Not Autistic/Aspergian, but not NT..?

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You see,
I'm well aware of my abnormalities, social awkwardness (bordering on anti-social), habits and compulsions.. and that it makes it difficult for me to function among normal people and family without having to act (conducting and coaching my actions mentally all the while, which is draining and can't be done for too long).
..But, I do not have a diagnosis of Asperger's or anything more exotic than plain old depression/anxiety. Mostly because I don't feel it's worth the effort to seek out a diagnosis and all that. (And my brother is autistic--but I was never suspected of aspergers during my childhood, at least not that I know of.)

So, where might this place me? I'm not neuro-typical, I don't know if I'm an "aspie", though I'm not a "wannabe", either. Are there others here in this predicament? I come here because I can relate to a lot of the things people post about, though at the same time it can feel awkward replying to a thread directed towards aspergians when I am not officially on the spectrum (despite having many similar struggles/traits). Am I/are we allowed to contribute, considering all this?

I'm pretty sure you can be a little bit on the spectrum, even if you aren't quite severe enough to qualify for a disability. My dad is less social then I am, but he was able to get his Phd without support.

IMO you can contribute, if you feel a kinship.

If your brother is autistic (he has Autistic Disorder), it's likely that you have BAP, broader autism phenotype (if you aren't severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of Asperger's or Autism that is, and you show traits of such).

There's some good information on BAP out there. Here's a recording on such: BAP

I feel exactly the same way. I was about to post a similar topic yesterday, but suddenly my internet shut off and my computer was unwilling to cooperate. Instead of starting another topic, here is a bit of what I wrote:

"All aspie traits present themselves in the human population.
Some people express more traits than others, and some of these people have AS.

Its safe to say that everyone on this site has at least one aspie trait, because even hypochondriacs are obsessive.
Its also reasonable to say that noone here expresses all possible traits and characteristics."

So, I can conclude that I deserve to be here, because I must have at least one aspie trait. And I don't have to feel bad if I've never suffered a major meltdown or if, in the future, AS is ruled out, because I know that many, if not all, of my personality traits align well with those of the members of this site.

All this jabbering I've typed out could be paraphrased by saying that ridiculous science they call psychology can't explain everything. Yet.

Your description sounds like the way I used to think about myself - but now I realise that I was just in denial, & I can see how very "different" a lot of my behaviour is, & how others must see me!

I started off by saying, "if I do have AS, I must have it very mildly" but actually I now think that for a female aspie, whose traits are less pronounced anyway, I stand out more than most!

Yeah, I think I'm a bit half-way myself. I just hang around here because I like the atmosphere!

(p.s. maybe the 'NT'/'As'/''don't know' categories should be replaced with a sliding scale? People could put down where they think they are on the spectrum. Although I guess that'd be up to personal opinion and it would go against the grain of Aspie black and white thinking )

Thank you all for your input. =) I feel a bit more at ease now.
And I'll look into this broader autism phenotype.. I'm surprised I've never read about it before.
Really, the only reason I would want a diagnosis (whether it be Asperger's or whatever) is so that certain others, like my family would stop blaming me and being hostile towards me for things that I have little control over.
As for my brother.. Like I said he's autistic, and kind of low-functioning; he never speaks (unless he's being hassled to; in that case it's just short, fragmented monotone sentences). He can understand what's going around him, I'm sure, but mostly he just stays very quiet and still. So we're quite different in that regard, yet we have this connection and I'm usually the only one in my family that can actually understand him, or decode his very subtle body language.
We do both share the habit of locking ourselves in the bathroom when we go into sensory/social overload, though. Which always annoys everyone.

..I completely forgot where I was going with this post, but yeah.