how much of an 'Aspie' are you?

[iceburg]

Hello all. Im new here and new to Aspergers altogether although i used to have a friend who was had it (now married /moved away) .

 

Anyway what i wanted to say was......... do you think there is a varying degree of Aspergers in people?

in my opinion i have up to 50% of me leans towards aspie tendancys .

 

 

 

what do you think and why?

Edited March 25, 2012 by iceburg

[thomas mg]

Id have to say yes. My asperger's syndrome is severe enough to be a problem in my life but not so severe that I am in denial of the problem. I have an uncle nearing his sixties who remains undiagnosed but his ASD traits have dominated his life entirely without him being able to recognise any difference between himself and NT people. If there was such a thing as medium functioning autism, i'd place him around there.

 

Ultimately i think the spectrum around the higher functioning is as diverse as the entire thing.

[Tally]

Yes, I do think there are varying degrees, and also people who have different difficulties more severely than others.

 

Asperger's is called a syndrome, which means it is a collection of symptoms or traits. Someone might have some of the traits, but they don't get a diagnosis unless they have enough of the traits in enough severity to meet the diagnostic criteria. But within people who do meet the criteria, you will get a range of people who have just enough traits, just strong enough to meet the diagnostic criteria, and other people who have lots of traits very severely. And you also get a lot of variety with people having some traits very severely, and others having them only mildly.

 

When I first started reading about Asperger's, I didn't think I could have it because some of it didn't relate to me at all. But I definitely have it, I have a piece of paper that says so, I just don't have every symptom in the book.

 

When I first started meeting other people with Asperger's, I thought I must be really high-functioning because many were not able to work and I do have a job. But then I got to know some people better and found that some of the people who can't hold down jobs have really active social lives and are able to do things like make a complaint in a shop. I realised I wasn't more high-functioning, I just had different abilities and was lower-functioning in some areas than some of the people who couldn't get jobs. Having a job seems to be some kind of benchmark that gets you judged as not really having much of a problem, and people assume that if you are able to get a job then you must live a normal life, even if you claim you can't. Seeing other people with Asperger's doing things I can't has helped me to acknowledge that my difficulties are genuine and disabling, even if other people fail to recognise that at times.

[SidiousUK]

Hi Iceburg

 

My diagnostic report was almost off the chart but I would consider myself pretty normal.

 

As Tally says, it is a collection of symptoms so I would would probably says that non Apsies' would exhibit one or more symptoms but not meet all the diagnostic criteria for Aspergers.

 

SidiousUK

[LancsLad]

Some really good comments so far and Tally sums up a lot of my thoughts.

 

When I was first diagnosed I considered myself to have a 'mild' form of the condition, my conclusion based on the fact i was having and had for the best part of my adult life been high functioning. I then started working with a person with a lot of experience of adults with AS and she described me as having some very strong autistic traits. At this point in my life I could not square the two positions of mild and very autistic in my mind one of us had to be wrong.

 

What brought home my own condition to me was joining an AS group and comparing myself to other people with the condition, not a fair thing to do but a natural one. I think we can assess our Aspiness in two ways. Firstly as Tally says how many of the symptoms do you exhibit. In a group we would ask how many of us had a certain symptom associated with AS and I found that I possibly had a pretty large collection compared to some other members of the group. The second was to asses our Aspiness would be to say how intense are these symptoms in comparisson to NT levels.

 

From this perspective of number and intensity of elements associated with the condition I can see why this expert would bescribe me as being 'very autistic' a set of traits she would respect enormously, and not see as a negative.

 

I am not sure we can leave the answer at that point because I have come across adults who might have a small number of traits and in comparison they might not be that intense compared to other idividuals with AS but because of their personalities, opportunities in life and general outlook those elements can effect their quality of life in very severe ways. I am as a result very concious of comparing ourselves in respect to symptoms, rather I think it is more beneficial to think about the condition in respect to how we function in our normal daily lives.

 

I have become very aware that since I have made the decision to simply work on my own projects at home and have in efffect become the captain of my own ship and where it sails my autistic traits are manifesting themselves in a more overt way than they would in comparison to other times in my life. I suspect this is a bit like being a drag queen in a normal office environment which some might find very shocking, but in the middle of a pink carnival others would possibly say of the same get up why didn't you make more of an effort. The point I am making is that I think our degree of Aspiness is a lot to do with environment and context. Put me in a conducive environment a design office, I am very autistic, absoloute perfectionist, driven, individualistic, productive, etc.. and would be considered high functioning. In comparison if I have to go to my in laws family gatherings through duty to my partner I can barely function at all.

 

Just a few thoughts.

[Aeolienne]

In my opinion i have up to 50% of me leans towards Aspie tendancies.

I don't know how you measure that quantitatively.

[iceburg]

I don't know how you measure that quantitatively.

that was the best i could explain myself at the time. i now understand that all aspies function differently in certain situations and cant be generalised.

[LancsLad]

Iceburg I think that is fine. Anything which can raise understanding in any area is worthwhile and it is good you come to the forum and ask questions in an open and honest way. All you can expect back is open and honest answers, and there are no shortages of that on here.

 

Keep posting!

[trekster]

0% as im an autie instead of an aspie. My autie traits are there whether I use them or not because they are positive manifestations of my ASD.

My autistic traits though tend to be quite high especially when I react differently to basic body needs. My snappiness can be described as a reaction

to needing to eat, drink, sleep, take meds or leave a situation (but I cant remember why). If im in what I call hypercritical mode it means something is

bothering me but I need another person to help me pinpoint why, sometimes asking 'ok lex whats up?' can help me realise that they might be able to

resolve the situation (or at least give me ideas who or how to resolve a situation).

[kazz43]

hi all

i've visited briefly before but i dont think i've really posted up until now..

i'm female, 43 and fora while suspected I have a mild degree of asperger's...i've not spoken to my gp, i dont know why, probably as i suffer from anxiety anyway, am i over analysing? being a bit of a hypochondriac?

i do have my own little routines, which suit me fine, i dont think i'm rigidly inflexible but i dont go out socially a great deal, though i do go swiming a couple of times a week; i do work but i dont socialise outside it, i have never felt as part of the 'in crowd' but i think thats me rather than anyone else; i do worry about how people perceive me and how people might think of me yet there are times when i dont give a monkeys!!

i do retreat into my own little world a great deal, and sometimes i just feel really threatened but i dont know why, i put it down to the anxiety

i suppose i dont fit into the mainstream, i have always felt that; at school i was a bit of a loner and tended to make friends with similar folk, i wasnt into girlie stuff, and i'm not into it now, hair, make up nails, shoes etc ..i would sooner listen to classic fm than radio 1 and i am puzzled at many of todays trends...my dad once said 'youre a square peg', and that describes me perfectly!

i do feel that people class me as a bit of an oddity, at work, i can chat to others etc but face to face conversations i find hard, sometimes eye contact does feel intrusive..i have noticed that happens a fair bit, on a superficial level its fine, but one on one, i do tend to dry up and withdraw..

 

well i dont know if thats aspergersm i did the online 'aspie quiz' and i scored 98/200 for aspie traits and it summed me up as having some aspie and some neurotypical traits

feedback appreciated

Edited April 5, 2012 by kazz43

[robert7111a]

I probably have a mild(ish) form of AS. My only real problem is lack of social skills lack of friends and participating in group activity. To me, this is a big deal as I yearn for these skills but because I don't have any friends, I have nobody to show me.

 

I do have fairly rigid routines and get a bit upset if plans get scuppered but I am able to show flexibility. I get a bit moody/low at times but that is not an Aspie trait