why are self-diagnosed aspies considered "posers?"

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My regular doctor has no problem at all with my self-assessment, and I am sure he would make the "confirmation referral" or whatever that might be whenever I might ever ask ... and I would be quite willing to do that just as you or someone else might let me know where to have the invoice sent if there actually is another professional who will see me.

Last edited by leejosepho on 30 Oct 2010, 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ah, if we could only find a way to get *them* diagnosed for something like "arrogant ignorance", eh?!

Many people think they know more than the doctors, but then sometimes some of us actually do ... and being able to make that distinction can make all the difference in the world!

I do blame people.

I blame people for needing me to somehow organize a f*****g diagnosis so they can feel comfortable as Leeojosepho described above.

You pay for it, you take me to the clinic that's halfway across the goddamn country, then sure, I'll get one, NO problem.

Are they?
Well, for an example, where I live, autism is considered a rare childhood's disease which is eventually outgrown. Or, alternatively, the affected individual is institutionalised for life as mentally ret*d. Not that we don't have a significant proportion of scientists and engineers that are on the broad autistic phenotype - or clearly autistic - but somehow this does not register.
Being myself a health professional, I know that I won't find a local specialist to diagnose autism in an adult even if I advertise it on national scale. Especially when they learn that I have a PhD, a job and that I am married. Might as well get a diagnosis of 'hypochondriasis' thrown into the bargain.

I was self diagnosed from October 2009 - August 2010 I had several people on WP say I was faking it but when I saw my neuropsychologist he said he knew I had Aspergers from the first interview. If he had it his way he would not have given me the evaluation because I was so obiviously an Aspie. But I told him I had very bad memory issues so he gave me the test to see how bad my memory was. I got evaluated because of elitist a**holes here on WP could nolonger talk down to me or accuse me of being NT. Thats why I never talk down to the self diagnosed crowd here because some people have their reason (mostly financial) for not getting diagnosed. Trust me having Aspergers does not make you better than someone that thinks they have it and if it does make you feel better about yourself because of it you need to get your priorities straightened out.

This suspicion is something I felt too, even if people say to me that they feel Aspies more than before after talking to me.

There are tons of problems to overcome, and sometimes they seem impossible to solve. Some people have overcome some issues, and it might seem not true to the one that face the problem now.

The more I read and chat, I discover that solving some problems require some precise conditions to begin with. I see the problem according to how I was when I met it before, and I simply suppose my conditions are the same that the person I listen to help have. If these conditions are not present, or differ, the proposed solution has a good chance to be misunderstood to the point it might worsen the original problem.

That is why in my opinion desperate people start to question other people. And the situation is not easy at all.

Ah, it figures. Don't know if it is a typical trait, but I am always the last one to know if there are fractions in a community. Happened at least a hundred times already. I have never been able to sense such things and need to be told up front - and even then I am genuinely surprised.

Yeah, I got told that once as well. That's probably one of the worst insults you can give someone who's legitimately diagnosed, if not the worst.

so many mere mortals have this need to feel superior to something, anything, that they will grasp upon the most unlikely things and exclude anybody else not strictly, legalistically in the same category of the thing they grasp.

I am very aware of having lived relatively "successfully" for many years in spite of anything since discovered either true or untrue about me, and I do not in any way decry the "comfort" others may have experienced by possibly knowing more about themselves much sooner.

My seeming "success" in the past now causes me trouble where other have experienced a different kind all along ... yet I truly believe we all do well to now just accept each other just as we now are.

Maybe we should start correcting Aspies out when we see someone post something negative about a self diagnosed person when they accuse them of being a poser or saying their opinion is not as good because they yet have gotten a formal diagnosis.

I know that the center that I go to sees adults and can DX them.
It probably depends on where you live, whether there's a specialty center nearby and the laws in your state.


for me, being uncomfortable about "Self-diagnosed" is not about feeling comfortable about myself. i've just been observing that many people view aspergers and autism as a mere personality issue or character of preference and not a disability that those severely effected would like not to have. I would like not to be an aspie. I'm not proud of struggling so much and disappointing people.


i think a DX is like a warrant. like a legal warrant for social aid/accomodations. not for personal identy.
I think people who claim a DX but don't need help make it harder for people who do need help to get help. its a subtle sort of influence, and not the fault of the self-diagnosers but of the general public that can't seem to comprehend the concept of a spectrum.

I can easily agree with you completely there: The overall fault or "problem" here lies within the minds of the arrogant and/or ignorant "general public", and I also believe that places a bit of extra responsibility on the shoulders of the some of us who do seem less troubled or "disabled" than others ... yet I am just not sure what that responsibility might actually be.

i wish we all could just get along without all the correction and gainsaying and such. let's just love one another and be worthy of GOD.

Okay - I made it up to today getting NO help and NO affirmation and no sense of WHY cerain phenomena.

So I say I have traits that suggest I fit somewhere on the spectrum. So? I am NOT "excusing my bad behavior as my brother claimed"; I am NOT grabbing a share of any support or resources. Nobody knows except some people here and a VERY few family and friends. I am not diluting the definitions for the profession nor cutting into the resource pool. I MAY have contributed an insight or suggestion from experience to the really diagnosed.

As for "qualified professionals" - I am in my own field a qualified profssional and I have dealt with all kinds professionals a long time - qualified professionals are NOT biassed? Don't make me laugh!

As for terms - I can say possibly or probably or likely or self-assessed or self-diagnosed. But words are just words - a privy and a water closet and a crapper and a toilet are just as full of fecal matter whatever the name.

you're cracking me up! i completely agree. no level of diagnosis is really good enough for people who want to exclude others. i've had 5 mental health professionals agree with my self-diagnosis, but i've never shelled out the $500 - $1000 to get extensive testing done. does that still qualify as only a self-diagnosis because i don't have a rubber stamp on a paper somewhere? silliness.