how serious is aspergers syndrome?

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hello. i am not sure if i have aspergers as i have never been diagnosed. i have read posts on here and some have managed to keep jobs. if i have aspergers then i have found my case to be life ruining. i am 33 years old, still live with parent, not been able to keep any kind of job, i dont have any friends, and just about all social interactions with anyone i try to avoid because they make me feel desperately uncomfortable. i have major problems making any kind of major decision in my life - for instance what career to try for, what should i do with my life....i always find that i am a terrible decision maker because i have short term 'obsessions' that do not last for more than a few months. so how can i decide what i want to do...each time i decide something ive changed my mind in a few months and everyone thinks im indecisive and cant finish anything. so in short, i find my case of aspergers or whatever it is very debilitating and im starting to worry about what will happen when my mum dies and im just alone.

It is a spectrum; some are more visibly affected than others, some to a greater extent. Superficially, I can function relatively - but it comes at a high internal cost. While there is no cure, there are ways to change how you cope with the things around you. You may not have a traditional career, but that doesn't mean you are unemployable - just means that you have to be creative in finding the right gig for you.


M.

you should look at more conditions other than aspergers at the same time and see what you meet more of the diagnosing symptoms of

you could end up being diagnosed with aspergers just think you need to be tested for all conditions that can make these symptoms and it is not possible to diagnose a person on a chat board since we do not see you and we do not know your life and medical history and that is not the kind of details you want any people on the internet to know

there can be things in your life and how you are that is a symptom and you do not think it can be that can say you could have one condition more than another

I'm probably one of the luckier ones.

I have a job and can keep a job if an employer is open-minded. I understand the need to work, and I need to work because more than 2 weeks home without something better to do and I go stir crazy.

AS affects my ability to make and keep friends, and it does negatively impact my ability to initially get hired and get promoted. The worse the economy, the more I fear being laid off or terminated because I know it will be longer than average for me to find another job.

Asperger's can be a severe disability to some to very mild for others.

Aspergers tends to not quite fit as a disorder - we can tie our own shoelaces and earn a living, what do we have to complain about?

Indeed, through my half century of total ignorance of it I didn't miss it at all. Yes, I was friendless. Yes, my attempts at keeping businesses running weren't successful. Obviously I hadn't done it right and should just get off my arse and try again.

When I look back from here, though, and see a little more of just what that ignorance cost it's hard to stay calm. When I look forward and see at the good end of the spectrum being overlooked and left out and at the bad end being a laughing stock or a victim of discrimination, it's hard to stay sane.

It's so serious, you just have to laugh at the absurd nature of it.

Well, coming to WrongPlanet is good, positive step.

There are things you can do that make it better, a little at a time. We can re-train our brains to have work-arounds for the problem areas, but first we need to understand where the problems are. It's really hard to ask for help and accept other people's advice, but it's worth the effort.

Finding a good, local counsellor is probably best, but can be hard to find. There's a lot of wisdom lurking in this site too.

Best of luck. Take it a day at a time, in small steps.

Serious.

To people who say it's a spectrum, that's the incorrect definition; AS falls on the spectrum, where the spectrum is made up of various labels that denote symptom clusters. Take one person with AS and compare them to another and there's not much difference when the same diagnostic tools are used (after all, Professor Attwood speculates that external events dictate how the outcome is (which is how severity is defined in most places), rather than there being any innate difference in severity from person to person; he sees a lot of people with AS).

NLD, BAP and Schizoid PD* are the milder labels on the spectrum (the former two coming under PDD-NOS).

*As per Wing (the lady who defined AS what it is today), puts this on the spectrum.

There is a spectrum of disorders, and a spectrum of effects within each condition; it is not an incorrect definition, although it may use different terminology than you prefer to utilize yourself. There are many here with an official diagnosis of the same condition who exhibit those characteristics differently.


M.

I can tie my shoelaces but can't earn a living.

I would probably still be living at "home" if it wasn't such an awful place to be. The thought of living with my parents again is my motivation to get up and go to work and class every day. I moved out when I was 17. I was so clueless and naive and I'm honestly lucky to be alive after all the trouble I got myself into. Now I've given up on so-called friends (aka people who use you) but I will force myself to go to work above all else because I do not want to lose my apartment and live with the people who created my living hell for 17 years.

I think most with AS could earn a living fine if they had the right kind of support and were able to do something where they could use their abilities. I mean, most of us are pretty smart... Given the right environment, those strengths could be put to use. Unfortunately, many aren't in a situation where it works out like that.

This is going to sound funny, but originally the main thing that motivated me to seek out a job was so that i could afford more reptiles(my parents don't want to fund my weird little reptile interest). It's only part time, but i've kept it for awhile now. If i found something a little more interesting to me and with less random people to deal with constantly, i'm sure i could hold down a full time job, though. I like the current job(i get to interact with people a lot, which i enjoy up to a certain point, but in a more structured way that i can handle better than normal social interaction... and i think it's helped me in a lot of ways), but i wouldn't be able to take it if i had to do it more than i currently do... because there are times during most days where it starts getting really stressful. The problem is finding and getting hired for something better.

So, yeah.. I think it depends what one means by "serious." I think it's more serious than most mental disorders that people get diagnosed with nowadays, because the world is so social. It's pretty difficult to function in any kind of "normal" way in a world that doesn't match up with your mind so well. But it could be worse in so many ways. There are a lot of people in the world who can't speak.. There are a lot of people in the world who have a severely low level of intelligence... There are a lot of people in the world who can barely move... Considering the possibilities, i'm glad to be me.