How long has it been......?

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Merle, that's very much how it was for me.

Luckily, it shows your area, so people can understand. Still, you are certainly understandable.

NOW, if I could really understand the idea of body language. I read books on body language, and most seem to be garbage. OTHERS agree with ME by what some of their "language" means. Maybe someone can describe some body language signal they didn't know, that seems to be true.

I figured out I was on the spectrum 30 years ago but wasn't diagnosed until 11 years ago. All it's done is make it easier for me to qualify for welfare. Other than that the diagnosis hasn't really helped me any, but perhaps support will emerge that doesn't exist yet.

I'm really glad to hear things are going so well for you, Scoots5012, and that the diagnosis has made such a difference. I hope that there are a lot more stories like that.

I thought that you and I were very similar, GreenTea. We are both amazed at the wisdom we have gathered through the years.

Merle

I found out in July 2006, to be exact. Unfortunately, I don't have the date or time. I got my official diagnosis last August but ever since my parents told me that they thought I had AS, there was no doubt whatsoever.

From an early age, I knew that I was different. I had different interests to all my classmates, I was never part of a large friendship group and when I was very young, though it's hard to believe it now, I gave my teacher hell. She didn't understand me; I didn't understand her. We were on a different planet.

When I reached my teens, the differences still showed, and I realised that I was just a different person from all my peers. However hard I tried, I could not be interested in the things that I 'should have been' interested in. My social skills were still appalling, and I got through school without ever making a close friendship.

Finding out about AS in '06 was a huge shock at first. It was liberating to know that there was a reason for much of what had happened in my life, but it was also scary. It has honestly taken me all of two years to properly come to terms with it. But I'm glad I got my diagnosis. I feel I can get on with my life, knowing both my strengths and my limitations.