Asperger Diagnosis and its Necessity or Not?

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An AS or ASD professional diagnosis should be taken very seriously, as it will following you the rest of your life. I suggest that anyone considering the possibility of getting such a diagnosis to make sure it is to their legal and personnel advantage to do so. It can cause so much self illumination, while at the same time causing problems in the legal, family, occupational and other venues of life.

Some lesser known effects and experiences with a diagnosis; especially if you come all the way out of the closet, include the following:

* Causing problems with acquiring insurance, it is a preexisting condition according to some insurance companies. Making acquiring and keeping insurance problematic.

* Autism is highly genetic, highly traceable to the fathers side of the family, if diagnosed, this needs to be broken to the family gently and tactfully, especially if they are not previously aware that this may be the case. I did not get this advice and paid a price for my ignorance.

* Workplace acceptance is a mixed bag, generally the more more educated the environment and its occupants the more acceptance and assistance you will find but not always.

* This next one is a little more controversial, with the public at large and individuals in general, the more progressive their thinking patterns, the more understanding and tolerance you will receive from them, conversely the more dogmatic and rigid their thinking patters you the less you will receive.

Also:

In general the more alignment with a notion of an absolute free-will a organization or person has, the less likely they are to understand a neurologically based cognitive difference like ASD or Aspergers, they will tend to see all your behavior as a choice. Free-will is a cardinal tenant of many ideologies and a cognitive neurological difference tends to lend a challenge to its many of its assumptions, even if unwittingly. Free-will absolutist are not in general very good at understanding people with cognitive differences as they can tend to be very judgmental, impatient or indifferent.

I had my diagnosis at a late age (55), but have still feet the effects in both good and bad related to the above comments though out my life. But I still recommend the professional diagnosis it there is good reason and little choice.

Free-will and its special relationship to AS will be source of another discussion on this forum at another time.

This is a smart observation. Paradoxical how so many right-wingers jump straight from god to free-will; and left wingers, too, only their ideology moves covertly from some monopolized sense of what is natural. What both sides have in common: free will is always in the eye of the beholder, and to the benefit of the beholder. Don't stop thinking.

As someone not yet 20 and diagnosed rather early (around age 5 I believe), I can't say my diagnosis has had much positive effect. It's pretty hard to believe a few sessions at that age with a Speech-Language Pathologist saved me from much of any social trouble - I still had plenty. Fast forward fourteen years and there's still no telling how it colored my parents' views of my personality or the circumstances of their divorce shortly thereafter. My dad has a diagnosis of Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, and I rarely see any of my analytic tendencies in him, while my mom could be described as at least partially Obsessive-Compulsive, or Borderline. I'm aware there are more precursors going farther back on my dad's side (my late grandfather was an early programmer) however in all the stories I heard from my dad about the sterile atmosphere of the 1950's & '60s United States, none of the characteristic traits we hear so much about showed up. As such, I firmly believe my Autism Spectrum diagnosis stems from a bevy of genetic precursors, as opposed to hereditary predisposition. Workplace acceptance? That's a laugh, educated or not, or in the process of being educated, I've met some unabashedly mean people behind desks. I'm a serious techie, and I've never worked for or with anyone under twice my age, and only a few of those guys actually got along with me. While I agree for the most part about progressive thinking in relation to tolerance, it can create harmful social presumptions - you know, like joking about things nobody REALLY ever got past... Also one of my favorite friends to talk like a sailor with, much unlike myself, is a pretty hardline conservative, yet still an atheist as I'm pretty sure I am.

My advice? Gravitate to people who can reconcile warring ideologies for their own means to an end. That's what I work at...

Excellent post; you illuminated a subject that I used to ponder a lot previous to my diagnosis this year. I now think about my actions in different terms, but it is also too easy to just say screw it, and stop trying.

Too often I see people, regardless of what notions of 'will', 'intellect', 'hard work' are all meaningless. The vast majority of what influences a person is their upbringing and genetics. Indeed, no one even 'chose' to come to being.

You can't choose who your parents are or which mutations, beneficial or not that you receive during every stage of cell division. You can't choose how your parents treat you, their socio economic status, your country of residence. You don't pick who associates with you early on in life nor how it affects you.

Imo 'free will' really means jack in the grand scheme of things. Indeed, how much willpower you may even possess is greatly out of your control. It is unfair to trash a blonde for being 'dumb', or to reward someone for their exceptional intellect, which I find akin to rewarding someone for being 'beautiful'. It is practically unfair to punish someone for being a drug addict, a homeless bum, or for being a murderer and rapist. Its simply a necessary evil, these constructs are demanded by humanity.

By definition, you need to be impaired in day to day activities and require support to get by, so yes, it's necessary.

If you don't have and need that, then there'd be little need to bother with it all.