AS Symptons that don't apply to me

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I feel like I'm the only person with AS who doesn't lack empathy, doesn't have routines, doesn't have weird obsessions, doesn't have food problems, isn't inflexible, can read people's emotions, isn't sensitive to loud/certain noises and doesn't mind being touched (I actually really love hugs ).

I get really angry when people and 'specialists' act as if every person with AS or HFA DOES do those things, when in fact it isn't always the case.

The only thing that's 'Autistic' about me is the fact that I find it very difficult to start a conversation with new people plus I have problems with anxiety and depression.

Is anyone else the same or similar to me??

That's why autism and aspergers syndrome is on a spectrum, there isn't one specific set of "symptoms", as you call them, that always fit the bill. It's not like you're diagnosing a cold or some virus that has a concrete set of symptoms.

I'm almost like you, except I'm able to start a conversation with new people, and I have a few strange obsesssions. My main trait is the obsessions, where as yours is trouble talking to new people. Other than that, we're almost alike.

I don't lack empathy but the rest of those symptoms you listed I relate to.
I can't start conversations with people I've just met or know really well. I guess it depends. I wouldn't call my smart alek comments conversation.

Last edited by pensieve on 02 Feb 2010, 11:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

True, but you do need to meet specific criteria in order to get a formal diagnosis of AS.

I'm not saying you don't have AS, but I know a TON of non-autistic people (myself included) who find it very difficult to start a conversation with new people and have problems with anxiety and depression.

I had a speech delay and did not speak until I was four.

Depression and anxiety are not symptoms of AS. Precisely which of the AS criteria items do you perceive yourself as fufilling if you exclude those you describe yourself as having?

In light of what you've said I feel more comfortable about calling myself informally diagnosed by others. I have a lot of trouble talking to new people just like you do and some anxiety, too. I don't like loud noises, have trouble reading emotions and probably lack empathy somewhat, and I have attributed some of my achievements to obsessions.

None.........that I have read in DSM or the 'other' one!

I think there's a lot of us who fit most of the criteria as children but "grew" out of some symptoms with age. Yet we're still autistic, just not in a way that's as easy for an outsider to put their finger on. It's tough to explain.

Culturally autistic, autistic cognitive style, but not diagnosable...

It's required to have significant impairment for diagnosis; lots of people diagnosed as kids learn to compensate well enough that by their teen years they no longer need to even take a lot of effort to do it. They're the ones with a "lost diagnosis", basically. They still have autistic traits, but no doctor would call it autism proper.

Whether the OP fits into that category is anybody's guess. Probably can only tell by asking a qualified autism specialist...

I was enjoying coffee with a friend yesterday.

After a while, some noisy construction work (is there any other kind?) started nearby and was shortly after followed by some loud 'music' (emanating OUTSIDE the coffee shop).

I had to run for cover!

Last edited by Blindspot149 on 03 Feb 2010, 4:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

The criteria in the DSM describe childhood, they were not formulated with adult presentation in mind; to say one does not have the symptoms to me is to say that one never met the criteria; perhaps the OP means rather that they do not currently fit the criteria as described in the DSM. It's not how I interpreted the comments myself though.


I continue to meet the criteria if they are applied relative to my age-peers, although I expect most adults would not meet the descriptions of the criteria items as described in relation to children (for instance in literature). I would not personally describe this as not having the symptoms though. If one is currently not delayed in verbal communication when compared to age peers but was delayed in very early childhood, I would not describe this as the person not having that particular symptom (of DSM Autistic Disorder) as the symptom is "age-bounded".

I note that I would have thought I did not meet particular criteria myself prior to discussion with others and diagnosis, but the fact is I do meet them...we are not always the best to judge whether we meet a criteria when it does apply. It does not help that some descriptions are poorly given. We are described by many as lacking empathy and to most people this means lacking sympathy, but it seems when applied to AS it actually means lacking cognitive empathy, which is about communication and not about how much we care or not. So I am curious as to why the OP perceives they do not have particular symptoms, and which symptoms the OP does perceive they are characterized by (including during childhood since this is the time the DSM is specifically targeting its description of criteria at.....hopefully the next edition will better describe the criteria items as they apply to adults).

I do not have food issues, I care about people, I have learned to be flexible, I love to be rubbed, I do not have above normal hearing, I let people hug me if they ask, I don't always have routines, I have pretty good balance and I am not so clumsy, I do fine with change, I've learned over the years. I do not always talk about my obsessions, I can talk about other things. I can have normal conversations. I don't need to be with my obsessions all the time.

I lot of us probably don't remember our behavior as children. Either that or we weren't self-aware enough to take note of certain symptoms. Therefore people who don't express certain symptoms as adults might falsely conclude that they've never had them.


I still think it's possible to not have certain symptoms as one grows older, even when extrapolating the DSM criteria to manifestations of symptoms that are appropriate to age level. A lot of adults on this forum complain about unintentionally offending people and having difficulty interpreting emotions in others. I think that if I still had these difficulties I would be aware of them as others on this forum are. As far as I can tell I don't have these symptoms at all.

The word "empathy" isn't even used in the DSM if I remember correctly. The terminology is "a lack of social reciprocity" which is actually a more concrete and (IMO) accurate description. "empathy" seems to refer to something that goes on internally, inside the mind. I don't think professionals are in the position to infer what's really going on inside an autistic person's mind.

Aha, and I think you will find that whether or not the OP remembers is not something that you can tell me. That this is one plausible explanation among a group of plausible explanations is not something I overlooked. That there are many possible reasons for the OP's comments (and more than one interpretation) is precisely why I asked, and not a question you can actually answer since you are not the OP.

No kidding. I am curious about the OP marshall, not because I lack the capacity to conceive of more than one possible explanation and interpretation of their comments, but because I realise there is more than one such and this makes me curious. I do not see how you can answer my question for the OP.

I did not claim that it was in the DSM, but it is in the OP's post (and is routinely referred to in relevant literature), and is one of the symptoms the OP claims not to have, hence why I specifically mentioned it and the fact that there is some confusion in respect of it.

If the OP wishes to answer my question and satisfy my curiosity then that is fine, if they would rather not answer my question then that is fine too, but there really is no way you can answer my question or do anything other than suggest the same possibilities that I am already aware of. If I thought there were not multiple possible answers that might apply, I would not need to ask anything and only the OP knows which possible answer applies in their particular instance.