Hi, I'm new. I'm just curious if anyone else here is on the spectrum. I was diagnosed with Asperger's last month. It'd be nice to talk to someone on the spectrum in my area. I've been attempting to get an Asperger's/Autism group for adults on the spectrum started but haven't had the best of luck yet.

I'm actually quite certain that there are others on the spectrum, both here and in my city, just by viewing profiles (Aspiedar/Autiedar, if you will ;)) but I sometimes doubt they even know it themselves. I often wonder if people on the spectrum can spot me as being on the spectrum without actually meeting me - or after meeting me, even.


If you have any questions, I'm more than willing to answer them. Here, or mail me, either way.


And if you're curious...this is far from diagnostic, but it might give you a pretty good idea:

http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

Hello and Welcome!!!

Welcome

Im not but my son is.

Welcome and goodluck

this could probably slide in with the misc help and advice forum

Welcome and congrads on Your Courage to come Publis with Your diagnosis. I don't know anything about either but will talk to My Drs and see if I can find anything out. Good Luck and God Bless You and Your Courage

What exactly is it?

Asperger's is a "high-functioning" form of autism. The only real difference between "classic' autism and Asperger's is that to have a diagnosis of Asperger's, one cannot have had a language delay before the age of 3. Other than that, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between someone with Asperger's and someone with high-functioning autism. Basically, I have problems with nonverbal (and sometimes verbal) communication, I don't have a lot of empathy (at least not for neurotypicals, but that's not to say I'm empathy-less), and I have some stereotypical (repetitive) behaviors. Soem argue that autistic people are highly logical, but I've found that isn't always the case; sure, I can be very logical at times, but my thought processes are also highly associative. Asperger's is often associated with a high IQ, which is one of the reasons I wasn't properly diagnosed until a few weeks ago. When i was in high school, I was improperly identified as gifted; they were wrong. "Gifted" is typically defined as having an IQ of 130 or higher; mine is only 120. There was a scandal when I was a freshman in high school where they tried to hurry up and get the entire IB freshman class labeled as gifted for some sort of funding issue. I suppose that's why they mislabeled me.

People with Asperger's are often those that are "geeks" or "nerds" (think of the TV show "The Big Bang Theory"), but not everyone with Asperger's fits that stereotype.


Did I mention that I can ramble on and on as long as I'm talking about something that interests me?




Actually no; I'm new, and I'm introducing myself, thus I posted in "New Members Welcome Area". I'm not looking for support or advice here, I have a place for that already.



Not courage; it's not courageous to be who you naturally are. I honestly don't understand why people try to hide it. There are definitely positives among the negatives. If everyone with autism would just be open about it to the general public, it wouldn't have such a negative connotation. Each and every one of you probably knows at least one autistic person, you just might not know it.



And of course, thanks for the welcomes :)

Thanks for the information.

Any time.

hmmmmmmmmmmm it said:


Your Aspie score: 92 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 125 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits


hmmm ok then? lol

While you may not think of yourself as Mentally Ill the Alliance for the Mentally Ill would welcome you to post notices for peer associations of persons with your diagnosis. Also Independent Living Centers in all major cities of the USA would also do that for you. Because of confidentiality they could not give you addresses but if you wrote and multi copied notices they would probably post them and public information and they could contact you.

I don't see how this is relevant. But you're right, autistic people aren't mentally ill. Autism is actually a neurological disorder, not a mental illness. 'Tis why autism is often associated with dyspraxia.

As for finding others...the internet is as good a place as any, given the communication style of autistic people. You probably don't know that there are several online communities dedicated solely to autistic culture and neurodiversity. The internet may be the best thing that has ever happened for autistics.

The real problem in finding autistic people in my area isn't that they aren't there or that I don't know where to look, it's that they either don't know that they're autistic, or they don't want to reveal it.

Lol, so you're a not-quite-typical neurotypical?


For comparison, here's mine:

Your Aspie score: 154 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 47 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie