the wired AS test

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I got 38 today. Oh well. YAY!

I live in Vancouver and went to a private (a.k.a. "2nd tier") clinic for my evaluation rather than waiting years for an appointment with a government-funded doctor. Since I paid out of my own pocket the doc said the Dx belonged to me and I could have it verbally or in writing, and if I wanted it in writing it would never be shared with anyone without my permission. I chose to get mine in writing because I also have ADHD and Dysthymia and wanted my regular doctor to take care of the prescriptions and follow-up care for those comorbids. I probably could have asked for the written Dx to include only ADHD and Dysthymia and nobody would ever find out about my AS but I have no reason to hide it.

Interesting...

well, this is not something that I normally dwell on and it was only one month ago that I first heard of Asperger's. Whenever I study it part of me identifies with the symptoms and others feel completely irrelevant. Then sometimes I'll go about the day thinking of something else and I will recall a memory from childhood or young adulthood and then remember the parts of Asperger's that I thought did not apply to me and I go, "hmmm, what does that mean?"
That's why these tests seem to be helpful but they don't really help at all, because admittedly some of the questions are very vague and loose. I try to take it as I am now and I try to take it as if I was a child. The results are pretty consistent. So then I say one day, "I have Asperger's. I am mildly autistic." Then it's like, "well so what? Now get on with life." Then another day it's like, "I don't think I'm an Aspie, I think I'm just an odd NT, but quite introverted."
Today I wondered that, if a line marked with degrees could be drawn, where you have NT on one side and then Autism beginning at a certain point, with Asperger's beginning the continuum, then I may be just on that meeting point of Aspie and NT. Or like if Asperger's was a magnet and pulled so I was just on the edge of NT and Asperger's. Something like that. Does this make sense? Is this a normal confusion amongst those who found out about Asperger's by accident?

I got a 42 on the Wired quiz. I was amazed as well at how well I could relate to the questions, and I was extremely surprised when other people I know took the test and got scores in the 15-20 range. I never thought I was THAT different!

It is for me.

Sometimes I am like, yeah, I admit I am way too different to be just a weird NT. I am HFA Type II (:wink: I LOVE that name for AS!) I have social and communication problems and obsessive habits and mannerisms that other people just don't have. I know because I watch other people - I always have - just not when they're watching me! And I know that I feel compelled to be a completely different person in public (a very stressful charade) than when I am relaxed at home.

Sometimes I am like, no way, I am NOT autistic. I am just a highly gifted NT with social discomforts. There are lots of different personalities and that's just my personality. Everybody knows geniuses are a bit weirder than the general population. Perfectly normal, perfectly normal.

Took that version and I scored a perfect 50 out of 50. I haven't added it up by hand yet though. No I didn't cheat. Why would I

Screenshot of entire test in word doc format (699kb)

One thing to note is that there can be big variations here, I know a friend with AS and he is much more socially able and interested in things which normal people are, compared to me, I had no idea until he figured out I had it.

We're all different. Not only is it a spectrum disorder, but it also affects a broad range of skills and characteristics in different ways. Two people diagosed with AS could have the same skills affected to a different degree, or different skills affected but with the same severity. That's why the diagnostic criteria includes a number of characteristics that indicate AS but also specifies that the triad of impairments must exist as a result of those characteristics.

Compensating ability also varies both from person to person or even over time within a single person. My best (only) friend when I was an adolescent is also an aspie. Although we started out with the same basic problems, I learned to deal with my AS and he didn't. I became independent and rose from poverty to a comfortable middle class life, while he fell from a comfortable middle class home to a life of poverty. Now that we're both close to 40 I find my AS characteristics are becoming more prominent again as I lack the energy (and neccessity) to maintain the facade of normalcy.

*Sigh* Boy, do I hear you, Cindy. But I've grown weary of keeping up the facade, and I'm !@#$%^&* tired of caring what people think of me. I have black and purple hair and a face full of piercings, I'm 37 and "dress like a teenager", I'm 6'1" and female... Society's ignorant denizens can shove their "rules" up their collective arses.

I am also a bit fed up of having to have different facades. For public with Joe, Nick and Nathan is one facade, for Jack Bourne and co another.

got a 40 on the OKcupid copy of the wired test.

Was bothered a bit by the vague questions, but I answered the best I could.

Oh well. They make vague questions because they cannot really go into too much detail.

I got 49. Woot.

42, and that's after years of 'behavior mod therapy'. I'm definitely autie.

I hit 43, don't know what it means though...

I scored 47, no real surprise there.