No need for a diagnosis?

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Anyone else think that they personally don't need a professional diagnosis for aspergers? I mean its so obvious. I didn't really ask my parents about it since I find it kinda awkward to suddenly bring it up in a conversation. I did go to a specialist when I was really little (before age 5) and another psychologist later in life mentioned about OCD and aspergers. But I was wondering, does any other "syndrome" inhibit social interaction abilities?

Schizophrenia, various personality disorders...

I've come across Social Anxiety Disorder.

If you're not affected by your condition enough to need assistance, then how is it a disability? If you need assistance, you'll need a diagnosis, if you don't need assistance, there may not be anything seriously wrong with you.

Impaired social interaction is only ONE aspect of AS.

Avoidant personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, schizoid PD, maybe schizotypal (those negative schizoprehnic symptoms), or maybe even schizophrenia itself. I think also there's attachment disorders. I think PTSD can sometimes make people socially isolated and home-bound.

Pretty much any mental illness makes one socially awkward. However, Aspergers and Autism poses a distinct disability with regards to social interaction.

I may need some assistance soon. I'm having issues in school.

I got my diagnosis a couple of years ago for my own peace of mind. Now I know why I have certain problems in my life, and can quit beating myself up for being a genius in some ways and a complete idiot in others. I have made it on my own all this time and it has been difficult.

Needing assistance and wanting assistance are two separate things. Now my life is easier because I hired people to assist me with the tasks I have trouble with. They don't understand how I can have problems with things that are simple for them, but they don't complain because they get paid. I don't feel I am wasting money on them because with my diagnosis., I understand why I want them.

getting accommodations from a school usually requires a psychoeducational assessment, similar to an IQ test, yet expanded and broken down to test specific skills.

They are sometimes included in the assessment for AS sometimes not. I would talk to the accessibility office at your school to see what they need, you don't want to pay for testing just to find its not what they accept.

Its allot of hoops, but the accommodations can make a big difference

I'm curious about this too. I am dxed with schizoaffective and told I have ADHD and Avoidant though it's not on the papers.

I was told (someone please confirm) that in schiz, people are afraid of others and don't want to socialize, while in AS people want to socialize but can't.

Also I read that people with schiz don't have social skills problems as a kid. I did so I think my mental health people's theory that schiz is causing my social problems is wrong. Plus I don't meet the requirement of a long period of psychosis outside a mood episode for that dx and I'm mad at it.

If you don't need a diagnosis, then you aren't eligible for a diagnosis.

This is because, if you don't need a diagnosis, then there's no impairment; therefore there can't be a diagnosis.

You may, however, easily identify as "broader autistic phenotype" or "subclinical autistic traits"; and for those, you don't need a diagnosis because it's not something that needs treatment. People in those groups still have a great deal in common with the disabled members of the autistic community; I know a lot of people here on WP are subclinical, and they don't particularly stick out to me as all that different from the rest (I can't, for that matter, even identify who's who from their posts).

Yes, there is no need for a diagnosis. That's just a tool used by society. Most treatment for things you can adapt to is just done through cognitive behavior therapy.


I personally would like to have my diagnosis updated but my ADHD one alone is enough to request a quiet secluded work environment.. for some reason they ReALLY don't want to do it. I keep telling them I could push my results off the charts compared to past if I just had quiet in which I could fully concentrate and apply myself

Plenty. Though most of them in distinctly different ways than Asperger's.

That's just not true. In fact, no one needs a diagnosis. No one. Some people benefit from diagnosis. But qualifying for a diagnosis does not automatically create the potential for benefit.

Just because one has clinically significant impairment does not mean that services requiring a diagnosis are the only answer.

In my situation, they have my social problems caused by different reasons. But I need to ask someone if they are considered a real impairment or not.

That's about it.

If you have AS to the point that it impairs your ability to have a decent quality of life (even something as simple as keeping a good job because you don't "get along well" with co-workers), you have to PROVE you have AS in order for any legal rights to accommodation to kick in.

If you can manage well enough that people just accept you as "eccentric," the Dx won't do you much good, but it doesn't mean you don't have AS.