More people saying they have Autism lately?

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I have a really dark sense in humor so jokes about things that affect me always amuse me.

I think what should separate aspies from classic autism is an aspie's ability to mask their symptoms.If you'd have to ask yourself "am I on the spectrum" then you automatically fall withing the possibly AS category and not the ASD category. Just my 2 cents though.

But how are you supposed to definitively know you are on the spectrum when as they say " If you've seen one person on the spectrum you've seen one person on the spectrum " ?If you come across a person who's on the spectrum who you don't identify with then it's quite possible you are going to think "Am I on the spectrum ?" even though you may be.

As for masking symptoms I don't know. It's not something I've consciously done . WYSISWYG is very much the case with me. Whether WYS is indicative of ASD is another matter. In truth I am not sure I would know how to mask my symptoms.

I was hanging with a guy and within five minted could tell he had autism. Turns out I was right. Really sweet and nice guy.

Five minutes*

Didn't you even try to stop the things that you wanted to do as a child like per say play with your feces, or stare at something for long periods of time" appreciating art", Or spin like an idiot until you fall down,or take apart your toys to make new ones, or hit your head on the wall for fun. And if ever you did those things didn't you try to hide it and do it in private?Because I used to do those things as a kid, but then again how should I know if those where normal child behavior or not.I guess the proper word would be outgrew your symptoms. And for the ones that you cannot hide what if you had an explanation for it, like
Gaze avoidance = eye to eye contact is just plain creepy
Not responding to name when being called= I wasn't listening
Mutism= I had nothing to say
Lining up your toys= those toys ain't gonna line themselves up
Scribbling on the test questioners = I know I'm here to do something, but I just don't have a clue what it is. Might as well pretend to do something.

In my experience, When I'm with kids my age. They seem to mean it as I'm stupid or dumb not I'm actually autistic. It doesn't really bother me cause I know what they mean tho.

I am not diagnosed. I never claim to be. I strongly and confidently suspect I have Asperger's, and maybe ADHD.

I have arrived to this conclusion(which is by no means final) by a. talking to people that are confirmed Aspies and sharing life experiences b. taking a plethora of screening tests c. going over the diagnostic criteria and trying to analyze my life in as unbiased a fashion as possible. Also, many of the things that help people with Asperger's help me, such as wearing headphones to deal with sound sensitivity, giving myself time to socially recharge, and trying to practice socializing.

Do I know for certain? Of course not. In truth, we know nothing. All I know is this is how I perceive the world, and it seems to align closely with the descriptor Asperger's.

In reference to an earlier post on this thread that denied any link between childhood bullying and PTSD, there are a number of recent studies showing exactly the reverse. This is one such study:


http://www.familytofamilyiowa.org/image ... llying.pdf

Noteworthy in the concluding paragraphs was that girls showed more severe reactions:
Quote:
On the basis of prevalence rates, which were in
accordance with earlier studies, we found associations be-
tween exposure to bullying and PTSD symptoms that are
noteworthy for researchers and for practice. Even though
gender did not moderate this association, bullied girls had
higher levels of symptoms in general.