where did you learn about Aspergers etc?

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I was having a conversation elsewhere about self-diagnosis of Aspergers, that made me wonder:

Before you found WrongPlanet, how much did you know about Aspergers Syndrome or autism spectrum in general, and where did you learn about it?

For people who diagnosed themselves, whether they got a formal diagnosis later or not, how much information did you have when you decided that yes, you really did have an autistic spectrum condition?

I honestly can't remember. Once I knew about it it became one of my obsessions and I just read and read and read.

I didn't know anything about Asperger's until I got diagnosed with it.

I heard about it when I started working with someone that had it. I saw some traits he had in me, but I will admit he was more extreme and did social mistakes I would never do, like when he said something that would be generally considered odd: "Why am I not being promoted? I have a business degree and I know all the generations of Power Rangers."

A character in a book I was reading (Manifold: Time, Stephen Baxter) mentioned how he identified several signs of Asperger's in a child character in the story, and pointed out how he recognizes several of the signs in himself.

I noticed how much I identified with those characters, and wondered why I had never heard the term Asperger's before, so I did some research, suspected myself of having it, talked to people here, discussed it with my mother, friends, family, and am now certain that I am either an Aspie, or a large talking housecat.

As I have no urge to get into any sort of furry type culture, I'm hoping the Asperger's diagnosis holds true.

I learned about AS through my mother but I didn't know much about it then. Then I started to read about it fom the internet and went online and typed the word in and started to read. I've been hooked ever since. I even read books on it too.

Then in early 2003 I joined the autism yahoo groups followed by msn. Now I only do forums. I knew a lot about AS by then but I was still ignorant about it. back then if an aspie was rude, I thought it was the AS that caused it, same as when someone posted porn links to one of the groups, I thought it was the AS that caused it because I knew they are known for having difficulty understanding rules that have not been spelled out and there was nothing in the rules about porn. Other aspies were offended by the links, I didn't like them either but I excused it.

I did not join WP till 2006. I decided to come back to the autism community after leaving it when I was 19.

I heard of it 2 years before the diagnosis when I was 9, I watched a documentary about it but I didn't think I had it, I remember commenting on how much of a nerd one of the boy's was, oh I had ALOT to learn the second time I watched it 2 years later.

My son had been in a special preschool for developmentally delayed kids since he was two and a half. At 5 they wanted him tested. He was diagnosed with Asperger's and that's how I heard about it.

Autism/Aspergers runs in my family, so I knew about it from a young age. I did not know I had it. It didn't even occur to me that I could be affected.

My father, who has Aspergers (according to his doctors, but he refused to acknowledge it), told me recently that the school had wanted me to be evaluated. He told no one. He told them that I was fine, and that such disorders didn't exist. He said the same to my aunt who was having her LFA daughter evaluated.

When I was 22, I took my daughter to her neurologist. He made a comment about my expressions and lack of eye contact. He made a note on her charts that he suspected the mother had Aspergers. I did not know what to think of it. Then, my family doctor suggested the same thing. It was then that I sought to get an evaluation.

My daughter's second neurologist also picked it up without me saying a word.

I found out about ASD's in detail two or three years ago, when an infant relative was dx'ed with HFA.
I began to read up on it a lot, and i became very aware that I exhibited many traits. At first, I had no idea I was on the spectrum, and for many years I adhered to an emotions based therapy paradigm to explain my difficulties in the world.
My son's dad also read a bit about women with AS and said "this is YOU!"

Prior to my relative's dx, I had a very primitive and stereotypical view of autism. I had no idea what it was or how it manifest in people.

I was eventually formally dx'ed about a year ago or so.
There are others in my family with many traits and some would receive a clinical dx should they ever wish to pursue one.

In 2006, a friend sent me the url for WrongPlanet. I got here and felt, "I'm home!"

Autism has been in my family for ages so I've known about autism and then later aspergers for years.

First thing was stumbling onto Donna Williams' first 2 books. Then getting online and poking around and comparing notes with people (this was about '93-'94) on various fora (ANI-L PAN-L a.s.a b.l.a and others). Mostly sharing notes and reading a lot of people's experiences. Read some of the professional stuff, but the first-hand views were much more 'accessible'/made-sense. At first I was very cautious, and added big disclaimers to everything, but after about the 10 year mark became less worried about it (and fatigued at overly-worrying about it). Too many things fit.

I suppose that since I learned of the traits from AC people first, rather than the DSM criteria first (since they didn't exist at the time) it has influenced me not feel overly beholden to a doctor's opinion about it. And since I ended up on disability for other reasons, there hasn't been a pressing need to deal with the headaches of arranging an adult assessment.

I can't remember how I heard about WP, specifically.

Well my older sister said she found this thing called Asperger's Syndrome and she said it described me. (I stumbled upon Asperger's when on a gaming forum and when a person was called lazy etc. the person said hey I have Asperger's etc. Psychology being my special interest I Googled it found one article read a quick synopsis of what it is and that was it) After my older sister found it though I Googled it and that lead me to Wrongplanet I feel I am learning new things everyday people saying Hey I do that and I connect with them so it's fun being here. The Survival Guide to Asperger's also made since to me and reminded me of issues from childhood. and I learned Psychology was my special interest LOL!

I had never heard of AS, but I always thought that I was unique. Other people told me so. I am also very noticeably gifted, but when I was in school the other students in the same gifted classes didn't like me and said so often.

I was using Google to search for other people who had the same sensory sensitivities that I do, because it seemed strange to me that sensory things that bother me so much seem to not be noticed by other people.

A page from this site came up as one of the results. The description included the phrase "our obsessions". I've had one main obsession/special interest for most of my life, so I was interested and clicked the link.

I had always thought that I was entirely different from everyone else, and the first time I read the stories and descriptions in posts here was the first time that I had ever thought that there might be anyone like me.

My mum told me to look up Autism when I was trying to find out if I had dyslexia. I put it out of my mind until I found out how bad my social skills really were and then I developed severe social anxiety. This was during a relationship with a very social boy. At least when it ended the anxiety decreased.
Then I kept hearing about Asperger's when I was on a Yahoo health forum, so I looked it up again and still didn't believe I had it but kept thinking about it, then finally I found a site about AS and relationships and it was like I was reading about myself.
I read a book on Autism by Lorna Wing. I used to look at every website about Autism/ AS as possible. And I found a forum before I found out about this one about Autism. The forumers were quite helpful even though I was not yet diagnosed.