Self diagnoses = "fake AS?"

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I'm not sure I understand the argument here. If having AS doesnt make me any less of a person. then thinking I have AS shouldnt either.

Why should I have to go to a complete stranger to find out something about myself? Why would a complete stranger know me better then I do?
I can read books, I can learn the DX critera, I do not believe that just because someone went to school, meant they learned anything from it.

Having a label doesnt change who you are. It just changes how other people Label you. Since I dont really care about what other people think of me, I am not concerned with adopting any Labels and instead find it much more facinating to see what Labels are chosen for me.

I could care less if AS was considerd "cool" or not. I dont care if I have AS, or am considered "weird"

Newsflash.....EVERYONE is weird. the more you get to know people, the more you understand how very weird we all are. (as anyone who has ever had a roomemate or children can atest to)

It seems to me that the Real Aspie vs Fake Aspie argument is only a step on a path to a greater understanding of weirdness. I think it is sad that there are people out there with negative opinions of anyone, however, you can not "not offend" anyone. There will always be somone to take offense to something. Might be your Lack of DX on this fourm, or it might be because you prefer strawberry over chocolate Ice cream..or god forbid, that you dont like Ice Cream at all!! !

moral of the rant...Embrace your inner WEird, and accept others for theirs.
(maybe strawberry peach Ice cream isnt that bad after all)

Hi to the OP,

Your queries are valid and always will be, as are everyones queries. Whether we are right or not is hypothetical. I salute you for seeking the truth, or A truth. However you want to put it.

I did not seek a dx, in fact I vehemently denied it. I was dx after 2 years of intensive therapy, and this following a very long and complex/convoluted psych history. My psychologist does not have AS, but she is shrewd, intelligent and cares about my mental health outcomes. In order to convince me, I had to have "evidence". I am an evidence based thinker, to my detriment at times. I live by the truth and I am often disappointed by others lack of commitment to finding the truth. Yes, I can be quite single-minded.

My therapist understood my process, so it was argued to the bone, week after week. She also sent me off to be officially assessed so that the "scientific process" for want of a better expression was followed.

According to the evidence, and based on the proposals put before me by the professionals in the field of neuropsychiatry, psychology and so on, I grudgingly agreed with their diagnosis.

So it is not that someone told me I had it as a bit of an off the cuff remark, or by NT therapists or whatever, it was by gathering as much evidence and testimonials as I could. It was not the people that confirmed it, it was the evidence that did. And if your evidence tells you that AS is the case for you, then so be it.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that I have an answer of sorts, I still feel as isolated as I ever did, really. I have never felt part of a club and probably never will. I don't think I like clubs, but I do like people, and I take each person individually on their merits. It is what you think of your life that is important, not what others think.

Good luck in finding your truth. That is the journey I am on as well. Take good care.

Mics

Surely if someone was coming to this forum as a fake Aspie, then they wouldn't claim to be self-diagnosed. They'd say they had an official diagnosis. There's nothing to prove that anyone here is diagnosed or otherwise. In theory we all could be lying! And if someone is intending to pretend to have a disorder, they will surely pretend a diagnosis too.

But my question would be 'What is to be achieved by faking a disorder on a forum which is specifically for people with that disorder?' I can't see what anyone would achieve from this. I've come across people who fake disorders or illnesses online - some people pretend they are dying for instance, to get sympathy and attention. But to get sympathy and attention, you'd surely go to a forum full of people who don't share the condition you are claiming to have. I mean, on a forum full of people with Aspergers, someone new who claims to have Aspergers is hardly going to be met with sympathetic cries of 'Oh, you poor thing! How awful for you!' because Aspergers is the norm here!

My assumption is that most people come to a forum because they can identify with what people are talking about. That's certainly why I come here - in 'real life' the majority of people I know do not have Aspergers, and so it's nice to come to this site and talk to others who have it and to know I'm not alone in my experiences. It's also really good to learn from other people's strategies - I mean, we've all spent years dealing with similar issues and have our own strategies to deal with it, and some are more effective than others, so discussing strategies here is a good way of pooling resources.

Whether or not people have a diagnosis, and whether they are full-blown Aspie or just share some Aspie traits, to me is totally irrelevant. If they can describe something that I relate to, or share a strategy, then I appreciate that. If their experience is different from mine (as many will be, as it is a spectrum and we are all different) that doesn't bother me - I imagine that others may appreciate their posts. If a few people here are deluded and really don't have Aspergers, I assume that the forum won't be much use to them, because they are not really going to be able to relate to the kind of things described here. If a few people here are deliberately lying, and are secretly totally NT, then I simply can't imagine what they would get out of that. But I also can't imagine how it would harm anyone. I'd feel more sorry for the person lying - I'd imagine they must have some mental disturbance.

I think that Aspie elitism is like a bunch of one legged guys trying to argue who has a better kick. It is faulty thinking in the extreme. To make assumptions of anyone as a generalised group is bigotry and anyone in a minority ought to know the sting of this first hand and be actively against it. Sadly it happens.
I will say though in some sense that knowing what you have as tried and tested and diagnosed will allow you better understanding of yourself.

Autism and Aspergers is just an umbrella term for a set of attributes commonly found together. Just like pretty much all psychological "conditions". To be honest I don't believe in psychological deviations, I do believe in people and how all people view the world in a completely different way to everyone else.

In that respect why does it matter if some suit says you're "AS" or "NON-AS"? You are only making a bad situation worse by compounding your attributes and attaching human-like qualities to them. If you do come back with a positive diagnosis how is that going to make your life anymore fulfilling?

Anyway, this is just my viewpoint.