The AUTISM SPECTRUM Thread (Now with extra rainbows!)

[orngjce223]

(Preemptive note: There's a thread in srs bsns if you want to go duke it out philosophically instead of bond, or even in addition to it. Use it? Pretty please?)

Okay, so it's past midnight and I want to see how many other people are diagnosed autistic, Aspergers, PDDNOS, etc. etc. on these lovely fora of ours! Or if you're not, lay out the evidence and we'll probably take you in anyway. (Most of us don't bite, and there's hydrogen peroxide on the counter if some deranged individual tries.)

Go on, spill.

[Inconspicularity]

I have aspergers!
I am batshit insane!
I deleted my dA because my art fucking sucks!
I'm going off topic!

[Descriptor]

Hello everybody!
How bout that Asperger's?
Sure is, uh...
Occasionally socially awkward! :O

I've gotten a lot better about that, though...

[bhomer2]

I know a guy with autism. we discuss video games at church.

[williamcll]

i think i may have it

[SunglassescladGunslinger]

Add one to the autistic count.

Asperger's and MORE!

[InvaderGIR]

Aspie here. I barely consider it any more because it's just a part of me, like having blue eyes. Though I might have one or more mental illnesses, too, but I haven't been diagnosed with anything so I don't know. Welp, guess I've got a lot of introspection sessions ahead of me. Speaking of which, does anybody else feel they spend too much time in their mind? I seem to spend a good portion of the day in there.

[The Cool]

I was diagnosed with Aspergers.
But, it doesn't even show anymore?
I have NO idea how that works.

[Varkarrus]

I don't have Aspergers...

... anymore.

I was "smart" enough to be able to learn social skills on my own. Though I'm still socially awkward. And I hear asexuality can be caused by autism frequently.

[Weeaboo]

What exactly fits into the spectrum, may I ask?

[irrelevantEternity]

I have Aspergers, and I am probably the most insane person in existence ever. No, seriously.

[kyriaki]

Currently undiagnosed, but I'm sure I fall somewhere onto the spectrum. 32 on the ASQ, and every time i hear people talk about it, i hear something i can relate to. I couldn't tie my shoes until the fifth grade, I don't like making eye contact. I'm awkward in everyday social interactions, and it takes me a long time to get comfortable being myself around new people because I have trouble making sense of their boundaries; personally i have very few. I'll become obsessed with understanding random topics and lose interest in them just as quickly.

i'm not sure if it causes enough distress in my life to be classified as a disorder. one of these days i'll have to talk to a psychiatrist about it.

[MasterBlade]

Yay, I'm not the only one with Aspergers!

...I am no longer original. ;_;

[rysworld]

I have high functioning Aspergers!

With others I'm like: oh god what do i say what did i just say oh gooooooood

Luckily I have the wierdest and awesomest collection of friends.

[Anne Beeche]

It is/was argued that I am on the "high-functioning" end of the spectrum. Whether or not that's actually true is up for debate.

So far as I'm concerned, I'm just Anne Beeche.

[Strider]

I have aspergers, I am socially awkward, and I am likely to piss you off. You have been warned. For further information, please feel free to check the third spoiler underneath the spoiler in my sig.

[Whim]

Another high-functioning Asperger's person here, although I'm not really sure what high-functioning actually means. That I've learned to mask it? I guess it's not immediately obvious, except sometimes I have weird reactions like getting freaked out by florescent lighting or repetitive noises (pencil sharpeners ARRRGH). And finding computers easier to deal with than people.

[Strider]

*shrugs* So what, there IS going to be actual conversation here, right? I mean, I ASSUME that's part of what this thread is for anyway. Or am I wrong?

[PepperYena]

I have aspergers as well. The thing is, I as misdiagnosed to have ADHD and I was put on pills like Dexadrin.

...They didn't work.

[Strider]

Oh don't get even get me started on pills. I was put through practically every single pill type in existence when I was institutionalized. None of them yielded lasting results. =_=
Okay, so maybe I exaggerated a bit (or a lot) but the point still stands.

[Anne Beeche]

although I'm not really sure what high-functioning actually means.

It means that you probably wouldn't have been diagnosed with anything a decade or two prior, or, if diagnosed at all, with ADD.

I begrudgingly interpret it as "we think you might have some kind of issue, intrinsic or extrinsic, but we don't have the time, expertise or care enough to really dig in and figure out what your problem is and what to do about it, so we're just going to slap a label on you and call it a day."

But that's just based on my personal experience. I know it's not the same for everyone.

[Strider]

Don't get me started on labels either. They tried so many and they all failed on me until someone who actually cared enough and knew what they were talking about said you have this based on this test thing you just took. UGH...things could have gone SO differently if people had actually known what they were talking about when I was a kid! Dx

[Descriptor]

I got really lucky in that my parents especially avoided putting me on any sort of medication, and boy am I glad.
My cousin got put on all sorts of medication, and boy did it ever cause him problems.
He's still a relatively normal person, though, so it certainly could have been a lot worse.

Still, I'm (relatively) happy the way I am.

Well, at least content with it, which is the important part.

[Anne Beeche]

I was ADD as a little kid for a couple of years before they switched me to AS. I personally think that ADD describes me a little better (its keystone symptom, the inability to concentrate is something, is a problem I actually have and seems to be getting worse), however the switch was necessary because during the time I was diagnosed with ADD the insufferable school kept me in a special ed class. My mom fought to get me put into a normal class because she knew I was a smart kid who didn't deserve to have her brain rot, and that was how the chips fell.

I'm pissed because all they did was match me up to similar looking lists of symptoms (no seriously, look at the lists of symptoms for ADD, and then for AS. You'll see how similar they look) because they noticed I was an eccentric kid having problems identifying with most other kids instead of considering the keystone symptoms of what they diagnosed me with. People who deserve this diagnosis have actual problems that they can't cope with on their own. I did not have that problem, or if I did it eventually went away on its own. In addition, all they did was give me the generic unhelpful "treatment" they give most kids with stereotypical disorders instead of concentrating on the specific problems I had or was perceived to have.

While I am not without symptoms, I identify by the individual symptoms only, not by the umbrella(s) under which they're consolidated.

[Drillgorg]

Same here Descriptor, although I am quite possibly somewhere low on the autism spectrum and was told I showed adhd symptoms as a child, I was never put on any medication because my parents didn't approve of it, and I grew up all the better for it.

Plus that kind of thing could be almost considered advantageous for us engineers.