To start, Hello. I'm from Singapore, Asia and am living there. Yeah. I'm not very good at this...
Last year, I went to a neighbouring area for English Tuition, which I found absurd back then because I had quite a good standard of English. The teacher had a faint Australian accent because I heard she went to Australia as a child to get schooled even when she is a Chinese. She brought my parents (they were there) and me into a small room. It looked like a classroom except on a much smaller scale, with 12 tables and chairs and enough legroom. We sat down and she asked to interview me. After my parents agreed, she turned to me and asked me to take off my spectacles. Upon complying, she asked me a few questions, some personal, academic and even a few social. 5 to 10 minutes later, she told me what I still think really changed me these past 9 months...
She told me I had Asperger's Syndrome.
It was a big "What?" to me, because I had zero knowledge about it. After I heard it was a mild case of Autism, I felt more familiar to it. When I was in Primary School, I had read a book, an autobiography. The book talked about a mother's view as she raised a boy with Autism. He had all the things an "Autist" would have and what not, and how introducing a dog into his life had changed him into a more sociable person. Technically, I loved the story because it spoke a lot of things about "Autists" and "Aspes". Not very sociable, habits others may find weird because it is out of the norm, and a different person overall. I forgot what the dog's name is, but it was a Golden Retriever. I have a Golden Retriever in my house as well.
I learnt about Asperger's from this teacher, and was accepted by my fellow tuition-mates. To me, they were a group of people who accepted me from the start. They had been with the teacher since the start of their Secondary School life, and so knew her as a great teacher. They trusted her opinion about how I should be accepted even when I was actually a world apart from them. In fact, when I had recently asked them what they thought of me at first, they said they found nothing really wrong with me, or that I was some mentally ret*d weirdo unlike some of those in my age group that I had met. They did found my lack of eye contact and a few other things a bit off, but they knew why from the teacher. To them, I was actually a very interesting person to be with. I had a whole different point of view and that I was just someone somebody would want to hang around with. I don't really understand that well myself.
You know, I'm actually really happy to know I have Asperger's Syndrome. All this time, thanks to the people who don't understand and ostracise me as a result, I really thought that I was crazy and I felt really lonely. Sure, I had the support of good family and teachers, but let's just say I had a really bad childhood. Even today, there are still such people in the classroom. The better thing is that in Secondary School, only the first two years were a repitition of the past. In Secondary Three and Four, I had more real friends and people to relate to. I had such people in Primary School, but there were only 1 or 2 people who had other friends to tend to. This later part of my life has been the best part of it so far. Anyways, I really want those around me to understand that there is a reason for my difference, but everyone has a different opinion, right? I can never run away from being bullied, but I can have friends to support me.
To tell the truth, I had known about this website around the same time I started that English Tuition I was talking about earlier. I really wanted to join, but I had this nagging feeling about all the possible cyber bullying I would receive. Then, I read the articles, discussions, all that, which finally brought me into joining today.
I look forward to getting along with everyone here!
24 Aug 2011, 7:17 am
