# How "real" is Aspergers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058 "2011-10-18T18:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/101 "2011-10-24T13:07:09Z")
I got 15 and have no idea whether I should be worried. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/102 "2011-10-24T14:13:05Z")
It seems like a lot of people are taking the [autism quotient test](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html) linked earlier in the thread without reading the introduction. It says quite plainly that it is not meant to be used to diagnose autism spectrum disorders and that even a high score does not necessarily mean a person has such a disorder. > [@Lemur866](#): > > I scored a 32 on that test, which means it’s fucked up and bullshit. > [@Steophan](#): > > I got the same score, and drew the same conclusion about the efficacy of the test. "[M]any who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives. " > [@Cicero](#): > > I got 15 and have no idea whether I should be worried. “In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4.” ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/103 "2011-10-24T14:16:17Z")
Maybe you need to read things a little less literally. My comment was tongue in cheek. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/104 "2011-10-24T14:25:55Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Maybe you need to read things a little less literally. My comment was tongue in cheek. How embarrassing, I usually recognize when people are joking. Then again, most jokes are actually funny. Maybe you need to work a little harder on that. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/105 "2011-10-24T14:28:50Z")
Yes, indeed, people do need to read the introduction. > [@Lamia](#): > > "[M]any who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives. " This doesn’t mean that they don’t have mild autism or Asperger’s. It means that someone with mild autism or Asperger’s might have no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/106 "2011-10-24T14:42:18Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Yes, indeed, people do need to read the introduction. Yes, I would encourage you to read the whole thing, and not just the incomplete sentence I quoted. > [@](#): > > This doesn’t mean that they don’t have mild autism or Asperger’s. It doesn’t mean they do, either. The full sentence is “ **The test is not a means for making a diagnosis** , however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.” (Emphasis mine.) A score of 32 is not proof of an autism spectrum disorder, because this test is not meant to be used to diagnose people. > [@](#): > > It means that someone with mild autism or Asperger’s might have no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives. I believe it means that someone with a score of 32 – whether or not they meet the actual diagnostic criteria for an autism spectrum disorder – may not have difficulty functioning in everyday life. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/107 "2011-10-26T15:35:44Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > … > > That being said, most self-diagnosed internet cases _are_ the “I am socially inept, and feel it should be an illness rather than a personal failing” thing. Especially if it is brought up apropos of nothing. Heh - yeah, I would tend to agree. Note that I say this as a parent of a teen who _is_ officially diagnosed (by people with degrees, and who charged us a fair bit of money for the testing) as Asperger’s. Now, I can see how someone would casually read a description, find some similarities in how they perceive themselves and how they know they respond to scenarios, and think “yeah, sounds like me, so I’m an Aspie”. But self-diagnosed is worth nothing to my mind. To me it says the person wants an explanation for their behavior without having to do anything to fix it. That said, when Dweezil was diagnosed, both **Typo Knig** and I could see a LOT of similarities in our own behavior and interactions with other people, suboptimal social skills, failure to read signals, etc. - but we don’t call ourselves Aspies. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/108 "2011-10-26T15:51:17Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > This is the best way to “self-diagnose”. > [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html) > I tried this and scored pretty high when the article first came out. > [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers.html](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers.html) > > It’s not so much “socially inept” as a difficulty understanding what others seem to be feeling. I remember going to meetings, and afterwards a co-worker would say something like “Di you see Fred get all upset? He knows our new system will make it hard for him to BS his way through his job…” I would not have had a clue the guy was expressing anything beond what he actually said. Similarly, I too have had obsessive preoccupations with odd subjects through the years, and a distinct lack of interest in most social activites - they seemed like a waste of time. > > However, like many childhood conditions, everyone uses it as an excuse for why they can’t succeed. I suspect like ADD and dyslexia, it’s going to become the reason of the times why little Johnny can’t read. Interesting. I score a 35 on the first link. I function pretty well though. My husband and I are both techies, and the second article says something like “all tech people are slightly autistic”. Having learned a lot in the past 14+ years, we have been sure that our own mild tendencies have combined in a less-than-beneficial manner in producing one child with a formal diagnosis of autism, and another with a less-specific set of labels (emotionally volatile, ADHD, anxiety, socially impaired). And the extended family bears this out (one nephew with fairly severe autism, another with severe emotional issues ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/109 "2011-10-28T03:19:36Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > It means that someone with mild autism or Asperger’s might have no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives. If you don’t have difficulty functioning, then you don’t have Asperger’s, because part of the definition of Asperger’s is that it causes “clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.” ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058/110 "2011-10-28T10:04:22Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > If you don’t have difficulty functioning, then you don’t have Asperger’s, because part of the definition of Asperger’s is that it causes “clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.” There are two ways I could respond to this. The first response which came to my mind was to apologize, and say that what I actually meant was that someone with mild autism or Asperger’s might have have figured out how to cope with it on his own, even before being diagnosed, and as a result, he has only minimal difficulty functioning. (According to this way of looking at it, our confusion lies in whether or not it is possible to have “clinically significant impairments”, and still find coping mechanisms without the help of a medical professional.) But then I went back to look at my post which you cited, and I saw that I was merely copying the language which **Lamia** had quoted from the introduction to the test: > [@Lamia](#): > > It seems like a lot of people are taking the [autism quotient test](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html) linked earlier in the thread without reading the introduction. It says … “[M]any who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.” Your objection is not against me, as I was merely copying those thoughts. Your objection would seem to actually be against the author of that line, as you seem to think that it is impossible to both [ul] [li]“meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s” and to also[/li][li]“report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.”[/li][/ul] The weasel word here is the absolutist term “no difficulty”. Perhaps it should have said “minimal difficulty”. I am not taking sides on this, as I have no formal medical education, and I’m a total layman at these things. So I offer this question to those of the Teeming Millions who know more about it than I do: Do the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s allow that diagnosis for someone who has figured out how to cope with it on his own, or is the diagnosis reserved only for those who have so much trouble that they seek medical help? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-real-is-aspergers/600058.md?page=5)