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comment by lil
lil  ·  3957 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How to tell if I have aspergers/autism? What do you all score on this test?

Hi Loogawa -- labels were invented by professionals to help the professionals categorize people. When they can label people, they can create a treatment plan.

However, if you are more or less functional, which you seem to be -- having the good sense to live in Canada and find hubski -- the tests are not particularly useful. What is useful is listening to the feedback from people. The test includes items like "People tell me that I go on and on." That item and others like it on the test is very helpful information. You can learn to monitor that and you can learn to look for clues that people are getting bored. You can teach yourself to stop and ask others, "Should I go on?" or "What do you think?" or "Are you with me on this?"

We are all on a spectrum of some sort. The test is looking for tendencies. That's why it is so black and white. There is no place in the middle for "it depends."

Sometimes I like to go to a museum, sometimes to the theatre: But you can see what the test is getting at. It is assuming that people who prefer the museum also prefer quantifiable facts and information. People who prefer the theatre can immerse themselves in human drama. Human drama has shades of grey and unexpected emotional content.

I scored a 10 - but I wished that more of the items had a "neither" or "it depends" choice.

My current husband, on the other hand, has three degrees from MIT. I found the test very interesting and when I have time later I'll pretend to be him and do it or even ask him to do it. He reads books and likes drama, but otherwise is all quantitative all the time. Everything must be quantifiable.