Hello, new member, not sure if aspie or not

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Erm, hello,

I am a 23/m graduate student in chemical engineering in Florida. I hope my post is not too long winded. Though I suppose people (putatively) with Asperger's are prone to droning

I have heard of "Asperger's syndrome" for some time, but never bothered to read up on it because I heard it was merely an offshoot of autism, which has nothing to do with me. However, I decided to read up on the subject, and was amazed at how many of the "symptoms" were autobiographical.

Self-diagnoses of mental conditions tend to be highly speculative, so I very well may be incorrect. I am not compelled to seek out an official diagnosis because it would probably cost money, and also since the main negative consequences of the disorder have lessened. I found a link on this forum that led to a self-test (the forum won't let me post it here because it thinks I am a spammer).
My scores were: AQ = 28
EQ = 19
FQ = 60
SQ = 43

I want to make it clear that I am not writing this for false reasons, as I have observed many people labeling themselves as aspie in order to attain a sense of belonging (this type of behavior is similar to the emo subculture.) Nonetheless, I feel very akin to what these people feel and the symptoms they have. I only write this post with the utmost sincerity, and in good faith.

I'll give an abridged history of myself, which may clarify why I have come to this place:

Outside of the elementary level, I used to do mediocre in school. I even got a C in algebra I. To alleviate boredom, I would usually sleep, criticize the teacher, or joke around. Teachers would say I was lazy and obnoxious. When I was in elementary school, I was a fairly tall, broad fellow, so I was not subject to much teasing. In fact, I actually made quite a few good friends in elementary school that I am friends with to this very day.

In junior high however, things became quite dreary. Other kids were much larger than me (as a consequence of being retained in their grade level two or three times), and a daily encounter with bullying was guaranteed. One fellow in particular seemed to have it in for me, and he would go to great lengths to make life difficult. I never spoke to girls in middle school.

High school was more of the same, though far better than middle school. This was mainly due to being reunited with some of the friends I made in elementary school, and the filtering out of the ruffians from junior high. I was still bored, and would rather just have been at home in my own little world, reading stuff on the internet and playing Starcraft. Things became much different however when on a dare, I signed up for AP chemistry, a decision which has had a great impact upon my life.

This course was quite unlike and previous one, where the conclusions were always obvious from the suppositions, and the only the real crux was the production of volumes of busy work or meaningless arithmetic. Here the result was not obvious from the question, and the answer required a great amount of study and initiative to obtain. I never had to study before in school before to get by. I began to see that I truly was good at something that many were not. Where other, more "normal" students had failed, I was succeeding. I now I felt I had a reason to go to school, and my grades improved dramatically.

I have been studying chemical engineering now for the past 4 1/2 years, and it is quite fun. Now I'm a graduate student. There is a great thought similarity between my friends here at college and myself. Life in general has become better from where I was before.

Again, hello! Hope to be able and learn insight from kindred spirits.

Welcome to WP!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Hi, welcome.
You seem to have a few traits. I was mediocre in school too. I got labeled with being slow and lazy though.
You seem to have done pretty well for yourself to even need a diagnosis, especially if you've got good social skills. I'm a little jealous, haha. But it's okay. I accept myself for who I am now.
You sound like a very intelligent person, so I'm looking forward to reading some of your posts.

Nice to meet you, clustro.

Welcome to Wp

Welcome aboard Wrong Planet, clustro.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

hi there. The thing is, I was unhappy with a self-diagnosis and felt compelled to find professional help, especially because I was struggling in school and at home. I had some very specific sensory issues all of my life (with sound and light) etc. You may or may not be a person with Asperger's syndrome. If you find that you do, frankly, the prognosis is the same. I have issues along side it, like depression and some learning disabilities that have become a problem, especially since I have decided to return to school. For me, winding up with a diagnosis of Autism was scary, mainly because I am 30 years old and there really isn't a drug that treats it. I grew up in America, here we think drugs treat everything, we're idiots! I know there are many people on wrong planet that profess to have super human powers (sarcasm) but I have not yet found myself to be at any real level of acceptance. Autism seems to have the ability to allow me to hyper-focus on my favorite subject but it also has kept me from eating for days because of that. It's made me sick! It seems like an actual process to deal with a rather complicated set of symptoms. I don't hate the way my brain works, it's all I know, but it certainly has caused me some some problems with over stimulation.

I am only able to speak for myself but I hope by doing so that I may have cleared up some stuff for you. Keep an open mind and Its a process of finding out more and more.

welcome. I'm new to this too

Welcome