Are you impaired?

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(Self-dx included, just forgot to write that explicitly)

Do you have AS and fit that criterion?
Do you think the criterion is valid?
Would you change anything?

Last edited by Sora on 04 Jun 2009, 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I definitely am.

Of course.


Though I may not feel impaired but I am or else how would I have gotten diagnosed. At my last job I was getting massive complaints about my "rude behavior" and I was flipping out over changes in my laundry route or when I get asked to do things that weren't supposed to be part of my job. Luckily I got over that so that would make me less impaired now and my mother told me personal space is an arm length away so stand that far from guests or further, the closest I can stand to them is an arm length away, any closer, I am too close and need to back up.

Last edited by Spokane_Girl on 04 Jun 2009, 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes. cannot work in normal occupational /employment or deal with groups of people on a daily basis. Never held down full-time work (except for a few weeks here and there). Have only found peace in this area since finding a way of turning my special interest into a solitary career.

social impairment - need to spend most time on my own. to and fro of conversation difficult. tendency to monologue and veer conversations around to special interests. difficulty finding interest in others' topics,opinions and viewpoints in conversations...in short, impaired reciprocity.

other areas- cannot multi-task. sensory integrations problems. etc.etc.

I wouldn't be diagnosed if I wasn't impaired, so yes I am.

I am severely impaired by my sensory issues. Socially I can adapt for certain periods of time and I actually have many friends (though I'm very tired and I need rest after a few hours of socialising) but in a room full of people with a lot of background noise, I don't understand spoken language anymore. Like static or a waterfall. I'd think that counts as an impairment... Not even mentioning my eating habits and the fact that I can't touch certain surfaces... Um... And a couple of other more or less severe issues. The sensory stuff is the most crippling, though.

Yes. I am very fortunate at present to be in a job and environment I can handle, to have a supportive and accommodating boss, and to have people keeping an eye on me. When I was doing other jobs and living entirely by myself it went very badly. I do not do long-term planning, and I do do stupid and dangerous things. I am socially impaired in very many ways, some of which I do not mind at all, some of which hurt me greatly. I am a lot better now than I used to be, though.

Eller -
The bit about not hearing people in a crowded room. I have that and because my employer insisted I wore a headset in a very noisy office, it eventually led to a diagnosis of Auditory Processing Disorder. It might be worth looking into, if you haven't done so already......

Thank you. It is actually one of my co-diagnoses. One part in a long, long list. People sometimes think I have a hearing disability, only I hear everything, my ears are perfectly fine.

I am, it's because I am that I got the diagnosis.

Definitely impaired. Longest I ever held a job for was 3 years, and that was in construction work, so mostly I spent the day by myself doing the assigned job.

A couple of dozen relationships til I met the most wonderful woman who really does accept me.

Few to no friends, and not invited to parties and get-togethers.

I've been training to be ordained as a Zen priest and it looks like now I'll be chucked because I'm not empathic or flexible enough. And let's not even get into the NT back stabbing that's been going on because I make them uncomfortable.

I think this criteria is the distinguishing one for ASD.

Would the person who voted "not impaired" be willing to speak up?

wow, DonkeyBuster.
I have mostly lived by the view that what is said and comes out of my mouth must be tranferable to any context. If i speak about someone it is very much my tenet that what I say I can say to them directly. That is how I operate.
I was amazed to learn this is not the case for most people when at 36, i went to rehab and mixed with people in a group.
freaked the bejeezus out of me that people talked and talked bout people. i viewed it as a kind of terrifying sticky web that people got tangled up in. it was really weird to me and scary - like school again - and it was horrifying.
And of course, I was ostracised for bluntness and honesty?
where is the logic in that?

one has to laugh or we cry.

Don't know.

Guess I'd have to say "yes" since I would mentally deteriorate within a couple months if I had to deal with people regularly on a full time job.

One answer for the utility of small talk I've been given once that makes sense to me was it is used to help spark up deeper conversation pieces by reminding the people in conversation about relevant topics. Oh and relate emotions.

Personally if I try this the talk stays very superficial.

I voted that I'm not sure if I'm impaired. I might be better off if some of my traits were a bit different, I don't know, but I can't see any obvious "impairment". It was much worse a couple years ago.

Do you have AS and fit that criterion?
I'm undiagnosed, but I fit it. It's really begun to show in my lack of ability to do "adult" things. I have very little social stamina. I don't/can't interact with people very well and my attempts at jobs show that. I can't imagine being able to hold a real job.
Do you think the criterion is valid?
Yes, but I think it's a little too vague, it's missing the "how".
Would you change anything?
I don't know if this refers to the previous question but I wouldn't know the anwer anyway.