Is Aspergers really text-book or are extreme variants possible

[Adora]

There isn’t one way to be Aspergers and that’s why many like myself included go through years of different misdiagnoses before finding out they have Aspergers,girls seem to fall more into this category than guys though it can happen to guys aswell,I was lucky when I went to see a psychologist for traumatic and anxiety issues that she was able to see underneath all the traumatic symptoms I have and still see what you class as autistic traits,it’s not a easy thing to look for because it is a spectrum and it’s even harder if you have comorbid mental health issues that can overlap with being on the spectrum,so I don’t believe there is just one way because while we may share some symptoms it doesn’t mean we all have the same personality and may have more issues with some symptoms than others.

 

[Nauti]

It's funny, I experience my autism so strongly, and its impacts are so far reaching, but I haven't been recognised by professionals as such, yet. It's most frustrating. I guess I've worked very hard, for lots of years to "mask" and I'm just too good at it. Couple that with a culture that doesn't have many people in it that seem to know anything much, that's accurate, about ASD and especially how HFA or Aspergers can present in females, and I have got to 46, and only just, this year, realised it myself. So yeah, that just tells me that it's not always at all obvious, certainly, until you get to know yourself and how it plays out for you, and other's, relatively well.

 

[Aspychata]

It's funny, I experience my autism so strongly, and its impacts are so far reaching, but I haven't been recognised by professionals as such, yet. It's most frustrating. I guess I've worked very hard, for lots of years to "mask" and I'm just too good at it. Couple that with a culture that doesn't have many people in.it that seem to know anything much, thats accurate, about ASD and especially how HFA or Aspergers can present in females, and I have got to 46, and only just, this year, realised it myself. So yeah, that just tells me that it's not always at all obvious, certainly, until you get to know yourself and how it plays out for you, and other's, relatively well.

Maybe we have the tools to deal with it in our older age, l am not sure l would have handled it so well in my teenager stage. My daughter had more problems socially, and melt-downs, but l kept her busy with creative endeavors and that really helped her sense of self, she also had a kitten at age 5 which helped too.

 

[Aspychata]

It's funny, I experience my autism so strongly, and its impacts are so far reaching, but I haven't been recognised by professionals as such, yet. It's most frustrating. I guess I've worked very hard, for lots of years to "mask" and I'm just too good at it. Couple that with a culture that doesn't have many people in.it that seem to know anything much, thats accurate, about ASD and especially how HFA or Aspergers can present in females, and I have got to 46, and only just, this year, realised it myself. So yeah, that just tells me that it's not always at all obvious, certainly, until you get to know yourself and how it plays out for you, and other's, relatively well.

Thanks for sharing, by hearing about other people's struggles, it helps all of us.

 

[Finder]

Autism is not a personality. Nor is it a lifestyle. In order to be diagnosed, at least in the US, you simply need to meet the DSM-5 criteria. Nothing in the DMS-5 criteria will determine what kind of a person you are, just that you meet certain conditions, with one of them being this was present in early childhood.

And that really is the point is the diagnostic criteria--it is not trying to identify a particular person, but a particular deficit. Since the criteria are non-specific about personality, it is inclusive for those that need help.

It is not perfect and neither are those that do the diagnosis. Unfortunately, there is no quantitative method to determine autism. And autism does share traits and behaviors with other conditions. Given we can't turn off the behavior that give each one their individuality, the process is messy.

BTW, this year the CDC estimated ASD in the adult population to be 1 in 45 or about 2.2% of the population. Many of those, and I was one, are undiagnosed. We really need to improve the system to deal with all those people.

 

[Kit]

I ain't textbook.

 

[Finder]

You seem novel!

 

[Barymore]

hmmm, I always kind of imagine its like frogs and toads (analogy!)

There are hundreds of species of frogs, little ones, big ones, flying, climbing, colorful, poisonous, what have you. There are also lots of toads too. Some frogs look more like toads than like some of the very special frogs, nevertheless, there is a frogginess to frogs and a toadiness to toads that a specialised zoologist can almost always recognise!
Thats how I see ASD - there is a common ND theme there that results in a mean (or median?) that is different to that of NTs

 

[Joshua the Writer]

No. Since it is related to Autism, which has no textbook examples, Asperger's also has no textbook examples.

 

[Kit]

My husband's opinion on this is how someone is affected by it is based on their personality. Like if an autistic person has the tendency to be offensive because of their bluntness and their inability to understand how it will be perceived, they have that personality to say what is on their mind and be direct, there are NTs like this too. But an NT knows when to keep their mouths shut and are fully aware but can still choose to offend if they want to because they do not care. An autistic person may lack this filter so it impacts their life while it wouldn't for an NT because of their social awareness and their filter. I remember hearing at my autism group, a diagnoses is based on how you express your symptoms, how you react to a situation. It's the same thing as how anxiety disorder diagnoses works, is it a normal reaction to a situation. Is it a normal reaction to a abnormal situation or a abnormal reaction to a normal situation. How do you express it when you are upset or under distress or under stress when something is normal part of life many people would hate?

My husband also thinks severity is based on your personality and your traits and how it affects your symptoms. Just his speculation.

And how I feel about anxiety disorders, I think they are just a symptom of another problem eg. trauma, autism, ADHD, learning issues, OCD.

 

[Streetwise]

Seriously, are we really that easy to dx? It seems that there many nuances due to environmenal, upbringing, maturity or lack of, misdiagnosis, specific life experiences, age, education, yadda, yadda, yadda. What do you feel?

You're confusing neurodiversity with co morbid conditions ,for instance a schizophrenic will be schizophrenic but could have severe anxiety or moderate anxiety the two are different ,there are people in my family with allergies but not autistic neurology ,little girl across the street severe nut allergy no autistic neurology .

 

[Finder]

My husband also thinks severity is based on your personality and your traits and how it affects your symptoms. Just his speculation.

Autism is not a personality disorder. The severity is not based on personality, but the severity of the autism. You can't just change your personality to change your autism. That idea sounds a bit like victim blaming.

 

[Kit]

Autism is not a personality disorder. The severity is not based on personality, but the severity of the autism. You can't just change your personality to change your autism. That idea sounds a bit like victim blaming.

People have gotten from severe to mild autism or had severe Asperger's as a child and then were mild as an adult. Temple Grandin will say she was very autistic in the 1970's but now she appears "normal." When I watched that film about her, I was skeptical about it because I was unsure if they exaggerated her in the film by how she talked and acted but nope, it was very accurate. Claire Danes spent lot of time with her before the filming and listed to her old recordings of her voice.

People will argue if one with autism gets better or if they just learned to adapt because their behaviors changed as they got older and their symptoms have seemed to have gotten milder. They have them still but they express them differently than they did as a child and learning social skills.

 

[Finder]

People have gotten from severe to mild autism or had severe Asperger's as a child and then were mild as an adult. Temple Grandin will say she was very autistic in the 1970's but now she appears "normal." When I watched that film about her, I was skeptical about it because I was unsure if they exaggerated her in the film by how she talked and acted but nope, it was very accurate. Claire Danes spent lot of time with her before the filming and listed to her old recordings of her voice.

People will argue if one with autism gets better or if they just learned to adapt because their behaviors changed as they got older and their symptoms have seemed to have gotten milder. They have them still but they express them differently than they did as a child and learning social skills.

I agree, people can change and develop. I just don't think that is down to a change in personality. I am not sure Temples biopic is good evidence, but if you take that movie, Temples personality is not changing, just her abilities. I am not sure I am very different as a person when I was young, but I am a lot better equipped to handle problems.

Autism is usually described as a developmental disorder. But that does not mean development has stopped. It is just different, either in the way it develops or the speed. And I think you can exercise that development by practice.

I have found I can improve my abilities by finding ways to mask my disabilities--I don't like the words I am using, but lets just go with it. For example, I had/have a real problem with being interrupted. It stresses/annoys me and upsets my concentrations where I can't get back to work. I was hired in a center where I had to help people, but also do work/projects for people. The door to my office was always open and people could simply ask for anything anytime. I mentally made it my job to be interrupted. Basically, there was no difference working on requests from people at the door and those on my desk. That simple shift in mindset eliminated the problem of disruption. Now, it was not easy, but, by making dealing with shifting work, I was able to adapt. Does that make sense?

 

[breakpoint64]

I’ve had language delay and echolalia as a child so I’m not qualified to talk about Aspergers, but I did notice from childhood to adulthood that my sort of neurodivergency kind of internalized compared to back then, I’ve had the “luck” that my behavior remained “unnoticed” that I only got told that I’m disruptive and got send out of class often in middle school.

As someone with ADHD, my excessive hyperactivity as a child was just seen “just having too much energy” for NTs