Aspergers - Adult Diagnosis

['CHARD]

Having mentioned bi-polar disorder earlier on, I just took the Black Dog self-test and cleared 37, when the threshold is apparently 22.

 

Great.

 

http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/public/bipolardisorder/self-test.cfm#wresults

[47137]

For me (mid '50s):

1. On the test here I got 25 - just below borderline

2. On a different online test a while ago, "seek medical help"

3. On a formal test, "a few borderline characteristics, but not AS"

4. My present customer thinks I am absolutely AS, and he says he is glad because I need it to stay with the subject matter

5. My driving mentor thinks yes to AS, as does the wife of my mate, my girlfriend and one other long-term friends (these are the only people I could ask and hope for a reasoned response)

6. I met some pupils of a special school for AS on an outing (at Didcot Railway Centre as it happens) and realised I'm nowhere near as extreme as these people.

 

I've been self-employed for eight years, the move from employment did me the world of good, I do find selling myself extremely hard work but it's not impossible and the rewards to me are good. My present view is I'm not certifiable as AS, and if I was I'd only get a badge and it wouldn't help a jot.

 

I hope some of this is reassuring to the OP. Certainly, don't rule out self-employment without giving it a try. You need to find something you like, and package it to do it for other people for money - that's all.

 

- Richard.

[BG John]

Certainly, don't rule out self-employment without giving it a try. You need to find something you like, and package it to do it for other people for money - that's all.

 

- Richard.

It seems to be recommended to find a niche service or product that makes use of your unusual talents, and sell the service, not yourself. I think that's what I did with my business, long before I realised there might be something different about me. Potential clients would either look totally mystified when I described what I offered, and say something like "What's the point of that?", or the response would be more like "Wow, I didn't know that was possible. Will you do it for me please?"! I might even have made my fortune if I'd known then what I think I know now, rather than just getting by in a fairly comfortable but modest sort of way.

[Ian J.]

When I was contracting (while I still had skills that were relevant) I found that self employment was far preferable to being in direct employment. However, since 2008 and the recession and the changes in IT, those skills have fallen out of favour and now I need to re-skill significantly. I would certainly like to do that and be in self employment, but unfortunately I don't have the money to devote to the two to three years of independence from the DWP that it would take. Consequently I have to kowtow to the DWP's requirement that I seek direct work.

[griffgriff]

Time for a word of warning.

 

Scoring these online tests can be a bit fun.... But wait a second, that all it is, fun. Any cognitive, behaviour or psychological diagnosis can only be conducted by experts. Many of the conditions being mentioned are very hard to diagnose and it takes a little more than a series of questions to reach a diagnosis. Just because you achieved a particular score on an online test please don't assume anything but it may be an idea to get it checked if you're concerned.

 

Sorry if this was a 'sucking eggs' moment.

 

Griff

Edited April 23, 2016 by griffgriff

[jjb1970]

There is also the question of where do individual character traits end and a medical condition start? Clearly there are behavioural conditions, and these can be severe, but they generally are found across a wide spectrum. So there is not an easy binary decision point where you are either autistic or not autistic in the way you can say for infections, diseases etc. And I think it is very easy for certain things to become almost self fulfilling in that if people are told they have a behavioural problem (or more particularly, that there kids have a behavioural problem) then this in itself can alter behaviours and attitudes. If people feel they need help and support then it should be made available to them and they should make the most of this support. Equally, if people are happy and their life is good then they should just enjoy life and not worry about whether they may be a little further up the scale of a certain behavioural disorder than others. Just my opinion.

[Nearholmer]

Very well put.

 

K

[Ian J.]

As I understand it (happy to be corrected), something becomes a recognized syndrome if either a.) there is a physically identifiable cause (like a clearly responsible gene, or other physical trait) or b.) there are sufficient numbers of people with similar symptoms that some correlation between them is definable.

 

There seems to be a recognition that about 1% of the population are likely to have some kind of position on the autism spectrum that impacts their lives. However, it has to be remembered that that covers from the severe end through to the mild.

 

I was out walking earlier and it crossed my mind that the 'bell curve' of the spectrum might also have depth, such that if the spectrum could be viewed three dimensionally then it might have a sharp, narrow end to the right, but a broad fuzzy end to the left. That fuzzy end is where the mild, subtle and varied forms of autism traits could be. It would include different mixes of traits for different people, rather than the more specific ones as seen in the sharp end:

I haven't yet seen any similar 'picture' online, or a version of it in descriptions. Of course, the fuzzy broad end dissolves into normal territory, such that anyone in that area may or may not get a positive diagnosis dependent on what symptoms they present.

[griffgriff]

Indeed ASD was until very recently thought of as a 'triad' of characteristics but it has since been streamlined back into a spectrum of disorders (not a phrase I like incidentally)

 

Griff

[BG John]

a spectrum of disorders

It seems to me that it's neurotypicals who are the disordered ones. Aspies like order in their lives!

[griffgriff]

It seems to me that it's neurotypicals who are the disordered ones. Aspies like order in their lives!

A very good point (though I admit that wasn't what I was thinking )

 

Griff

[griffgriff]

.... Has anyone read 'The Reason Why I Jump' ?

 

Griff

[Nearholmer]

Ian J

 

I too was pondering bell-curves, and think the issue is that any complex system, and us people are jolly complex, has very many attributes/characteristics, and here we are talking about measuring only a few attributes, and representing them on one axis.

 

A fairly "fancy" scheme like Myers Briggs measures four attributes, each on a not-particularly-finely divided scale, but a really "pinpoint" scheme would have probably hundreds, or even thousands, of axes, each with a very-finely-divided scale.

 

The population would almost certainly have a bell-curve distribution along each of these hundreds/thousands of axes, and a "description" of any one of use would consist of a hundreds/thousands of scores, each relating to our place on one of hundreds/thousands of axes.

 

Put another way: our individual AQ scores only tells us a very limited amount about ourselves. It's a bit like characterising a book by saying simply "blue cover" or "about 25mm thick" or "lots of black and white photos" or "about fish". Each is true, but each in isolation is utterly inadequate to provide a useful understanding of what the book is actually like.

 

Kevin

Edited April 24, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Bernard Lamb]

Scored 42 on the test.

Just to give an example of my behaviour.

Many years ago a relative had a tea set that was decorated with pictures of castles.

I was asked to lay the table for tea.

I matched the cups, plates and saucers with the same pattern and then laid the table in a geographic order from north to south with all the castles in their correct position.

My sister has a good friend who is a special needs teacher and she had told my sister that I would do it like that.

As a kid I we had a game not to step on the lines when walking on a pavement  and I still do this today.

However when they lay large slabs of concrete I do get distressed as I don't like to have both feet in the same square.

However such attributes were a great help in my working life as I spent over 30 years in QA  and still carry out audits.

Bernard

[laurenceb]

Can relate to this I have a coffee jar with sealing tab sill on (cut) and the tabs have to be correctly aligned. I have to walk on the lines. 

[The Lurker]

I took Myers-Briggs classes at least three times professionally. I like it's neutral approach - there is no normal, no "abnormal".

 

At this point I think I can answer the questions to drive into any quadrant. My first result (probably the most 'accurate') was INTP,

 

The axes are 

I/E Introverted / Extroverted

N/S Intuitive / Sensing (as regards processing information)

T/F Thinking / Feeling (as regards decision making)

P/J Perceiving / Judging (often demonstrated in relationship to time, and rules - the MBTI calls it "outer life")*.

 

* "P" people start things and may not finish, "J" people like the sense of closure in completing tasks.

Thanks.

 

ENFP was what I think I came out a long time ago.

 

The leaders of the department tended to be ISTJ

[The Lurker]

.... Has anyone read 'The Reason Why I Jump' ?

 

Griff

Yes, a very good insight, written by a boy with ASD

[Ian J.]

I did a Myers-Briggs once, I seem to remember that I came out either INTJ or ISTJ - the N/S for me was almost dead centre and so I always considered I could be either.

 

My overall opinion of MB is that it was way too simplistic in only allowing binary answers to the questions; you're either one thing or the other. The degrees of being a particular thing were deliberately ridden roughshod over in order to produce a 'clear' result - which ironically isn't clear if it's effectively false.

 

I get the feeling the online Aspergers tests, including the Baron-Cohen ones, do a similar thing, which is why they should only ever be used as a rough indicator and not be treated in any way as definitive.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Ian J.

[Gwiwer]

Three nephews have ASD ranging from mild to severe Aspergers.  It's been traced but not formally diagnosed back through one side of the family.  My late great uncle who was an SR driver at Wadebridge (and who I only met once in my early childhood) was said to be "a bit odd" and "a cantankerous old bu**er" and is not in the written records of his employer where most of his fellows are.

 

I took the test lined in post 4 and scored 39.  Very firmly into the Aspergers range.  I too am undiagnosed but have long been thought of by family and close friends as having the condition.  It accounts to a large extent for the sheer hell which I endured trying to get through a "normal" grammar school education.  It accounts to some extent for the relatively poor performance in my final university year which cost me at least one grade of honours on my degree.  And it accounts for the utterly trivial fact that I can recall every address I have ever lived at and every telephone number at those addresses.

 

Does it matter?

 

It makes a difference in social situations where I feel uncomfortable and often prefer to not even take part.  It makes a difference if I'm unaware of being repetitive and boring people.  It makes a difference if I'm being repetitive and boring people.  It makes ..... no ..... I've already said that twice!

 

Every single one of us is unique.  We all have our quirks, foibles, our ways and our preferences.  I'm happy, at almost 60 years of age, to be me though that wasn't always the case in my younger days when I found it less easy than most of my peers to find the company of a significant other.  

 

I'm still here to share the stories despite some tough times.  And because of some very good times.  It's not by any means all negative.  It's up to us all to be as positive as we can and to support others along the way.

[Dunsignalling]

Hmmm. Interesting.

 

The first one came out roughly where I expected (I do know myself quite well) but my empathy score (18) was scarily low - I didn't think I was THAT insensitive.......

[Kickstart]

Hi

 

I just tried the empathy one. Came out at 11 (out of 80), and I didn't think I was that bad. Not sure how all those tests combine (ISTP for Meyers Briggs, 46 score on the autism test).

 

All the best

 

Katy

[station cat]

I got 14 on the empathy test, i'm that person who inadvertently offends people with monotonous regularity.

 

I don't like conversational nuance at all, though I don't mind it in written things.

[Mallard60022]

59 on the empathy test and I am a miserable old git a lot of the time (but that is due mainly to continuing health issues and Meldrewitis) . 

Phil

[Gwiwer]

Had time today to run through the EQ linked earlier on.

 

From the initial link I scored 39 which places me firmly into the Aspergers's / ASD range.

Empathy Quotient I also scored 39 which places me firmly outside the range.

 

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind.  

 

[Dazzler Fan]

+

The wondering mind?

(24 in the Test)

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by Dazzler Fan