Aspies For Freedom

If you don't wanna read so much you can just skip the intro

Until recently I had not heard anything about AS, and I just thought of myself as just a person with his own personal difficulties and advantages. When I randomly stumbled over some articles and stuff about AS, it was like everything sounded familiar, and much of my different behavior started to make sense. So I decided to read some more, and came across some forums(like this one), and things/symptoms people described matched my situation to such an extent, that I did not believe it to be a coincident.

Therefore I took some tests, and found out from most of them that I was "Very likely an aspie". I also read that just by taking tests, I could not be sure to have AS, and that I had to get diagnosed in order to be sure. So, before I go ahead to get diagnosed(which I am very in doubt/nervous about doing), I decided to make this thread, to get some feedback from people who know quite a bit about it before going to a real doctor/psychiatrist or whatever. This is because most of the symptoms are familiar, but there are some that don't match. Well, here it goes:

Matching symptoms:

• Talking on the phone - This is horrible, and I usually get like very nervous and dry in my mouth and stuff(especially when talking to strangers)
  
• Obsessed with a specific subject - So totally true! I am obsessed with computers, and I sit by my computer all day, learning about everything from how flash memory works to programming.
  
• Like to do things the same way each time - Very often, yes
  
• Social situations - I hate social situations. Except when it's with my friends, but that can sometimes be too much too.
  
• Numbers - Well, I am very talented in math, but I don't really find it an interesting thing to do. I do probably also almost least homework and tasks at school, and am one of the best in my math class(if not THE best, but I'm not exactly sure)
  
• Daily routines, and plans - I usually like to have plans for things to do, and if someone asks me to join in anything, I have to carefully think it through(as in planning time used etc.).
  
• New situations - I definitely need to prepare myself for new situations, and I often think about different scenarios of the situations several times in my head, preparing for how to act/respond. Also, before a phone call to someone I don't know, like while applying for a job, I usually have to ask my parents how to answer/act before making the call.
  
• Eye contact - Oh, no. It's impossible to have eye-contact with people, and if I really concentrate, and manages to get eye contact, I get this very unpleasant feeling and just look away again.
  
• Daydreaming - Well, this happens a lot, or at least if I start thinking about some of the things I am currently learning on the computer or something.(Sometimes its also just how the bricks are aligned on the wall) When I do this, I can totally loose track of what subject the teacher is talking about in class. This usually happens when I'm bored though.
  

Non-matching(?) symptoms:

• Making new friends - I just try to be myself, and talk little bit about my obsession, and some people are fascinated by it, so making friends at school is not that hard. But when it comes to hanging around after school, well, I don't do that with them. I mostly stay by myself, on my room. Except for in the weekends, because then I usually have like LAN with my old friends.(Which is one of the few "social" situations I feel comfortable in)
  
• One on one conversations - This is far more easier then when there are more. As long as there is only this one person in close proximity, I feel much more comfortable, most of the time. Though its far from normal.
  
• Speech - Well, as far as I know, I have no problems with my speech, pronunciation or anything.
  

I should also probably mention that I have been unaware of AS for the last 16 years, and have therefore just tried to fit in, and have probably learned methods on my own on how to handle different situations. This might affect the outcome of some of the test I have taken. Here are some of my results:

Newsweek - 40/50 (Very high) (Normal = 11-22)

Aspie-quiz - 157/200 (Very likely an aspie)

Empathy vs systemizing:

• Systemizing quotient test - 40/80 (above average) (normal = 20-40)
  
• Empathy quotient test - 18/80 (low[aspie-like]) (normal = 33-52)
  
• Autism Spectrum quotient test - 38/50 (very high) (normal = 11-20)
  
• Mind in the eyes test - 28/36 (normal) (normal = 22-30)
  

That should be about it, although I did not get all my thoughts about the situation in this post. Anyways, I would now like to get your opinion, as to if I appear "aspie-like" from the info in this post. Feel free to ask more questions if you want also.

welcome aboard

Thanks


I am also a little bit confused about the "reading between the lines" thing. Could someone give me some examples of it?

Hi.

One thing to know is that those tests don't really prove whether or not a person has AS/Autism, only a professional can really do that, and that process would (preferably) involve going over various behavioral/developmental abnormalities in the course of your life. You can't just skim the surface by looking at "traits" and then say "Well burr durr you have Asperger's Syndrome"; that's just a fragment of the whole.

How I scored on three of those tests:

SQT: 10
EQT: 38
ASQT: 9

I didn't take the eyes test because I'm really tired right now, and as such I wouldn't do as well on it as I normally would. These are really unusual results for an autistic, I know.