Introducing myself from Belgium

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Hi all,

I'm 46 and a father of an almost seven year old son. About four years ago my son was diagnosed with Asperger's. I had never heard of it, but when I started reading about it was like reading the story of my life. It was an epiphany, like all the pieces of a puzzle that had been floating around in a confusing jumble suddenly fell into place and revealed a coherent picture. It was a revelation to learn that there was actually a reason why I have always been the loner and the odd one out, why I have no friends, and why I think parties are exhaustingly hard work - to name just a few things.

Although I have not been officially diagnosed (an not planning on getting one), from what I learned about Asperger's it is plain to me that I am somewhere on the spectrum. My ex-wife (and mother of my son) also says she now understands me a lot better, and can place much of my behaviour that had confused her while we were still married. And I myself came to see a lot of my father's behavior in a totally different light. It seems like it has been running in the family for at least three generations.

I've never had the urge to join any forums (except when I needed some kind of information), but when I found the Wrong Planet, I knew I was already an member anyway, so I might as well join in If it last as long as my friendships, you won't hear very much of me

Hi, welcome. I live north from you in the Netherlands. I can understand you don't need a diagnosis, since for people your age there is little help out there anyway and you seem to function pretty well. Hope you like it here.

Welkome to WP!

Mick

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hello there. Welcome to WP.

I've been wanting to visit Belgium for quite some time.

Welcome. I'm 44, and a father, too.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone

@ChangelingGirl: Indeed, I don't think a diagnosis would change very much for me. Not anymore at least. Maybe if I had been diagnosed at a young age I wouldn't have tried so hard (what's the english word for “krampachtig”?) to fit in and perhaps then I wouldn't have felt so bad about constantly failing to fit in. Might have saved me a lot of frustration. And perhaps it might have saved my marriage too, because there would have been a known cause for the many many many misunderstandings between my ex-wife and myself. Oh well...

At least here I can find some likeminded people who understand the situation. It feels liberating to find a forum where a topic like “are you a loner too” is not met with ridicule