When others "know" about your AS before you know

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I saw my sister for the first time in a few months over the weekend. At one point in our conversation, I brought up how I think I may have AS. Her response? "You know what? I actually knew that for a while." The fact that she recognized it in me kind of validates my self-assessment, but it also made me wonder, why didn't anybody tell me sooner?

How about you? Have you had this happen to you? How did you react?

I had a few people wonder that about me but never say it. I felt relieved and validated when they told me that too.

Then, I had a few people go "well that makes sense!" after I told them about it. Again, validation.

I think they don't want to risk being wrong, because they think it's such a horrible thing. I wish they would have opened their mouths earlier instead of trying to be "socially tactful." I was never socially tactful.

Oh well.

My only friend in my last two years of high school used to call me autistic all the time. Likewise, when I was finally figuring it out, one of the people I work with that I mentioned it to guessed that I thought I was an aspie before I ever said it, and my best friend said he thought I was definitely right (and his son is Dx'd as either an aspie or HFA). Another co-worker of mine used to tell me that I should watch "Big Bang Theory" because there was this character named "Sheldon" on there who was just like me.

They don't tell you because they think autism is a horrible insult and they'll hurt your feelings. Yeah, seriously.

This is the story of my life.

I got diagnosed with autism, after my mother kept telling me, that I shouldn't act that autistic and sentences like that.

First I read the wikipedia article back than about it and I just read about asperger's and LFA but I felt that I don't really fit in either one of those categories tp 100%. Later on I was diagnosed with HFA and that fits!

Later on I found out that my family, espessially my mother even thought that I might have something autistic since I was very little. But back than mostly just "severe cases" got diagnosed.

So with 9 years I first just got diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and dyslexia.

I have a doozy:

After seeing a psychiatrist for over a year (OCD), I brought up the possibility of an ASD due to my own research. His response:

"I always thought you had Asperger's."

I've had non-professionals occasional make comments like "oh, you had a developmental disorder when you were younger but you got over it, right?" this was like, 10 years before I even suspected I was on the spectrum.

and yeah, my shrink saw me for almost 8 years treating me purely for depression before he suddenly declared that my real problem was social anxiety disorder. I'm looking to get tested for ASD right now because I'm pretty sure the real real problem is aspergers. (don't think many people who just have social anxiety rock back and forth, have seizures and tics, a brother with aspergers, and carry self-stim toys around constantly)

There was this guy at my first job who would tease me and stuff, but not in a malicious way. He did this one thing that now I see was his way of protecting me. Whenever we would be working with someone who hadn't met me before, he would introduce me and say "do you ever watch that show Big Bang Theory? Well, Kevin is like Sheldon on that show." There are other examples, especially in my family, but I just kind of think that one was cool since I never realized that he was being nice.

my sister said something to my mom a few years back. im actually jealous. my sister is almost 3 years older, but i figured it out when i was 17, she figured it out when she was 14 and i was 11.

doesnt bother me, but solidifies my theory.

I casually mentioned it to a coworker familiar with Autism and they basically Oked I'm probably the last to figure it out. Maybe somebody higher up said something because I have never been treated so well in a long time. Either that or my colleagues understand ASDs and understand my quirky behavior.

Apparently one of my best friends thought for years that I may be on the spectrum. She said she didn't tell me because she didn't know how I'd take it. I really wish she had said something sooner. Discovering this about myself was a huge relief because I now know why I've always felt like I don't quite fit in.

Yeah all my exes wanted to get me to a therapist to figure out what is going on with me.