Well, I don't know. There is a strong element of judgement on the part of the assessor. If I was assessed by the person who assessed you, maybe I wouldn't get the diagnosis. And if you were assessed by the person who assessed me, maybe you WOULD get the diagnosis.

Also, I think it can be difficult for us to view ourselves clearly. We know how things feel for us, but not how we come across to others. When I have told people I am on the autistic spectrum, some have said they wouldn't have known. But at my previous job, a senior member of staff said that some people had spotted that there was something different about me, even before I told everyone I had Asperger's. They noticed I had a different way of communicating.

But my job advisor once told me, "I don't think you have a problem communicating with people. I think other people have a problem communicating with YOU." It seems that I can do a reasonable job of appearing "normal" if I try, but I miss subtleties of social interactions. In many social situations, I feel like half of it goes over my head. It's like the social intelligence equivalent of having a partial hearing problem. This is why I've had so many problems in jobs. I don't pick up on everything that's going on between people. And I need clear instructions. It seems like so many times, things have gone wrong because other people have just assumed I knew what was going on when I didn't.

Socially, it can sometimes feel like I'm not a complete person. Like if a TV had trouble receiving a proper signal half the time. In that sense, it is a real dysfunction. Now, you could argue that that's only a problem if I am in situations not suitable for autistic people. But this is the real world. Most people are not autistic, and we have to live in their world. It's like saying that a broken TV is only broken if somebody wants to watch it. I'm only a disabled person if I want to function fully in a world full of non-autistic people.

Even in my improv group, half the time I don't know what's going on. But it's just for fun, so I try not to care. I just enjoy it for what it is. But in a job or a serious relationship, it does matter.

So I suppose my point is, if somebody thinks they're autistic but it's not a problem, either one of two things is true. Either they are mostly in situations that are ideal for autistic people, or they aren't autistic enough to get a diagnosis. But I could be wrong.

This reply has turned become the length of an article 😂. Maybe I will turn it into one.