Hi, a lot of aspies don't want to see a doctor and get a diagnosis, and so self diagnose instead.
If it won't make a difference to your life if you are diagnosed or not, then it doesn't really matter.
I found some of the things you said a little confusing, maybe its the language barrier.
Can you ask your parents why you had tests? And can you ask then if you were diagnosed with anything at that time, sometimes children are diagnosed and their parents don't tell them.
You could already have a diagnosis that will explain how you feel, possibly.
I don't think you need to blame yourself if you don't feel very social. Some people are, some people aren't.
Knowing something is always better than not knowing it. If someone said "knowing it will not change anything so I don't care" I would't believe him. Knowing it doesn't matter only when you are talking about someone other than yourself. You can't say "I want to have Asperger's syndrome so I have" or "I don't want to have Asperger's syndrome so I don't have". Either you have or you don't have. That's what I'm trying to learn.
I think you are misunderstanding what I said. I meant that it doesn't matter if you are professionally diagnosed unless it makes a difference to your life, ie if you are suffering prejudice at work.
I didn't mean that it makes no difference if you have aspergers or not.
To your other point, some people can say 'I want to have aspergers' and convince themselves, people do it with various things, some people are hypochondriacs.
It is true that people either have it or they don't, but there is no magical way to determine it yourself, and that's why it may matter to some people if they have a professional diagnosis or not. Some people are happy with their own self knowledge however.
Hi Asmoday
You may be looking for a certain answer that does not exist, in that being diagnosed on the autistic spectrum isn't like some all-or-none blood test. The definitions and criteria are not, in my opinion, all that crystal clear and different diagnosticians may draw different conclusions from the same set of data. So what I've done is a combination of looking into my past, asking my mother for memories of me as a child, and asking "What if...?" That is, what if many of the difficulties I had can be explained by my being on the autistic spectrum someplace? And this has been a fascinating mental and emotional journey that has mostly been good. For example, it has led me to this forum, where I've learned more about the diversity of autism and autistic people than I had had any idea of.
Asmoday wrote
They also made me some tests like 10 years ago. I don't remember exactly but I saw something like print of my brainwaves on paper(they said it was not normal) and in one test I lied about half an hour in something(like a thin bed in a long machine).
These tests sound like investigations of brain functioning and structure that might have been done by a neurologist. Epilepsy is a neurological condition that is sometimes (but not always) associated with autism and AS. Even high-functioning and highly intelligent autistics can have epilepsy. Unusual brain structures or extreme head sizes can also be associated with AS.
I'm smarter than most people. I know this sounds arrogant but look at other things I wrote about myself. None of them are nice. If I was arrogant I wouldn't write them. I don't calculate like computer(like some autistics do in movies) but I have many chess trophies and I'm the best chess player in my city. Most people I know think I'm very smart even some of my enemies. I'm also going to university(chemistry) which is in the city I live in right now although my grades are not good because I hate lessons.
I don't mind if you write that you are smart. If it is true, then it is just a fact. Why should we have to hide the truth? A lot of people with AS are very intelligent, and in some aspie families there are lots of high IQ or high academic achievers. I am starting to wonder if at least one of the autism genes is also a high intelligence gene.
Cemistry and chess sound like pretty typical interests for an aspie. We have two aspies in our family who have had chemistry as a "special interest". Did you know that the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer is thought by some to be an aspie? He is apparently eccentric, outspoken and has a great memory, and some would describe the man as "difficult". These are all typically autistic characteristics.
Chemistry and chess sound like pretty typical interests for an aspie. We have two aspies in our family who have had chemistry as a "special interest".
Count me in on chemistry--I was totally obsessive about it.
If I have Asperger's syndrome it means it wasn't my choice.
I don't think it's quite that easy. It is surely no one's choice (or fault) that he has certain character traits which makes some skills easier for him to learn and other skills harder for him to learn. It is impossible to know where the line between ability and disability is drawn. We don't want to feel guilty over matters that are beyond our control. But we also don't want to feel powerless over matters that are within our control. A "diagnosis" whether applied to us by others or self-imposed really doesn't solve anything. It is only a handy tool for finding peers.
I'm not sure of your point here. Surely there is a line between ability and disability, such as someone who has a car accident and can no longer walk, they have become disabled not through their own choice.
Asperger's isn't a choice, it isn't automatically a disability, but for some people (depending on their living situation, age, comorbids) it can be one.
A diagnosis could solve something if a person is being forced to be a person they aren't. Or is being discriminated against at work or school.
As for peers, people who are self diagnosed can find them too.
But anyway, welcome to AFF :smile:
Do you think all labels are wrong, or just medical based ones?
Examples would be teacher, female, pet lover, christian.
What if someone is given a diagnosis of schizophrenia and needs to take medication in case they harm themselves or others?
We can go off topic.
Have you ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia, or known many people with it?
I think your views that it doesnt exist at all, not even as a collection of problems that together need treatment, is quite scary.
Being 'anti everything official' isnt always the best course.
Have you yourself been diagnosed?
I think to say politely you are a little mixed up on facts. Just because someone's unemployed or homeless won't get you a schizophrenia dx. In fact, the opposite is often true, at least in the UK. Documentaries showing that homeless people with schizophrenia are ignored and deprived of the treatment and help that they need.
I don't know whether there's much point discussing it as you seem to have very fixed views so I can only say that I think people need to be very cautious about ignoring a serious diagnosis.
mi - Have you been diagnosed with autism or aspergers, or just schizophrenia?
Hmmm..interesting topic--maybe a new thread would make sense.
On the one hand, how the distinction between "normal" and "mentally ill" is drawn in practice will deeply reflect the prevailing cultural values and medical models. A lot of it centers around "adjustment" and "functioning." In this regard, I think the Mi is on to something. On the other hand, there really ARE people who experience various forms of neurological difficulty for which coping strategies might be helpful.
Curly wrote
... I lose words, and often substitute them in sentences when i talk - "you know, the thing, the thing that is round, has a big dip in it and metal and has lots of wholes in it... you drop flour through it, oh yes, that's it, the sieve".
I know some aspies who have exactly the same problem. I'm not sure if it is caused by AS or caused by epilepsy. Some aspies have both conditions. Speech pathologists have a term for this verbal difficulty with finding the right word, but it only applies if it is the result of brain injury. As far as i know no autism expert has identified this as an autistic-type problem, but I believe it is.
One thing that you need to know is that AS/autism isn't the same thing as illiteracy or being non-verbal. Aspies can be very talkative, can be bilingual, can be professional writers (see my list of famous people identified as autistic which has a category for writers) and can be near perfect spellers. They can also be rotten spellers with alarming literacy problems, as is plain to see in many of the posts to this forum. Aspies can also be quite inarticulate, blunt or very poor communicators. Aspies aren't always good at or interested in maths or numbers, but Hans Asperger (an authority on AS that I respect) did note that his aspie kid patients often did their maths calculations using odd and original methods, as I did as a child.
curly there are quite a few aspie writers.
And on the finding the right word thing, in our house there are lots of 'that thing', 'thingy', etc.