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Hi, my name's Tom and I'm 16. I was diagnosed with AS when I was 13. AS has been the source of all my life's problems (well, kinda ), so I think it'll be kind of interesting to check out his here site. Hopefully I'll be sticking round a while!

Hi, Welcome. I'm relatively new here myself.

Hi, welcome!

Very curious to know why you hate Mark Haddon.

Aye... Who is Mark Haddon?

the guy who wrote 'the curious case of the dog in the night time' or whatever it was called archmage

dunc

Well, I hat him because he wrote 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time', a bestselling book about a kid with Asperger's. The trouble is now, when I explain to someone I have AS, they all tend to say 'Oh! I read a story about that.' and assume that the book is an accurate description of AS. Which of course, it isn't - it's exaggerated to make the book more interesting to read.

The sad truth is, that book's probably the most widespread portrayal of Asperger's out there. And unfortunately, it's one that is terribly wrong.

Damn you Mark Haddon!! !

Hello and welcome.

You are very lucky to have discovered the condition at a relatively young age! I am 25 and put ALL the pieces of the puzzle together myslef just one year ago. Actually....it started about 6 years ago when I noticed that I shared similar but much much milder traits as full blown autistics. (I was watching a documentary about autism) In the end I more or less diagnosed myself, a psychologist and my familydoctors agreed.
I made detailed presentations to them all by myself while they just listened and completely agreed.

I don't think you are going to go through some of the same awful things that I did. Growing up, NOBODY knew what was wrong with me. I was "anticharisma, strange, antisocial, wierd, geek-man" to everyone. I was baffled and bent on becomming "normal" for so many years.
You have the benefit of putting a name to your condition. All you have to do is look up other people with the same thing and get tons of advice. I know it can help you immensly. I never had that sort of cushion..I was literally ALL ALONE! You are definately not alone here.

,Steve

Some people have seen themselves in that book, I've heard, so I'm trying not to judge its (lack of) accuracy too harshly; but what concerns me is the fact that Haddon has said he didn't want to write a book about Asperger's/autism, he just used that character as a device to tell a story. (I do wonder what story.) And also the fact that it seems to work as an "inspiration" - which nowadays doesn't mean that it inspires people to do the right thing, but that it makes them feel good about themselves. How many ("normal") people haven't said, "Now I know how lucky I am, because Christopher suffers so much more than I do"? Both of these things aren't particularly respectful to people with Asperger's.

Do you know Kathy Hoopmann's Asperger books, and if so, what do you think of them?

***

I have that book, but it never really interested me. i have one that was actually written by an Aspie (who's name i cannot think of at the current moment) called Mission of the Galactic Salesman. It's about these teenagers that recieve the gift of self-telekinesis (the ability to transport oneself at will instantaneously across vast distances) from a merchant from the star system of Sirius B in exchange for their help in building an interplanetary phone station to connect Earth's people with their kin, the Sirians.
It's quite interesting, and has many theories about certain mysteries that concern Earth. i would recommend it, but i can't remember the author, and i would have to dig through a box to find it, because we're moving soon (for more details, see my blog in a few hours). I'll find it, though, and tell you who wrote it. for now, sayonara!

Archmage

I'm afraid I ahven't read them. Would you recommend me getting them off of Amazon?

Well of course I can't guarantee you'll like them; but the good thing about them is that Kathy Hoopmann explains things really well, and she has some variety in her Aspies. They're probably much more like you than Haddon's Christopher. Blue Bottle Mystery is from the perspective of a boy who gets diagnosed in the course of the story, in Of Mice and Aliens he's back, and there's a minor role for a girl with Asperger's who is very different from him, and the third book, Lisa and the Lacemaker, is from her perspective. These three books have elements of fantasy. The latest (and best) book she's written is Haze, which is for older children, and a realistic story. Seeing you're 16, I'd say read Haze first and if you like it you might want to read the others, too.