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Where to start? I've never really "got" people I find it difficult to make small talk and while I can remember body language in a broad context I can never really put it together beyond the most obvious interpretations. I'm approaching 30 now and yet I've never really had any real friends or relationships. I've gotten to know people who've shared my interests but I've never been able to hold a conversation about anything else. I've always thought about this as just who I am; I've never been able to change it and while I always knew there was something odd about me I never really suspected it was anything other than who I was.

When I heard about Asperger Syndrome a lot of it seemed to fit, beyond my difficulties with conversation and body language there were a lot of things that rang true. The forced eye contact, unusually rapid speech, the way I would always jump to the literal interpretation of speech first, the peculiarly narrow fascinations. Most of the other symptoms were things that could fit but I'd never really thought about, such as nervous twitches, poor handwriting and occasional ungainliness.

There were a few areas that didn't seem to fit so well, if anything I've always had a particularly active sense of humour, I don't tend to say much of anything in conversation for fear of boring whoever I'm speaking to (especially since I have no real way of telling whether this is happening or not.)

Most recently I took the Aspie quiz and it said I was very likely an Aspie. I'm not sure what to make of this, on the one hand it would be reassuring to know there's a reason why I am the way I am and it would be helpful if I could make people understand that I am trying. On the other hand I'm worried people might be dismissive if I tell them about it, especially without an official diagnosis.

Or to put it another way, "Hello".

Welcome to WP!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome! Many of us are in the same boat, myself included. In my case, I'm pretty sure my parents knew about it, but didn't tell me growing up (I manifested symptoms extremely early -- in fact, I could barely function for years!). This might have been true for you too. I had to confront my mother about it and get the, "Yep, kid. That's what you've got. Now, what are you going to do about it?" response (word-for-word) to get an idea that this isn't new information. If you say psychologists when you were growing up, there might be a history.

Hi Rack,

welcome to WP.

No person has every sign/symptom of AS. Everyone with it is different, just like everyone without it is different...so just because you don't have ALL of the symptoms it doesn't mean that you don't have it...and just because you have the symptoms that you have, it doesn't mean that you do have it. My point being, is that it is a spectrum...and you could be anywhere on it.
If you want to find out if you could have it...ask your parents about your childhood. Hearing about what you were like in those days will give you more of an insight into your situation.
I hope you enjoy posting here.

Nice to meet you, Rack.

sometimes, one answer is to just be a good listener.. if you act interested, and ask a simple clarifying question, nod, smile, etc., you can get them to carry most of the conversation...

welcome to our world...

Welcome,

Don't worry about not displaying all the signs;

Some are NT Myths
Some take a lot of interpretation
and some, well it's just that NTs don't get it.

Sense of humor is a good one, lots of NTs miss my jokes but aspies get them.

welcome

This is great advice. Not only do people love to be listened to, it takes the pressure off of us to perform. It's a win-win!

Welcome to wrong planet! You seem like an ok guy, despite your difficulties. Learning to survive in the real world is important, so developing conversation skills is important. Of course, you will get lots of tips here on how to improve your social skills. As for humour, aspies tend to have a unique spin on humour, in the way they see the world, so being funny is not abnormal for anyone, including aspies.

Welcome Reminds me a lot of what I first wrote.

Hello to you too Rack and welcome to WrongPlanet

That is pure gold, I couldn't tell you how many awkward situations that one has got me out of. I never know what to do from there so a lot of my conversations end up being single threaded, I really need to meet with ramblers to get any more.

I'm meeting with my parents this weekend but I'm not quite sure what I should ask them about. It's not something I can really grasp, AS doesn't seem to be a binary issue yet it seems to be widely considered as such.

Anyway thanks for listening, thanks for the advice and thanks for welcoming me. Wherever I fit into this it's nice to be able to chat with people who have similar experiences.

Hi!

Welcome to Wrongplanet!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

To WrongPlanet!! !