Who here has "high functioning autism?"

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What I've seen here in my opinion is that most people on this thread have aspergers, but i really haven't heard of anybody, or seen anybody (so far) on wrongplanet that has high functioning autism. If you do, here are some questions.

Before you knew you were autistic, did you feel there was nothing wrong with you, and were not aware of being different? As opposed to people with aspergers (what I've heard) who knew that they were different at a very young age?

When you found out that you had high functioning autism, did the news devastate you a bit and did it take you awhile to figure out that you it was alright with you having autism, and you were different than other people?

At least this is what i went through when i was young.

As far as I can gather, High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome are the same thing in practical terms. The only difference between the two in a diagnostic sense is the age at which one started to speak in infancy. For people diagnosed in adulthood or even late adolescence, this piece of information could be misremembered by parents, wilfully misrepresented by them (if, for instance, they are determined not to admit that anything is wrong) or just plain forgotten.

My diagnosis says that I have Asperger's Syndrome, but if I have to tell someone about it, I tell them that I have High-Functioning Autism because I find that more people know what that means, and therefore I don't need to launch into long, floundering accounts of how my condition affects me.

In fact, I think there's even talk of dispensing entirely with the notion of Asperger's Syndrome, and simply referring to all cases as 'Autism' instead. There was a thread about it somewhere, but I can't find it.

Kind of like Poppycocteau has said, I am not sure AS and HFA are clearly separate and distinguishable in every case.

Coming from the kind of background and upbringing I had, I thought I must have been born into some kind of special group.


Looking back from a few years later, I labeled myself "insecure" ... but I still had no idea I was actually "different" than most other people I knew.


I knew I had begun looking for someone (or even "anyone"?) like me at age 5, but I had no idea why.


Whatever I have, I am now glad to at least know there is an explanation for many things otherwise making no sense.

AS/HFA or no AS/HFA, some people are more self-aware than others and some take longer to get there.

In adults, the distinction between Asperger's and HFA is very blurry.



I have ALWAYS felt different even when no name was assigned to those differences.




As I lack a professional diagnosis, I suppose I can't say for sure. But I've been on a roller coaster for a long long time and discovering the autism spectrum feels like the end of the ride.

I am quite OK with my oddness. But a lot of people are not. That's their loss as far as I'm concerned.

That's my offical diagnoses, as in the actal words that are written on papper. My shirnk says HFA and AS are basicaly the same thing and I agree with him. I didn't speak until I was four or so and in order to qualify for AS, one must not have a speech delay supposedly.

I always wonder about the differences, because I have two sons ten years apart, and the oldest I would give the "Asperger's" label, if I absolutely had to, because there was no speech delay, and he was always a little professor, and has had very special interests, but did quite well in school. We only found out about him, though, when we were going through my younger son's diagnosis of high-functioning autism at age five.

Our younger son is fairly different from my other son. He has slower processing skills, which affects his abilities in school. He does well, not quite as well as his brother (yet), but it is MUCH harder for my younger son to get through school. He has other situations, though, where he has had an easier time than my older son -- he loves people, loves to socialize (although he has problems in that arena), and is just an easier kid. We probably could have gone for a long time without telling him about his diagnosis, and he hasn't seen it as a very big deal. He had no speech delay, and yet, he stopped acquiring more words at age three -- just kind of stalled verbally, for a while. He has grown out of special interests, which is kind of good, BUT he also doesn't have an interest in much of anything, which makes it hard to steer him toward a career. He is awfully young though (14) so we have lots of time for him to figure out what he wants to do. It's just different, because one of my older son's special interests became his career -- but even he didn't discover this until he was 18.

I don't think that my younger son thought there was much that was wrong with him before he learned of his diagnosis. Even now, I think he is highly aware of the advantages of being on the spectrum. I think my older son may have felt that socializing was problematic, but as he matured he figured out to cope, and he has ended up doing fairly well socially as he has aged.

I've asked for an autie roll-call on this forum because I had a specific question for people not diagnosed with AS, and people have responded. So even though the line is blurred--which is why the AS label is disappearing altogether--there are members who consider themselves autie rather than aspie.

I was diagnosed with PDD at 18 months but now am considered HFA, so I've known I was autistic for pretty much as long as I could grasp the concept of being disabled. I did go through a long phase of "wanting to be normal" when I was younger but ever since I was at least 16-17 have been glad that I'm NOT normal for a number of reasons .

I was diagnosed with HFA at the age of 5. I didn't speak until I was 4.

There is a good thread on this site about this topic that I found to be very interesting. See the following link:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt136894.html

Quite so.

Isn't the difference between HFA and AS that there is a speech delay in HFA but not with Aspergers?

When I was diagnosed as an adult, I was told that I could have HFA as opposed to AS, but that AS and HFA were virtually the same thing (except for speech). I was given the option for more extensive testing, but it was deemed unnecessary. My official diagnosis is listed as AS. I have tape recordings of my speech as a young child, and different "experts" have considered my speech as "very typical of Asperger children." I was told that my speech as a child could be considered (depending upon interpretation of the diagnostic criteria) as delayed since I had trouble with pronouncing certain sounds. But I spoke on time---just with some differences.

During my early childhood, I think I felt like I was like everyone else. As I got older (high school) I began realizing I was different. I just didn't know why. I began noticing just how driven I was by special intense interests (roller coasters and music for example), and how I preferred not being amongst my peers---except for my best friend. When I was in college I was really aware that I was different. I thought I must be the only person in the world like me. I was not familiar enough with autism to see what it was and how it fit me. So to answer your question in another way here---at a very young age, I didn't know I was different---that would come later.

Although my diagnosis is AS, I will still answer your next question about how I felt upon receiving my diagnosis (since AS is a part of the autism spectrum). I was an adult, and upon hearing what I expected with the diagnosis (because I think many of us know we have autism before the official diagnosis) I celebrated. I celebrated because I was not alone. I belonged to a group of people that had similarities to me. My life was now making sense for the first time since I was aware of just how different I was. I researched AS and began allowing its strengths in my life to work for me. I adopted a motto, "My journey has just begun," to signify a new start in my life---a realization of discovery. I don't worry about my eccentricities in socialization, sensory, etc. I just try to focus on the positives and live my life to the fullest that I can. I am having fun. And I do not keep my AS a secret.

I am a HFA. I was diagnosed during the mid 1990s. When I later asked about it, I took it well. Today, I am proud to be a High-Functioning Autistic!

Last edited by KyleTheGhost on 19 Oct 2010, 10:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have used both terms to describe my diagnosis, but I usually say High Functioning Autism. The reason is that fewer people are familiar with Asperger's, and in fact that name in itself can cause misdirected laughter. Autism is a known condition, so it requires less explaining.

Charles

Thank you for the responses guys.

In my humble opinion I don't think HFA and AS syndrome are the same, at least that's what i think.

I also feel quite different than other people and i feel I develop slower than other people, what I mean by that is that the friends that I had in high school ( which I had many and had a great high school expirience) have all gone to college, graduated, got married and have kids. This makes me feel a little underdeveloped and makes me feel like I am behind in life, even thought I don't want to get married and have kids. I am going to school and I want to find a career to pursuit, but I have very very little interests, which hinders my ability to find a career a bit. That's why sometimes i really don't like having high functioning autism sometimes, even thought I have had a wonderful life. Does anybody else have this feeling?