The question has been lurking in my mind: Am I on or merely near the “spectrum? When I was gathering some more links for my collection I came across three different quizzes. Here are the results if you’re at all curious.
First, I took a quiz from PsychCentral:
They call theirs an Autism/Asperger’s Screening Quiz. I scored 33. They say if you score 34 or more autism is likely. If you score between 30 and 33 autism is possible (which is where I fit in according to this quiz). If you score 29 or less, no autism.
This puts me at the cusp of the criteria, however I found their questions to be rather stereotypical than definitive. It makes it rather difficult to feel confident about the results. Particularly, I find this passage to be bothersome: “Based upon your responses to this autism screening measure, it appears that you may be suffering from an autism spectrum disorder, or Asperger’s disorder. People who score similarly often qualify for a diagnosis of autism or Asperger’s,” (emphasis added). No test of this nature can indicate whether one is suffering or merely experiencing. This presumption betrays a bias that I find rather untrustworthy.
Next, I took an Aspie Quiz on RDOS.net:
This site kindly provided HTML code, so I can share the results.
The summary is as follows:
Your Aspie score: 146 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 58 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
Your MBTI type: INTJ
Next, I went to a site I’m unfamiliar with that offers what it calls an ASC-Plot:
They also kindly offer HTML code, so there’s a visual.
And here’s the summary:
0 indicates no autistic component, 10 indicates a strong autistic component. The components of this plot are outlined below:
- Repetitive or restricted Behaviours and Interests (RBI) - Stereotyped, repetitive behaviours and interests
- Social Impairment (SI) - Social understanding
- Language problems (L) - Speech, words and sentences
- Planning, Organization and Concentration problems (POC) - Cognitive skills related to being able to plan, organise and stay focused
- Imaging and Recall problems (IR) - Visualisation, imagination and remembering past events
- Reasoning and Problem solving problems (RP) - Cognitive skills related to rational deduction and working things out
- Sensory problems (S) - Impact of senses
- Motor problems (M) - Control of own movement
And my scores are:
- RBI =7
- SI=8.25
- L=3.75
- POC=7
- IR=8.25
- RP=4.5
- S=7.5
- M=4.25
I think I can say with confidence that I’m not neurotypical, but I knew that. This didn’t make me want to go out and get a diagnosis though. Not because I’m convinced I’m not an Aspie, but because there are so many barriers to a diagnosis I’m not sure it’s worth the energy.
