Re: Asperger vs ADHD, what's the biggest difference?

[Ivriniel]

js-cart: Seriously, dude, I say this is all kindness: Stop trying to diagnose yourself and get the to a specialist.

I’m a teacher, and when I took my Special Education Part 1, they told us “You will probably see parts of yourself in many of the conditions that we study. Don’t panic. This happens to almost everyone who takes Special Ed, just like a lot of male medical students diganose themselves with thyroid cancer when they get to that portion of the curriculum. They touch their necks, feel their Adam’s Apple, and freak out.”

Now in my case, I turned out to be ADHD and have a Learning Disability, but the point still stands. If you go in for testing, you really need to leave your preconcieved notions at the door, and the more you convince yourself you have one thing or another, the harder that will be.

It’s far better to go in and say “Doc, these are the problems I am experiencing…” than “Doc, I think I have ADHD, and this is why.” If you list your symptoms, they may point your Doctor to something you never considered. If you start with a diagnosis, you may find yourself emphasizing symptoms that back up your thesis, and forgetting other things that don’t fit with the diagnosis, but also might be important.

As far as the differences between ADHD and Aspergers goes, a person with Aspergers tends to be less socially aware. A person with ADHD might offend someone through inattention or impulsivity, but generally, if they are told that they were rude, they will be able to understand what they did wrong. A person with Aspergers will generally have a harder time figuring out what they did to offend someone.

People with Aspergers also tend to have an obsessive streak. They will often become experts on a very narrow topic. This coupled with lack of social awareness means that some people with Aspergers will approach complete strangers and do information dumps on whatever their topic of interest is.

The obsessive streak can also result in people with Aspergers developing and adhering to rigid routines. People with ADHD by contrast often have difficulty establishing and maintaining routines because the routines simply don’t hold their interest.

The character of Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory is often said to have a lot of Asperger’s traits, though the writers insist that they did not have Autism Spectrum Disorders in mind when they created the character.

As far as Mark Zuckerberg goes, if he has ever been diagnosed with anything, ADHD, Aspergers or something else, he has never publicly revealed it. It’s nothing more than idle speculation on the part of the public.

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