What were you diagnosed with during the 80s?

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Nothing. Nothing at all. Apparently my wierd dysfunctional behaviours and obvious distress didn't ring any alarm bells.

I remember my second year at university when the new students arrived, and suddenly there were lots of people around with Aspergers diagnoses, when I'd never met any before. It's like I was born exactly 1 year too early for anyone to think of checking for that.

Needing smacked more often.

General physical stuff that I was born with
Mutism and a speech / communication disorder (1970s)
Being useless as tits on a bull (8th December 1980, by my mother)

Thought to add that I received speech therapy & some kind of motor-skills therapy about once a month at school till I started high-school. I forget what those diagnoses were. I was still eligible for those services when I started high-school due to still having some issues. The services would not have been provided at my high-school & I would of had to walk to the nearby middle-school which likely would have meant missing two classes for each service instead of just one. I struggled majorly with lots of school stuff due to my dyslexia & other related issues so my parents thought it was best for me to not have those two services instead of missing two classes each time I had a service. I bet if I had those services all 4 years of high-school my functioning or disability level would not have been much better when I graduated.

An IEP thing I had when I was in second or third grade mentioned suspecting me of having ODD/Oppositional Defiant Disorder. It also mentioned that I had learning issues & that I watched other kids play & was part of the group while at the same time somehow not part of it. The previous sentence should have raised the evaluators suspicion for autism. The reason the ODD was suspected was because I did things after being told not to & got argumentative when I got in trouble. Some of those problems were due not me not understanding why different rules applied in different situations or why different people seemed to get held to different standards with following the rules. I was bullied a bit(or a lot at times) & bullies sometimes lied about me or I acted out in frustration. I also sometimes did things without realizing it like talking to myself or making noises when daydreaming as a way of stimming & I occasionally spit when I talked without realizing it. My classmates & teachers assumed those things were on purpose. I got argumentative because I felt I was not being listened to when I was trying to explain myself. Ie the principle once asked me why I spit in someones face & I assumed my classmate was lying at the time because he did bully me but looking back now I probably had done it, I said I did not spit in his face, principle then asked why did the teacher say I did, I said it was because he told her I did, the principle then made a comment about me being a smart-aleck. I did not understand those were rhetorical questions that I was not supposed to answer. Looking back I think some things would have gone easier for me if had selective mutism like maybe I would have been ignored more by my classmates & teachers or perhaps even gotten some kind of help for autism. My mom suspected me of having autism since I was a toddler but my GP laughed & said "Nick's just being Nick" There was & still is no cure for autism & I was already receiving services in school for dyslexia & ADD so my parents didn't think getting me diagnosed would help with anything. Both my parents worked very hard to be lower middle-class & our health insurance s#cked. I had physical health issues I needed to see docs for. Mom wasn't really allowed to miss work much & when my dad missed work to bring me places he didn't get paid.

Up until the early 90s I think it was "temperamental artist". My parents didn't really care for the stereotype, but at that time they didn't really know what else I could be. Then I was diagnosed with "schizophrenia form disorder" and "learning disability". Which is awfully broad and vague

I've been wondering lately if I really have schizotypal personality disorder instead of ASD. Or both.

Depression. That's still my only diagnosis. Even though I have other mental health problems in addition to autistic traits, and I have been seeing a therapist and psychiatrist. They don't think diagnoses are necessarily useful and I guess I partly agree since people don't tend to fit well in diagnostic boxes. It still leaves me quite perplexed. I also have ME/CFS (chronic fatigue) and I had to come up with that diagnosis myself about 20 years ago, though doctors have since agreed with it.

I was "diagnosed" during an psychophysics experiment on sound detection as having very exceptional hearing range. This astonished me. I had previously thought everyone else heard sound as I did. The professor was baffled and couldn't explain it. It was only much later that I realised it was an AS trait (for some) and that I was on the spectrum. It has been both a blessing and a curse..

I was diagnosed with language disorder.