I'll try to be brief.  I have a very close friend who I told recently I felt he likely had some form of asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.  After he'd read more about asperger syndrome, he felt it very accurately described him.

Skip forward two months and I find the "Aspie-quiz," I directed my friend to the site, and since it mentioned ADHD (for which I'd been diagnosed as a child and have since always suspected was a false-positive; or suspected it doesn't exist at all but may be lazy diagnoses for a larger grouping of "disorders"), I decided I may as well take the test myself.

I answered the questions honestly and had fully expected to have it turn out negative for me and positive for my friend.  I was surprised to learn that my friend ended up with a 111/200 AS and 99/200 NT and my numbers came out as 145/200 AS and 85/200 NT.

I've always been a bit of a shut in.  I always had problems understanding children my own age and never was able to cope quite well in social situations until I was about 22 years old ("cope" as in, not come off as a creep), though I never really enjoy it, others don't enjoy my company very often either.  Some people enjoy my company very much and to a preference above others, usually people who like to debate.  I've always been rather sensitive and I was picked on as a child.  I skipped a couple grades though I had issues with understanding certain norms in school and would get in trouble for them (pornography rule, internet policies etc.) though I never got involved with drugs or violence.  I hardly had any friends.  I never went to any parties in high school.  I always just wore "whatever" jeans and a shirt, and the only kids that seemed to be interested in hanging around me in high school were the death metal types. Never hung out with any of them outside of high school, I always preferred the library or just going home after classes.  Most of my learning came through extended stays at the public or school libraries where I would spend 10 hours or more on my days off or days in the summer reading anthropology or philosophy books.  Adults always found me gracious and communicative if not aloof and "in his own world."

I'll watch video from when I was a child and I notice certain things have not changed at all.  When I focus on something, I can't hear much else.  When someone calls my name when I am focused on something, I don't hear them, this obviously has repercussions in terms of my marriage etc.  I cannot take notes in college but I have very good memory from simply listening.  I'm 28 now and I will be receiving my bachelor's degree next year though I've yet to really crack a book besides my French class, I've maintained a 3.4 GPA.

I will ramble on and on and on and on about topics I find interesting, my wife and my best friend have taken to calling me "The History Channel" for which they sometimes wish they had a remote control so they could "mute it."

In ways this test makes sense but in others it does not.  I do not feel like I'm disadvantaged at all but I have always excelled in some ways while falling behind in others.

I never even thought about whether or not I had asperger syndrome until I took that damned test.

Yes, you are very aspie. I am like You in many ways, I am not disadvantaged but excell in many ways, but there is always a bit of a social issue. However, being married once and a widower and due to be married again,  wouldn't say I am too bad socially. But I can become very focused. I am extremely visual though.

Thank you for your quick response and early confirmation.  How would I bring this up to my parents without them thinking I'm saying there's something "wrong with me?"  I can just hear it now, they'll most certainly deny it or laugh it off before I'm even able to finish describing the circumstances much like when I told them I was an atheist.

Sorry to hear about your first wife.  Gratz on your upcoming marriage.  My wife is older than me by more than the "societal norms."  My wife is that kind of woman who everyone immediately feels comfortable with, so I cannot make any claims to being "forward" really.  I think she took a bit of an interest in me for my eccentricities.  We worked together and, before I even talked to her really, I gave her several of my essays to read.  Strange way to "woo" a woman but perhaps she found it endearing because she talked to me.

Believe me I have been roundly castigated for daring to date another woman so soon (within a month) after losing my wife. My first wife was nearly a decade younger than me and my second to be is even younger but still in her mid thirties. I must say for many women they do seem to like what their men folk have written and both wife one and to be seem to delight in reading what I have written myself.  Perhaps it is reassuring to them their man isn't the typical beer swilling knuckle dragging ape. But then I am no woman so can't say for sure.

As to aspies being something wrong? Not a chance. Our brains are wired differently, work differently and respond differently. Fortunately the human race has us or we would probably be throwing rocks at each other to this day from our cave entrances, well, we can't step out of line and be different can we now?

Hi mdr, nice to meet you.  From your description, you're a high functioning Aspie, like many of us here.  Pretty much described me, btw, apart from the fact that I'm female!  There's nothing "wrong" with you, and you're not some sort of diseased version of Neurotypical, but a viable member of a growing group who think and interact differently from the Neurotypicals.
Welcome to AFF!
Alison

Oi Alison, I think I might take my bride to be to Canberra in due course. Show her around the place. Always liked Canberra apart from a severe and major dose of gastro I got from an Italian dish on my honeymoon 20 years ago which put a big dampener on my visit. I hope it passes health standards now. LOL.

Be careful, Mick, a lot of the more northern states do tend to call us Canberrans the "Antarctic Division"!  It was minus 7 this morning, nice, cool and crisp, particularly the grass when I stepped on it and it crunched, so you may want to leave it until it gets a bit warmer.  Or bring your winter long-johns and ugg boots.
Although those are not exactly honeymoon wear...

Alison

This post was last modified: 07-30-2011 02:51 PM by Alison.

Thank you Alison!

I'm glad that more things are making sense to me.  I can now understand how so many people are not able to understand me or my arguments.  And why I can't understand the logic of the typical person either.  I don't understand their motives.

Always been "different."

mdr, yes you sound very much like an aspie. Welcome. You should find a lot of like-minded people on aspiesforfreedom.

I think I will be there just for those magnificent spring days when they start. Its hard enough in Brissie most nights and mornings.

Thank you sir.

WELCOME!

Hey I recently took the quiz too. 137/200 Aspie and 74/200 NT. IN fact I found this thread by having a niggling skepticism of the line "You are very likely an Aspie" in the test result.

I was tested for a lot when I was a kid (70's, USA) including hyperactive (before ADHD was a meme). Not sure how useful self diagnostic quizzes are, and not sure now what point there would be in getting officially tested. But it is always useful to remember that in all the "big picture" stats there are hugely divergent individuals, and that while perhaps I don't fit in with the in crowd comfortably, I remain just another ape with shoes.

This post was last modified: 02-29-2012 03:00 PM by chefcrsh.

Hopefully they are nice shoes

Welcome

Just a note about the Aspie Quiz.  The designer of the test does not view the traits he is measuring as Aspergers Syndrome.  He is actually a computer programmer, that is attempting to use the data from the test to prove that neurodiverse traits do not exist in individuals that did not breed with Neanderthals in Africa.  

Since you like Anthropology, you can go to his website, RDOS.net, and view his interesting, but controversial ideas about that.

When he says Aspie, he does not intend Aspergers Syndrome; for him Neurodiverse traits are synonymous with the term "Aspie traits".

He does not intend the test as any kind of diagnostic tool, to test for a disorder.  In fact, on some sites, where people have listed their results, there are some who score like your friend with a 111 with a diagnosis and some that score like you do, and have not received a diagnosis, nor do they want one.

The main purpose of a professional diagnosis, is for individuals that are having problems functioning in life.  You don't describe yourself as such, and if so, you very well might not be diagnosed, if you went in for one.  Whereas, if your friend is having problems functioning in life, he very well might be diagnosed.

What you may more likely be part of is a broader autism phenotype.  There are online tests for that, that may provide a clearer answer for what you seek to know.  The broader autism phenotype has been suggested to reach out into 10 to 20 percent of the population.

Interestingly too, it has been estimated that about 10 to 20% of humans are born as innate introverts, as well as many in the rest of the animal kingdom.  They are referred to as sitters rather than rovers.  

No doubt they are Neurodiverse, if they are born that way.  I would imagine that this comprises a good part of the broader autism phenotype, that the Aspie Quiz measures for.  

What's interesting though, is ADHD brings a different element to that mix.  It has been associated with extroversion as well, and could in part, explain the wide range of differences among those on the Broader Autism Phenotype, and those diagnosed with an ASD as well.

This is the bulk of what the Aspie Quiz tests for, but there are no clearly defined parameters as to where it begins or ends in the Aspie quiz, only correlations.

I scored in the 190's but lived a fully functional life, as just another individual in the population that was considered odd.  It took a long time for social requirements to exceed my capacity to adapt to them; but in my late 40's it finally happened, along with other stress related/auto immune health problems, and a diagnosis of ASD/ADHD.  

I could not clearly see the difficulties associated with this in my life functioning, but it was almost immediately apparent to a psychiatrist.  And, as I look back, others may have noticed throughout my life more than I did.

The only benefit I see for a real diagnosis, is if you are actually having significant problems functioning in life, or if you have sensory problems, that require accommodation in the workplace.  

If that is the case you could benefit from protections with the American's with disabilities act.  You didn't mention any sensory problems in your text.  If you don't have any, your are fortunate in that respect; they are common among individuals with ADHD as well.

Good luck, you sound like a well adjusted individual and I wouldn't worry to much about the word Aspergers.

Actual traits of the condition have been measured out into as much as 30% of the population.  

Traits by themselves do not equal a syndrome or disorder, created by a consortium of psychiatrists that have created a pattern out of a number of traits.  They are just part of the general condition of being human, where evidence of actual differences in neurology exist out into the entire population.  

From what I gather, this is pretty much the opinion of the guy that developed the Aspie Quiz, except he doesn't attribute the same differences to some Africans, because of their lack of neanderthal ancestory.  He has arrived at some interesting statistical patterns through his analysis of the Aspie Quiz Data.

Before it's over you might be motivated to check your Neanderthal DNA as well.