When I was kid I went through one kind of psychiatric/psychological evaluation after another.
People thought I was ret*d because I wasn't speaking at an age when most kids can make
full sentences, there was talk of having me placed in an institution such as Willowbrook.
Eventually I learned to speak and I developed most of the necessary skills for living.
foreignwoman wrote:
Hello! I also thought I was weird, not in touch with my feelings, frustrated about not being able to connect to people and not knowing why, was called a freak as well at times, and rather hurt by that :-), didn't think of myself as shy but others did so things just didn't add up :-) Now luckily they do, for me at least. In the workplace people are also a bit mystified, still saying I'm not a good communicator but at least I'm an effective communicator (so I still don't see what the problem is :-) ) But anyway, the struggle to be accepted continues, it just doesn't drain me so much anymore.
I was described as "ret*d", "Brain damaged", or just "different" by many people when I was growing up.
I was always acting silly or "shutting down", I had (and still have) bad motor coordination, stereotypical
motor habits, emotional and mental "meltdowns", and many sensory issues and other co-morbidities,
(ie: tactile hypersensitivity, migraines and bowel problems). Yet I learned to read before the other
students. I excelled in taking math and science exams, but slow in everything else. I was constantly
bullied by classmates. I survived, I graduated high school, learned a trade, got a job, but I was always
the Outsider looking in. I first learned about Asperger Syndrome, and "Higher Functioning" Autism
through various science journals, through WikiPedia I found out about WrongPlanet.
After forty something years I found a home.
By the way Foreignwoman, acceptance among the "normals" and "Neuro-Typicals" is overrated.
"WrongPlanet" is the "Right Address". Welcome!
28 Jul 2007, 2:36 pm
