Do you think AS is severe to you?

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In my country, AS person is considered as a person who don't have one hand or one leg when one registers for the mentally challenged person. She benefit exactly same social service level.

Though I am not much pleased with my social skills, I sometimes remind myself as a normal, not severe comparing to physically challenged person.

So, I feel guilty about registering.

How do you think?

(sorry to write too many posts)

Where one might face difficulty in opening a door, another faces the issue with the doorman - the difference does not lessen the disabling effects one experiences.


M.

nice metaphor.
(Is it metaphor or analogy?)


In fact, I don't have a heavy problem like that. Because I don't have to interact with him. Just requesting in a formal situation is not a problem. I like formal situation. Informal makes me struggle to escape.(I really escape without notification frequently when people are in a small talk)

rAmen. I function acceptably in 'roles' - when I free form interact, it is excruciating. Thus why I work well at a teacher... I know what is demanded and expected innately. But I can't interact with the kids en masse afterward or cope easily with their parents - it takes effort.


M.

I really like how you worded that.

Thank you... I am teacher at heart, so finding ways to convey ideas is important to me - I'm glad that one resonated for you.


M.

I have had a lot of problems with feeling guilty for asking for help, too, but if you need help, you need help.

And yes, it doesn't look severe from the outside, but I'd say my own AS is severe enough. I mean, I can't hold down a normal job, and that really matters.

When it was introduced:

As far as comparisons to other mental disorders go, it's around the same severity as Schizophrenia. No one really disputes the severity of that latter disorder.

Funnily enough, "Autism" (that's Autistic Disorder) is the most severe developmental disorder of children.

It doesn't feel servere for me, it doesn't really show outwardly.

Doesn't feel all that severe to me, but then again I do have problems talking about an area outside my subject or small talk. If someone talks about what happened to them today I can't respond. I just say "uh-huh" and go back to my business. I just don't know what to say next. Or course, when I do be talking about my interests it becomes a one-man conversation, mostly me talking. When I engage in a conversation it seems stilted and forced, and I don't know if I said the wrong thing. If I engage in an interactive activity or have a break inbetween sessions where no rules keeps it in check, I'll freak or just sit somewhere in the corner. Like a group of friends and I went to a National Honors Society Convention, and every time there was a break instead of talking to my friends, I just walked around alone or sat in a room. After the formal dinner there were supposed to be games and a dance. I wanted to play games, but the games were cancelled, and having seen that the games were cancelled my friends asked me to go to the dance. I accepted and went. Unfortuantely it wasn't a formal dance; people did whatever they want up there, and when they asked me to dance I refused since therewere no rules to keep the dance in check. It was just one random interaction, so I just sat in a chair and watch them danced. It bore me after a while and I just went to my room and went to sleep. I guess it's because of the sounds. I hate loud noises because I'll have a meltdown if I listen to it.

Oh well, I guess my Asperger's Syndrome is more severe than I once thought.

My outstanding feature is inability to deal with people and I can spend the next three hours thinking about why that is in an attempt to draw my own conclusions. When I do that three hours feels like three minutes.
As for all the other AS stuff, like lack of sense of humor and imagination, I don't think I have deficits there. I'm not always logical and don't have the best memory, either.
My problem is with socializing.

Maybe my AS IS severe. I don't know. I was calling it moderate because severe means to me being in a group home, and I'm not.

My functional IQ score is a mere 10 points above that, though, although I've stated here before that my regular IQ is above average.

I have no idea.

I have had comments from others about my motor coordination that have made me feel paranoid in the past.

I guess it depends on the kind of physical and social environment I'm in.

People haven't really commented much, possibly because they're not aware of what to look for or just assume that it's "Me being me".

In some really stressful, unpredictable, cramped, overcrowded, noisy and highly stimulating environments, people are genuinely surprised if I break down or can't function.

Put me outside in the fresh air with a well explained task to do and I'm usually calm and industrious. I might not say all that much sometimes, but I get the job done and am helpful.

I wouldn't say that under normal circumstances I present as severely as some people though.

The main issues are the socialising and navigating through groups. Routine mechanical tasks I'm usually fine with, as long as they don't involve too much social interaction. Using supermarkets and buying clothes are still an embarrassing struggle though.

I can tie my shoelaces, plan an inventory, use a diary, use a computer, study alone, successfully sit an exam (with no accommodations), perform an experiment, do a formal presentation, write an assignment, wash and dress myself. I'm actually more organised about physical things and processes than most people when I really put my mind to it. I also believe that I'm more meticulous and conscientious than most people when I function at full capacity.

When I'm really extremely depressed and feel left out, of course, these things are much harder, but I guess that's the same for most people.

I have a similar personal experience/view. Though I do consider myself to be AS (I'm not diagnosed), I do not feel that I have a disability. Sure, I don't fare too well in conversation, and normally need a lot of encouragement to engage with anyone (unless of course they have certain qualities that even I haven't identified yet. I don't know why but some people have the ability to bring me out), but I feel such differences to be minor, given that the lacked ability is virtually unnecessary IMO to a healthy life.

In my own analogy/comparison:

To lack ability is not the same as having a disability. The world's most talented, brilliant and athletic people (read: not disabled) could suddenly wind up in a society where everyone can fly but them. They lack the ability to fly, but at the end of the day are still not disabled.

I can see where the lines are blurry, however, and recognise that my opinion is not gospel. Therefore I see no sense in disagreeing with anyone who has an opposing view, because essentially my own can change through experience. In fact there are times when I hold the opposite view, but at this moment, undisturbed and here

If I were to be diagnosed, I personally would not seek disability provision, despite my situation of being on very little income. If anything, I feel somewhat powerful compared to most, because

((((hugs))))

~Loving Light~

Yeah, that's the best metaphor about AS I've heard so far. Most people use metaphor like wheelchairs and physical disability, but this metaphor actually gets the point across a lot more precisely.

Society defines what disability is. In a society where nobody can read, dyslexia is not a disability. In a society where everybody can fly, flightlessness is a disability.

Disability isn't absolute; it's relative. Disability is a significant gap between what you can do and what society expects of you.