Aspergers - Adult Diagnosis

[BG John]

I'm not too convinced that putting a 'label' on someone is necessarily the best way to go. We are who we are, we all possess, are capable of and display patterns of behaviour that somebody, somewhere will tell us is outside the norm whatever that is.

 

In my book it is this variety of behaviour that makes meeting and knowing people so interesting, each and everyone one of us is special in our own way. Is it possible that once someone is labelled as being in a group this knowledge can lead to further deterioration in mental well being? I don't know but sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 

Whatever challenges we have we're only here once so I firmly believe that however society views us we should just do our best to enjoy it.

In an ideal world I don't think labels would be necessary, as everyone would recognise the differences in people, and adapt accordingly. But they don't, and that leads to people who are different in ways that have a major impact on them being mistreated, and missing out on opportunities to make the most of their lives.

 

When I was little, the doctor told my parents that I would grow out of my "nerves", and in my teens my parents told me to "never mind, things will work out" when I was depressed. I'd love to know when, as I'm now 60, and it hasn't happened yet! If someone had noticed something about me that seemed to be different to most people, that might lead to problems or missing out on things, and tried to help me find a way to deal with it, maybe things would have worked out differently. But they didn't, so those differences turned into problems, and now need labels because the system and society is intolerant, and likes to put people who don't conform into labelled boxes.

 

Anyway, it looks as though I'll find out if I fit this particular labelled box on 4th May, as I've just received the appointment letter.

[sandra]

I did thid test some time ago and much to my consternation I scored 46. I was so upset by this that I decided to go a see a psychiatrist for an opinion as to how I should deal with it. She gave me another, different test to take and I received a score again indicating that I was on the autistic spectrum. She therefore decided that I could probably be termed as having Aspergers syndrome and suggested that I could have some treatment if I wished but she did point out that I had managed in life so far (I am in my sixties) and therefore was it worth trying to change now?

 

I have therefore decided just to live with it but I would suggest that people seriously consider whether they should take such a test before doing so. It did upset me enormously when I got the result but now I am happy that I did find out that I am on the autistic spectrum as it explained a lot of the difficulties I had encountered in early life and in fact knowing that I have survived and indeed prospered inspite of this potential handicap has made me feel better about myself.

 

The fact is that we are are all different and whilst being on the so-called autistic spectrum may in some ways be a handicap, in other ways it can be an advantage. It is probably true that some railway enthusiasts are more likely to obtain a higher score in such a test because, after all, the railway is the ultimate system and if having a love for railways is the price I pay for having such a high score then I am all for it.

[Ian J.]

In an ideal world I don't think labels would be necessary, as everyone would recognise the differences in people, and adapt accordingly. But they don't, and that leads to people who are different in ways that have a major impact on them being mistreated, and missing out on opportunities to make the most of their lives.

 

When I was little, the doctor told my parents that I would grow out of my "nerves", and in my teens my parents told me to "never mind, things will work out" when I was depressed. I'd love to know when, as I'm now 60, and it hasn't happened yet! If someone had noticed something about me that seemed to be different to most people, that might lead to problems or missing out on things, and tried to help me find a way to deal with it, maybe things would have worked out differently. But they didn't, so those differences turned into problems, and now need labels because the system and society is intolerant, and likes to put people who don't conform into labelled boxes.

 

Anyway, it looks as though I'll find out if I fit this particular labelled box on 4th May, as I've just received the appointment letter.

 

You've come quite close to taking the words out of my mouth! In my case it's all a bit more complicated by other factors, but the essence is the same.

 

I certainly think, especially when it comes to dealing with 'the system' (in my case the DWP) that being able to officially get across some knowledge of a person's limits in any given area is important, as otherwise the system just treats you as the same as the majority.

 

I've been accused of not caring to work because I haven't been able to find enough jobs to apply for. When a propensity to screw up inter-personal situations is taken into consideration, and the majority of jobs are in some way inter-personal (be it customer service, care work, staff management, telephone support, etc, etc), then it is easier to see why I'm struggling. This is what has just happened to me with the Jobcentre advisor. It doesn't mean I don't have to look for work, and I want to work anyway and know that I can given I've worked in the past, but the focus of what I look for and how I look for it gets some consideration. The reason for that change of approach comes down, effectively, to the label.

[Oldddudders]

I scored 17 on the Asperger's test, 47 for empathy. More than 50 years after most were scrapped, I can still more or less recite the names and numbers in order of the 40 members of the Schools Class. Useful, eh? OTOH I have one younger female friend, who, while not finding me at all physically attractive, has effectively appointed me as her girlfriend, so much detail of her life does she find she can discuss with me.

 

I once found myself in a bonding exercise with others, including a few engineers who had reason not to adore me. When my Myers Briggs score came in at ISTJ, indicating a classic engineering temperament, at least one of them was mortified. He used to organise a major model exhibition, had real talent as a modeller himself.

 

I believe that many in our hobby are less than truly gregarious, although some of us like meeting similarly-minded souls, who we see as safe company. These days the Internet has provided a new environment for loners of all sorts, although there is at least a choice of making virtual friends, contributing to a forum, or becoming a troll/keyboard warrior. There must be some who manage all three.

 

Some friends have a son who they thought had tourettes. This has since been refined into something more rare, the name sadly escaping me. The father, living in Scotland, went to symposia on the syndrome in the USA, organised a symposium in Edinburgh, which his employer helped sponsor. Last year the family visited India, twice, and Jack is almost cured, his mother tells me, as a result of those visits. I didn't dare ask if it was medicine or mysticism that had prevailed. My new wife, having been a teacher all her working life, met the boy socially before the India visits and noticed no abnormality. Some people look for problems and can't wait to find a label, it seems.

 

With 7 billion of us on the planet, it is no surprise that we enjoy a wide range of physical and mental strengths and weaknesses. If identifying where you are on a spectrum helps you to cope with difficult things and makes life a little easier, then that's fine with me.

[edcayton]

I suspect that if this discussion was taking place on, say, an arts review forum the results would be somewhat different. This from someone who races for the off switch when such stuff comes on the radio.

 

Ed

[The Lurker]

If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by stimming? And I am lousy with dealing with distractions and concentrating unless very interested in something.

 

All the best

 

Katy

from Autism Wiki (I never knew such a thing existed til I jus searched):

Stimming is a repetitive body movement that self-stimulates one or more senses in a regulated manner. Stimming is known in psychiatry as a "stereotypy", a continuous movement. Stimming is one of the symptoms listed by the DSM IV for autism, although it is observed in about 10 percent of non-autistic children

 

 

In Younger Lurker's case, this involves him flapping his hands and arms and jumping up and down, and occasionally running up and down. Now he is old to start to articulate why he does certain things, he's told us that he likes the feeling. As an aside, he doesn't know about his diagnosis yet.

 

When he first started to crawl he used to crawl along the walls of rooms. We think it was probably because he liked the sensation of the walls rushing past him.

 

ASD people are often observed as being either too sensitive or not sensitive enough  to varying stimuli - YL is not very sensitive to some types of pain, so if falls over it would be rare for him to cry or notice it particularly but he is very sensitive to food texture - he likes the taste but you can tell by his face he doesn't like the mouthfeel".  Because of this differing sensitivity you can get repetitive behaviours that look weird to us neurotypicals but are actually an attempt to feel something, anything.

 

EDIT - I found the book "The Reason I Jump" quite insightful

Edited April 22, 2016 by The Lurker

[The Lurker]

I scored 17 on the Asperger's test, 47 for empathy. More than 50 years after most were scrapped, I can still more or less recite the names and numbers in order of the 40 members of the Schools Class. Useful, eh? OTOH I have one younger female friend, who, while not finding me at all physically attractive, has effectively appointed me as her girlfriend, so much detail of her life does she find she can discuss with me.

 

I once found myself in a bonding exercise with others, including a few engineers who had reason not to adore me. When my Myers Briggs score came in at ISTJ, indicating a classic engineering temperament, at least one of them was mortified. He used to organise a major model exhibition, had real talent as a modeller himself.

 

I believe that many in our hobby are less than truly gregarious, although some of us like meeting similarly-minded souls, who we see as safe company. These days the Internet has provided a new environment for loners of all sorts, although there is at least a choice of making virtual friends, contributing to a forum, or becoming a troll/keyboard warrior. There must be some who manage all three.

 

Some friends have a son who they thought had tourettes. This has since been refined into something more rare, the name sadly escaping me. The father, living in Scotland, went to symposia on the syndrome in the USA, organised a symposium in Edinburgh, which his employer helped sponsor. Last year the family visited India, twice, and Jack is almost cured, his mother tells me, as a result of those visits. I didn't dare ask if it was medicine or mysticism that had prevailed. My new wife, having been a teacher all her working life, met the boy socially before the India visits and noticed no abnormality. Some people look for problems and can't wait to find a label, it seems.

 

With 7 billion of us on the planet, it is no surprise that we enjoy a wide range of physical and mental strengths and weaknesses. If identifying where you are on a spectrum helps you to cope with difficult things and makes life a little easier, then that's fine with me.

I quite like Myers Briggs, when it is used as an exercise in understanding your workmates (ie bonding). We used it as a department at a former employer, and it helped me and the guy who recruited me understand why we both found the experience of me working for him frustrating (even though we got on well socially). He was a "typical" tax man, who worked steadily from A to B to C and so on all the way to Z. I was far more intuitive and would leap straight to Z. Occasionally it wouldn't be Z cos I'd got it wrong. I was almost diametrically opposed to him on the Myers Briggs grid and most of the senior management of the department. Strangely there were 5 of us out of about 25 who placed ourselves in the extroverted intuitive set (I forget what the other two factors were now). I had to teach myself to go and backfill my intuitive leaps with logic (which tended to eliminate my errors) and he had to teach himself to read all of my written work because the order I'd done it was different to the way he'd do it.

[Kylestrome]

This is a test that you may have seen before, or might encounter along the way http://www.aspergerstestsite.com/aq-test/#.Vxj3J9q9KSN and it comes with respectable credentials.

 

The biggest problem I have with this test is the way that the 'answers' are formulated (definitely agree, slightly agree, etc).

 

Now I may be wrong here, but I can only agree or disagree* with something; there are no degrees of agreement, or are there?

 

 

*Or sit on the fence

[Nearholmer]

Chilly out today, isn't it?

 

Do you agree, or disagree?

 

K

[Suzie]

The biggest problem I have with this test is the way that the 'answers' are formulated (definitely agree, slightly agree, etc).

 

Now I may be wrong here, but I can only agree or disagree* with something; there are no degrees of agreement, or are there?

 

 

*Or sit on the fence

Perhaps that is part of the test? I just find it stressful!

[SwissRailPassion]

I prefer parties to libraries, but do have a little anxiety before meeting people. I find a glass of wine or a pint gets me going. I scored 35.

[Kickstart]

In an ideal world I don't think labels would be necessary, as everyone would recognise the differences in people, and adapt accordingly. But they don't, and that leads to people who are different in ways that have a major impact on them being mistreated, and missing out on opportunities to make the most of their lives.

 

Trouble is that one of the differences between people is that some of them do not recognise the differences between people, so cannot adapt.

 

As to stimming, interesting. Covers a lot of repetitive actions that can be calming to the individual (and being 47, I still twiddle my hair )

 

All the best

 

Katy

[The Lurker]

I prefer parties to libraries, but do have a little anxiety before meeting people. I find a glass of wine or a pint gets me going. I scored 35.

and if you have a glass of wine in the library people tend to disapprove. It's why I prefer parties

[30801]

and if you have a glass of wine in the library people tend to disapprove. It's why I prefer parties

Our local library is planning to run without staff so you'll be able to do both those things with impunity.

[SwissRailPassion]

Just off to the library to see what they have on Aspergers.

[BG John]

Just off to the library to see what they have on Aspergers.

I find a trip to the Amazon more useful, as they almost certainly have a wider choice!

[Nearholmer]

Dutch Master said: "Yes, there are gradations of (dis)agreement. Just as there are gradations of beauty. "

 

Very true, but it is a matter that many people really appear to struggle with.

 

I'm a lapsed engineer, working with a lot of engineers and IT people, and this topic causes endless trouble around here. If I ask a lot of my colleagues "Do you think its chilly today?", their response won't be something like "Yes, seems a bit chilly", it will be something like "If you define the exact temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity that you deem to constitute 'chilly', I will measure the variables for you, and return a neatly binary answer".

 

I'm OK with this, because I'm sort of a geek myself, but a lot of my time is spent translating answers like this into forms of words that are actually useful to non-geeks.

 

K

[BG John]

I'm more likely to respond "No, it's Britain" .

[LNER4479]

39

 

I actually did this test some while ago and, having read a bit about it, actually find it helps knowing a bit about the condition.

 

As a school kid, I was the one in the duffle coat in the corner of the playground that no-one wanted to play with and actually had quite a rough time in my teens.

 

But I look back now and reason that I have a reasonable array of 'normal' things to my name - in particular two great kids who do seem to be perfectly 'normal' - and a wonderful 'other half' (albeit at the second time of asking).

 

For me it's much better to know about it, to recognise the symptoms and try hard to be 'self aware' and adjust accordingly - where possible. Just don't put me in a room full of strangers and ask me to make polite conversation...

[Tony_S]

I got 14 on the Aspergers test.

When my son was 3 we were summoned to his nursery and we were told by the nursery management that he was autistic and would never be able to go to a normal school. This came as quite a surprise to us (and to anyone who knew him). She had a checklist and while I agreed that he did have the traits she had ticked there were many there were many not ticked. Matthew did have some problems that needed resolving but it wasn't as diagnosed by the nursery.

[30801]

If I ask a lot of my colleagues "Do you think its chilly today?", their response won't be something like "Yes, seems a bit chilly", it will be something like "If you define the exact temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity that you deem to constitute 'chilly', I will measure the variables for you, and return a neatly binary answer".

My wife said: "Please go to the store and buy a carton of milk and if they have eggs, get six."

I came back with 6 cartons of milk She said, "Why in the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?"

"They had eggs!"

I did something similar when I had a shelf stacking job. Supervisor waved a bottle at me and told me to go the warehouse and get one of these.

I dutifully retuned with a bottle just like it.

 

Apparently he meant get a case of them...

Edited April 22, 2016 by 30801

[BG John]

 

My wife said: "Please go to the store and buy a carton of milk and if they have eggs, get six."

I came back with 6 cartons of milk She said, "Why in the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?"

"They had eggs!"

 

I have the misfortune, for other people, to see things literally, and understand what they actually mean. It's very useful for puns and awful jokes . It's not so good when I've spent a week on a pretty intense and serious course, and everyone comments on what they'll remember about me is my sense of humour!

[Ozexpatriate]

Anyway, it looks as though I'll find out if I fit this particular labelled box on 4th May, as I've just received the appointment letter.

May the 4th be with you.

 

I hope it goes well.

[Tony_S]

 

My wife said: "Please go to the store and buy a carton of milk and if they have eggs, get six."

I came back with 6 cartons of milk She said, "Why in the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?"

"They had eggs!"

 

One of the things apart from the clumsiness that my son who had dyspraxia rather than the nursery diagnosis of autism is a problem following instructions. He would have probably bought back 6 cartons of milk. For physical tasks he still needs absolutely specific instructions.

[Ozexpatriate]

I once found myself in a bonding exercise with others, including a few engineers who had reason not to adore me. When my Myers Briggs score came in at ISTJ, indicating a classic engineering temperament, at least one of them was mortified. He used to organise a major model exhibition, had real talent as a modeller himself.

I quite like Myers Briggs, when it is used as an exercise in understanding your workmates (ie bonding). We used it as a department at a former employer, and it helped me and the guy who recruited me understand why we both found the experience of me working for him frustrating (even though we got on well socially). 

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.