This is getting annoying, really annoying.

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Your egalitarianism is a virtue that more people should have.

RE: diagnosis and self:

I suspected for a year at least, was dxed by a psych at 33(ish), whom specializes in adult aspergers. I never suggested AS to him. But I bet I spend more time on my case than he did.(took him about 3 weeks and three visits).

The point is: A specialist benefits from being able to make a concise diagnosis more quickly than a layman, but our neuro-type is remarkable in that we might be smarter than the specialist(My doctor is brilliant though). There is nothing intrinsic in the criteria that is unfathomable to the layman. The only thing specific to the specialist is a degree of familiarity with the vagaries of AS and an emotional detachment from the subject.

My son is diagnosed. I am not. I'm still not 100% certain about either one of us. I still like it here though.

Edit: I have to admit...the few people here who are open about being bothered by the undiagnosed make me feel uncomfortable about posting. I'll never seek diagnosis though. It really would not make any difference to me to have an 'official' opinion, regardless of the diagnosis, AS or otherwise.

You have it more than some of the actually diagnosed? Hmm...okay, maybe they were misdiagnosed? Is it your fault? No. Is it your fault that you are getting defensive? YES.

Are you going around on you tube attempting to educate others as a self diagnosed aspie who shows little to no symptoms?

I hope not.

That was the point and even though it comes across as harsh, it's my honest reaction and feeling. I view of it as a lie and injustice at first then ask questions of maybe the person really does think they have aspergers and try to curve the feeling of injustice with understanding.

Did you read the whole thread?

In simple terms, I have no problem with the ones who are investigating and wondering if they do have aspergers.

I DO have a problem with those who show little to no symptoms going on you tube attempting to educate on a subject of aspergers as someone who is self diagnosed and all they talk about is social akwardness yet are able to stare straight in the camera and seemingly aren't bothered by attention seeking.

It's giving more false impressions of an already taboo subject which is less taboo now that the media is all over it and celebrities who are also bashed for their misrepresentation.

No. I read your post and responded with my honest reaction to your post. I was not trying to cause a stir, just telling my honest opinion on the subject like you were. You are not the only one here who is annoyed by the undiagnosed claiming they have Aspergers. You have every right to your opinion of other people, but your original post did not seem to be making this point at all. I find it to be making quite a different point. I would consider anything else to be just adding to and expanding upon it. Try reading it again after a couple of days. I will too. Maybe we will both see something different. I also think people who seek out youtube to educate themselves deserve whatever it is they learn. This statement confuses me. I am not sure what the taboo subject is, or what the media is all over, or how celebrities are being bashed.

Thank you for your response. I feel sorry now if I made you feel uncomfortable. I apologize. Sometimes I babble till getting to the actual point especially when I am not at ease.

Maybe I should drink before posting.

(looks at view more emoticons)

<--- a kitty cat. Instant seal of approval in the world of meowpurr land.

Your response has been stamped with the official seal of approval.

No sweat, really. I feel uncomfortable everywhere. It's just, every now and then, someone here will imply this site should only be for the diagnosed. I'm not certain I can fully disagree. I mean, really, do I belong here? I'm not always so sure.

Maybe not.

See, people, here's the thing: I live in Idaho. Idaho, which is lagging behind the times. And yet, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out I was on the autistic spectrum. In fact, the school nurse was one of the first people to suspect I had it. A school nurse; a member of the medical field whose area of expertise does not extend nearly as far as others'. Various other doctors in my life highly suspected it as well, until I finally got a confirmed diagnosis from a specialist.

But you see, if nobody in your life, particularly doctors, suspect you have it, then you probably don't. I think that people here are far too cynical towards doctors. I dunno, maybe I'm biased towards doctors because they gave me the help I actually needed. Maybe my AS is more severe/noticeable than I thought. But I really don't like it when people push for a diagnosis when they're the only person in their life who thinks they have it. Don't tell me you haven't seen threads like this on WP, because they crop up every few weeks, even days when we get a flood of newbies every once in awhile.

I don't know if people suspect I have it. In the past my speech therapist suspected it after knowing me for three years, and my shrink suspected it after knowing me for almost a year. Doctors thought I was autistic when I was a baby and I dunno if my teachers thought it too. They wrote in my IEP from when I was 5, "she isn't classically autistic." They wrote I have the behavior and have echolalia.

Someone online suspected it because I was taking things literal and not understand what I was reading. Plus I think it was other things I have said about myself.


My special ed teacher could tell I had it and my shrink I saw when I was 16-18 and my last shrink I saw until her term was up at the health clinic. She wouldn't tell me how she could tell. Maybe it was my body language or social communication.


Others wouldn't know if they have never heard of it.

I don't know. I grew up in Orange County, California, in the 1990s, and I did near-constant stimming like rocking and swaying and humming and spinning, narrow interests, lining up objects, often failing to respond to my name, immediate and delayed echolalia comprising about 10-60% of daily speech (depending on time frame, this is when I was age 5-12 and talking conversationally), always going off by myself instead of being groups, never spoke during lunch, and very very rarely during class, often would stare at the ceiling or sort beads instead of processing and understanding instructions. From very early on. (I never went to pre-school, but from kindergarten on.) Oh, and I had severe tantrumming, specific food refusals (at times refusing everything green, then wanting to eat only green things, as I felt sorry for the color green), headbanging, atypical auditory processing, and associated language processing difficulties.

However, I wasn't evaluated until age nine or ten, and the diagnosis was Aspergers. I was in the school system at least four or five years before anyone noticed, and I more or less fit the classic profile, though I am not male (but I do have the all-encompassing interests in math, science, computers, and ceiling fans!). When I was re-assessed eight years later to have more updated paperwork for college, the new assessors decided that classic autism fit more, in fact, which I am guessing has to do with the ways in which the evaluators interpreted the weight of the traits (really, there are a lot, and the line between "AS" and "classic autism" can be blurry).

And some people really have had doctors say things that ignorant to them. So while many people have (fortunately) had much more positive experiences, that doesn't mean that these have been shared, and there is always a risk. Especially when it's going to cost you money. So while some of the statements may be overly cynical, it is a reflection of the fears about what has been encountered before and of what could be encountered again.

IdahoRose, psychiatrists usually lack expertise in autistic spectrum disorders. Studies show they might be as good as a coin toss at detecting AS for instance...

Particularly in adults, diagnosing an ASD reliably (either its presence or absence) requires specialist expertise that most psychiatrists do not have. Without that specialist expertise a person is essentially a lay person in regards to diagnosing AS. I do not see why you disparage lay-self diagnosis, yet do not like those who do not accept a lay diagnosis from someone whose job title happens to be psychiatrist.

For many people no one knew about AS at all when they children and none of the professionals they currently might have contact with nor anyone else in their life is familiar with AS, much less has the expertise to detect it in adults. AS is easier to detect in children, and intervention (including identification) is aimed at children and information about children with AS makes up more of the available information, and is more wide-spread, and among health professionals, information about AS is primarily targeted at those dealing with children. Where from this set of facts do you induce that an adult with AS is going to interact with someone familiar enough with both AS in adults and the adult with AS, in order for someone in that adult's life to think they have AS?

Got any statistics?

I wouldn't say "in adults" as if it is somehow harder as a whole; children who're verbal can be just as hard to diagnose, as not looking at an adult can be a parenting/cultural thing, talking little or not at all (giving the most basic of responses) can be the same too. The only thing adulthood really brings is perhaps a greater ability to remember stock phrases, and to apply them in a social setting, and perhaps the ability to look through someone or something else to give the appearance of eye contact--there'll still be a lack of expression and a monotonous voice.

Asperger's really doesn't change much in appearance from a child to an adult; "HFA" can, and it usually does improve to the level of Asperger's.

[quote="

Asperger's really doesn't change much in appearance from a child to an adult; "HFA" can, and it usually does improve to the level of Asperger's.[/quote]

with great respect i disagree.
As children do learn coping and adaptive behaviour as adults, which can mask signs of AS.

Most psychologists are reluctant to diagnose in adults and the specialists do, but the difficulty is that As was always deascribed and observed studied and learned in children. And even now the adult AS can offer insight into theory of mind and ideation issues that arent just a product of observation but explanation and this has caused soem anxiety amongst the diagnosing professional and has lead to a reluctanc eto diagnose in adults.

To clarify: your right, As remains AS all our lives...what is different is our ability to adapt and cope with it.

Sweetie most people who have asperger's know they have at some level, they may not have a name but they know they have it. You need to take a really big chill pill because your not doing anything to help people just upset them which is not nice.

Yeah, but the differences are easy enough to see. I listed the most commonly occurring adaptive behaviour in individuals with a "high-functioning" type of autism as adults.

- people can adapt via trial and error in regards to social interaction, but it'll be scripted and preplanned; this is using intelligence to remember set answers/approaches to the situation. It's easy enough to trip up these individuals by throwing something totally unexpected at them
- some have learnt to look "through" people, or they perhaps focus on a part of the face so intently that it doesn't overwhelm them when they listen and talk; this can appear to show adequate eye contact, but it's not at all

Even with these two above, there's still a whole slew of nonverbal cues that'll be lacking, as well as the obsessions/repetitive behaviours, and not to mention looking at the outcome of the individual (i.e., failed friendships/relationships, bullying, problems with self-care and independence compared to one's peers, long standing and treatment resistant anxiety/depression, etcetera).

I am only replying to the OP as I haven't read all of the posts...

I totaly agree. I have suspisions (Spel?) that I am somewhere on the spectrum however I don't like saying that I have AS until I get an official diagnosis. I don't even like the term self-diagnosed.

However I do know alot about ASD as it has been an interest of mine for about 2 years now!