Is there such thing as 'mild' Aspergers?

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Yes, my son was evaluated by two differant doctors and one said he had NLD which was a mild form of Asperger's and the other said that he had Asperger's and was not famaliar with NLD. Much is left to the doctor's judgement since they cannot actually be measured. I have no problem with the eye contact thing.
My symptoms are relative to stress.

All forms of ASD are devastating, nothing mild about this disease.

It was good to see this thread. I'm struggling with similar issues.

I've done the AQ test and scored 31 and 34 out of 50. My average puts me in the category of "likely has Asperger's." I also did the Aspie Quiz and scored 130 out of 200 which puts me in the "very like an Aspie" category.

I look at the social, affective and cognitive "traits" and the social and affective aspects of it fit me to the "nth degree." However, I don't feel the cognitive aspects of Asperger's, or whatever they're calling it these days, fit me all that well. If anything I can't see the "trees for the forest" rather than "not being able to see the forest for the trees."

Although, when I am stressed out I become so obsessed with my lack of perfect information and cognitive limitations that I can't act or make decisions. I become so obsessed with finding information and analyzing the logic of my decision-making process that I can't act - kind of like Sheldon Cooper when he gets stuck in the infinite loop on his friendship algorithm.

As noted in this thread, however, it is a spectrum not a binary on/off, 0/1 or either/or scenario.

There seems to be disparity between the academic literature and this board. Reading the books, I come across phrases such as "all sufferers of autism and Asperger's Syndrome will experience lifetime difficulties"; "Everyone must have the social and interaction deficit"; and "Some support will be required in every case" (I'm paraphrasing).

Yet on this board I read about people who have actually managed their lives quite well - in the case of adults like myself they were born before autism was heard of, except by a handful of specialists. By "quite well" I mean they, like myself, have always been a bit quirky but nothing that others see as anything other than, a bit quirky, introverted.

I know there's a sub-type of "stilted" which is almost invisible … it's said to fade into eccentric normality … would they get diagnosed as having AS?

This is a sad message, but thanks for sharing. Feeling ones sorrow can be the path to truth.

Good for you for having "learnt ways." That is very touching. I have, too....

Many people feel a gnawing pain and emptiness, and some are able to hide it from the world. Just because a person seems to be having warm and genuine reactions does not mean they are born being able to do that. Social response is basically learned. Maybe some people because of the parenting they received were just able to learn better.

Yes there is a way forward from this, of course. Become more sensitive toward yourself, and eventually this sensitivity will incorporate other people into it, but this does not just happen. It needs to be a conscious practice, and that is work.

The first thing I suggest is to try to get rid of the aspie--nt distinction. Thinking that way can keep you not only from knowing yourself but also from knowing other people. This does not mean there is not some functional value in putting a name on various patterns of behavior."Autistic" has been very valuable to me in many ways, but in terms of the larger scheme of generative and alive relationship the value is minimal. It can be used as a framework and a tool of understanding, but to a limited degree.

Of course many aspies get stuck on labeling and diagnosis. That is in itself an aspie trait. Now if a person sees that is an aspie trait and he is stuck in these labels and making simplistic dichotomies, then this is an example of functional value, perhaps, but then go past it into a mode that is more comprehensive and incorporative, but again, it takes work.

Finally, imo, people do not get this way because they are born this way. There can be tendencies, but it is environment that exaggerates them, causing development to play more and more into a certain direction. If a person is cut off because he cannot deeply feel because it is too painful, it is easy to see how thinking it is because he was born that way would not lead to integration but would keep him isolated, and if there are emotional issues behind it he may never feel the feeling but would constantly be diagnosing, analyzing, comparing himself to others such as to so-called nt's, so stuck there, and on a forum such as this that can become a superficial form of socialization.. I am not referring to you, but I see many here who are like that.

I've just had a go at the AQ test and the Aspie quiz. For the AQ test, I got 27 which seems to be at the lower end of the range for AS while the Aspie quiz gave me an Aspie score of 83 out of 200 and an NT score 109 out of 200 which apparently means that I have both Aspie and neurotypical traits. That does tally with my belief in having mild Aspergers. Had I done these tests 10-15 years ago, I may very well have scored higher.

I don't think there's such thing as "mild Asperger's"- I mean, one can be more mildly affected by AS at different times in one's lifetime, but at other times be more severely affected...Although my mum seems to think that I have "mild AS", too.

Yes.

I consider myself mild now. My problems were ironically much more severe many years before I got diagnosed, so I was diagnosed after becoming "mild". Learning about Aspergers actually helped to "milden" most of my social symptoms and improve my social understanding and competencies greatly, because it gave mental concepts to understand social mechanisms and my own errors in a systematic way, and because I stopped putting myself in sitations I can't handle. Plus I realised how big a role sensory issues had played in my poor social development during my youth (where parties and oother large group sitations seems like "the" way young people socialise, or did at the time). I'm so good socially now (in my everyday environment = low pressure, work from home, mostly solitaire or with my husband only) and have improved my executive function skills so much (= have good systems that work) that my presentation now would seem like primarily SPD + solitaire personality type + strong occupation with interests.

Would like to add that I have never presented as "severe" or obviously autistic. What I mean is that I'm able to function and present as - and be - socially competent, whereas when I was younger my social difficulties in particular prevented me from functioning so that I was isolated - had no friends, couldn't express myself and connect with anyone at all, couldn't handle school, jobs, everyday practical life management or life planning - but just lived from moment to moment without really building useful life experience / social competencies, generally just very confused about my very messy life.

I'm still not good with overall life planning (like career etc), and am financially living month to month without much overview or preparation for the future... which gives a basic sense of insecurity and is something I would really like to change but it seems impossible to manage. I also still easily get a diffuse paralysing sense of "life confusion" if I don't stick to my systems and routines, but that is internal problems that people can't see when they just talk to me.

I keep spotting phrases in my posts that can be misunderstood... Like this one: "Couldn't express myself or connect with anyone at all" isn't to be taken literal. Of course, just buying a newspaper, food or a train ticket means expressing a desire and connecting with another person in the process, and I could always do things like that, so my phrase is not true in a literal sense. It means that I couldn't express my true inner feelings and thoughts so as to create emotional bonds with other people, and was struggling so much with non-verbal aspects of conversations that I made people uneasy and rarely could make social communication work well, other than some brief moments.

(There may be other aspects of my posts that are inaccurate, depending on perspective/definitions - "Mild" is a quite vague term in the first place)

John Turturro and Daryl Hannah have also been diagnosed with Aspergers, and I suspect that Tom Hanks and Keanu Reeves have Aspergers as well (but I don't know whether they ever got a diagnosis, or if they really do have Aspergers, I just think they have some visible traits). P.S. all these people are among my favorite actors, so is Dan Akroyd (and the Ghostbusters movies are among my favorite movies too lol I have the CDs and watch them a few times every year).

I've been diagnosed as on the Spectrum, Level 1, "mild". And I can see why people say that - at times I can be very sociable, talkative, responsive, humorous, and warm. Which isn't what people expect. (Of course, they're not seeing me the rest of the time...) My personal experience is anything but mild. Stress, anxiety, uncertainty, a sense of disconnection, loneliness... Moments and moments of feeling uncomfortable and not knowing what to do in social settings or in public. Like running into someone I don't know well walking downtown... And having to act and pretend that it comes natural to say whatever it is I say, to manage the moment and move on. But mostly, it doesn't come natural and never has. But that's not what people see. They see me being "social" with someone downtown. So I couldn't be on the Spectrum...

Which I think is why Asperger's has been called the "hidden" diagnosis. And it's ridiculous. The truth is, I can relate and interact with people just fine. They just mostly don't know what to do with me. I say what I'm thinking, and it's a non-sequitor, or not emotional enough, or the wrong emotion, or they don't get the connection (that happens a lot)... Or it just doesn't follow the social script. Which is usually what it boils down to. And so I learn to be careful and try to manage interactions so I don't stand out or get judged or treated unfairly. But if there were more of us, it'd be them struggling to get along.

I totally agree with someone who said that most of the suffering of Asperger's comes from dealing with folks who don't have it. If there was real acceptance of all our differences, there'd be far less need for the diagnosis.