Hi from California

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Hi from California,

My name is Dave, I am 20 years old. I may or may not have Aspergers, though I am leaning heavily towards 'I may'. Why? How can someone self diagnose themselves so? Well, just reading the symptoms strike me as being "me" as much as reading a personal profile of yourself, as if the symptoms were written to describe me by me.

I have been diagnosed with ADD, though I doubted my affliction with it to the highest degree. When I was younger, I was told I'm like "from another planet", and even today my friends say I'm a little off. A doctor who specialized in children born premature when I was a baby was amazed at my cognitive abilities, but made a remark to the effect of "This child may either be a genius or a ret*d". Maybe thats what Aspergers entails; retardation in certain aspects, but genius in others. Maybe, but is that bad? I began to accept that my personality just must be a very odd one; I'm sort of an alien among homo sapiens, destined to be "just a little different" (though, we all know people perceive that small difference as astronomical).

Maybe I should go back to where I first heard of this "disease" (I like to think of it as an advantage if I do in fact have it, though, it would mean its lead to high amounts of isolation through out my life). I was reading the book "Dreaming in Code" where It describes it as very common among computer programmers (which I am currently studying and enjoying). The book describes it as almost a superhuman trait. ."Some observers of the programming tribe have suggested that in order to commune more closely with the machines they must instruct, many programmers have cut themselves off from aspects of their humanity. But the Asperger's/autism parallel suggests that, more likely, those programmers were themselves already programmed to hear machine frequencies as well as or better than human wavelengths." Interestingly, I was always the child who stayed inside to play with computers, ever since the age of 3 when me and my venerable Tandy were inseperateable.

Well, thats about it for the first post. Ill elucidate more at a later date, but for now I feel this is sufficient.

Last edited by Kalister1 on 09 Sep 2007, 12:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Welcome! I'm from California too. I'm sure people here will be pleasant, and can help you figure out some things. Though technically it isn't a disease but a neurological difference.

Hiiii. and I'd like to add, not all aspies isolate themselves from others. Because we have trouble with social interaction, some of us do tend to shy away from other people. msotly because of bad experiences.

also, if you didn't already do that, why would you do it now that you believe you are an aspie? or did I read wrong?

anyway, welcome! Nice post.

Welcome! We're very glad to have you. I know I see echoes of myself and many others, in your tale. Looking forward to seeing you around!

Didn't do what? Can you expand on that question?

I was mostly a loner when I was a kid because the computer was much more interesting then people. I'm not sure why, my memories are not very salient from that point of my life. I remember constructing huge fantasy worlds with ninja turtles and other toys and the other children always ruining it with their horrible imaginations. I actually made a kid cry when In 4th grade I appended an epic fantasy tale to his story, and he could not pronounce the words or understand the storyline (I especially felt like an alien there; maybe my story was just too "out there" I thought.) Escapism seemed to be the only thing I knew.

I tend to be quite shy now, mostly because I feel like I'm very different from most people. Most people have a glazed over look when I talk, and just seem to want to discuss the latest TV shows and other boring topics. I feel really quite odd around most people actually, like their actively reading my mind. I know that they can't, but I just can't shake the feeling. The bad experiences Ive had lately have mostly been me "not getting people" or them "not getting me", though I really can't understand WHY. Its led me to investigate this website and its a trove of information.

Yo

Hi Dave, welcome to WP!
I'm 25 and from Denmark. My journey into AS started just months ago with mostly the same suspicions as yours.


What a cool book! I feel like I'm already dreaming in code, but I will definitely read this book anyway On their website it says the book is about the developers of Chandler, the open-source Outlook alternative? I heard about Chandler for the first time some months ago, at a Python conference, around the same time I started getting to terms with my AS. Chandler looked quite promising as a software project.

Have fun here, I'm sure you'll meet many like-minded people.
Best wishes,
xanadu

Welcome to WrongPlanet

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Hi! Welcome!

G'day Davo.

Hi Wow, everyones really welcoming here.

Welcome to WP! I'm 42 years old and from California, from Santa Maria on the Central Coast.

Welcome to WP

Welcome to WP.

Complex programming does require that you stay focused and alone for long periods of time.

I studied computing myself, but I sucked at programming because it wasn't really my thing in the end. I didn't get very far in it.

I hate getting started , but once I get into it I cant stop! Then a bug pops up and I'm like "you dare challenge me buggy" and I then I stomp its brains out.

I imagine I'm quite like this dinosaur from the comics. Bugs are helpless to my green, clawed onslaught. I will name myself stompasaurus, bug eliminator.





I also read Wikipedia and watch videos while doing it, so I'm doing 3 things or more at once. Not by a deliberate choice really, it just evolves into that. I think of something I want to read about, then bam, Wikipedia to the rescue! Then back to programming, then bam, wiki again while I think about the bug I cant find.

I am a big Wikipedia fan, too.

Tim