Diagnosis: I'm official!

Post Reply New Topic

A question: what difficulties do you have from the ASD (not the symptoms that you show, but Criterion F)?

I know you have a BF; so social difficulties aren't met there, unless you have no other friends (not unheard of for normal people to just have a partner though)
you work; so vocational problems aren't there (normal people have problems at work, rather being unable to work is this)

Both of which are uncommon together for someone with such, but not unheard of.

Do you have trouble living independently, studying, driving, self-care (looking after yourself in regards to hygiene and whatnot), or something equally as important?

I don't presume to know you at all, of course, and I'm not judging anything; I'm just curious, as I see people diagnosed with an ASD who tend to get along well enough, and they don't list where it actually affects their daily living [other than just listing symptoms].

Last edited by Dillogic on 21 Mar 2012, 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i went to dr with blank slate after sister suggestion, followed by self diagnosis, now its official. I went to the doctor and didnt go into all the tests because they raised too many new questions. It was easier to just go in and let doctor do his thing. though i think the little meltdown i had may have influencedd it.

Having a boyfriend doesn't at all mean the social difficulties are necessarily not met, even if you have other friends. She's mentioned that she has difficulties in her relationship that are because of her AS, and that knowing about that is being able to improve her relationship. That suggests to me that her AS does impact her relationship.

Social difficulties also involve just how you interact with people at all. Someone who has a romantic partner that happens to work with their ASD will still have difficulties when interacting with people as a whole, even if they have a few other friends.



Normal people having problems at work doesn't mean that the problems are possibly a different level. While this isn't true for me (as I don't work), I do know people who are on the spectrum who work successfully and if you don't think about their problems then you see something like "this person has a successful job" rather than the fact that they're actually unable to cope and dealing with walking out regularly to keep themselves from going crazy.


I don't know what the OP has for difficulties, but I know that when I was diagnosed that had been explicitly taken into account.

Yes, they're symptoms you're listing; social deficits will always equate to problems interacting with others -- lack of reciprocation, lack of peer relations, lack of nonverbal cues (both ways). These things need to impact to a disabling level. I can see with allowances, like an understanding partner, can mitigate this, and if that partner wasn't there, then it'd most likely be none at all (same with friends). A partner is the ultimate social peer relation, just FYI and all.

With work, it needs to be well under one's level of ability, allowances made, or unemployed. Common problems at work don't count, as everyone experiences those, even social ones (bullying and whatnot is something everyone experiences).

Other areas of functioning, like without allowances, one couldn't live independently, are generally the most common.

Perhaps it's too personal for people to list their "failings", but it's just something I rarely see. Symptoms are all fine and dandy, but how they impact you is what matters.

Last edited by Dillogic on 21 Mar 2012, 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Who is putting their head in the sand?



Managing is an imprecise and subjective term., and if you have no problems then you:

a) Wouldn't consider you have any condition at all
b) Wouldn't seek a diagnosis
c) Wouldn't be self-diagnosing

So I'm really not sure what you're trying to say there.

Having a boyfriend doesn't mean that you won't have things like "I regularly have problems with miscommunication with him because I can't read his emotions" though is what I'm meaning. Having relations doesn't mean that those relationships aren't impaired.




I wouldn't consider walking out in the middle of the day having a meltdown a common problem. If this only happens once or twice, sure everyone gets frustrated. If this happens on a regular basis because of simple things like people not putting things away in the proper places, the fact that you're being able to keep your job doesn't change that you're losing 5 hours a week that you should be working.




I've seen listings of this elsewhere, posted in some even, but in this thread I don't want to change the topic off of the OP's diagnosis.

Yes, I have a boyfriend. I met him in college, and he was drawn to me because of my knowledge and ability in our shared major: film, which is my special interest. I turned him down three times, because I was afraid to let him get too close and see my 'weirdness' beneath the facade. Anyway, I eventually learned that he was born with a severe birth defect, and I thought that he would be able to accept my differences if I were able to accept his. I told him I liked him. That was that. My AS symptoms became very apparent by year 1 (after he moved out of his parents' house and we were able to hang out more), and it led to huge fights. My rigidity and inability to handle changes in plans were the worst of it, but also my bizarre emotional breakdowns and likewise inability to identify and explain my feelings to him. There were various accusations of my being critical, manipulative, etc etc, none of which is true of me...but my absolute need for the 'truth' and need for things to be 'right' can be viewed this way. My boyfriend is very outgoing, enough for the two of us, and he does all the talking for me. His best friend is my best friend. I have no friends of my own.

Yes, I have a job. The same job since the 10th grade...one that my dad, one of the managers, helped me to get. It's a job that requires no effort or brain power whatsoever, and I am incredibly overqualified for it. My initial boss seemed to have an innate understanding of me and took me under he wing...like a big sister or a mom. I had problems early on with co-workers, all of whom thought I disliked them, but in reality, I liked them a lot and wanted them to be my friends. We recently got a new manager after 9 years, and the new one has already written me up three times...for dress code issues and for not clocking in 5 minutes early, a new rule. I wear only one pair/type of shoes, and was allowed to wear them for 8 years at my job. The new manager said I couldn't wear them anymore, but I kept forgetting to wear a different pair of shoes, because I NEVER wear any other sort. I had a lot of trouble changing my routine...the time I left my house, in order to get there 5 minutes early, and not just slipping my shoes on before I leave. The new manager considers me to be 'defiant,' which if horrifying to me, because I'm all about doing the right thing and following rules! By the way, all of the people I worked with when I started in the 10th grade now come in as customers, and they all have 'adult' jobs. It's embarrassing for me to still be there. Oh, also, those with Classic Autism are able to gain and maintain employment, so why in the world can someone with AS not do so?

I don't know if I'd have trouble living on my own, because I never have. I'm 26. I drive just fine, but got my license about 5 years later than most. I don't shower unless I have to leave my house, and usually wear the same outfit 3-4 times a week.

Some of my biggest issues are with my family. They make fun of me, criticize me, tell me that I should 'know what's expected of me' because I'm an adult, say I should call people because it's rude that I don't, roll their eyes every time I start to speak because I monologue and infodump any time I open my mouth. No on takes me seriously even though I'm very bright...I'm the only person in my family with a bachelor's degree, and I'm starting grad school in August, but there's a joke that they should do the opposite of whatever advice I give.

It's bizarre to me that people, both on and off the spectrum, believe that those with ASDs have to be unable to take care of themselves or require extensive support in order to get a diagnosis. I have all of the clinically required symptoms, dozens of secondary symptoms related to AS, and have issues in my life that drove me to seek diagnosis, versus accepting my own self-diagnosis. This is why I believe that the DSM-V, though nowhere near perfect, is at least on the right track in terms of defining one's Autism diagnosis by a need for support and severity of symptoms. There are people with Classic Autism who function better than some with AS, which people can't seem to believe or understand, either.

That clarifies things, and thanks. You display the symptoms and functioning of someone who's had allowances to get by (even if they weren't actually known to be such), with your job and friend (your BF's friend being yours). Take away the allowances, and your functioning would drop I'm betting.

I've been in a similar boat for many of the same things (barring driving, but that's due to dyspraxia), and I would have been working with my father if stuff didn't get in the way with that (so allowances would have been there for a job).

Of note, it might be best to think, or better, plan for when things go downhill due to common life events. I've noticed that it'll really impact on an ASD.

I am very interested in someday getting diagnosed. How long does the process take? Are there many doctors that specialize in diagnosing ASD in adult females?

Congratulations! Now you have a clear answer.

Congratulations!! ! I hope to be able to say the same soon!

First, congrats, and thank you for clarifying by sharing so many details.

You are perfectly right.

A little thought about my dx. While I accept that my dx says I'm on the spectrum, I can't accept that it says I have the rather unspecific PDD-NOS, while I have most of the typical traits of AS, except for good verbal memory, perhaps, which is not really a definitive criterion, afaik. It's though my psychs tried to tell that my symptoms aren't that severe anyway, which I firmly disagree with, for the very reasons that have been mentioned here in this thread. Anyway, my (almost) one and only relationship (at 36) with a woman fell apart miserably a year later, though I had more fortune with jobs and friends, I think.

I'm still interested in your IQ subscales.

I was happy at first. Until I began noticing everyone saying "Ass-burgers." Now I insist on pronouncing it "Aus-per-jers" just to avoid that obnoxious joke everyone makes which they think is so clever.

Precious hamburgers.

Not coping, or failing, is relative. I read somewhere recently that 5/6 of people with AS have no full-time job and thought "That's strange, I have a job." Then I realised that I had only been doing a few hours a week for the last ten years and had only spent 1/6 of my life in full-time work. I also have a very solid long-term (platonic) relationship where we only see each other at weekends and I can withdraw into solitude whenever I want for hours even on the days when we do see each other. Apart from that I have no social contacts whatsoever. So I am successful in that I have a job and a relationship .

Also, what counts as a disability? If you've got used to living with only a few hours work, no friends and a few hours spent platonically with your girlfriend each week and feel OK in that situation are you impaired? I mean, am I impaired because I live like that and most people wouldn't choose to whereas that's all I can manage? Who can decide if that is an impairment or not? I suppose it is but then again it isn't.

Congratulations fragileclover! It must be cool to have an official diagnosis.

Generally, it's in comparison to your peers that defines disability (peers of age and intelligence level without the disorder in question).

You can be fine with it all, of course, but there's still objective measures for these things, which is why we have these labels.

Here ya go! I just got my report today.


VERBAL SUBTESTS

Information: 13
Similarities: 13
Vocabulary: 17
Comprehension: 14
Arithmetic: 12
Digit Span: 10

PERFORMANCE SUBTESTS

Picture Completion: 12
Matrix Reasoning: 13
Block Design: 11
Digit Symbol-Coding: 12
Picture Arrangement: 15
Symbol Search: 11

VERBAL COMPREHENSION INDEX=124 (95th percentile)
PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION INDEX=111 (77th percentile)
PROCESSING SPEED INDEX=108 (70th percentile)

VERBAL SCALE IQ=119 (90th percentile)
PERFORMANCE SCALE IQ=117 (87th percentile)
FULL SCALE IQ=120 (91st percentile)