Aspies For Freedom

I think other Aspies spot it (aspdar). One of my managers at work spotted it too, but he has a relative on the spectrum. When I told him, he shrugged and said "I wondered..."

Most people just comment that I sit in a strange way (I'm always cross legged in workstation chairs, and I can get myself into *** strange positions to relax), or that I've got an unusual accent, or that I'm a bit odd.

When I met my husband I was introduced to him and then was told to ignore everything he did and said.  This was from his best friend.  While I do not think most people would say "Aspie" a lot of people would say ***%&*).  

(Till they get to know him, then the would only occasionally say that...)

The mother of a severely autistic boy recognized it immediately in me and told my mother that after my diagnosis.

One of my friends, who knows I've got AS, thinks I ought to tell it to more people, because she saids that some people find me quite strange and that they would understand it better if I told them about it. I don't know yet. I'm not embarrassed for it or anything, but I am afraid they are going to pity me, or treat me differently.

Yeah, it is interesting, isn't it? The mother told me that she saw it in the way I was standing, moving, avoiding eye contact and my hand gestures. At that time, we had never even spoken to each other, but recently she told me that she suspects that she has AS herself.

I think it's only those people who have direct experience of the spectrum themselves who recognise it.  Others are going by the tired old stereotypes which don't really apply and they're the ones who're more likely to deny it.

After my son had been referred for assessment, one of my fellow students told me that she'd suspected Asperger's for some time, based on meeting my son and hearing me talking about him.  She's familiar with the spectrum because her young nephew is dxed aspie and she saw the similarities.

I've noticed since coming to AFF that quite a few threads and posts mention that aspies tend to look younger than they really are, but can't think if I've come across this anywhere else - other websites, books and so on.

It's an interesting one, and I wonder why this could be....

Btw, I have always been taken for younger than I am.  When I was younger, in my teens and early twenties, it annoyed me a bit.  Now that I'm 40 and people think I'm in my late twenties I feel a lot better about it, of course!

mrld1630,
  Not usually; like most of the others who've answered, people just think I'm a little bit odd...

  I also look a *lot* younger than I am; at 47, I get told I look like early 30's.

  Interestingly, my cousin, who has a severly autistic son of her own, was the one who initially realized I was autistic. My mom had gone to visit my uncle as he was dying; she had a talk with my cousin, who said that, thinking back to when we were young, I was *definitely* autistic!

  My condition was difficult to diagnose, because I'm both high-functioning, and highly intelligent as well. When I was diagnosed (1992), Asperger's wasn't part of the DSM diagnostic criteria yet, and there still wasn't all that much known to the public other than "Rain Man". When I was 5, I was labeled as 'hyperactive', and spent some time in a children's ward at a psych hospital, but in 1965, almost *nothing* was known about autism, and what *was* known back then was more about the severe cases.

  -BobB

garmonbozia,
  Except for...



  ERIN GRAY!!!

  -BobB

I only set off people's aspdar and sometimes gaydar.  That's very annoying, because the people that have the gaydar are usually the ones that wont say anything but are homophobes and will want to kill or... here it is.. bully.  (oh, and I'm not gay which adds to the annoyance.)

I don't think anybody without the aspie radar (aspdar) from knowing what to look for, etc. can tell other than I'm very strange.  So, the answer to the question would be, in general, no.  

My own aspdar has been doing pretty good.  I even detected one from his website, and got confirmation through a curious and winding path.  I don't say anything to the ones that I'm pretty sure don't know, because I know how far a "regression" I had right after finding out and I don't really feel like being responsable for someone else's.  Eh.  Those damn ANT's again.  Row, row row your boat.

Batman55,
  You're kind of missing the point here. When I was diagnosed as autistic, there *wasn't* a lot of information about high-functioning types of autism like Asperger's Syndrome (which was only added to the DSM-IV in 1994, *after* I was diagnosed).

  The classic description of autism (DSM-III and prior) included the statistic - assumption, really - that 75% of autistics have an IQ of 70 or less (i.e., mental retardation), which has recently been pretty much disproven. There wasn't really *any* correlation made between high IQ and autism; they seemed to be mutually exclusive.

  So *at the time*, it was difficult for me to be diagnosed properly, because almost *nobody* knew - from a medical standpoint - that someone like me even *existed*! In 1992, the *vast* majority of diagnostic information was geared towards *children*; remember, even today, 'autistic adults don't exist'!  

  The psychiatrist who diagnosed me had worked with TEACHH, so he *knew* about autism; if I'd gone to *any* other psychiatrist for my diagnosis, I probably wouldn't have been properly diagnosed.

  Just curious, have *any* of the various shrinks you've seen been specialists in autism and Asperger's? That *could* be the reason they didn't mention it; they simply might not have been familiar with it.

  As for the assertion that "the skills needed to do well in academics, Math, or reading can 'compensate' for most AS-related problems and give you a 'skip ahead' past a lower functioning level", that *wasn't* the point I was trying to make; I think you read that into it yourself, to be honest...  

  -BobB

ATM: Some who have worked as Special Education teachers seem to notice.  How, I cannot fathom.

All the best.

Batman55,
  Having autism/Asperger's specialists examine you will probably give you a *much* more accurate result.

  To mention Asperger's to your psychiatrist, you could tell him something like, "I've been doing some reading about different conditions, and there are a good number of things about me that seem to be traits of Asperger's Syndrome; do you know any specialists who could evaluate me?"

  Before I forget, I know you've mentioned that you scored a 99 on an IQ test; was that the WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)? If so, you might want to have your psychiatrist give you a test called the Raven test; it's a more accurate assessment for people on the autistic spectrum. In fact, quite a few test subjects who scored low on the WAIS shot *way* up when they took the Raven, so taking it might be worth your while.  

  -BobB

This boy asked me if I was autistic. I then asked him why he thought that and he answered because I took things so literally. He had read about Autism. He was very direct about it.

Hm... I surprised a few people by telling them, but no one notices that I'm an Aspie.
Sometimes, a perceptive person will pick up that there's something not quite right about me, something odd, something they find strange. They never really put a finger on it, it just kind of intrigues them.

Of course, I've spent a lot of time learning to play by the unwritten rules of socializing, so that might be a big part of it.

People who know what to look for can see it I'm sure but most do not.  People who don't know much about ASD's tend to think I'm one or more of the following: younger than I am, a little eccentric, too quiet or too over-talkative for the situation, dressed oddly, or a little spacy, really smart (about some things) or really dumb (about other things).  They might notice my conversation skills are a little off and I tend to rant or lecture at people on certain topics.  They might think I seem socially anxious or awkward.  I think very few people put it all together though unless I actually tell them.