Are the un-diagnosed welcome here.

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I would respond negatively, but i do not want to deal with the repercussions. I will move on to talking to someone else who sparks my interests, because you just lost my spark.

Oooo ... a parting shot! I am wounded sir! Wounded, I say!

... not.

Anyways, where was I? Oh, right. Acceptance.

I agree with this. I am transsexual, but it is hard for me to relate to other transsexuals because of the way I am.

As do I. If a poster has problems they need to talk about, I'm listening. I'll post a response if I think I can contribute in a meaningful way. On the other hand, if someone comes onto these boards and starts trolling, they can get the f**k out. I have zero patience for people who intentionally and continuosly cause trouble.

This site is a great resource and a source of support, encouragement, and hope to the people that come here. I've seen plenty of posts by NT's who are parents of children in the spectrum, seeking a better understanding. I've read many by people who, regardless of their diagnosis status, have found that here, there are people that can relate to the way they think and they find strength in that. This place isn't a club for a select group. It's a place where the only prerequisite is that you're genuinely interested in being here.

There's really nothing typical about being in the spectrum. Each person experiences it in a very different way. Keeping that in mind, I value the people that accept me over the one's that can relate to me. The one's that do both, though, are priceless! Therefore, in my opinion, it's our ability to accept all that come here; NT's, diagnosed, undiagnosed, posers, and lost ones that makes this all work, not the idea that we are all the same. We come together because of a common interest in a mental condition. To turn people away because they didnt meet some requirement would completely defeat the purpose of this place.

Lastly, I am undiagnosed, and have posted "not sure" on my profile. I may change that someday. To date, however, in spite of lacking an official diagnosis, I have gotten nothing but total support and genuine concern from everyone here. There is a lot of support here, and I want thank you all, because I'm learning so much, and it's making my life better. Whether I get a diagnosis or not, it's still making a difference. Thanks for accepting me.

I have not seen any evidence of undiagnosed people being unwelcome here. Sure, there are people like Fnord, but his problem seems to be more with the fact that we have no formal training for diagnosing than the diagnosis itself. He only needs to get over the fact that one does not have to be competent to get a diploma: there are many "formally trained professionals" out there misdiagnosing their patients.

As I have stated before, I am not 100% certain about my self diagnosis, but I will not blindly believe a doctor. Even if his diagnosis agreed with my opinions, he (and I) could be wrong. For this reason, I would like opinions from at least three different professionals. So far, I have no reasons to doubt my suspicions of having Asperger syndrome, since I fit almost every criteria and I identify with many aspergians here, but I am willing to listen to other theories.

As for AS being a disability, I think it is not. Although it brings us far too many problems "normal" people do not have to deal with, I believe that is only because society is predominantly non-autistic. Consequently, it is more adjusted to the needs of non-autistic people.

These three things are not automatically correlated. You can have an official diagnosis that is not objective and may be invalid (except in terms of paperwork). An unofficial diagnosis (self-diagnosis) can be valid and/or professional (kfisherx has an unofficial, valid, professional diagnosis, for example - she doesn't have an official diagnosis for a lot of valid reasons).

Also, as I pointed out before, a self-diagnosis is not necessarily a matter of "belief" or "faith." That's a fallacious connection.

Last edited by Verdandi on 01 Jan 2012, 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aside from disagreement with how Fnord frames self-diagnosis, I agree that he is not and never has to my knowledge tried to say anyone is unwelcome.

I have seen some posters actually make some really nasty comments about self-diagnosis. In one of the recent threads, one poster was complaining that self-diagnosees were somehow ruining official diagnoses by trivializing the time and money invested in them, even though a self-diagnosis may involve far more time and research than an official diagnosis, and some amount of money (due to buying books on AS and autism).

I agree, I have spent copious amounts of hours researching both autism and aspergers, I have also done plenty of research on many other mental illness' just out of pure curiosity and boredom, such as ADHD, schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, depression, and the likes. I found many different sites both by medical professionals, and people who have aspergers, I spend a lot of time on here reading posts, I read and watch videos posted on here, I have watched every documentary I can find on aspergers, and have read every book my library had to offer on many different psychological illness', which includes aspergers and autism, as well as others, such as ADHD, Scizophrenia, and even other disorders like epilepsy.

I believe my self-diagnosis is more a educated guess than just a shot in the dark to excuse poor social habits, and is also not just me trying to pin a disorder on myself for any reason. My "special interests" in science have kept me quite busy with studying throughout the years...

so more research and time have gone into my self diagnosis than the research that has gone into my little brothers professional diagnosis of autism, or my professional diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder...

I think its a bit more complicated then that........not only is it very difficult to afford professional help when you have no health insurance and cannot even get on medicaid, but then even if you can afford professional help it might not work. I've tried therapy and it did not really make much difference because I've never ran into a mental health professional knowlegable enough to really help me, I tried anti-depressants for my co-morbid depression and all that did was screw my mental state up even more.

So at this point in time I cannot afford professional help with any of the things I struggle with, not to mention I really don't know there is anything anyone within the system can really do for me. Naturually their goal would be to try and get me to function as normally as possible so I can at least contribute somewhat to a job or whatever.......well fitting in with what is socially acceptable is not one of my goals, if there was therapy availible that could help me with my personal lifestyle and the difficulties i face with pursuing that.....but it seems all thats out there is therapy to help you become more normal.

Well I totally based my self diagnoses on random impulsive thoughts I had, I never consulted with my therapist about it, never looked at any reliable sources about it and fancy myself smarter than everyone with a psychology degree.

At least you admit it.

My question is, what distinguishes a dx from a non dx (assuming they both have AS) if neither are currently in therapy? Does everyone with AS have to want therapy?

Bloody good question! What's the point of a self-diagnosis if the person with the "diagnosis" can not or will not do anything about it?


I go speak to my therapist once a month or so. She says I'm "developing effective coping skills" well enough for a man my age.

oh, you are looking at diagnosis for the practical applications (how do i fix myself?), while some others see a diagnosis as a key to unlock some of Life's Mysteries (is there something wrong with me?)

Some people just want peace of mind i think. So they can stop the exhausting search for answers.

Others want to learn how to cope better in this world. Although I am not sure how much cognitive behavioral therapy will help someone with a neurological issue.

I want answers, as well as some practical solutions. Aspergers is hell when you don't know what it is at first.

^This.

Just knowing that the mysterious "it" that made me seem so "weird" my entire life has a name, and is shared by many other people, has been a great help to me.