Currently undergoing assessment as a suspected Aspie.

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Hi everyone,

I'm Ron, from Auckland, New Zealand. I am currently undergoing assessment by a psychologist to determine whether I have Asperger's syndrome. I'm 41 years old and I have always felt like I was on a different planet to everyone else (kudos to the name of this site). I'm currently on a sickness benefit after a mental breakdown at the end of last year, hence the psychologist.

Everything is hitting me all at once at the moment, as I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and now possibly with Asperger's as well, and according to the mental health team, I have a major depressive disorder. Wow, I'm a mess! Only a year ago I was at the top of my game, a national coordinator for the technical aspects of offender monitoring (home detention), I hardly ever visited a doctor, and despite being rather overweight, I enjoyed fairly good health. Now look at me!

I'm a keen computer geek and hacker, and a member of the Auckland Linux Users Group. I am married, but we unfortunately have no children, after a failed attempt at IVF.

That's my introduction done, now, I have a couple of questions as well.

1. Does anyone have any advice for me as I go through the process of being assessed against the Autism Spectrum? Anything that I should ask about (or for) specifically?

2. Here's one for the site admins. What is this "exponential" on your site that wants to run a script in my browser? It looks to me like some kind of marketing / advertising company.

I'm looking forward to meeting new people here. In the past I have been an admin for sites that run phpBB, Drupal, Joomla, Moodle, and Wordpress. I have been an active moderator for a teen chat site, so I am pretty well aware of the ins and outs of being on a website like this one. I hope to be a model citizen of WrongPlanet.

Kind regards,

Ron.

Hi Ron

I live just across the Tasman in Sydney. Like you, I work and play with Linux boxes a lot and also have worked in the criminal justice system. I was recently diagnosed with AS as a mature aged adult.

I don't have depression these days, although I did as a teenager and young adult. I have a number of sensory sensitivity issues, and also anxiety and executive function problems. Because I have a sedentary lifestyle, I exercise regularly, which keeps me a bit more healthy than I otherwise would be both physically and psychologically.

I hope your psychologist has experience with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I referred myself to a psychologist who specialises in ASD. He got me to complete the AQ Test, then he interviewed me for 2 hours. After that, he got my wife to complete the AQ Test about me (her own score is rather lower than mine), and then he saw the two of us together for an hour as we went through the diagnostic criteria. After that, he gave me his diagnosis.

Hope you enjoy it here.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welkome to WrongPlanet.

The WP Kink

Welcome!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Thanks for the welcome one-A-N and everyone else. I'm not very clued up about the medical issues yet, so I'm unsure what "sensory sensitivity issues" are, but it sounds like my reaction to bright lights (BTW, is that an Aspie thing?) As for "executive function problems", I've had problems with the functioning of some of our executives here in NZ too, but let's not debate politics in this forum.

Because I have a sedentary lifestyle, I should exercise regularly. Being Type 2 Diabetic as well, it is even more important that I do so. I have a Nintendo Wii with the balance board that I should use more often. I'm slowly rebuilding my life after the breakdown. I'm working on meals at the moment, and have an appointment with the nutritionist coming up next week. Once I have that under control, it will be the exercise and fitness next. Step by step.