Can others tell you have Asperger's?

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Hi there! I am new to this forum...been browsing for a few days on information about Asperger's and came across this forum which seemed very interesting and helpful.

I am wondering if trained professionals and professors, or anyone really, can tell when someone has Asperger's? Or would they just assume someone might be shy? I'm not sure what vibe I give off that would make people think I have something wrong with me. What would they be noticing about me that screams I have this???

In your experiences, have you found you can spot people with Asperger's?

Well someone who worked in psychology, my brother's ex actually said I may have it. I was thinking I had dyslexia at the time. Then when I told him he thought it was more obvious that I had AS instead of dyslexia.
I sometimes suspect people of AS if they are really quiet, socially awkward, make repetitive movements with their fingers etc.
I once met The singer of The Vines who is well known to have AS, but if he didn't know I would have suspected it because the whole time talking he wouldn't make eye contact, seemed uninterested in what I was talking about and had hardly any body language. Lovely guy though, and I hope our paths do cross again.

It's easy to distinguish between someone with an ASD and someone without (barring certain types of Schizophrenia).

Some easy ones just by looking and hearing (this is the higher functioning folk with AS or HFA):

-a flat expression (no facial expressions, an "empty" and "robotic" look), though some may smile a lot, but they'll smile at inappropriate things
-a monotonous voice, which means a lack of emotional inflection; the majority have this, but some can speak in a sing-song or childlike voice (it's still monotone though)
-a lack of eye contact
-recites information like a textbook, but otherwise, doesn't have all that much left to add to a conversation
-a rigid posture and gait

I think some Special Education professionals can probably see it.

Most of the (few) people that I come into contact with have almost certainly never heard of it.

One friend explained that I couldn't possibly have AS because I was looking him in the eyes (briefly during the short exchange when we discussed it!)

My AS is quite well disguised behind a successful businesss and predominantly intellectual and (solo) sporting pastimes that most would probably NOT consider AUTISTIC, so my AS is probably seen mostly as aloofness, a tendency to be (semantic) pragmatic, someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly and of course.....................a blurter

I can't tell whether people can tell or not. Of course, noone is gonna come out and say it...
Most of the people I hang/work around are sorta self-absorbed counter-culture types...who don't know that much about it anyway...or people on the spectrum...or with various mental issues of their own....
I don't know what "normal" folk see when they look at me...

I know that there were teachers who could tell that I was odd when I was younger. I got some mentoring and special treatment out of it....

My mother suspected something when I was young, but no doctors would listen to her as the idea of a "mild" autism was not known very well in the US at that time. I don't know why my parents never brought it up with me when I was older though.

I didn't know what autism was or had even heard about AS until 2006. Some woman I had been talking with online for less than a week at the time I think it was, brought it up. She is a teacher and had said she thought I may have it. Interesting that she would assume that from just text alone. No physical or audible cues of any kind.

Some guy who was visiting, that I hadn't met before that point, asked me after a couple of days if I had ever been to this forum. When I asked why, he claimed it was because he found it through YouTube and wanted to know if I knew a user here. A strange reason, I thought! I later heard that he had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was younger.

Although I am still not certain that Asperger's Syndrome is a completely fitting diagnosis, first opinions of me by more knowledgeable than the average on the subject seem to disagree.

A few years ago a teen-aged girl at the video store asked me if I had AS, which was really weird. I think the main thing is public awareness -- it's still pretty low. That girl just happened to have a friend with AS and so had a clue as to what it looks like (and I was tired and my 'act' was slipping, too). That never happened in 39 years.

I think most people miss it or just put it aside as oddness in my personality.
People who know me better, probably see it. There are some friends that are a bit 'worried' about me.

I only once saw someone that recognized it after 15 minutes of seeing me. But he has a son who is autistic, so he had more knowledge.

It could also be people put my behaviour on 'high intelligence'. Those people are not around much, so how should people know how they behave?

Well I was the one who raised to possibilty of me having aspergers to my psychologist. When I told her she admitted that she had noticed a lot of the traits but wasn't going to bring it up unless I mentioned it. I suppose some people might find it offensive if someone suggested they might have something "wrong" with them. Also just because someone has some if the traits doesn't mean they have the full syndrome.

As for lay people I have no idea how they see me. I kind hope they view me as just a slightly shy, aloof, intellectual person? No one has ever suggested I have something wrong, except for my chemistry teacher, who told my mum he was worried because I didn't speak at all in class, so he didn't know if I understood the work or not. The irony is chemistry was my favourite class and generally one of the ones I was best at.

I can spot aspies on the streets, on television, in videos and in pictures. After many years of doing research on all things, Asperger's, it's pretty hard for me not to. Their body language is something that I recognize in myself. The eye-contact also gives it away. I notice the eye-contact thing in myself, as well. If I'm lucky enough to talk to an aspie, I notice that a lot of the time, their voice is monotone, an unusual pitch for their gender, or they appear to speak with a foreign accent. I happen to be the type with the deep voice and the accent.

Actually, people can tell that I have it.

People can't tell I have it usually, well, they don't meet me and think ! !!AS ALERT!! !. I have had comments in the past about how obsessive I can get and stuff like that, but there's no concern because to them I'm just Sophie. The only people that really pick anything up are people that know anyway, like certain friends or people in authority like teachers.
Although a couple of months ago on parents evening my psychology teacher said when the classroom inspectors were in they noticed I prefered working on my own.

I think people know that there is something wrong or different with me but since everyone I know has no idea what an "aspergers" is, they don't know what to think of it, so they just see me as "different".

I don't think the average person has enough awareness to know what aspergers even is, nevermind indentify someone with it. People generally just think I'm strange.

I can indentify someone on the spectrum rather easily. The girl on my daughters basketball team is. I think her parents are aware.

As for my one experience, I had a man at a mower shop, who I was listening to him talk about a brush cutter, and speaking my mind on what I needed, which led on to him telling my mother/carer that he has a son with autism too when I was looking at chainsaws later on (albeit his son is a teenager, whereas I'm twenty eight).

So, evidently, if you're in the know....

I have met people 2 times who have guessed it, one because her own son was aspie, another because she had read a lot about it.
But they didn't tell me before I told them myself.

Some people may feel that there is "something" about me; I know my family did that before I got diagnosed 29 years old.