My Introduction Thread

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Hello there,

I'm commonly known as Dellfan (I would be willing to change my alias as Dellbeam) on the Internet. I have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder when I was about 2, as I had shown various developmental delays towards speech during my early childhood. Because of this, I wasn't sure if I was considered to have Asperger's and it made me not join this website for a long time. I've had some difficulty making friends after my best friend went to a different school in 8th grade, which made me hang out with some seriously messed up people on the Internet for the past seven years.

I'm currently 22 years old and I'm still a college student, since I wasn't really sure what major I wanted to decide on until a couple months ago (as I've now chosen Cinema Studies). I've been mostly active on Discord, but my account has been hacked earlier this month (May 2022) and I'm still in the process of getting it back. I don't know if I'll continue to be on this site until I get a response from them. But for now, I might hanging out on these forums. I am currently looking forward to talking here for a little bit.

Welcome to WP! I hope you decide to continue here no matter what happens to you elsewhere.

And, Asperger's Syndrome is not a requirement for participation here. Nor is even being on the Autism Spectrum. To the best of my knowledge the requirements are an interest in the topic and follow the rules. Well, actually, I guess you don't have to have an interest in the topic to be here, but why else would you be here?

Welcome!

I'm not an Aspergian----and I'm here.

I didn't start speaking until age 5 1/2.

As Doublyretired stated, the only requirement is that you be a decent person on the Site.

I kinda wish I knew that earlier (like during my preteens), since I was confused as to if Asperger's was different than regular autism. Thanks for the welcome though.

I haven't really started talking (as in saying sentences) until I was 5 as well. That's one of the reasons why I didn't consider myself as someone with Asperger's.

Well...it's confusing...

In the U.S. we use the DSM for these kinds of diagnoses.
<=>- Before 1994 it only had "classic" Autism which did not include Asperger's
<=>- In 1994 the DSM added Asperger's, separate from Autism
<=>- In 2013 it put Autism, Asperger's, and other stuff under "Autism Spectrum Disorder"
So, strictly speaking, at this time, in the U.S., no one should be given a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome because it isn't in the book!

Probably the closest you should come is something along the lines of what I got. I got my diagnosis in 2019; it was "Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 1 (Mild)" but with an additional comment from the Psychologist that I also met the criteria formerly associated with Asperger's Syndrome. But I suspect it is not always possible to get that extra bit because my understanding is the criteria for Asperger's Syndrome required information about early language development—which might not be available when an Adult goes in for diagnosis. I was fortunate to be able to provide information from before my first birthday but not everyone can.

My understanding is Wrong Planet was setup in 2004 when Asperger's Syndrome was an available diagnosis. And it was setup by a couple of guys with Asperger's Syndrome diagnoses for people with that same diagnosis. Over time Wrong Planet has been kept available but without much technical support, so it hasn't been completely updated to reflect the newer versions of the DSM.

Soooo...this affects the diagnosis options you get when you enroll. But new folk don't get a stringent examination by WP and things are kind of friendly-loose. Here I think "Asperger's Syndrome" is for people who got that diagnosis before 2013, and anyone with ASD Level 1 ("High Functioning Autism"), and anyone who just declares they are one.

It's friendly-loose. Some folk complain about WP not being kept current but I think it's OK. It might not be getting much support but it still works, is free, and has been left for us to crawl around in.

And if you read all of that I hope you didn't find it too confusing.

I feel like that I do consider myself as level 1 autistic (or high functioning autistic), as I act similarly to those that were diagnosed with Asperger's before the DSM unifed all of the autistic related disorders. I say this because I may have been diagnosed with either PDD-NOS or some form of classic autism. I don't know which one because I was only a toddler when that happened and I didn't know what autism was until I was about 10.

Well. You're ahead of me. I had never even heard of the Autism Spectrum until I was 64. I had heard of the movie Rain Man [1988] but I have yet to see it.

(Since being diagnosed I have discovered a few movies about Autism I like, though.)

There are a few movies based on autistic people that I watched. One of them being the Temple Grandin biopic that was produced by HBO Films. The other two were The Accountant from 2016, and The Boy Who Could Fly from 1986.

My bride had a copy of Temple Grandin [2010] before we even suspected I might be on the Spectrum. But I was not interested enough to watch it until after I was diagnosed.

Many movies and shows have a character that might seem Autistic—for instance, we are currently watching our way through The Big Bang Theory [2007–2019]. But since my diagnosis I've added some to our collection that intentionally show Autism:
<=>- Adam [2009] ^{"A story about two strangers. One a little stranger than the other..."}
<=>- Autism: The Musical [2007]
<=>- The Bridge [2013–2014] ^{"Every body is connected"}
<=>- Mary and Max [2009] ^{"Sometimes perfect strangers make the best friends."}
<=>- Mozart and the Whale [2005] ^{"They don't fit in. Except together."}
<=>- Snow Cake [2006] ^{"Sometimes stopping is the most important part of the journey..."}
Of those, I suspect the one I sort of resemble is Adam.