Your severity and functioning-level by these criteria?

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By that criteria I'd be more or less Mild (except that I have a very strong and bothersome light sensitivity, and I'm much better at reading body language than displaying it).

I'm pretty much an even split between Medium and High functioning--I have a lot of friends, although I have no idea how to "make" them (I feel like, for the most part, they must have "made" me), and do fine in most conversations as long as I don't have to begin them; I work at a job that is far below my education level and intelligence, and I'm still not very good at it, but I have kept it for over a year; my routines are somewhat difficult to break, but I don't have that many of them to begin with; and again, my only "major" sensory issue is light, and more often than not I can deal with it, albeit with considerable discomfort.

edit: and I didn't vote in the poll, because I am still undiagnosed

Using the poll criteria, I went with severe AS, though not miles away from moderate, and with MF more or less uncontested.

Hmm... I'm somewhere between MF and HF... But by those terms I have deffinently got Moderate Aspergers

in real life i'll range from low functioning to high functioning throughout the day, but doctors and my family agree moderate functioning fits me the best.

well i can't handle a job, have no friends in real life, cant really socialize, cant handle changes at all, need routines, i'm not good with conversations although sometimes i do have the ability, most of the time though even simple converstions can be hard for me, i dont have any special interests unless obsessing over sensory counts then since im constantly seeking some sort of sensory involving anything else in my life is not possible, i still cant read body language or much social cues, i dont understand much lol.

So if i had to pick from this DSM, i guess i would be considered severe and low functioning?

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

I think most of us kind of get mixed results on this---a little from this and a little from that. But just looking at it all and coming up with what I think best fits me---it would be:

moderate AS with HF.

However, I do hit several MF factors, but I think the HF outweighs them. Most people around me may see me as mild AS, but they don't know what goes on inside me---I am moderate. I am almost constantly thinking of my interests---it just goes on and on and on. And just now, lying here in bed with my wife, she moved to place something on the nightstand and pulled the sheet a bit thus moving my laptop---and I got annoyed (yes, it bothered me)---I thought I was basically concealing my sensory issue---but she could tell I was upset. When I am engaged in an activity and somebody/something interrupts me, it really bothers me. Today at school (I teach the gifted) I was excited about going over the answers to a picture challenge, and just before I started to do it, a teacher came in my room and requested that I watch his biology class the following period because he had to have his team's spring pictures taken. Aghhh! I felt the energy and excitement drain from me. And---it is too awkward for me to say "no." So I did it. But I seek routine and when it is broken---well...that ruins me. I have learned to try to make the best of it. But it is a challenge for me.

And as for a job---I've taught for 21 years, but I have been moved around a bit. It was highly encouraged two years ago that I leave English and do the gifted program.

And as for friends? Well...I have no friends in the true sense.

Hmmm, maybe I am moderate AS with MF.

I'll go down the list for Mild, because if I have AS that describes me best. I would be High Functioning too.


1. (almost) normal ability to read and display body language
Yes. But I gesture very strangely, my only gesture seems to be a circular motion in the air, is something like that common with AS? 8O

2. you understand most typical conversations
Yes

3. need few routines to survive the day or few more than non-autistic people
Pretty much, things often need to happen in a certain order.

4. a special interest that you don't have to think about often
Actually mine are more severe than that, my special interests have ran my life before, or it's all I can think about sometimes.

5. you have sensory issues, but you can easily avoid them and/or they don't stress you
I have schizoaffective disorder (mimicking the spectrum?), and sometimes when I am having a attack I have severe sensory issues, but most of the time my super sensitive hearing comes more in handy than anything.

Hmmm

I wasn't sure what to put, because I don't know which criteria I fit. For example, I don't know if I understand most nonverbal communication, or just simple communication. I don't know if I really understand many (if any) conversations. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I can't figure out how much. I try to pay attention to people, you know, to figure out how much I'm picking up on, but I just can't do it. It's so hard to concentrate on those things, my brain just goes all weird.

I put moderate AS, high functioning, because I have a regular job and I can survive doing things like train travel regularly. I can't really live independently, actually I think that should be a measure of functioning, but I think I'm doing pretty damn well at the moment.

Mild AS, for example:
1. (almost) normal ability to read and display body language
2. you understand most typical conversations
3. need few routines to survive the day or few more than non-autistic people
4. a special interest that you don't have to think about often
5. you have sensory issues, but you can easily avoid them and/or they don't stress you

Yes I can read body language satisfactorily though there will be difficulties with the subtilities. Most typical conversations yes. I am not sure what you mean by "complex" or "advanced" conversations.

As for routines depends on the routine. If I am on the job I need to be able to put work assignments down on a excel spreadsheet that is "user-friendly" in my eyes so I can go through them in an orderly fashion if I am going to do my best on a job.

Unfortunately, some bosses don't seem to understand this. What throws me off is when a boss is disorganized and expects your neatness to compensate for his disorganization and then is resistant at your attempts to try and put some order into the workplace. A lot of my problems at previous jobs have come about when people expect you to learn "on the fly" with a lot of stuff thrown at you. Also trying to fit in socially and be a part of the peers at work is also very difficult.

When I get on a special interest I do think about it a lot even on the job.

Sensory issues, I really don't have any that are painful but I simply find them very annoying.

When you however get into being able to fit in with the peers or trying to communicate on the same wavelength, that is when I run into trouble. Associating names with faces forget about it.

As for meltdowns if you are talking about throwing a scene: no that does not happen. If you are talking about getting confused when a bunch of things are thrown at you all at once and having to start over then yes. But when that happens, I simply find that starting over and doing and finishing one task at a time then moving on to the next task will work fine. I don't know if that's a meltdown or perhaps even a micromeltdown or not.

As far as aquaintences everybody likes me at work even though they bust my chops a lot but I don't associate with them outside of work. They are my boss's friends and associates and I try to keep my social life separate from my work. This is a highly unusual work situation though.

I don't associate with anyone outside of work except online but that is out of choice for the time being until I move out and live on my own. Then I will worry about developing a social life.

In this respect I am between moderate and high though I am closer to the higher end of this scale.