Asperger's General Survey

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Gender: Female sexed. (Specifically identify with my biological sex, not a gender.)

Age: 25

Special interest(s): Mathematics, Autism, Animals that help the disabled, Turtles, Sensory Processing

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? Found out at 13 from someone who couldn't give me the diagnosis, official diagnosis at 22.

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? It's just who I am. Neutral state of being. I'd not be me if I wasn't like this. I like being me.

Do you have family members on the spectrum? Nope.

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? (yes/no) Absolutely. People actually do know I have an ASD in general, and I've had extremely positive responses in general. I've had people do things as simple as offering to change chairs because the one I was in was the one which people were having a conversation behind and I was starting to get agitated because I couldn't process what I was trying to do while that was going on. I have had people at work pull away groups of children as soon as I started loosing capabilities, wait until I was okay again, and then send back a smaller group than I'd been working with. I've had people point out when I'm doing something I shouldn't rather than getting annoyed at me.

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? Yes, severe ones. All sorts of them. All my senses are extremely hypersensitive. I can't list out all of what I react to, it'd be too long a list. Most of my senses I don't process properly, get mixed up data, and have things like vision which is delayed from when I was supposed to get it. Information from different senses don't combine easily. My propioception is really poor and I struggle with not injuring myself while walking. I crave various movement, tastes, and textures. If my hands don't get good sensory input after bad sensory input I go into biting myself because its the only way to stop them from feeling so terrible. I can answer all sorts of questions here, but I want more specific questions, because I have most classes of sensory issue that people generally talk about having.


If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand?
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. While some of our weaknesses are such that we call them significant impairments, it doesn't mean we don't have strengths and that we can't do meaningful things - whether this is in employment or otherwise. We all have worth, we all have things we contribute, and contributions aren't measured by how much money people make. This is true for every person, but needs to be reminded more for those with disorders and those who don't fit in.

My impairments don't mean that I'm incapable. I do things that matter, even if I need help. In fact, sometimes, my impairments mean I do things which others are incapable of doing because they lack my impairments. Don't think of people as unworthy or incapable just because of thinking of a standard which expects everyone to be the same.

Gender: female

Age: 16

Special interest(s): Flags, Playing cards, Video games and Politics

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? 16 (Nearly 3 months ago)

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? A combination of the two, I'm still trying to figure it out

Do you have family members on the spectrum? Not that I know of, my dad was suspected

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? (yes/no) Yes

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? Yes, I'm hypersensitive to many sounds such as the noise cutlery makes, any type of scraping, large numbers of people talking at once - Just to name a few. I can't wear certain clothing materials, and cannot tolerate labels. Particular food textures make me want to throw up. Being softly touched results in me wanting to vigorously scratch the area I was touched.

If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand? That despite my ability to talk coherently and voice my opinions like any other person, I struggle with many things that may not always be obvious. So, when I say a noise may be annoying me, then please stop creating that noise - I wouldn't say it was annoying if it wasn't! Additionally, I struggle with eye-contact as it's very uncomfortable for me, so to have people laugh at me because I won't look at someone when they speak is embarrassing and makes me feel stupid, likewise when I take language literally.

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Special interest(s): Video games, music, animals, history, Catholicism, Space

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? 15

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? Curse, as with my entire life

Do you have family members on the spectrum? No

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? No, because people at school and in general are mean around here.

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? I cannot eat certain foods as I have food sensitivities and react badly to some. I have hypersensitive hearing and tinnitus. I only like the feeling of comfortable clothes and cannot wear anything rough. When too much is going on my brain gets confused and tends to shut down. I also have a hard time keeping up with my eyes if a lot of things are going on at once too.

If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand? That not everyone is the same and we shouldn't be judged for that.

Gender: Male

Age: 41

Special interest(s): History, Geography/Maps, Computers, Politics, Social Justice Issues

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? 41

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? Mixed bag

Do you have family members on the spectrum? Grandfather, father, brother, and two nephews

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? (yes/no) Yes

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? Bright lights and noise. Florescent lights are particularly obnoxious and I have multiple times lost my ability to focus my eyes after spending too much time in a grocery store.

If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand? Different, but not less.

Gender: female

Age: 26

Special interest(s): Tom Hiddleston, Anime, Writing and Music

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? I was 12 when I was diagnosed, but I didn't find out until my junior year in high school. My parents swore up and down they told me about it having it too.

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? It's a little bit of both.

Do you have family members on the spectrum? I suspect my parents to be on the spectrum. I feel as though my dad has Asperger Syndrome because he's very intelligent and also has narrow interests. He's not very good at socializing, though he does try his best. My mom has autistic traits because she repeats herself a lot and sometimes says random things.

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? (yes/no) Yes

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? Sort of. I do have a hard time with loud noises such as sirens, motorcycles, babies or kids screaming stuff like that.

If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand? I would want them to realize that not every autistic person is banging their heads against a wall and screaming like banshees. I got misunderstood A LOT because people don't see that I have any issues with my autism. It really sucks because I just wish people realized that we aren't all considered severe.

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Special interest(s): Lore/stories (BioWare's cannon for everything is great). Not really much else at the moment, too busy hating my university to really get lost in anything.

How old were you when you were diagnosed/found out? 11

Do you view ASD as a blessing or a curse? Mixed bag. Being able to stay detached and rational is a blessing, not being able to connect and being pretty much incapable of going to concerts because of the speakers and crowds, not so much.

Do you have family members on the spectrum? I think my dad might have a mild case, grandpa also seems possible, but unlikely.

Do you think life would be easier if people knew you had an ASD and actually understood what that means? (yes/no) Yes

Do you have sensory issues? If so, what are they? Noise. High pitched noise. It's like being a dog. I want to smash any and all analog TV's. So happy I was born after those things started to become obsolete. Possibly hypo-sensitive to touch, don't really notice/care if anyone touches me.

If people could understand one thing about autism better, what would you want them to understand? I'd really prefer that they understand me as a person better than they understand autism. I've gotten to the point where I can pass, I'd just prefer to not have to.