Why I love knowing I have high-functioning autism
As a certified psychologist with the authority to diagnose autism in one of my practicing states, I&#x27;d be highly interested in meeting with this woman. I find it very unlikely that she could make it through 46 years, marrying, having children, working jobs, generally getting by with high functioning autism.<p>Having worked with countless children and adults who have &#x2F; had Aspergers (no longer exists as of DSM-V) and other degrees of autism, stories like hers don&#x27;t add up. There&#x27;s a good chance that her psychologist did what many psychologists do today: misdiagnose. Her story does not include one piece of solid evidence that something is seriously abnormal.<p>That&#x27;s not to say she does not have autism, but there would have to be a glaring issue with her social, behavioral, or mental functioning, which likely would&#x27;ve prevented her from living a relatively normal life for so many years.<p>Just because we fit criteria or because we have problems in our lives, it does not mean that we have to give our issues a name. If there&#x27;s a particular problem, then seek help to alleviate it and stop boxing ourselves into these qualifications and descriptors that essentially mark as fixedly abnormal.