From what I've read, it's pretty difficult to determine with Adults purely based on interaction with them.
I only know someone with Aspergers in real life through Church.
He's pretty quiet and reserved, except he loves chatting with me about all sorts of stuff, he has some creative, yet controversial perspectives on things and I suspect he sometimes says things for shock value. He's a deep thinker, so am I and he may enjoy chatting with me because we are both deep thinkers and I can see his point of view.
I'm not sure - may be, that birds of a feather, flock together and I definitely show some symptoms but whether I have some level of Autism or not or whether it's just a personality trait or not it probably doesn't matter for me. I doubt treatment would enhance my life or the life of those around me further.
I wasn't diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder until 26 years old, I have associated Depression and depressive episodes every decade or so - usually from sustained stress. I could be put in all sorts of boxes and there's probably enough psychiatric evidence to prove it. For me this stuff is mostly manageable and I don't need any clinical diagnosis beyond what I already have.
The best advice, I can offer you is to not compartmentalise yourself, speak to a medical professional although admittedly, the healthcare systems in the USA and the Healthcare systems in Australia are quite different. It doesn't cost me anything to seek advice of a professional but if you are able to speak to one, they are best placed. While I offer that advice, I'm the least likely to go seek it for myself, it's just another interruption to my day and I need to interact with people, i'd rather not be bothered interacting with but it is the best advice I can offer.
For what it's worth, I just scored a 35 on some Autism test,
psychcentral.com/quizzes/autism-test/Apparently scores of 34 and up are Autism likely. I doubt I am Autistic.
Here's some of my traits 20ish, - probably a few in there relating to Autism but I doubt I'm Autistic from a brain physiological perspective.
1. I don't like loud unexpected noises - thunderstorms put me on edge, get me anxious. It's like a perpetual jump scare and the frustrating suspense prior just has me completely spinning cycles mentally trying to prepare for the next one. Hiccups are almost similar, I just go into mental overtime preparing myself for the next one.
2. I don't like being crowded - Peak hour train travel, nightclubs, busy shopping centres, congested roads get me anxious. I'd rather spend 4 hours driving to a destination in off peak than spending an hour driving to a destination in Peak. The latter is far more tiring and stressful. I avoid driving in the CBD if I can avoid it.
3. I don't like parties or forced social interaction, especially if they are loud spaces but even having to be somewhere at a particular time for me is Stress.
4. Queues bother me - the thought of entering one makes me anxious. I'd rather not bother. If that means not bothering with food and going hungry or not going to an event that I have tickets for, then so be it. The psychological pain of suffering a queue often exceeds the value of what might be gained. Having said that, I will suffer a queue for others benefit - my kids, wife, friends.
5. I calculate peoples ages including my own based on remembering birthdates rather than know how old a person is.
6. I used to get bored in Math class in 8th grade and figured i'd memorise my squares up to 20 for shits and giggles.
7. I don't know how to grieve or cope when grieving or be around people who are grieving
8. I don't know how to cope with common illnesses like head colds apart from sleep it out and hide.
9. I don't know how to interact with kids who are over the age of 2 appropriately. No - I'm not talking paedophilia or anything of a sexual nature. I just find it really difficult to relate and be childlike it always feels so false.
10. I don't know how to celebrate or express outwardly with appropriate emotion, things like excitement, gratitude or joy. I have no problems recognising this stuff in others.
11. I don't deal with conflict well- that includes people shouting or being aggressive around me. I feel an almost overwhelming urge to get away and when I can't, it's such a struggle, i'm pleading internally for it to stop. It's the flight or fight instinct and when trapped, it takes extreme attention and discipline to keep me from doing something regrettable. Like forcibly shut the situation down through use of overwhelming force which is where my instinct is. If I can't get away from it, then I have to shut it down so I can get my peace back. This is especially true during train travel when some loud mouth or drunk people board, typically low socio economic types who get all loud and aggressive with each other or other people. Doesn't even need to be aggressive, just loud and disruptive. Messes with my state of mind and peace of mind and talk about anxious. Knowing full well that I'm more than capable of shutting people down physically and destroying peoples lives just adds to the stress and anxiety.
12. I hate hallmark occasions, struggle with participating with the conventions which come with them although I don't struggle to recognise what they are. Fathers day, my Birthday and Christmas day tends to stress me due to an obligitary overwhelming sense of needing to participate in a particular way so others aren't offended conflicting with an overwhelming personal desire of not wanting to participate at all. I oddly don't like receiving gifts either or rather, I do like them but i'd rather open them in private rather than force others to experience my too formal responses when I open them and receive them. I get more of a kick out of watching what others receive and I'm slow and meticulous with opening gifts, I consider the choice of wrapping, the type of tape, the style that it was wrapped, the balance of the package, the type of knots used in any riboons, then I start on the card, the handwriting, the message before I start reverse engineering wrapping and undoing it without damaging it which seems to bother people. I've started seeking help from my kids when it comes to opening gifts intended for me and trying to emulate their excitement.
12.25. I bothered with secret Santa at work this year because I'm a team player and others get something out of it but I don't understand the point of it. If i'm giving my cash away, I prefer giving it to homeless people who aren't expecting it and are so delighted by it. That's such an awesome feeling and I wish I was more cashed up so I could do it more often and in reality I could if I tried and cared more but spend it on more selfish things instead - hello WG, I hope you like taking my money.
12.5. I received a birthday Card just prior to December 5. I got around to opening it today. It was from my folks, really lovely sentiment and message. Had a lottery ticket in it. I suppose I should check the numbers. I don't know what to do with the Card now but I think my wife will store it with my life book.
13. I get really anxious doing anything new or different and if my daily routine is messed with, I have this sensation of something being out of place or I've forgotten something important that lingers with me and screws with the rest of my day.
14. I am though able to speak in public and present on a topic and I have been told that I am quite good at it. I'm also able to teach. Both of those activities require being able to engage an audience and encourage active participation. Lots of hours of stress go into it though, it is a real struggle to keep my mind on track.
15. I hate taking telephone calls and pace when i'm on the phone - meh! forced exercise, not such a bad thing, forced interruption - could do without. I hate being in demand! I hate being popular! I gave up playing MMOs because invariably, I couldn't do the stuff I wanted while conversing with others who were constantly demanding my response through /msg or needing a Raid companion or similar.
16. I don't tend to social network - more demand for my attention and I don't mind giving it except the demand comes at times when I need to be focused on other things and it's a conflict of interest. I don't tend to contact other people very often either because I feel I'm causing them interruption and my forced engagement is conflicting with their interest although intellectually, I know that I'm not most of the time.
17. I tend to treat all adults equally, regardless of their station or position of authority and regardless of mine relative to theirs. I like to think though that I'm polite and respectful to everyone and I have no problems with pleases and thankyous where appropriate.
18. I am a very good listener and have a way of putting positive spins on things and apparently, I have a talent for demonstrating that I intellectually understand how others are feeling and people do seem to take comfort in that which is nice.
19. The list of course is far more extensive.. Some of those traits are shared by Autistic people including the spectrum which covers Aspergers but some of them are almost opposite. My social issues are often not the ability to recognise what other people are feeling or wanting or expecting but knowing how to express myself appropriately around them. while being true to myself without creating offense.
20. Some of it is biology but apart from the Attention Deficit and Depression, I don't think there is anything physiologically abnormal, even if some of the traits are behaviourably abnormal and symptomatic of other conditions. Despite that, I suspect that most healthy people have some symptoms which could be slotted in to being attributed to some label. it doesn't make them "bad", it's part of who I am and I manage whatever it is that I have and really have a full life. I'd go as far as to say some of them enhance my life and provide opportunity to enhance others lives through being able to appreciate certain perspectives.
You might think i'm a real basket case. I'm relatively normal
Some of it is behavioural and personality, I don't like losing myself to emotion, that includes, recreational drugs and even alcohol. Nothing bad has happened with drug use or drinking but it's a danger zone and affects my ability to be rational and reasonable so since bad stuff can happen when people are irrational or unreasonable I'd rather not take the risk. Some might doubt my ability to be those things anyway so my reasoning may well be moot but it's my reason and it works for me so I'm sticking with it.
Getting back to you seeking information on Aspergers, there's a fair bit of stuff around. The Autism Spectrum is quite wide and varied and Autism impacts a lot of peoples lives. I encourage you to research the condition because it aids with understanding reasons for what might be perceived as objectionable behaviour from others with varying levels of Autism.
Relating to your quest to seek information due to some concerns that you might be symptomatic, I re-iterate, see a professional and rather than focus on whether you have a particular condition and what condition it might be, focus on identifying the areas you feel are impacting your well being. There's probably 1001 ways of managing Anxiety for example and there may be 1001 underlying causes for it too.
I apologise too if I've overshared or overstepped but hope that I haven't and that it helps you or someone else in some way.
