For adult aspies

Post Reply New Topic

...There was a MASSIVE trauma when I was sixteen too - and bounceback from it years later - mthat still makes me cry to this day . And I have NEVER received consolation for it .

When I grew up I had never heard of Aspergers, and not even autism, except if it was severe autism. Very few kids were getting diagnosed with Aspergers, if any. I was going to a regular school, where there was only a few kids who were autistic, other than myself, there was my best friend, and very few others. Absolutely all the autistic kids (including myself), and any kid who was different from the majority, was getting bullied. Myself I was lucky the other kids didn't attack me physically (eventho one stepped on my feet intentionally once), but my best friend was getting attacked physically once in a while (and she was the nicest person you could ever know!! !), sometimes I have seen groups of 5-6 girls, and even more, and many girls who were watching the fight, but luckily she was pretty strong and ALWAYS won the fights, and I was wondering why these idiots kept attacking her when they were the ones ending up getting their "behind" kicked lol. But anyway yeah, bullying was pretty bad at my school, I often thought I would be better off if I died.

I grew up with a brother and cousins that constantly picked on me. One of my cousins when I was five put me in a baby stroller and pushed me down a hill. I broke my elbow. My brother would hold me down and tickle me, this was like torcher because I did not like being touched to begin with. They also used me as a target for bebe gun shooting. My mother baby sat a few boys who where also mean to me. One time my nose was broken by a baseball that was thrown at me. I was called many names and laughed at. One of them was stinky because I did not like baths. My mother called me a cry baby because I cried almost everyday. She said I needed to toughen up. I only had a few friends and they were allot like me. We were quite and kept to are selves.

By junior high no one picked on me. Everyone thought there was something wrong with me and they stayed away. I had problems with my anger. Probably due to being picked on most of my life.

I learned to ignore people and adapted to my differences. I learned in school it was easier to study at home in my room. I used study hall to take a nap in. I wore ear plugs and slept for an hour. Swimming class was not something I took to well. I hated water. Lucky for me I have swimmers ear and the doctor sent a note for me to give to the instructor to have me sit out of this class. Test were hard for me, I asked them if I could take them in the hall and they let me. I always sat in the back row in class. I guess I learned how to get special accommodations. I always seemed to experiences sensory overload. I slept for 12 to 16 hrs on Friday into Saturday. I guess I did toughen up a bit until I was 20. By then I had a severe break down and was sent to a mental hospital. I would spend the next 3 yrs in and out of the hospital and was sent to live in a group home. When I was 24 I was sent to a special clinic where they did a lot of test on me. It was then when I was diagnosed as a high functioning autistic. I was told to go live my life and that I had above average intelligence. She said I could be a doctor a lawyer a scientist, what ever I wanted to be I could be. She told me not to handicap my self and to except that I'm different and that it was oaky to be this way.

I did not go on to be a doctor, lawyer or a scientist but I did go on and live my life. It is not easy but I get by. I make no excuses for myself. Although I do know my limitations and learned to work around them. Life is hard and there are days I'm not sure if I'm going to making through, but somehow I do. I learned to live alone with my animals, work and drive a car. Be self sufficient.

Kids these day are handicapped by being told at a young age that they have a disability. They think they are less capable then other children. Parents treat them differently. I think I child should not be told until they are at least 16 that they have Asperger's. Parents should not treat them any different then any other kid. I do think it would be good to get them extra schooling to help them in areas they my struggle in. But do not tell them they have Asperger's. Just call it tutoring or a little extra help. Also have them take self defense classes such as karate. Teach them how to defend themselves.