Asperger's Syndrome

[sonofzeal]

Sorry, this isn't meant to be offensive if it comes across that way, but... what is it with this board and Aspergers? Really, I don't get it. Do you guys think it's linked with asexuality for God knows what reason, or is it totally unrelated. It's just that I keep seeing Aspergers pop up randomly on here and I'm getting frustrated because I don't understand if it's linked with it... and no, I don't have it if you're wondering.

Aspies (people with Aspergers Syndrom) account for maybe 0.5% of the population at large, and something like 13% of AVEN, so it seems there is a real correllation. Most asexuals don't have it, but it's still likely that it's a factor in a fair number of people's asexuality. And since Aspergers is relatively rare normally, it makes sense that the people who have it here would get together and discuss it. Does that help?

(btw, I'm not Aspie, just in case you were wondering, but I've had Aspie friends long before finding AVEN)

[TeddyMiller]

I took the big test, and got this:

Your Aspie score: 83 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 89 of 200

You are both Aspie and neurotypical

So in my case it's just some things in common with Asperger's.

[Hallucigenia]

I've heard that Aspies also have a higher statistical chance of being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. :? I don't know why that would be, other than maybe social obliviousness causes socially enforced heteronormativity not to kick in as hard, but...

[tallfreak]

I've heard that Aspies also have a higher statistical chance of being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. :? I don't know why that would be, other than maybe social obliviousness causes socially enforced heteronormativity not to kick in as hard, but...

This is very true. Most of us “Aspies” are also statistically more open minded about different lifestyles.

My aspie scores:

• Your Aspie score: 187 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 18 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

[Retasha]

My score:

Your Aspie score: 167 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 30 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

As soon as I can afford to, I plan to be tested for Aspergers and to get a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia.

[Placebo]

As soon as I can afford to, I plan to be tested for Aspergers and to get a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia.

wow, I'd never heard of that before.

[Retasha]

As soon as I can afford to, I plan to be tested for Aspergers and to get a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia.

wow, I'd never heard of that before.

Yeah, it's not a well-known disorder. It's not much fun, either.

[sonofzeal]

Sucks.... I love math. :(

[edit: found cool link! Linky]

[Shion]

never got it diagnosed but i do suspect im having some form of autism, might have been aspergers....but it affected mainly my childhood. i kinda pick it up from there and changed myself quite drastically (stuff happens in life) and anyone who knew me now might think im sociable, and extroverted. only few of my good buddies really know the truth.

[solitaire]

Huh, i did the test :lol: It never even crossed my mind i could be it. But the test shows:

Your Aspie score: 80 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 102 of 200

You are both Aspie and neurotypical

Haha, i don't believe it. You can't do a test online and get defined!

Nobody has ever vene suggested i might be "suffering" from any malfunction of personality!

Maybe these tests can show a lot of different people, i mean the only thing it could possible show is if a person is entirely free from any kind of not-ordinary behaviour.

I AM NOT Aspie or anything!!!!!!!!!! :roll:

[Xenon]

Your Aspie score: 118 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 70 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

This does not surprise me.

[Goonie]

Thank you for filling out this questionnaire.

Your Aspie score: 112 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 88 of 200

You are both Aspie and neurotypical

-- makes sense to me.. i think I pretty much knew that a while back

[Amcan]

I am pretty sure this result is a bit off

Your Aspie score: 117 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 80 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

I have never considered myself to have any aspie traits and every other online test i've done has been clear NT so....

I don' think mine is quite right. :?

[Charlieee]

What I got:

Your Aspie score: 167 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 55 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

Which I had never really considered... :?

But, grrr...

Do you find it natural to keep track of whom owes whom favours?

It should be WHO owes WHOM... *throws things*

[oneofthesun]

Do you find it natural to keep track of whom owes whom favours?

It should be WHO owes WHOM... *throws things*

:D I gave up caring about grammar a couple of years ago. It just leads to endless frustration these days. Comma splices still get under my skin though...

Back on topic, has anyone considered that Internet tests might not be all that accurate?

[Charlieee]

Back on topic, has anyone considered that Internet tests might not be all that accurate?

Well duh they're not completely accurate. Everyone's different, so you can't just make people answer a set of questions. Different people will have different possibilities, sometimes Aspie-ness is in some people for one trait, but not in other people for that same trait. It's impossible to keep track of the millions upon millions of possiblities, for one (not-so-)simple diagnosis.

That's why I take these for fun :D And if it's something I feel I should pay attention to, like a test telling me YOU WILL DIE TOMORROW FROM STEPPING ON AN OCTAPUS, well, I'll watch out for octupi tomorrow.

And comma splices annoy me so much...

[sonofzeal]

(split grammar discussion to here)

[ChildOfTheLight]

Your Aspie score: 81 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 124 of 200

You are very likely neurotypical

I thought it would be closer, honestly, even though I'm quite sure I'm not autistic.

[Placebo]

Your Aspie score: 48 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 129 of 200

You are very likely neurotypical

[Sciosa]

I strongly suspected for some time that I had Aspergers Syndrome. I came to the ultimate conclusion that I knew too little about psychology to make any significant headway, and I wouldn't dare go for evaluation-- I am aware that I am manipulative, and having been in the system for Bipolar disorder, I am very aware of how I could manipulate said system to get the result I thought most fitting. It's a compulsion that I have difficulty controlling, and I would rather not risk it. I probably have no specific disorder, just a conglomerate of random personality quirks and deficiencies. At any rate, I am able to function.

However, I will note that I have never been very socially able (although I somehow attracted an ever increasing social circle in seventh grade, and have been unable to disperse them since), I despise physical contact, will go out of my way to avoid crowded areas, and have an obsession with enclosed spaces, in a sort of reverse claustrophobia. It's not quite agoraphobia, so I don't know what to describe it as.

I have serious paranoia, fearing such things as mirrors and dark, reflective surfaces on basis of the theory that they could potential hide cameras, and when I enter a previously unexplored room, my immediate instinct is to check for cameras. I refuse to sit with my back to a door. I make certain that I am aware of every person in a room, and always have easy access to a door through which I can make a retreat. Bright lights appall me, as does extended, multilayered noise, like a large, talkative classroom-- I have learned to somewhat turn off my ears in order to function in public schools.

The foods on my plate may not touch, under any circumstance. I compulsively rearrange my books. I have an obsession with words-- particularly the origins, although I also compulsively learn and memorize the exact definitions of words. I make plans that I expect to follow to the letter, and when these plans are interrupted or altered without my consent I become more irritable than usual. While I can usual evaluate the emotional state of others, I find it difficult to connect that state with an event, and have to be told directly what is wrong and why. I recently discovered what behaviors are associated with flirting-- I only figured it out after extensive research into the subject in the form of literature on the act, since I was unable to detect it when it was carried out in public. English and reading are my specialties, and I can probably answer any question posed to me on that subject, although as this is an internet forum that would be difficult to put to the test. At age three I am reported to have said, "Momma, Daddy, I have a situation here." in the correct context, which my mother likes to claim as a sign of brilliance, although I would personally dispute that. As you may have noticed, I have a slightly pedantic writing tone, although I am not quite so formal in verbal speech.

So although many of the Aspergers symptoms apply to me, I'm not sure a diagnosis would apply.

...I feel like I have just written myself in a circle. You may feel free to disregard any or all of the above-- I'll leave it intact for my own benefit, as I have never articulated so many of my eccentricities in one format before.

[Placebo]

As long as you're capable of functioning and OK with who and what you are and how you act, no worries! We're all crazy in our own unique way. If it becomes a big enough deal that it's hampering your daily life and abilities you might want to get professional help, though.

[mumbleberry]

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[AntiBubble]

No offence intended to anyone on this board, but I find this thread completely bizarre, and actually quite offensive.

Is checking yourself off against a Wikipedia entry or taking online tests really all that conclusive? ASDs (Autistic Spectrum Disorders) are different in everyone, because guess what? Everyone is different.

ASDs do not, I repeat do NOT, dictate someone's personality. They can have an effect on how a person behaves, yes, but they do not decide whether you're introvert or extrovert, laidback or anxious. Those are personality types that exist regardless of how your brain works. Autism and AS are "disorders" that require a lot of skill in diagnosis - it can take a consultant psychiatrist months, if not years to diagnose a patient.

There are so many different manifestations of ASDs, that I can't honestly see how answering questions over the internet is going to give any kind of answer. For instance, there are Autistic people who are highly imaginative and creative, something that goes against some of the diagnostic criteria for ASD, because it isn't about ticking things off on a checklist, it's about someone who knows what to look for, looking into how YOUR brain works. You can meet a lot of the ASD diagnostic criteria and not have an ASD, because a lot of the criteria include things that are exhibited by certain personality types regardless of their having an ASD or not.

Diagnosis of ASDs is about looking for behavioural patterns that indicate thought processes that indicate the presence of an ASD. The most common behavioural patterns are those listed in the diagnostic criteria, but in the absence of thought processes that might mark a person out as having an ASD, exhibiting the behaviour patterns listed is irrelevant and means nothing in terms of diagnosis.

Quite apart from anything else, why are you all so desparate for another label? They don't help, trust me, especially if you're labelling yourself with no actual diagnosis. The only time the ASD label should come into play is when it is the result of a real, professional diagnosis, and even then only in certain circumstances, such as getting support.

I'm sorry to come in here and be so harsh, but to be perfectly honest, if you genuinely have an ASD, people around you pick it up well before you do. To put it bluntly, if it's never been mentioned by anyone around you before, and you're looking at self-diagnosis, you almost certainly do not have an ASD. It just isn't something that you can see in yourself until someone else points it out, because people with ASDs don't see themselves as seeing the world differently or weirdly. Until someone points it out, you see your world view as normal.

[sonofzeal]

Miss Bubbles, I don't think anyone here puts all that much stock in the online tests. As with any online test, the results are at best a general indication about whether seeing a specialist might be worthwhile. The problem is that seeing a specialist can take a lot of time and money, and years on a waiting list, so in the mean time, I don't see anything wrong with playing around with toys like the internet test. You're right to remind people not to take them as absolute fact though.

[mumbleberry]

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[Octarine]

I have an autistic sort of personality, and thought I might have it for a while... Then I decided if I kept on diagnosing myself with stuff I would develop munchausen's before whatever I was diagnosing. :lol:

[AntiBubble]

I just think they can be interesting to take. I never take online tests seriously, but it can sometimes be intriguing to look at your results.

I went to the doctors a while back for anxiety/depression problems. They're now getting me assessed for Autism/Aspergers.

I'd never thought about it till they brought it up, though several people, including someone who teaches autistic kids, had mentioned it to my parents...

weird what certain things can uncover

That's exactly what I was trying to say in the past bit of my post. You don't think about these things until someone points them out, because you don't (and actually can't) know how other people see the world, therefore you assume everyone is the same as you. I did for years until my psychiatrist (who, like you, I was seeing about depression), made it quite clear that I had a PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) of some sort. She considered an Aspergers diagnosis for a long time, before deciding I was closer to a High Functioning Autistic.

I didn't find out about this diagnosis for nearly two years after it was made, as I was already suicidal at the time, and her and my parents agreed not to tell me until I was in a fit state to deal with it, as it is not an easy label to have put on you. I struggled with it for a long time, before reaching the conclusion that it's part of me, it makes up part of who I am, I can't get rid of it, it colours how I see the world and therefore embracing it and learning to live with it was the way forward for me.

The best analogy I've ever heard is that NT people are Windows PCs, whereas autistic people are Apple Macs - the two operating systems can interact, but it takes a lot of work, and sometimes the Mac can't deal with it and crashes.

This is part of the issues I have with some of the stuff in this thread - Autism is *not* an easy label to live with, it is *not* to be adopted lightly and should be understood properly before being applied.

If anyone's interested, I'm currently debating this in HotBox as well :lol:

[Derp]

The best analogy I've ever heard is that NT people are Windows PCs, whereas autistic people are Apple Macs - the two operating systems can interact, but it takes a lot of work, and sometimes the Mac can't deal with it and crashes.

Ooh, that is a good analogy. :D

And of course, just because one of those systems is more widely accepted, doesn't mean there's something inherently wrong with the other one.

[AntiBubble]

The best analogy I've ever heard is that NT people are Windows PCs, whereas autistic people are Apple Macs - the two operating systems can interact, but it takes a lot of work, and sometimes the Mac can't deal with it and crashes.

Ooh, that is a good analogy. :D

And of course, just because one of those systems is more widely accepted, doesn't mean there's something inherently wrong with the other one.

Amen to the above :D

[Porcelain]

In response to what Miss Bubbles said, Asperger's was just something I was curious about at the time I started this thread. I've talked to a number of Aspies, and I saw similiarities in our behavior and personalities. I was not self-diagnosing, I was just considering possibilities. I do not consider myself an Aspie, nor do have I pursued a diagnosis. I simply saw striking similarities between myself and the "typical" traits of Asperger's Syndrome, and I took note of it and made it a discussion.

By the way, is that a Aphonopelma chalcodes in your avatar? I'm particularly fond of Grammastola and Avicularia. Just curious.