Any particular reason you skipped this one:
I believe you marked yourself as having "other autism spectrum disorder" on some forum yes? What do you think separates you from Asperger's Syndrome?
I'd really be interested to hear an answer
Sorry, I just forgot it.
I marked that because I've never had an official evaluation and never gotten the paperwork, so it seems wrong to call myself Asperger's when I don't know where on the autistic spectrum I am. I'm not a big fan of self-diagnosis (yes, you heard that right) so I'm not going to self-diagnose myself Aspie.
My dealings with professionals on the subject went something like this:
- After about a month and a half of therapy, I'm going home from college for the summer and the counsellor is trying to set me up with someone in my family's town. I'm scared to go, thinking they'll tell me there's nothing wrong with me, so he reluctantly tells me to tell them I have anxiety and social issues of some sort. The social issues part completely surprises me, because I hadn't talked about that in session at all, I hadn't considered it a problem.
- After 4 months (the next fall, I chickened out over the summer), I'm bringing Donna Williams' songs and writing to session (with much hesitation lest anyone think I identify with her) and saying "I'm not autistic, but this exposure anxiety thing seems to explain so many unanswered qestions about my life."
- After about 5 months, I'm describing being in class and having the sounds of the other students build up around me until it seems like it would be just as easy to go feral and start hitting them, or run out of the room screaming, as it would be to keep doing my work - so I sit totally still because I don't trust my actions, and keep moving the scroll bar on the computer screen so it looks like I'm just reading. The counsellor suddenly goes all silent, I ask him what he's thinking, and he says his mind is going in a hundred directions at once.
- After 6 months, I'm writing to Donna Williams, saying I'm not autistic but telling her the story of how I first met her writing. The same session as I bring him her response, the counsellor brings in an article about Dawn Prince-Hughes. I ask him why he would show it to me of all people, does he think I have Asperger's? He says that I'm "on the autistic spectrum" in that way of a person saying, "I know you're not gonna like this, but it's true." I say, "Well, if I am, I'm right up at the mild end." He gives me a look like "Don't give me that bullshit" and says, "Some things are mild and some things are not so mild." I don't have the guts to ask which things are which.
- A little while later, he's inviting me to a spectrum support group he's setting up, so I figure he must think I belong there. He's also offering me the chance to get an official evaluation, which I turn down for fear that it would hurt my career if anyone found out.
So that's the extent of the story, and the reason I kind-of-but-not-officially have an "autism spectrum disorder" diagnosis.
