I think I might have been wrong...

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I was also 2e, and I was severe enough that the teachers in grade school were totally confuzzled by my combination of academic advancement and all-other retardation. They had extensive meetings about me and gave me an IEP without my parents asking for one. This was back in the '80s, before anyone knew anything about the autism e, so everyone assumed that I was only the gifted e.

However, even before anyone knew anything about autism, the teachers could tell that I was totally different from the other gifted kids in a way that suggested something missing instead of just an extension of the giftedness. So they segregated me from them. The other gifted kids worked on more advanced material within the gifted group within the class. I worked alone on even more advanced material according to my IEP. This pattern of me, 2e, not fitting in with the gifted, 1e, has persisted throughout my life. Once I got into environments where everyone was gifted, the gulf was still there and as vast as ever. I consider it a crucial differentiator between autism with giftedness and giftedness manifesting as autistic traits described in vague clinical terms.

Since you are wondering about yourself, maybe it would help if you carefully analyzed the interactions between yourself and other gifted people. Do you merely get along with them when you are discussing shared interests, or do you actually feel any sort of connection with them or inclusion into their group? Do you pick up on what they are thinking and feeling without trying too hard to analyze them and still not being able to decide amongst all the possibilities that you have generated after the interactions? In the group, do you still stand out a lot lot lot? Have you noticed them treating you differently from others in the group? Can you even join such a group without repeatedly trying and failing and ultimately failing and giving up? If you have joined, are you treated like the youngest? Or like the weird one in the group as the group is the weird one in the school? Do other gifted people actually tell you that you are a total weirdo? I ask this last one, because I've noticed that gifted people are less hesitant to mention such things, because they care less about social conformity in the first place, most likely due to their own inability to conform to the TI-83's, as you explained.

I've noticed the same trend that littlelily and Fnord have pointed out. I'm not saying that anyone in this thread is intending to convince SammichEater one way or another, but there does seem to be a general bias towards "You have ASD" on this forum. This appears both when someone asks if they have ASD or when someone doubts their diagnosis, self or professional. But why does this trend exist? If people know themselves best, then their own doubts about their diagnosis of ASD or anything else should be as valid as their own beliefs in their diagnosis.

Well I can only speak for myself and I guess I play into this "you have an ASD" dynamic but it's cause I wentthrough so much doubt... two years of flat-out thinking it was absurd I could fit the diagnostic criteria, then a year and a half post-diagnosis rejecting the diagnosis for the same reasons. Not SAYING he or anyone else doubting they has an ASD does, but in my case whether I actually do or not (and by the way my diagnosis itself was pretty vague, citing me as a "probable borderline case"; learning about various aspects of the BAP at the very least and associating with others suspecting or confused or diagnosed on this site HAS helped me. It could very well turn out that another doctor could come along and say my diagnosis is nonsense and I could find as much evidence to believe them as I have to believe I have an ASD. Diagnosis criteria for such broad syndromes are culturally based. Just saying. It's helped me to be able to think of myself as this from time to time and... I don't know.

I think this is a very interesting issue. I do, however, disagree slightly with Fnord and the like. Most of the time, when someone posts a list of Aspie characteristics he has and asks for an opinion, most people respond by saying that a number of characteristics fit but that a professional should be consulted for a serious diagnosis. I think that's a very fair response.

I also think that the very nature of Asperger's Syndrome tends to push people towards focusing on the traits that do seem Aspie-ish. Asperger's Syndrome is a collection of symptoms, but most people who are diagnosed don't have all of them. Hence, the missing and contradictory characteristics don't immediately exclude the condition.

Are we not trying to get him to think about this, either way? There are people that say: " no" after initially thinking "yes," but later find out through a doctor that they do indeed have it. And this works out the other way, too.

Chances are there is something here. After all how many plain gifted folk pass through and open an account on WP? It's worth finding out what is underneath this, even if by awkwardly visiting a phycologist and asking: "I thought I had autism, in fact I posted over 1000's of posts on an autism forum, but I kinda doubt this now -- and why do I have this problem-- here are some of my posts that I printed out explaining my symptoms and feelings?"

It may be dysthymia, or something else, even going back to autism-- a good chance of shortchanging yourself by just walking away and thinking, " I was just plainly mistaken."

Ask your parents, and talk to them about this. In fact I'm wondering why a parent would allow their child to self DX like this without considering professional guidance, this is serious business.