You young people are truly lucky in this autistic age

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Same age, and me too. I grew up constantly being told I was weird, clumsy, a daydreamer, obsessive, too serious, not 'feminine' enough...the impression I had all along was that they knew something was up with me, but either weren't telling me or didn't know what it was themselves. In fact, I remember a meeting between my mother and the school, when I was about 6, about precisely what was up with me. In the end I got pronounced 'just naughty' and dumped in remedial, which was the kiss of death because if you'd ever been in remedial you were a total pariah, and that reputation followed me up through the school system. My guess is either a) most likely, at the time, nobody knew what it was, or b) even if they suspected something was wrong, they'd rather take their chances on assuming it was something they could just discipline out of me because it was easier for them.

I think, too, that while autistic males are way more likely to get an early diagnosis now, the situation for females still has some way to go. It's been discussed elsewhere so I won't go into it here, but I do think it presents slightly differently, and we're maybe where the boys were five to ten years ago on that count. And let's not even talk about how far behind the UK is in recognizing that there are undiagnosed AS adults around.

Welcome to the board, AnAutisticMind. Hope you like it here.

Well I'm considerably younger than you (not saying your old), but I still had the whole 'tapped in the dark' thing throughout my whole childhood.

There was no knowledge of AS/HFA, lots of ignorance, no support and even adults, especially teachers literally out to put me down for being 'ret*d'.

And it ALL depends on your performance in school these days.

Back when I was a kid with my early difficulties in reading/writing, and once they gave me an IQ test and it came back as "high", I was immediately dismissed as of the stubborn make who didn't want to do it (they call them "gifted" today); in reality, my mother said I tried very hard, I just couldn't grasp it like the other kids. I did eventually. I then did very well in primary school, as I was always good at math; even when I couldn't read/write, I still did well in math. Then, when I had problems in the later parts of high school, it was too late; no one wanted to help the near-man who didn't talk to anyone, even after my mother enquired many times with the teachers and staff (I can't help myself in regards to asking for things).

hi rand, there is always hope and never stop believing in yourself............there was a reason you put here..........you may not know it now, but your quest to find it will be so rewarding when you get there

hi richard, we all are lucky to have been given the honor to be here.we have to make the most of it.............AUTISTICS ROCK!! !!, lol

AnAutisticMind,
am always consider self to be lucky being here now,instead of many years ago,for am it would have made all the difference between being put in an oldskool mental institution-becoming a lot worse and not being taught to strengthen as many skills as possible,to being put in the modern LD/DD institution am was put in.

Am have lived with various prof/autistic adults,who were not even schooled in any form back in their day,and were either put into oldskool institutions or hidden out of sight by their families as people saw it as a bad thing having a disabled child back then,some are completely unable to learn sign or communicate in any other form other than challenging behavior because they were left completely unstimulated throughout their whole life and treated as complete incapable of anything.
Am do feel very lucky being from the eighties.

It isn't so easy to just group all females,or all males as presenting in one specific way,as Auties have no functional differences in gender,and females on the severe end of AS are no less obvious,less destructive or more able than male Aspies.
Perhaps with milder aspies,the functional differences become more noticible in gender.

This is one of those things we can't really judge.
I'm 50 and went through a lot of hell because my mind is wired different than other people. But is it better today? It seems to me that now AS is OVER Dx'd. Every kid with any behavior problem gets a DX.
Also a DX doesn't mean the person will take the time and effort to change and grow.
As I read through the responses in this thread I see some are stuck to the pity-pot.

I'm jealous of people five-ten years younger than me just because...

When I was in elementary school, people didn't know AS existed. Consequently, it wasn't even possible for me to be diagnosed.

So yeah. Young people are lucky. I know a lot of little kids diagnosed with AS and I think "Lucky, lucky, lucky"

Because the thing is... they'd have it anyway, but at least they know.

I'm also an older Aspie. When I was growing up, HF ASDs and mild learning disorders "didn't exist" for most people. It was just "attitude" and "discipline" problems, and "going through a phase" (amazing how so many people with actual neurological disorders and non-mainstream lifestyle choices have always been just "going through a phase"). My parents believed that any "attitude" and "discipline" problems could be cured with a good solid beating.

There are a lot of resources out there for ASDs and other developmental/learning disorders, and in many ways it's much easier for younger people now. I only found about this stuff less than a decade ago; but better late than never, I say. But at the same time, there's still a lot of the same crap that I grew up with out there too. Still a lot of kids with "attitude problems" getting beaten instead diagnosed and educated.

Yeah I know sorta. One day I will no.

AnAutisticMind - thanks for helping us; being Autistic can be hard. I don't usually, but a Wrong Planet friend/inhabitant, nightbender, is having a really tough time right now: http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... &p=2181808

Others have been responding and hopefully he'll be feeling better soon; might you post on his thread? I think just writing, sharing what you told us, would help him recover.

Oh, check out my video clip - URL below! Hope you like......thank you, AnAutisticMind.

AnAutisticMind-

Your story sounds familiar to me, though I am in my 30's. I was recently diagnosed, but I think I am generally a mild aspergers (so take what I say with a grain of salt). I have thought about the question of having support when I was younger and how it might have changed things for me. In my case, I grew up in New York City, ended up in one of the country's top high schools, and was actually the brooding aloof guy all the girls wanted to meet (little did they know I was really very shy). I watched this vampire movie called Twilight, and I think I was somewhat like the vampire protagonist, without actually being a vampire .

In any case, prior to being in a gifted high school, my social life was pretty tough. And, actually I found college to be socially tougher than high school.

With me, even though I suspected there was something very oddly different about me, I didn't really accept it, so I fought through the difficulties with the goal of success on my mind. This is where I wonder if diagnosis can be a double edged sword. Although I am very happy that I have now been diagnosed and can adjust my thinking about myself and the way I function, if I were diagnosed earlier, I wonder if I would have gained my toughness. I say this being fully aware that my anxiety at times has been unbearably acute, and my social difficulties extremely disheartening.

I think in my case, because of who I am and becuase I was in impersonal-show-me-what-you-got NYC, it more or less worked out okay. Now I am in Portland, OR, and am having much more difficulty; I think becuase people are more superficially social. I feel like, if I grew up here, I would have less opportunities becuase people would be more focused on my outward mannerisms than my abilities. If I grew up here, support and a diagnosis may have been very beneficial. And actually, now that I am here, the diagnosis I have, and the support I have is very beneficial.

I suppose all of our stories are different, but I think there is one constant: context. What I mean by this is simply that if you feel you are at odds with the world, remember that there is another place and/or time where things make sense.

There are benefits and downsides of early diagnosis.

I tend to think of things in terms of "what if it DID happen back then"? Rather than using today's standards to judge the past situation.

In the case of older aspies, I don't think early diagnosis would have been any help. They would have just been permanently institutionalized (until those hospitals were closed down). Or locked in the house. Whatever their parents felt like.

In the case of myself...I don't think anything GOOD would have come out of it. AS treatments didn't really exist when I was a child, and the ones for classical autism would have been far too insulting. The only thing that could have happened was an increased chance of giving up on myself and my parents giving up on me.

The situation is possibly even worse today. Treatments exist, but the only effective ones aren't for AS itself, but for co-morbid conditions that many people with AS don't have. As a result, several parents now believe that their child needs things like PT, OT and ST; JUST because they have AS. If this isn't covered under insurance, then parents pay for it all, potentially sucking money out of their child's college fund.

But, many parents have been told to not bother with aiming for post-secondary education for their AS children by psychologists and special ed teachers. As a result, these children will have fewer educational opportunities that many undiagnosed AS children had before them.

Many psychologists are also telling parents not to bother with trying to establish independance in their AS children, because "they don't want them to develop unreasonable expectations". As a result, many young adults with AS are going straight from high school to welfare, without even trying to find a job. Even a part-time one; because their parents have drilled it into their head that employment will be too much for them.

I totally hear what you're saying dude. And to be honest, I get tired of hearing the people here complain so much about how tough it is. I tell my co-workers, friends, and family all the time "it just came down to me growing into my own skin; that's all".

Everything falls into place in time.

May I remind everyone I didn't even know I was Autistic 'til I hit like 19 or 20...and even then, information was limited, so I barely knew anything about it 'ti like...um..last year.

Guys, let your Autism come to major use to you; and one of the ways is to learn how people are, & not to be concerned what others think of you.

They will shun you; just accept it...they're stupid humans. I mean, geez...consider: last year, my country elected a black guy for president. The only thing anyone seems to care about with him is that he's black. Would he have done as successfully as a white guy? Who knows, probably not.

The fact is, that's how humans are, and y'can't change that. They basically put emotion over logic, and always will. You do it the other way around...which I commend you for.

But as Aspies, you're gonna learn a lot of life lessons earlier than most other folks will; use that to your advantage...it'll all work out.

Need proof? Ask Albert Einstein, and Tim Burton, not to mention the lead singer of Talking Heads; ALL Autistic.

Don't bother feeling sorry for yourselves; you're capable of so much more.

He said it, and I'm saying it too. Listen to what he says.

my god doc, i wish i could type like you............i am such a horrible typer, lol..............your post would have been mine in longhand.....................brilliant post

keys to your post
- as aspies we learn lessons long before everyone else..............hell yes, and i always stored it for further processing

-let your autism become a major use to you......so well said...........it sucks, but use everything to your advantage..beautiful

- thats how humans are.................lmao, nt's are a odd lot aren't they, lol

-don't feel sorry for yourselves.........brilliant,,its ok to feel sorry for yourself and sad for a minute, but use it to grow and learn about yourself and others around you

-you are so much more..............most autistics are only a fraction of what they could be.....gey tour butts in gear..........

thanks doc, i don't need an aspirin and won't call you in the morning, lol

I was diagnosed at 16. lol @ it being out everywhere