Hi! I'm new here and new to Aspergers :)

Post Reply New Topic

Hi my name is Kelly and I am new to this site. I'm 34 years old and I'm a professional photographer. I recently discovered Aspergers. I had heard of it before and when searching some peculiar behaviors in my new boyfriend Asperger Syndrome kept coming up. It was a good match for a lot of the traits he was exhibiting but the more I read, the more I found myself identifying with the characteristics of Aspergers. I narrowed my research to adults and more specifically undiagnosed adult females and found overwhelming evidence that what I have been dealing with my entire life was Asperger's Syndrome. I found myself simultaneously excited, angry, and eager to get confirmation from a professional. I am now in the process of a professional evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorders which I am pursuing completely by myself. I have not told anyone about my discoveries for fear that they won't believe me or brush it off as me being dramatic. My family thinks my problems are caused entirely by me consciously making bad choices and would never be willing to accept that I have a real neurological problem causing my behavior. I feel so alone and would love to find someone to talk with about everything!

Hey Kelly welcome.

Welcome Kelly!

Good for you for getting a diagnosis... I was diagnosed at 40, and it was a relief to finally understand what I'd been dealing with my whole life, but never knew!

My family reacted in various different ways. It was no secret that I'd been epically dysfunctional my entire life, so most of them weren't too surprised (though some still feel uncomfortable and 'politely ignore' the issue!)

My one friend preferred to believe that I'm just socially inept for no good reason, and just trying to be a special snowflake with my 'trendy' autism diagnosis. Needless to say, we're no longer friends... You can't win with some people, but at least you're in good company here!

Hope the rest of the diagnosis process goes well - keep us updated!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome, there are plenty of folks on here to talk to (and to have your questions answered by).

Good luck with your diagnoses ... if anything, for me, being diagnosed gave me a sense of relief .. now I actually know that I'm not alone, and that I'm not weirder than everybody else on earth XD

-Ben

Hi kellycat and welcome to wrongplanet.net i hope your relationship with your boyfriend is going well and just because males are more likely to be diagnosed, that doesn't mean that females like you can't be in the same boat, I hope everything goes well and you find yourself on this journey into autism (i've been diagnosed for a little over 20 YEARS so you are NOT alone!)

I'm also new here, and it still feels kind of surreal. It's amazing having people to relate to, I always knew I had some kind of difference, I just thought I was weird and overly girly for most of my life, and I tried to hide that part of me for most of my school life and beyond. Being diagnosed with AS was a completely positive experience once I really started to let it sink in. It felt like it was a sort of way of explaining who I am, without just saying I'm odd.