*sighs*

[conuly]

*reads the comments*

Every time. EVERY TIME somebody finds this and takes the test, their friends take it too - and then pop up with their results, asking "what does this mean"? Look. Unless your score was very high (above 35) it doesn't mean anything. There's a reason the AQ test isn't used for diagnostic purposes. It is completely possible to be NT and get a fairly high score. It's possible to be on the spectrum and score under the mystical cut-off of 32. It's possibly even possible to be on the spectrum and get a relatively low score. The numbers don't mean anything by themselves. If you're really curious about what your score means, get a book or an internet connection or something and research the autistic spectrum instead of asking "what does this mean, what does this mean". Nobody can tell you what a score of 17, or 20, or 26 means.

*sits and waits to be told what those scores mean*

Comments

[cumaeansibyl.livejournal.com]

I got a 32, which is apparently the cutoff. Somehow, I get borderline scores on everything...

What gets to me is that these are all things I know about myself -- so what possible good would it do me to put yet another label on a collection of personal oddities when I'm already living with them?

People need to understand that a diagnosis doesn't really change anything. You still have to deal with whatever it is.

[conuly]

Well, if a diagnosis enables you to get help of some sort - different testing conditions, a right to sue against discrimination in the workplace (like that ever works...), a right to a half-fare bus pass or to the paratransit system where you are, SSI... then yes, it does change something.

[cumaeansibyl.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right, of course, but I figure the people who were responding to that post wouldn't really have a need for the things you've mentioned or they would have found out already. Might be wrong, though.

[conuly]

It's amazing what you don't realize you need until you find out that it's available. I always assumed my hearing was normal, and that other people were deliberately loud. Now I really put "earplugs" at the top of my desired list, and if I could talk to the disability people at school (I hate talking to people) I'd ask for testing accomodations. It's *easier* to do things when I'm in a quiet environment, but until I realized that I wasn't normal with my hearing, it didn't occur to me to request any sort of accomodations.