Diagnosed with autism (Aspergers) despite not having it

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I'm not autistic, and I never was. That didn't stop me from being diagnosed. There IS something wrong with me, but I've always understood other people, I'm not autistic. When I see other "autistics" who don't get jokes, can't pick up on subtletly/sarcasm, don't read into things, I have nothing in common with that. However, I seem to be more bored/tired than most people in social situations, and uninvested, despite understanding what is going on. I don't know what exactly is wrong with me, since I'm never setting foot into a psychologist/psychiatrist's office again. After what happened the first time you shouldn't blame me. Getting shoved into a category of social dysfunction in which I DON'T BELONG has not done my self esteem any favors. Having my parents talk down to me about basic social s**t that I INNATELY UNDERSTAND, because a book told them to, certainly didn't help me become normal. Being put on medications I did not need was not fun either! I'm hopeless, but just try not to forget people like me exist.

I may come back to answer questions, but it may take awhile. I don't like hearing about "autism" or discussing it.

Doctors have extreme difficulty with rare diseases and disorders.

https://www.sireninteractive.com/sirens ... -diseases/
It wasn’t until they brought her to Boston Children’s Hospital for treatment that she was diagnosed, thanks to the alertness of someone who was participating in an academic research program and noticed the stereotypical signs.

https://globalgenes.org/raredaily/accur ... -interest/

So why did you come here in the first place?

Maybe you are not autistic, maybe you are.

Whether you're autistic or not does not determine your quality as a person.

Anyway: autistic people have empathy. Autistic people learn to take jokes, sarcasm, etc.

What about your diagnosis has kept you "down?"

"When I see other "autistics" who don't get jokes, can't pick up on subtletly/sarcasm, don't read into things, I have nothing in common with that."

I am undoubtedly autistic, I get most jokes (except unfunny ones), I can pick up on sarcasm, my reading into skills are only a little less than the average if I do say so myself. I was born this way with those abilities. But, I have other things which clearly make me autistic. All of the things you listed were common traits, that means there's a minority group of autistic people who don't have them. I'm in that group and you may or you may not be.

My reaction was what Kraftie said- why are you here if you so vehemently do not identify with autism?

But then I thought about it more and decided it must be a really tough spot to have people deciding that you're in a certain category for the wrong reasons.

It would be like if everyone kept telling you that you were blind because you "clearly didn't have eyes" when you actually DID have a set of eyeballs. Everyone was so focused on this fallacy that no one bothered asking how well you could see with the eyeballs you did in fact have.

I like that you've already taken the first step- which is to just flush out what everyone else "decided" was true. Just go back to the beginning and start over so you can decide for yourself.

If I were you, what I would do next is a couple of things. I'd try to ignore everyone else for awhile and just focus on your own feelings and thoughts. And I'd read up on different types of people and social disorders to see if one of them seems to ring true. It could be that the people around you just don't know what autism really is and you might truly be autistic, but not at all in the way they think. Just from what you said, I think you should get your IQ tested. You might have a very high IQ. You could possibly have a low IQ score, which sometimes happens when people are too smart, but not in a "common" way. I would also look up social anxiety, which is understanding social situations but not wanting to deal with them because they freak you out.

Um...also you could think about the possibility that you might be different in some other way that other people aren't picking up on. You could be a different race than them, or transgender, or closeted gay, or have something like body dismorphia. Something different that most other people would not understand. That would probably cause you to feel a great deal of stress in social situations. You might have trouble nailing down the source of this stress because it's too hard to deal with whatever it is. That last is less likely, but important to consider.

Oh ? You were forced into the fraudulent so-called medical-system, too ? Modern-Day Western-Doctors...

The OP said that he didn't like to "hear about" autism, or "discuss" it.

I understand he is searching for answers.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so strident with my response.

But he seemed to have a sort of prejudice against autism.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's and I've stopped bothering to look for information that might help and I think the problem is that most information online from the USA classes low functioning autism and Aspergers as all the same condition but on a different scale, so that what they describe is different than I experience so I wonder if I even have it. I've never had a speech delay and my main problem is motor clumsiness.

I wonder if most of my anxiety problems come from my abusive childhood, and I've had to spend a long time talking to useless psychologists doing cognitive therapy and making me feel worse, as they say stupid things such as you only feel bad because you think about bad things, but when you had parents who would do cruel things as a child you can't just forget about it and be normal. Then they get angry and look fed up if I can't do what they tell me to not get anxious, and I get scared it might affect my welfare so then I might end up on the streets or they might force me to take medication. So even though I've had doubts if I really have Asperger's it was a kind of relief to be diagnosed as I might be left alone and not made to sit through more useless cognitive therapy.
Then other times I do think I have it because I'm clumsy and I get tired trying to be a bright social butterfly, although I'm not like many of the other descriptions.

You may have the double whammy of being both gifted and being on the autism spectrum.

https://psychcentral.com/lib/autistic-a ... nal-child/
Sound familiar?

http://www.uniquelygifted.org/
Resources you may find helpful.

Ok, one simple rule to remember about humans...you need to simplify everything for them.

Regardless of what they believe they don't understand all that much and what they do understand needs to be explained without too much complex detail. Many present day theories are incorrect and I believe time will reveal this, but it will not be in my life time.

I understand basic social cues but the logic of other humans often fails to impress me. I call it swiss cheese logic, because basically it is full of holes...

On saying that, I feel they can be wonderful beings in many many ways and that, ultimately, they mean well, but that does not change the fact that they seem to understand much unfortunately.

I am similar to you in some ways however I am half way via the diagnosis process rather than having actually been diagnosed.

I do have social issues but it usually has to do with others not understanding me. They make so many assumptions, they don't check their facts (even medical professionals), they keep trying to support me for symptoms I don't have (ie low self esteem or learning disabilities) and they actively ignore things I do have a problem with (ie my difficulties fitting in socially).

Do I wish i was like others...not from what i have seen no. To explain, lets take an example from my everyday life:

I make an error; they expect me to beat up on myseld and hate myself apparently.

What is going through my mind? Well..."ok I made a mistake, so what exactly did I do wrong and how can i correct it"

Yet they seem to be obsessed with believing I am beating myself up and keep trying to emotionally console me. Its bloody strange and weirds me out. Personally, I can't understand why on earth I cant just correct the error, learn from it, and move on.

As a result I often drink to enable me to cope with what i percieve to be their insanity. I mean seriosly man what the hell is wrong with just figuring out the problem and correcting it?

Taking into account other issues, I have therefore concluded that I am living in the twilight zone. Getting pissed so things seem more normal seems to help, at least in the moment anyway.

They are all nuts!

I get diarrhoea and I get some emotional speech about something i was not thinking or feeling....then they congratulate themselves for being empathic...NUTS!! !! !! !

Instead of thinking up solutions to things they beat themselves up.....NUTS!

If you want some time alone to read and recharge yoru energy levels, you are being asocial and must be disordered....NUTS

Life is better when you are drunk...you stop caring that the world is nuts.

Ive had vodka but I know what i mean


They are all frikken god damned nuts

I often find myself questioning my ASD diagnosis. I am very good at picking up on other people's moods, and also I am a very good lie detector. I can notice the tiniest, subtlest things about people and their behaviour, and if all the pieces don't fit together then I can smell a lie. And I am rather good at recognising body language, which feels instinctive. Even as a child I could pick up on body language, but I just didn't react to it that well, so to others it looked like I was oblivious to these social things, but I actually wasn't. And I can also work out what I should and shouldn't say without needing to be told. Like when I had a friend with benefits once (when I was single and lonely). I figured out what he was trying to get out of me right away (which was sex), but I allowed it to happen because I really was physically attracted to him and liked his company, so I made myself become blind to the truth. And I hate arguments, so to him it looked like I was gullible. I suppose I acted like a gullible person, but inside I knew exactly what was going on. Then my instinct told me not to tell others about him seeing me, because, according to his body language, I could tell he was nervous of being seen, which means he was married. So that made me know not to tell anyone. I worked it all out for myself, without anyone having to tell me, and it seems to be something that a lot of Aspies typically would miss and be naive to. I knew it was wrong, and I didn't want his wife to find out and be hurt, which was why I didn't mention anything about it on Facebook. (I didn't know his wife).
And at work I often get lonely and fed up of being too shy. At a social event, I get more exhausted from being shy and not talking to people, and if I did suddenly find myself comfortable and talking and laughing with people (which is quite rare), I kind of wake up. Sometimes if I've had company come round my house in the evening, I find I am wide awake that night because the social interaction just wakes me up, where as if I've been alone all day I find I am more sleepy. And for most Aspies, it is the other way round.

But I do have Asperger's because I've done a lot of things in my life, especially in childhood, that were so Aspie. I would boss other children about in the playground because I wanted my games to be played my way (I think I was more flexible if it was their game, but if it was my game that I made up, it had to be played my way or else), and I was very clingy, and at high school I struggled with friendships a lot. Kids just didn't want me around at high school, but I was afraid to be seen hanging about on my own because that was a sure way to attract bullies, so I clung to the other girls in my class, although they ignored me and didn't want me there. It was probably because I wasn't always on their wavelength, and I was just this annoying and stupid kid to them. I did have ADHD too, so my impulsiveness and hyper personality did not help.

And in Joe90s case, I recall she didn't remember being so severely autistic until she was reminded by some documents of her early life.

I can relate to you in a lot of ways. When I went to be evaluated for Aspergers, the psychiatrist told me "he wasn't sure if I had Aspergers or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified" In some ways I can relate to other Aspies and in some ways I can't.