How common is Asperger's?

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Based on my extensive research, I would say a large percentage of Aspies go undiagnosed and unrecognized and are given a long list of 'probable' diagnoses like OCD, ADD, ADHD, etc. I had some signs of those but I thought it was a stretch until I unintentionally stumbled upon Aspergers in an academic library last year and turned white as a ghost upon researching it. It was me to a T and I never thought anyone else on the planet acted like I did! I have been told many times over the years I likely had it but I ignored it since I'm not a hardcore computer nerd like Bill Gates (but my father certainly is!).

I would say of the 2000 or so people I know, I would say 4 (2 male, 2 female) have VERY clear signs of Aspergers and ironically all of them are college students in their late 20's or early 30's. Who knows how many slipped through the cracks like I did and were misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all because they were otherwise 'good' children with good grades.

I won't repeat what I've said countless times but according to the 'expert' I spoke with, you practically need daily care and not be able to hold to a job, friend or other adult things like a car to be diagnosed. Others experts (who can't diagnose) said that it's VERY obvious I likely have it. Many have told me that I'm probably the last person to figure it out. I guess it depends on how you talk to and how wide you draw the diagnostic circle.

That's me!


But it is very hard to recognize me from the outside, but I could still be dx pretty easily, because I was a very "classic case" (no speech etc.) as a little child.
So if I don't tell ppl. IF they have knowledge about psychiatry they notice that I'm "different", but I don't think that they think about ASD first. I guess being a grown up now, my Bipolar is a lot more obvious and so the ASD a lot more easily overlooked than it is anyway.

Your "expert" is not an expert.
Some people with AS surely need daily care, but mostly people with severe AS need it.
However, my form is moderate, and yes, I need daily care from my parents for many things, I need my mother to remind me of taking a shower because I can't think about it myself, I can't keep in contact with friends unless they continue keeping contact with me, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to get a job in the future. Ahw well, I hope I will. However, I think I've improved lately.
About being the last person to figure it out, well, yup, I was, maybe just because I don't care of searching every mental disorder on the web.
I got a lot of "possible" conditions in all my life, like DID, schizophrenia, ODD, OCD, GAD, but my official diagnosis has always been AS and ADHD, because the traits I have are so evident according to shrinks, expecially the ADHD traits.
However, I still think Asperger's is rare, because I don't consider the diffusion of AS basing on people I meet on the web, but basing on people with AS I met IRL.
To conclude, you can never be sure of having AS, even if you have an official diagnosis.