I'm a twenty-eight year old British male and I am currently in the process of getting a formal diagnosis for what I have suspected for some time to be Asperger's.
That's how I wish I could leave this post. Clinical and formal; the way I have always tried to present myself to the world.
Fact is: I am pretty damn messed up. No this isn't a launch into a self-depreciating rant or some attempt at netting sympathy. In Britain; Asperger's is still relatively new and goes largely undiagnosed or we get lumped in with the ADHD crowd and get given drugs to help us focus. I have had a really crap time all things considered. School was hard because I was always left feeling like the odd one out by the other children and this happened all the way until I left college. Teachers could not figure out why I was how I was and found it easier to just brand me another underachiever. My creative streak was apparent from a very young age and I had ideas that were far beyond someone my age, but they were ignored in favor of academic progress (or lack thereof).
I have always been happier away from people except in a rare few instances (my long-suffering girlfriend). I struggle like mad in social situations, with my taking everything literally and monotonic voice that means I'm about as good at conveying humor as an undertaker. But I still try, much to the pain of my friends.
I hope that my upcoming diagnosis will lift the veil from the world for me; I'm getting pretty annoyed with my chronic OCD and the fact that I only seem to end up in jobs that that involve retail which involves dealing with far too many people for my liking.
Guess I'm saying Hi!
Hi!