G'day

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Joined: 17 May 2011
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Posts: 136
Location: here

05 Jun 2011, 9:46 am

Hello, I'm in my mid 40's and married with 21 y.o. and 7 y.o. sons. I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade.

I'm undiagnosed but fairly sure I have AS.

Someone suggested our eldest boy had AS many years ago (when he was about 7 I think) - at which time I did some reading and realised it clearly didn't fit him but made a LOT of sense for me. Nonetheless I really didn't think much about it or pursue it - my feeling at the time was that it was "interesting how AS people are evidently often introverted and socially awkward like me, but I'm not autistic so I couldn't have AS" (keep in mind I HADN'T researched it in depth - just read the brief outline descriptions - and indeed I've realised now that I'm not and never WAS actually introverted).

Then recently a new work colleague who has a diagnosed relative stated outright that he has no doubt I'm AS - so my wife and I started looking seriously at it and to be blunt I'm pretty much a walking textbook example of mild AS - simple as that. Personal traits and quirks SINCE CHILDHOOD all match - including things like stimming etc. All the self tests strongly indicate and all the stuff on here just keeps confirming it.

Understanding that I genuinely CAN'T HELP being the way I am is already helping make life much better for my whole family. We've by default managed to cope in much the best way that it can already be done with AS - without even realising we WERE coping with AS - but there's a significant difference in knowing WHY we've been and are having to cope the way we do. Just understanding why I do things is a help too - ie. my wife now understands my moving away is just an AS trait and doesn't feel put out or hurt by it - in fact has a lot of fun with it at the moment (SHE is certain I am AS - I will never claim to definitely be so unless diagnosed).

Our eldest son (actually my stepson) definitely doesn't have AS but we're a little concerned about our 7 y.o.

I'm in my 40's but FEEL very much the same as I did when I was about 17 - and it shows (my supervisor told me the other day I "need to grow up" ). I'm starting to feel very isolated actually because thanks to always having looked very young for my age, hanging out with much younger people at work hasn't been all that odd - and I've always managed better with them than those my own age - but nowadays my age is starting to stand out and I'm realising they're at times obviously getting a bit uncomfortable Online I generally hang out on car forums talking with 16 to 20 - somethings but again I'm realising I might have to start removing my age as a visible stat

Oh, and "Wooster" (with oo as in "cook") was just the first thing that popped into mind that I figured would unlikely to be already in use.