How do I know if I have asperger's?

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What is it like to have the disorder? What's your story? I think I may have it because of my social awkwardness.

1. take the rdos aspie quiz
2. do a ton of research
3. try to get officially diagnosed

edit- the most comprehensive book on aspergers is: The Complete guide to aspergers syndrome by tony attwood

Last edited by Alexender on 26 Feb 2012, 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Set up an appointment and get tested. Bring a list of all the traits you think you have.

Start with this quiz.

http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

Some clues...
Lack of friends
High intelligence
Love of routine
Lack of empathy

Unfortunately the list seems endless and not all Aspie's have the same issues.

B

For me it is like walking through a crowded room but not being able to hear anything.

Right now I am trying to bond with a romantic partner and he seems to have bonded to me very effectively but I often feel like there is a wall of glass a foot thick between us...like I can see him but I can't seem to feel him. He doesn't know this though. I think it would hurt him to know that.

It is also confusing and frightening because I will go out to social gatherings and get along fine with everyone but then I almost never go out with that group of people again because after the event is over, I spend the next several days or weeks going over every single interaction I had with others in my mind until I am just too tired to even try anymore.

I think that since I wasn't diagnosed until I was 29, I had already internalized a lot of my quirks and learned to hide them to avoid additional pain. This internalization of my thoughts and confusions has led to me being a highly neurotic person in private and very "normal" in public. You would think this is a good thing because people don't realize I am different until they really get to know me, but it turns out that even if I am falling apart, no one knows and so no one can help.

This happened after my last boyfriend and I broke up four years ago actually. Basically my behaviour (I was late often and forgot details of some of my projects.) at work became erratic because I wasn't sleeping well from grief and after a couple of months, my boss actually asked me if I had begun using illegal drugs! When I explained that no, I was very much sober but heartbroken, he was floored. I guess no one in the office had any idea that my partner and I had split.

I don't think "high intelligence" is in any way a symptom or a sign of Asperger's. Indeed, people with Asperger's tend to score slightly lower on mathematics tests, and do slightly worse than their peers academically, in a classroom setting.

Unfortunately I got a 127/200 on the quiz, I guess I should see a doctor. I appreciate the quick responses! Thanks everyone.

I've suspected for sometime I had aspergers,
I did the online test ; 138 of 200
Gutted- & I wish I'd found out sooner, as I'm 45 now & have suffered regarding working alongside others, & never having any close friends.

I'm sort of also relieved its been confirmed - (if only by on-line assessment) it feels like a weight off my shoulders of wondering, I'm not going to be exploited paying silly money for the official diagnosis, I've been through enough.

Knowing I'm not "normal" since the age of 14, I went for an I.Q. test 10 years ago to see if I was an "idiot"* (*of low intelligence in polite terms) , but they said my intelligence was "well above average", - but I knew something was wrong, & I'd never heard of aspergers at the time of the I.Q. test , surely they could've refered or suggested , why the hell did'nt they recognize from what I told them ?

Things could've been better for me had I known , instead of spending most of my life wondering why people regarded me as an oddball.

I think the scoring slightly worse in mathematics is 1. Just an averaging, not a trait 2. It was relative to the rest of their scores, not their peers. As for performance in class room, the reason aspies do slightly worse is again, an averaging, and second, related to issues unrelated to intelligience. I think it more of "academic issues issues despite high intelligience" than high intelligience. Also, lack of empathy isn't really a trait either.

To answer the titular question, meet with a specialist.

^^ It can be so if the level of "high intelligence" specifys on one particular subject ...

EDIT; also, correct me if I'm wrong , the meaning of the word empathy is how one person relates to another persons feelings in a similar situation, for instance, when my uncle died , his daughter said to me "how can you hold yourself together so well?, how can you be so strong??"
I avoided answering her, I felt terrible.

The thing is, I lack the ability to grieve on the same level, I put this down to me being denied the oportunity by my parents to attend my grandads funeral when I was 11, I was ushered off to school, so a lack of "life experience" at an early age maybe , I dont know, but because of that & the way I am & aspergers, I lack "empathy" (if I have the correct meaning of that word, so correct me if I'm wrong)

Last edited by modelmaker on 26 Feb 2012, 6:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Well, I got 151/200 Aspie and 62/200 NT on the quiz last week. Then I started reading descriptions about what it's like to live with AS and my life actually made sense to me for the first time ever.

I'm not keen on seeing a doctor (I never am), but my husband thinks that getting a formal dx would be beneficial. We'll see... I'm about as certain as I can be that I have AS given that my life finally makes sense and that when I told three good friends about my suspicions they were not surprised in the least.

Yep. Same here. I only found out about AS a week or two ago and my whole 30 years of life suddenly went clear. When I told my mom about it, she wasn't surprised either, in fact, she even added more details that she noticed from when I was a kid, to today - that I either have forgotten, or not noticed.

All we can do was laugh. Not at being an AS but rather that because now, we understand, we were enlightened. My younger brother seem to be the same, my father definitely is one. I asked in the WrongPlanet IRC if it's hereditary, they said current studies and research inclines on that. No wonder then. It actually helped knowing, even though just self-diagnosed.

Go see a shrink.

I've always known I was different to other people, it just seemed like everyone else lived in a slightly different world to me. I never fitted in with that world and just couldn't quite grasp how to fit in with it. That and a whole bunch of traits led me down the asperger route, I did the quizzes they came out as aspie. I've read alot about it and as musicmama put it for the first time in my life everything made sense, why I feel, think and act the way I do. I became self-diagnosed a few months ago but I'm currently seeking an official diagnosis as I don't want to really tell anyone I have something just incase I'm wrong (but I'm 99.9% sure because it just fits so well with my behaviour and thoughts etc).

I have told my parents and as with jcsesecuneta my mother told me things I'd forgotten, some which I remembered but didn't know the reason for. Like not speaking at all during primary (elementary) school I remember that, what I didn't recall is that the reason was because I'd been told by a teacher we were there to learn not to talk and I'd taken that literally.

It's also helped me make sense of my dad's behaviour, I'm pretty certian he's on the spectrum too based on his behaviour. So now when we visit and he's off at a computer fair rather then seeing us (we only visit every few months) I understand now because that's his obsessive interest and I no longer take it personally. It also helps me understand my daughter more and I see alot of my traits in her but they manifest slightly differently, I can be quite sensitive to sounds but more so to smells, wheras she is very sensitive to sounds but not smells.

It's ultimately helped me understand myself better, before I didn't know why I would get so upset over things and have what is essentially a tantrum. I couldn't explain properly why certain fabrics made me feel wrong or why I felt like I was chocking because of someone's perfume. Why I obsessed over every last detail of a conversation, why I have conversations in my head before having them (I plan what I'm going to say, what the person in return will say and so on), why I flap my arms when bored or in an awkward situation, why I do my hand patterns, my vocal outbursts, why I've never had any real friends, why I find socialising so hard and exhausting...well the list goes on.

Definately get yourself on the path to a diagnosis for your own peace of mind, like I said I'm so sure this is what I have but there's always that doubt eating away at me of what if I'm wrong...I know something isn't right so if it's not Asperger's then what is it?

Good luck

I'm pretty much in the same boat. I think I may have aspergers after someone suggested it. Another person who has worked with autistic kids said she thought for years that I have it.

I think it's interesting how many people say "My life makes sense now!". That's how I felt after reading about aspergers for 3 days! I see so much of myself in the descriptions.

I definitely wanna see someone about it.

Is it weird that I'm kinda hoping for a diagnosis? I don't see it as a good or bad thing, just an explanation of why I am the way I am and how my mind works.