Diagnosis

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What are the disadvantages of being diagnosed? Will it affect my chances of being hired in the future? And will I have to take any medication after being diagnosed? Because it's not bothering me that much in my life right now, and most meds have side effects which I do not want to deal with, but I wanna get diagnosed just because I'm very curious... Are there any risks?

depends. mostely you have to have severe aspergers like me to get a free check in the mail once a month, also terrible memory problems and schiziod personality disorder and so on. i dont think its common for people with aspergers to be on meds, although when i was getting a diagnoses the doctor was all you could benefit from taking them for depression and anxiety. im happy i chose not to because i like using my tool. hunnies need this even if its not being used atm

There is no medication for Asperger's Disorder. There are medications that can be prescribed for some of the comorbid associations like Social Anxiety and Depression, but I for one flatly refuse to consider them because I believe the side effects are often worse than the ailment they treat (your experience may vary).

As far as employment goes, I don't know where you are, but I've never heard of any law requiring you to disclose AS to a potential employer, however, in the US, if you do, they are required by law to make reasonable accommodation for your disability. Hiring the disabled has certain benefits for the company and it puts you in a protected class of worker, which makes it legally riskier for a company to fire you.

On the other hand, coworkers may treat you differently if they know you have AS, but trust me, even if you don't tell anyone, they'll figure out you're different eventually. If it's an official disability, they can't discriminate against you for it. If they think you're just an oddball, they will - and it may eventually get you fired. Management types haaaate oddballs.

Yes, "oddball" can be a problem, but "quirky" can work.

Why would they want to hire an NT who barely does their work and sits around all day long drinking coffee and talking to their coworkers as opposed to a somewhat antisocial but hard-working person with AS? Makes no sense at all. Doesn't it make more sense to hire someone who would get way more work done? People with AS look more mature and (generally) have higher IQs. It was therefore surprising to find out that many of you on this forum, and aspies in general, struggle to find a job. Aren't geeks born to be millionaires? (well, it's a stereotype, but still you get the point)

yup

Hey my NT friends work their arses off. Don't put all NT's into a 'lazy worker' category.
First you've got to get the job which means sitting the interview, which means communicating. The more social person will have no problem at all with this. Some aspies like me can't put their thoughts into clear sentences when spoken out loud, or they stutter or they appear very nervous.
My resume also appears to be full of photography and IT skills, when I apply for retail. Oh yeah I'm definitely getting that job.

Then you get the BS line of being overqualified.

I found the best way to jump into that protected class of worker is to not tell the boss until I've been there for a few weeks or months. Long enough to prove I'm not a nut, but still early enough they just think quirky. Then, you tell them, and you're in like flynn.

Hehe... I love my new phrase of the week.

Being diagnosed doesn't have to have any impact in your life at all unless you want it to.

You don't have to disclose it to anyone, and you don't have to take meds (unless you require them to function, but it's always up to you as nobody can force you to take them against your will). I think it's worth it just for closure and for understanding who you are as a person. I believe it can be psychologically damaging to go around undiagnosed, make "aspie" type mistakes, then have to blame them on you not trying hard enough, or some personality flaw, because there is no other explanation. This can lead to low self esteem, depression, that sort of thing.

From my experience, a lot of bosses seem to prefer exactly that. Naturally, they like to have someone who's both hard-working and social if they can, but if they have to choose between lazy sociable person and productive 'anti-social' person, then provided the sociable person does manage thirty minutes of actual work per day, they'll choose them every time.

What I think it comes down to is, if you are deemed to fit in - i.e., are sociable and 'one of the gang' - people will overlook all kinds of technical misdemeanors. If you don't fit in, however, not even the slightest deviation from the rules is allowed. I even knew an NT person once who made this observation. Rules are readily bent for those who fit in socially, but not for those who don't.