own reasons so I can build a list, but your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hi again,

I was wondering if anybody diagnosed could pelase give me their opinion on this article:

http://www.aspires-relationships.com/as_grows_up.htm

It is a few years old but it describes me exactly, aside from that in school while I was a recluse (and still am) I had a few friends, though I was still the oddity of the group. I went to a fairly decent school it seems, there was practically zero bullying and much larger then normal numbers of students so there were a lot more people to mingle with. In particular (and in defense of my psych student friend who was just following the criteria) the following caught my eye:

"The characterization of Asperger Syndrome above provides the reader with an "official view" of AS characteristics. However, among many clinicians who have seen vast numbers of autistic individuals since 1994, there is strong disagreement about the accuracy of the DSM-IV criteria. The 1994 criteria were developed after study of a relatively small number of persons. Since then, much more has been discovered about AS. Experienced child and adult diagnosticians have discovered that the official criteria are factually wrong on several critical areas; they also fail to account for many individuals seen in clinical and natural settings who exhibit classical autistic symptoms but develop speech late and demonstrate substantial deficient cognitive functioning and faulty perceptual awareness of others at an early age. There is strong pressure now being exerted on the editorial board of the DSM-V -- scheduled for publication in late 2005 or early 2006 -- to revise the criteria to better suit what sensitive diagnosticians have found to be true with thousands of late-diagnosed children and adults."

I think the following sums me up very well:

"To reflect current professionals' thinking about ASD's, the following section is a more accurate depiction of AS. Symptoms of AS include: impaired ability to utilize social cues such as body language, understand irony, or other “subtexts” of communication; restricted eye contact and odd, failed efforts at socialization; a marked and limited range of encyclopedic interests; perseverative, odd behaviors; didactic speech, verbosity, substantial problems with prosody, with voice tone regulation (monotone, droning voice); “concrete” thought accompanied with black and white dichotomous thinking; hyper and hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli; and unusual body awareness and movement."

Some quotes from online discussion with people I know from the past few years (names changed):

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This is a few from the psychology student, she's not being mean I don't think because she does help me a lot with day to day things like giving me lifts. I've been trying to understand whether she's a friend or not for awhile, she has called me her friend but I don't know if she uses the term loosly.

<n> RB bounces
..
<n> no, he bounces instead of walking normally
..
<n> lol, why are you angry at me? you're the one that walks and talks funny :p
<RB> your the one who cant follow "if you cant say anything nice dont say anything at all"

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I always avoid serious questions about myself but love to dwell on myself and work out what is so "me."

<m> RB can i ask a personal question
<RB> no
<RB> but go ahead
<RB> the answer is chocolate
<m> do you have Asperger's

--

<p> you tend to be hard to hear

--

<h> you really are the last to know these things arent you?

--

These are just some I can remember and find easily, but I've had constant remarks through my life about these things. I am terrible at keeping secrets, at lying in general, and cannot stand falsehoods, or moreso a lack of truth. I also have to refrain from being brutally honest.

I know I'm going on a bit now after saying I'm going to get diagnosed but it would seem I have a mini obsession now.

Thanks again,
RB.