How would you describe Aspergers in your own words?

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I would explain it this way.........imagine being one of those characters in fairy tales who are told not to put a particular ointment on their eyes, they do so anyhow, and are able to see/hear things which are not obvious to other people.

I just say I have autism and wait for them to ask the questions.

Make them watch this movie and just tell them it feels like you're in a strange culture and everyone just acts weird.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LV0ondJXMs[/youtube]

No matter how you explain it to them they will never really understand any more than you understand what it's like being NT.

I would give examples to be sure the other person understands, it wouldn't be a short summary though:

"Asperger's Syndrome has many sides. For one, there are the emotions.
It's like being mostly emotionally dead on the outside but having a living rich inside full of emotions. Do not call me cold or I will be deeply hurt, even if I won't express it properly.

And then there is your social life:
It is usually quite limited. I am not a person who recharges batteries by doing social things, I recharge them by spending some time alone. This doesn't exclude the need to deal with humans though, even when you have Asperger's you usually would not want to be 100% isolated from society (otherwise I wouldn't even communicate on this forum ) and be left alone all by yourself.

And my perception of the world differs:
I will not pick up on social cues, I might not look you in the eyes and I won't always comment what you say because I usually don't know when the right time is to, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to you.

I also have certain quirks that you might not understand:
I will relax myself by rocking forth and back or by tapping with my foot, I will rotate a pen with my fingers or things alike. I need to do so and sometimes I am not even aware I am doing so, please don't feel annoyed by them.
I will react different to touches, noises, certain tastes, bright light or things alike, my senses are more sensitive, I will perceive things which you maybe don't perceive, I have an eye for details, I hear silent sounds, I feel every touch, I feel my clothes, I might dislike the consistency of certain foods, I will dislike the feeling of certain materials and the feeling of certain clothes and if there is too much input, I might be inable to respond because I would be overstrained, I would "flee" or become "angry" (I doubt they would understand it in another way of explaining it).
I do not like changes and it takes me a long time to get used to them, so please, don't force a change upon me.

And I have an obsession with a certain topic:
I will spend lots of time with that topic, most of my spare-time, if not all of it. Please let me know, if I am talking way too much about it but you are not interested or not interested anymore, I can hardly know how you feel in a conversation because I mainly focus on what is being said.

I am different because I am neurologically different, but do not expect everybody with Asperger's Syndrome to be the same. It is part of the autism spectrum and just like the spectrum of colours, there are many shades of one colour."

I would just say it's a mild form of autism that makes some types of socialising difficult, like making small talk, knowing what to say in particular situations, understanding sarcasm and reading other peoples' emotions. I'd mention the special interests and general cognitive tradeoffs and hope they got the picture. I've never had to explain Asperger's to someone who had never heard of it before, so I have no idea how well it would work.

I think saying you have a mild form of autism works best. Saying that you have autism and function well works also.

I am not sure I like saying High functioning autism because then people will think of rain man who also had mental retardation along with his autism...so no I don't want that comparison..

I don't like saying Asperger's for obvious reasons.

because of the very nice change to the terminology it's also time to start saying I have a autism spectrum disorder (asd) level 1 could be added on but you would have to explain.

same point I just made on another topic, but its like being 2,22 and 44 years old all at once. thats the short verson with no fancy terms people may understand.

To people who ask, I would usually say "you can call it a mild form of autism. Cognitively, it ranges from exceptional intellect to significant learning disabilities. There are problems socializing, interpreting social cues and fitting into their peer group. There are obsessive patterns of thinking, anxiety an interests that other people do not share. People with Asperger's often are sensitive to loud noise, bright light or certain textures. But remember, no two people with Asperger's are alike".