Yeah heres the hi I'm new stuff

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hello, my name is Charlie, i live just outside London, UK, and on Tuesday 05 March 2013, after 20 years of problems, I was diagnosed with ASD (it would be aspergers but there is currently some confusion about use of the aspergers term). I still have to see another specialist to get a final final diagnosis because they need to make sure of where on the spectrum I really fall so for that I have to wait another few weeks to see an additional person.

I do also have a lot of overlapping issues, mainly OCD/OCPD behaviours, occasional depression due to my isolation, occasional anxiety from being overwhelmed, sometimes an eating disorder but that is mainly because calories/diet becomes my special interest...erm.. this and that, nothing you've never heard before so won't be too boring.

Some of my stuff really doesn't seem like autism either like for example I don't fit the stereotype of being the nerd type, have never been like that, I have specialist interests and can deliver monologues about them buttttt on the whole never been at all nerdy, gifted, or in to anything like maths or science? is that a common misconception? i could not really be farther from that.

But I suppose my autismy stuff is.... sensory, stimming, lack of connection with others (no friends, no relationships, ever) no connection to people around me, complete lack of identification with them, its not really that I dont understand people but I dont relate to them at all, but then again, I don't understand them because I don't get what makes them tick...errrm really enjoy and prefer to be alone 98% of time, during which i mainly focus on a special interest, total obsession with orderliness, lists,distress at loud noises (cannot even watch TV due to sounds of people clapping or whatever), need lots of time to recover after socialising (not that I ever do but if forced to , say with family etc, then I need regular time outs alone upstairs in my room, during and after), hate crowds, any noise, any thing like that, really hate change, and change of plans, need to know exactly what is happening and when...

^^ I think this is about my autismyness in a nutshell.
Sometimes I wonder if I have it or not. But I suppose so as the professionals are saying I do. It is a relief after years of problems to have an explanation though to help people understand me a lil Interested to contribute here and be around people where I'm not the odd one out.. hehe..thanks for having me, see you around the forums

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome And good to have you here.

You are quite witty, Charlie! I was only going to read a couple posts tonight but your 'Yeah heres the hi I'm new stuff' subject line caused me to really laugh out loud! Thanks, I needed that tonight!!

Welcome Charlie

Hello, Charlie

It takes all sorts to make a world, especially on the wrong planet - there is a modern ASC proverb;

"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."

It is so very true!

If you got diagnosis then you can be 99.9% certain you are on the spectrum because diagnosis is not given if there is any doubt in the mind of the professional - just because your traits and presentation don't fit the stereotype doesn't mean they aren't there. There are artists here, linguists, teachers, builders and chefs.....as well as scientists, engineers and mathematicians - they do make up the majority of those who get the AS diagnosis (especially the men) but it is not essential to be a computer nerd to be on the spectrum.

As for the ASD diagnosis, there is a reason for that - AS will no longer exist as a diagnosis after 2015. This year the american diagnostic criteria will be updated (in May officially but probably in Sept - they're always late with the DSM) and AS as a separate condition will be removed. It is likely the WHO criteria will follow suit in 2015 as the consensus amongst professionals is that this is what needs to happen.
After the criteria change AS will not exist as such - all people will be diagnosed as on the autism spectrum rather than split into categories within it (there are other categories you probably haven't even heard of yet, like PDD-NOS, pervasive developmental delay - not otherwise specified, that will also disappear - and good riddance to that one, the poor people getting that diagnosis have been messed about and excluded from support and communities for too long).

As for the D for disorder, that's an American thing too - in clinical terms they still consider autism to be a disease but then the DSM seems to consider everything it touches to be a disease (probably because it's a manal of diseases, lol!)

In the UK the diagnosis will be ASD because that's what it says in the manual but most people working in the field will use ASC because the term condition recognises that there are strengths without negating the fact that there are aspects of it for almost everyone which cause impairment and disability (there have to be difficulties or you wouldn't be eligible for diagnosis).

Hope you like it here
Xxx

Welcome Chazzle

make yourself at home