I’m struggling to accept my Autism (Aspergers) diagnosis

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I was recently diagnosed with Autism (Aspergers). I do fit the description, but I’m struggling to believe in it.

Firstly, it’s not my intention to insult anyone in this community. I am by no means an expert on the subject. My research only consists of reading a few books, articles and watching videos on YouTube. I do have great respect for people who work in this field.

My concerns:

. The whole process feels a bit “lacking”. Yes, I fit the description. I’ve had many difficulties throughout my life because of my extreme social anxiety, sensitivity to noise, emotional difficulties etc. It just feels like I need more concrete evidence - perhaps a blood test, brain scan or something that actually shows me I’m autistic.

. It’s the opinion of one therapist, but I can’t afford to get another opinion.

. Autism is a “broad spectrum”. How broad? Does that mean most people are on it? What does “autism” actually mean if it applies to so many different people? It doesn’t say anything in particular about me because it’s not accurately defined. Aspergers is a better description of me but we can’t use that word anymore.

. Why did psychologists decide to group us together under a label? Surely anyone can simply group together behavioural characterises and social difficulties then attach a fancy name to it.

I’ve had many difficulties in life. I struggled at school for being very anxious and I can’t keep a job or a relationship. My short-term memory is awful, so are my social skills. I feel like I’m trying to find an excuse for being a failure. Why should I expect society to accommodate me? In the natural world, survival of the fittest wouldn’t have felt sorry for me and let me live. Am I even meant to procreate and spread my unsuitable genes? Yes, I can choose to blame society for my failures but I haven’t adapted to the one we live in now. In nature the individuals who are best able to survive and procreate are the best at adapting to their environment. Maybe I’m just not meant to live because it goes against the natural order.

Last edited by Acteon25 on 12 Aug 2019, 8:10 am, edited 2 times in total.

was it "opinion", or diagnosis?

Diagnosis. It took about 6 months to go through the entire process. I was quite lucky to have it done quickly.

Why not? You can still be diagnosed with Aspergers in the UK. It's in America it's been phased out.

The therapist said they can’t diagnose Aspergers anymore. It’s now just called “Autism”.

Under the ICD-10--which is used often in Europe, and sometimes in the US, there remains an Asperger's diagnosis.

I used to work in a place which used the ICD-10. I live in the USA.

You ask good questions, and they are worth asking. My situation (and I'm pretty new to this too) is a bit different, insofar as I don't have any "problems" as such, but do seem to think differently, and have different expectations to most people I know. On reading about AS, I found myself sympathetic with some (but not all) aspects, and wondered why they were considered defective. For instance, my apparent lack of "social skills" only matters when dealing with people who think they are more important than I am, who I generally find a pain in the R.se, being naturally easy going and egalitarian. This, I've recently discovered may be because my personality type is that to which the label "autistic" was applied, before it got mixed in with autism (wouldn't "autismic" be a better adjective of autism? It would remove a lot of confusion!) now a category of different conditions which seems to grow every time they update the manuals, though I've found no a concrete account of what "autism" actually means. Unfortunately, discussing this earlier understanding of "autistic" leads to threads being locked and other nastiness, and I really don't want to go there (life is hard enough). That said, there's nothing to stop you going through my old threads (there aren't that many) if the topic is of interest, and it may well clear a few things up for you.

I think they use ICD-10 in UK but they’re trying to phase Aspergers out.



https://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asperger.aspx

I might be wrong but I suspect they’re attempting to remove “Aspergers” to be politically correct. Hans Asperger was involved in the euthanasia program in Nazi Germany.

Thanks Oraq, i’ll take a look at your older threads.

If Hans Asperger's was involved in doing the Nazis' bidding willingly, then I wouldn't want to have my disorder named after him.

They are not seeking to remove "Asperger's" because of his alleged ties to Nazi Germany, by the way.

Why are they seeking to remove it then?

Because there might be the sense that Aspergians feel they are "separate" from other autistic people.

I believe the "diagnosis people" feel that there is not enough of a distinction between Aspergians and other autistics for them to have a separate "label" for them. That the vast majority of Aspergians are "Level 1, with no speech delay and no cognitive delay."

Even if it's not an "official" diagnosis, I believe Asperger's will remain in the vernacular for many years hence.

I think they should be separate. I relate to the symptoms of Aspergers, not Autism. I wouldn’t call myself “Autistic” but that’s what is says on my diagnosis. I don’t believe widening the field of the diagnosis does us any favours.

The grouping makes sense because many of the adaptations work for autistics across the entire spectrum.
Stuff like stress reduction seems to help for everyone, regardless of intelligence or gender.

All a diagnosis is is an opinion. There is as of yet no fool proof test. At the end of the day, it doesn't change who you are. You know what you struggle with, and that remains the same.



My take is that it doesn't matter what the professionals think. Does the label provide you with a good starting point to help articulate your areas of difficulty, and perhaps leverage the advice of similar people who have worked through similar issues to you? That is the only value in a diagnosis.



This is a controversial topic. Many people with more severe autism feel like the full spectrum serves to invalidate their experience and makes it more difficult for them to get the help they need. Those with less severe autism often feel like they do not identify with those on the 'lower functioning' end of the spectrum, and feel like the label just causes people to dismiss their thoughts and opinions as invalid.

My take, is that the spectrum goes from 0-100. You have people who cannot speak and use the toilet on their own, you have people whose only symptoms are that they struggle a tad with socializing and come off as slightly eccentric, and everywhere in between.



Everyone is lumped together, because they have similarities qualitatively. The differences between autistic people are generally seen as quantitative. Two people can have the flu, and one person can feel sick for 3 days, and the other person can need to be rushed to the hospital. Their needs re different, but their symptoms are qualitatively similar, and the cause for both is that they are infected with influenza. The consensus is that autism is caused by differences within the brain, and my guess would be that the severity is largely determined by how different an individuals brain is from that of the average person.

Good points. Thanks for the reply