My dad did all sorts of things to tell myself and others that 'I didn't have aspergers'. He went to the point that if the diagnosis was even mentioned he would force me to change professionals immediately. All because he thought I had CAP-D/ADHD instead. In fact, if he was to catch me on this site, he'd probably threaten to disown me.
Problem was, the diagnosis for CAP-D wasn't very severe and the no sane person would diagnose me with ADHD.
Due to social stigma I got when I simply described myself as such, I tried desperately to find other diagnosis and clung to what the psychiatrists said. I went through periods calling myself 'Bipolar', 'schizo-effective' and 'schizotypical personality disorder'. These diagnosis were handed out within one visit.
This ended in me being on loads of anti-psychotic medication. It's best not to live in denial, because the only way to get better is acceptance.
In my case, a school system and an extremely well-respected psychologist along with another professional had reaffirmed the diagnosis. The CAP-D diagnosis also reguraly gets laughed at when presented to anyone who works in the field. Even with my father, who is in the bottom %1 of CAP-D.
So, own up to the problem, because some people will be understanding and look out for you even if they think this is some sort of twisted grab for attention. Mention it when it needs to be mentioned. When you move on to college, students will be understanding to you. Heck, you may even find yourself a couple of admirers if you are nice/polite to others! It's not impossible to be considerate, you can be considerate in different ways. There are people who will look after you, you just need to find them.
12 Dec 2010, 3:15 am
