Aspies For Freedom

I'm 26 years old and employed as an IT consultant. I collect antiquarian books and love to philosophise about politics, psychology and the nature of things in general. I completely lack interest in sports, I have problems with proper dinner etiquette, it annoys the hell out ot me to clean up my desk, I get bored during small talk, I have several neurotic tendencies and I sometimes feel emotionally neutral when I know I shouldn't, like when I try to comfort my girlfriend.

As a child and teen, I experienced problems taking social cues and it took many years before I could teach myself how to behave socially. I did so basically by trial and error and processing that information rationally. Today I am able to maintain steady friendships and a steady relationship, although I still keep having social problems. Although some people think I'm very sympathetic, others regard me as arrogant or they just think I talk too much. My girlfriend also frequently complains about the way I talk : a lack of coherence, words more complicated than necessary, etc. I also tend to give the impression that I don't get a joke when I do or that I'm being serious while I'm actually telling a joke. My girlfriend and some of my friends sometimes tell me I'm TOO rational... more rational than normal people and that I therefore have problems understanding (irrational) social cues.

I have a strong need for stimuli and I'm easily distracted when I lack the proper stimuli. At high school, I even combined watching TV and studying for my exams to be able to maintain a certain level of stimuli and (ironically) not get distracted. I passed my exams, so the method definitely worked. High school really a piece of cake for me, but I screwed up at university because I never really learned to REALLY study.

I'm also a very creative person and made computer wallpapers, winamp skins and websites in the past. I've always had a thing for maths and programming. In fact, I was the only one of my school to ever make it to the second round of the national maths Olympiads twice. Of about 10,000 contestants, only 1,000 make it to the second round.

Recently, I had myself tested. Apparently, I have an IQ of 137. Even though I suggested Asperger's or ADHD as possible causes for my excentric behavior, the psychologist thought my condition was not pervasive enough to be autism so she rejected the possibility of Asperger's. She just blamed it on my being "gifted".

Because I'm not convinced by her diagnosis, I'm writing you to ask how one can see the difference between Asperger's and being gifted. Sure I have a high IQ, but many people with Asperger's do and I recognise myself in the description of people with Asperger's. Can you please tell me how I can figure out whether I have Asperger's or I'm just gifted?

And by AP you actually mean AS? Or really Autistic Psychopathy?

I mean AS aka Asperger's (see the actual text). Of course I got the title wrong as I'm not used to shortening it.

The more I read about Asperger's the more I recognise myself in it, yet when I had a psychodiagnostic test taken nothing was found. The psychologist just called me "gifted" (137) and attributed all of my excentricities to that.

This is my result at the Aspie quiz :

Your Aspie score: 147 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 58 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie



Is it just me or couldn't I be an Aspie more obviously?

I wonder why you put the just into the question. Erm... the title question.

Other than that, only an experienced person can tell you after some closer examination with a good amount of certainty. In that soft science, such things can be substantiated, but not proven. Hard to say via an online forum. Your scores look pretty AS, so, good luck for you quest ahead for finding that experienced person.

Ah. Welcome by the way

When my husband was diagnosed, it was by an Asperger's specialist at a clinic.  The one who did the initial examination was a licensed social worker, and he went through the 38 pages of documents they sent to my husband to fill out.  The second visit was with the psychiatrist.  

Often times, unless someone has specific knowledge of Autism and the full spectrum, I think they may dismiss people when they should not.  

Just my opinion...

Or you could be "just prideful" by listing the amazing accomplishments that you know mere mortals cannot boast about.

Pay no mind to what I said, I apologize.

I don't regard being "gifted" (as in having a high IQ) as very special. Sure, only 2% of the population belongs in that category but "gifted" people aren't necessarilly as excentric as I feel with regards to the rest of the world.

Thanks.

This entire "Aspie" world is quite new for me and I only just learned there actually is an "Aspie" community. I've always considered myself as quite "unique", so I will definitely have to get used to the idea that there are others like me and specialists who might help me understand myself and the world a bit better. The reason for coming here, is because I hope to find the information I need.... although I might just stay around.

Actually, I had myself tested at the psychodiagnostic center of a psychiatric hospital where the person in charge is specialised in the autism-spectrum. I specifically asked to be tested for ADHD and Asperger's. Nevertheless, they had the tests taken by a clearly unexperienced young girl and supervised by a more experienced woman whom I only spoke for about two hours (she also spoke with my girlfriend for about an hour). She seemed to have no experience with Asperger's herself, though. I feel quite ripped-off since the entire procedure costed me 430 Euro. I'm not waiting for a proof of my IQ score, though, so I can at least join Mensa. At the official Mensa test I scored "only" 121 because I couldn't see any logic whatsoever in the last section of the test. I score between 130 and 145 are pretty much ever other IQ-test, though.

I just wonder how you get such people to deal with you? They knew I had suspicions of Asperger's and they had in house knowledge on the autism spectrum, but they had the tests taken by an amateur.

My first priority is to improve my social skills to the point that they don't hinder me anymore at the office or my relationship. They did improve a lot since I was a child, but I still get complaints. I would also like to teach my girlfriend and friends how to better deal with me. For them it may be even harder to adjust their behavior to our world than it is for us to adapt to their world.

It's possible to have AS and be gifted. Most people with Asperger's, however, tend to have deficits in certain subjects while simultaneously scoring very highly in other areas of testing. I am in a sort of similar situation - I did testing a few months ago and the psychologist said I had all the characteristics of AS, but I wasn't "disabled enough" to receive a written diagnosis - that is, the drawbacks of having a label on paper were greater than any benefits I might get from such a diagnosis. I did get an official diagnosis of Nonverbal Learning Disorder, though, which is related.

I don't consider myself disabled... I am a full-time student with no special accomodations, I work whenever my schedule allows me to devote time to a job, and I have friends I can hang out with if I want to. Despite not having tremendous difficulties in daily life, I still identify with the AS characteristics, and it is also good to know that some of the professionals agree with me as well.

Pretty much describes the situation with both my husband and me.

High IQ only proves a particular talent at doing IQ tests, it doesn't necessarily translate into real-world 'smarts'.

I have had friends who were WAY more capable in all aspects of life than I'll ever be, although they scored less than two-thirds of my score on IQ tests. Those tests mean absolutely nothing outside of academia, imo.

OK, so I have a 'talent' for solving puzzles. Pretty much a useless talent for most real-life situations, although it keeps me sane(-ish! ) as I have something to amuse myself when sick in bed.

IlluSionS667, you said your consultation cost €430 - do you mind me asking which country you are in?

That's what I look for in a person.... humility.  Gracias.

I fully agree.

Thing is... I feel my mind works like a computer (algorythmic thinking), which makes IT feel like a natural thing to me. This also makes it very easy for me to score high at an IQ test or a high school maths test, but I am quite poor at social interaction or avoiding that your house becomes a mess. I have to analyse social behavior rather than respond instinctively (which means that I miss various social cues) and I have no interest whatsoever in the boring daily household shores for which I often don't even see the point.

At tests that should prove serial information processing (typical for people with Asperger's) I tend to hyperfocus, which enables me to do the kind of simple tasks required for such tests in parallel. That I fail miserably when the tasks become to complicated or the number of tasks to high (then I sometimes just go tilt), is something the tests apparently don't show.

I care for IQ tests only because they help me get into Mensa, which can provide certain social and career benefits.

How's your programming and maths skills? As I understand, many people with Asperger's and an above average IQ are employed in IT because they are supposed to have a talent for it. In my case, I definitely have that talent, although I'm an absolute screw-up in running my daily affairs.

I live in Belgium. I took a 2 day psycho-diagnostic test that included an IQ test, various personallity tests and a few extra cognitive tests, preceded and followed by an hour-long interview. Even though I personally recognise myself in all symptoms of Asperger's and the classic diagnostic criteria, somehow these tests didn't show anything of interest. The only remarkable thing is that I scored extremely high at the "block design" test (you have to assemble a block pattern of 16 blocks with respectively white, red and red/white sides within two minutes and I did that in about half a minute). According to Wikipedia, people with Aspergers's score high at this test. The result of this one test is insufficient to make any diagnosis, though.