Q on Moving Out & Disclosing to Roommates

Post Reply New Topic

I've decided to move-out to live away from my parents for the first time with three other female roommates in a townhouse, who go to the university I graduated from. I've had roommates/suitemates in the past as an undergrad on-campus, but that was before I had been diagnosed with Asperger's/Autism lvl 1.

Do you have any advice on whether I should disclose early with my roommates? Or should I wait until we have lived together for a while? It is my responsibility to disclose with my landlord(s), although I don't know if that makes a difference since they aren't living in the residence. Is it worth it to disclose to my landlord(s) before moving-in? Or another choice would be to not tell them directly, but instead simply say things that help them know about me. For example, I could say that they should tell me directly if they have an issue, since I may not pick up on it. Also that I am very shy, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. What do you think?

It's possible they don't know what Autism/Asperger's is, since some of my friends asked what it was when it came up in a conversation once. Even I wasn't quite sure what Autism/Asperger's was before I'd learned more about it from my mentor.

Have you had any experience where you disclosed to roommates, and what happened? Do you think it helped or hurt, or didn't make a difference?

Don't disclose to your landlord! You aren't obligated to do that! Bad idea!

I would wait a while to decide whether to disclose to roommates. I like your idea of just mentioning some of your traits that they might need help understanding, like shyness.

Yes, I would agree with just mentioning the traits, and later, once they know you better, then you could explain what aspergers is.

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-People-You're-Autistic