How Many People Here Are actually Autistic or have Aspergers

Post Reply New Topic

I can read facial expressions sometimes. 95% of the time I wouldn't know.
I tried several online tests about reading facial expressions. Didn't do so well on them.

Maybe I have "P-DAR". That makes me wary.

Every single word of this is brilliant.

I was told I was diagnosed with autism at about 3 years of age but only found this out a few years ago. So yes: I am on the spectrum.

If anyone wants to know how many people here have been professionally diagnosed, self-diagnosed, etc., try the search function. I know there have been polls before. If Garyww is going to keep insisting that there are "posers" too cowardly to post on this ridiculous thread, it would be nice if he actually explained that assertion.

Obviously, he has a list and is checking against that. For some reason, he's identifying and documenting people here.

I am under the spectrum, and was given a dx of PDD-NOS because of my late speech. I can easily read facial expressions and body language but it took me time to learn it. Funny enough my son is 4.5 and is also under the spectrum.. he understands body language and facial expressions very well. If he is purposely misbehaving, he immediately stops after I give him that look!!

A few points:

I try to be constructive here, and I have AS.
I am very, very empathetic (once someone verbalizes what's going on) and I have AS.
I do not flame anyone or shove my religion down anyone's throat (it's against my religion to do that) and I have AS.
I have read many psychology textbooks, and the people in my life are nearly all NT, and I love them all. And I have AS.

So what's not to like? Why throw away your diagnosis because you've found some lousy people around here. There are lousy people everywhere. Concentrate on the good people and hope for the best with the others. That's what I do, anyway, and that way, I get support for what's going on with me and I can try to be helpful to people having a tough time.

When I hear the us-and-them thing going on here, I figure that it's either coming from younger people who have been through bullying and the sting is still very fresh, or that it's coming from people who have had a lot of bad experiences in their lives and have chosen a life of taking sides. I don't take the us-and-them thing very seriously, because it's way too simplistic. But that's just me. To each his/her own.

As for this community being unhinged--it's no more unhinged than any other community. Ever belong to a religious community? An academic community? A corporate community? I've belonged to all three. I no longer belong to any of them. I prefer a life of sanity.

Take a look at who has posted so far. See a lot of faces that haven't been to visible in long time don't you? I never asked anyone to 'prove' that they are on the spectrum. I just made the observation that a lot of posters don't have any symptoms and this thread kind of proves it since some 'regular' posters have chosen to stay away for some reason.
I just wanted to sitr it up a little and find out where people were coming from. You have to admit that this was a very active thread, time wise, compared to many here so maybe somebody needed to come out and ask the question that to me seemed obvious.

I am diagnosed with autistic disorder. It is written down.

I am not sure what you are saying. I also see very active posters in this thread. I have replied to at least three topics similar to this one since joining WP. The question is not new, nor is the implication members have picked up. (although you say you did not imply) As far as the hot topic...I see it happen all the time. Sometimes I can hardly keep up with them. Some of the posters in PPR can type faster than I can read.

You mean like showing your picture in your avatar?

I would like to point out, that even though some people here may not have full-blown AS, or whatever, they are here because they have had some of the same issues in life, and can relate to people with AS.

I am always seeing people post on here that they have little or no friends and can't find anybody to relate to, yet alot of them are unwilling to give people that aren't 100% AS a try.

Last edited by SilverStar on 08 Dec 2008, 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Maybe that they didn't read the post.....?

It sure is a fast growing thread, with all the instances of necromancy lately, I thought it was another one raised from the dead when I first saw it.

I have no idea how many people who post regularly do or do not have an ASD. I honestly think it's a bit of an iffy call to make over the internet. I do not agree that being able to 'spot autists' on the internet is some innate autistic talent possessed at a group-wide level.

My understanding is that people are allowed to post, autistic or otherwise, so long as they are not disruptive. We certainly have no way of checking who is really autistic.

I do not blame someone for being curious about the ratio of ASDers to non-ASDers amongst regular contributers; I often wonder how many people who are not autists post regularly and what their purpose is (curiosity, identifies with aspies, have friends/family who are autistic, some other reason). But I see no reason why they should be discouraged from posting here if they are not disruptive.