Aspies For Freedom

From my point of view, there is everything to lose and nothing to gain from being officially diagnosed.     To get diagnosed would probably be difficult for a high/moderate functioning AS person, and the only help given to Asperger people in the UK seems to be confined to those who are very dysfunctional: Special Schooling if you're very young and have parents who won't give up trying to get it, or a sheltered community place if you're a bit older and are becoming unmanageable by your family.  

On the negative side an AS label would seriously limit career potential.  I am in my sixties and have retired but I hope my experience will help others:  we AS people are naturally most suited to individual technical work (I started as a geophysicist), but I have observed that technical career structures either don't go very high in organisations, or become managerial as the level gets higher.  Managers manage people, and even if individual contributors are tolerated for low seniority posts, being a team player is increasingly important as you get higher.   Anyone labelled AS would inevitably be discriminated against in filling a post deemed to need a team player.   But, with sufficient cognitive effort, one can observe and simulate the behaviour of a team player, and, if not AS-labelled, may be act the part well enough to win promotion.   My AS self-discovery took place in 2001, when my career was approaching retirement, but looking back I can see that plotting my career path and achieving advancement would have been less stressful and possibly more productive had I been in possession of knowledge of AS and NT characteristics all along.   If, on the other hand, the HR departments had had me on file as being AS, I would still have been a lowly worker till retirement.

That's not to say that others couldn't have benefited from official diagnosis in a more benign environment!

You're right! I think I have Aspergers.But  you are wrong about the reason I self diagnosed.

1:I am no jack ***.I have no excuses.I want nothing in return.I don't 'act ' any certain way for any reason.

2:I get enough unwanted attention from people.Aspergers is not a fad to me.I have told only two people of me thinking I am Aspie.One had to agree the other laughed and thought it was my "strange sense of humor."

I self diagnosed mainly for my own peace of mind.I'm content with it.And you do not need to be angry at me for my choice.I am not hurting anyone by thinking I am Aspie.

Why are you here?

I'm sorry if I went off topic.But my question was simple.Are you just here to put down people because your experience led you to believe some people would try to'fake' being an aspie?

We can disagree.I have no problem with that.Your snide remark about the common cold was unbecoming of you.

I know when I have a cold.I think I am Aspie.Which of those two statements bothers you more?Neither bothers me.I might add, say I go to two different Drs.Both are qualified,but give two different opinions of whether to diagnose me as Aspie or not.It would be a waste of time and money.If they both agree I am not.What have I been living with all my life?If they both agree i am Aspie.I have no plans to make any changes.I'm fine.So a diagnoses would still be a waste of time and money.

oops that was a reply for TheZach

hi this is my first post. i'm pretty new at this 'self dx' debate although AS has by any means just come to my attention. my eldest son was officially dx at the age of 5 when he started school. this was because THEY couldn't cope with his behaviour. before that, when i spoke to doctors because this young mum (who had never heard of AS)was having trouble i was told 'Boys will be boys'. i was kicked hard enough that i stopped asking. its been 11 years, two more children (1 more dx with AS). i now work for schools helping children with AS to severe Autism. i have no degrees i have learned from personal experiance and reading and ofcouse people who are infact diagnosed. study is great but without specific knowledge and understanding it doesn't count for much. PS i also 'identify' as having AS.

Batman55, you ARE a major player - but only in the BEST of ways !

After the email I received, it would be me.  

If the admin doesn't want me here all they need to do is ask.  I will go gently.  

I don't care for elitism anyway (but I think they already know that)

They do not need to threaten all of the selfers with shunning to get rid of one bad apple.