Quote from: genderhell on December 08, 2013, 04:44:37 PM
Having met a few AS-trans adults I can say that the severity of their autism varies, and their traits vary as well.
Absolutely! The severity of symptoms isn't in question, since it's obvious some people have very mild symptoms and it can be debilitating for others. The parts that I am interested in are:
1) Are the symptoms of Aspergers exacerbated by GID
2) Are the symptoms of GID exacerbated by Aspergers
3) Are the two different diagnoses correlated somehow
Quote from: genderhell on December 08, 2013, 04:44:37 PM
If so, then I assume you recognize the trans condition is not merely psychological , or do you ?
No, I do not believe GID is merely psychological. I'm working through this now, and there are definitely psychological symptoms, but the root is likely genetic. In addition to myself, I have a son who is struggling with GID, a daughter I'll bet is mildly autistic, and now I've started looking at the family tree. From what little information I have so far, I have an uncle (dad's youngest brother) that was extremely effeminately gay and seems to have had traits that would have pointed to Aspergers. He died before I was a teenager, so it's a little touch and go trying to get information. While I know one family does not make a solid study, it is difficult to dismiss as coincidental.
Quote from: genderhell on December 08, 2013, 04:44:37 PM
The trans condition appears to be constant person to person
I'm going to have to disagree here, though possibly only in semantics. GID apparently differs in degree. Some people handle it just fine simply by knowing and understanding it. Some need low dose HRT to cope, some transition to another point in the gender spectrum. Most of the time, only the latter group would be fit under the trans label. And I am not being thorough for simplicity's sake; there are numerous other categories in the GID spectrum that could be listed.
Back to the theory I have. I'm looking at this primarily through a social lens. GID typically causes social anxiety and a feeling of being different and outcast. Aspergers causes the same social reaction. People with one of these two conditions typically have few friends and very little social life. At early ages, it stands to reason that both groups would generally pull away from society and be "loners". As they age, they usually find coping mechanisms that help them integrate into society at some level.
The three points I listed above come into play when these two conditions are comorbid. It seems reasonable that, on the social level, GID symptoms and Asperger symptoms would exacerbate one another and cause social problems to become magnified.
But what about the aspie who is misdiagnosed (would OVER-diagnosed fit better here)? If you take a look at that link, there is a
striking resemblance between Asperger's and GID symptoms, especially in the appearance/ personal habits column. A GID diagnosis here might be correct or incorrect; it would be difficult to tell. Using HRT as a diagnostic tool (ethics aside) would probably reveal the truth given a little time. GID very likely exists in some degree, but the level of GID would be tough to determine until the Aspergers symptoms are filtered out (something I'm not entirely sure is possible.)
The same sort of situation presents itself from the other side of the spectrum. Since GID patients are typically loners in early life, intellectual studies are common. This leads to higher intelligence (yes, I know, chicken and egg argument... does intelligence cause interest in intellectual pursuits or does intellectual pursuits lead to higher intelligence? Something interesting to think about for another time). It stands to reason that the GID patient would naturally exhibit traits both from the social, emotional, and intellectual columns. Could this lead to an over-diagnosis of Aspergers as well? Once again, the probability is quite high that some degree of aspie exists, but it is hard to figure out how much until the GID traits are filtered out.
And this is where I'm stuck, trying to find the point where they can be realistically sorted out and the degree of each could be determined. HRT as a diagnostic tool sounds rather dubious from an ethical standpoint. Aspergers has slightly different attributes between the male and female end of the spectrum, and perhaps that's a decent starting point. But then we get back to the problem of different aspies manifesting their traits in different ways and in different degrees, so that approach is also problematic.
