Here's the problem with a formal autistic diagnosee. It costs a lot of money, and a helluyve lot of us don't have it. I have read approximately 600 psychology books. My IQ has been variously measured between 165 and off-the-graph. Right brain and left brain operate equally. I am 71 years old. I used to read between 2 and 4 books a day, and have read one a day for my working life. I still read extensively, a good 5 hours a day. I read abstracts, news, magazines in multiple disciples.

It was my daughter who told me I had Asperger's She worked as a teacher at a school for autistic kids in Cali. She is now with me in Ireland. We are both on the spectrum. I suspect my late father is as well.

We have both done the online tests conducted by one of the California universities. I did one 18 months apart, and both I scored highly. Essentially, yes, I have Aspergers.

'Professionals' scorn self-diagnosis. It's not good enough. One just wants to be sick, or different, one doesn't have sufficient brains or education to work it out.

I went to psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. on and off for 40 years to try and find out what was wrong with me. I have had a formal apology fromn the leading doctors in London for not taking me at my word. Once I produced documented evidence of what I said (I was gifted, attended posh schools, came from a well known family), they apologized profusely. Of course, when I told the psychiatrist that, she told me I was suffering from delusions of grandeur.

In San Diego, two psychologists told me I had taught them a lot, and that people like me were generally dead at 25, that what I had accomplished was miraculous. Another told me that she wished other patients were as aware as I was, and then she changed tactics when the session was recorded.

I was horrified and reported her. What she had done was switch to what she had been taught. The supervisor listened, came back to me, and said, "You were well ahead of her. Why didn't you challenge her?"

I am more than qualified to use the evidence to say that I have Asperger's. Your lot, on three continents, have for the most part been educated beyond your intelligence. You wouldn't recognize nothing if it stood right in front of you.

I don't need your formal diagnoses. I did two lots of internet tests by UCSD. I have a life time of evidence. I am better read and better informed than most.

Give me one good reason why I have to have all that confirmed by someone who doesn't know me from a bar of soap.