This is an odd question, but...

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My name is Lexie. I don't have Aspergers, but I'm really interested in the subject. To tell the truth, I find that those with Aspergers are more interesting and make more sense than most other people in the world. I'd like to understand more about Aspergers. I'm doing a research paper on it, because I think that people with Aspergers are widely misunderstood. Besides, it's interesting.

My question is, and this is strange, but what is it like to have Aspergers? How does it feel, what do you notice the most?

If anyone could answer, or just give any kind of feedback, that'd be awesome.

It's much more complex than your question would imply. Look at the postings on this forum and you will see a very wide array of experiences.

What we tend to have in common is difficulty fitting into social situations. Many of us were bullied in school.

Other than that, it's a pretty wide range.

I know, my questions are extrodinarily vague lol. I suppose what I'm trying to figure out is, what makes the typical "loner" different from someone with Aspergers? For instance, I'm artsy, and a lot of people don't understand my viewpoints. I've got ADD, so a lot of people can't follow what I say. I make jokes that people don't get, can't understand people that put on airs, and laugh at the most inappropriate times, like when someone gets physically hurt. With all of that said, I don't have Aspergers, and I know that people with Aspergers are different. I guess I'm trying to ask is, what is it that makes those with Aspergers different from a person that people would just consider "quirky"? Is it that they process information differently from the majority?

Well, I hope you have a lot of time for this paper (or whatever) cos its not gonna be an easy question to answer!

But I hope you enjoy your stay with us

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot *Pounces you*

It means friendly affection.

*points at the NT who's being confused by a type of social interaction* And we think we're so special and unique here.

If you're looking at it from a biological perspective, one idea to consider is the underconnectivity theory.

According to Post-Gazette.com:

"Individual brain areas function properly, but they have trouble communicating with each other, said Marcel Just, the Carnegie Mellon psychologist who has led the study and directs the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging.

It's sort of like a kindergarten soccer team ---- all the players run to the ball instead of playing their positions."

Hope I have been helpful!

Briefly: it feels like I'm an alien in a sophisticated human costume. Most of my time is spent observing the local wildlife, adjusting to the strange customs and sensations, and trying not to get found out by honing my "human act."

That's just me, though.

lol you guys are awesome. I really appreciate your responses.

of course we are awesome. havent you heard? autism is awesome!
please stop saying the word Aspergers, its making me wanna throw up...

well, uh, what do i FEEL LIKE? uhm, i feel like any other person i guess, as i dont know what anyone else feels like.

so what is a research paper and is it not for anyone to read at all?

does this have anything to do with william freund at all?

People on the spectrum tend to have a much lower tolerance for stress than do NT's.

If one of us talks about overload, it means that we're being subjected to more things than we care to desire, i.e. being overstressed. If you're looking to find aspies, the last place your gonna find them is someplace where there's a lot of noise or a lot of people.

It's fairly easy to keep myself entertained. I recently rediscovered Isao Tomita's Moog version of Claude Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1", after having heard it for years as the theme to the PBS show "Stargazer".

I can listen to it all night and be just as entertained two hours later as I would be listening to it the first time. This would drive an NT nuts.

Lexie,

I will try to answer some of your Q's even if I don't see anything specific so far in your posts.

I come from the time AS wasn't even on the medical radar. I always knew there was something to it but by the time Lorna Wing brought AS back to the med scene, I was done with high school. Back then, no doctor, councellor, or expert in Psychology could put a finger on what it was that had me. Whatever it was, it just followed me like a permanent curse

And the bullying issues... not just at school but pretty much all the way through my adult life and through my professional life as well. It seemend all I did was get people all pissed off but I couldn't see for the life of me how or why I was doing it. By the time I was into my mid-20's I concluded myself to be a square peg trying to fit in all the round holes. By that time, I had concluded myself to be some kind of freak and became a very hostile young man. Nothing like bad communication between a yet unDX'ed Aspie and a bunch of misunderstanding NT's

Socially speaking I was always a real Ugly Duckling. Never had many friends, let alone any girl friends. Any ladies that did show interest in me -well I just botched it awfully fast. I was socially too awkward and too clueless. Whatever everybody else had and took for granted just wasn't there in me. The unspoken and unwritten social codes were like another alphabet I learned purely by decades of trial and error to the present time of my life.

I was exceptionally studious and knowledgeable in some things and sounded like a little university professor when presenting the things I liked but never knew of anybody else in my pre-teen years like that. I used to ask my mother: "why am I so different to everybody else?". All she could answer was something like: "it's because you're special". Not that I felt that way, I just wanted to be able to fit in

I knew all the planets of the Solar System by name and order at 4, knew about mixing colours before I ever had an art teacher and built elaborate "space ships" with Tinker Toys. You could bring me a weird looking bug you caught and I could tell you right away what species it was and what its life cycle was. On a beach I would pretend to be Gulliver and turn the sand into a Lilliputian city. For some time I drew my own comic books. OTOH, other kids in the neighborhood -and even their parents a lot of times- branded me a ret*d and some parents forbade their children to play with me. Yeah... been through a lot.

The school scenes at the beginning of Forrest Gump were like seeing through a window into my own past. No, I wasn't chased down by 3 boys on bikes but I did once get chased down in deep snow with a snowmobile. You'll read about it in my book. I nicknamed the perpetrator "Skid Mark"
During High School I had a classmate take a few runs at me with his car as I was out jogging. I nicknamed that one "LeBay" after the owner of the car Christine in that Stephen King novel. Yes, I am writing a book about my life's journey with AS up to the time I was DX'ed and its mystery uncovered. Hello and welcome to Aspie Land

I could go on and on and fill this thread beyond capacity but I hope I gave you a bit of an idea of living all this time unDX'ed. Ask me any Q you might have and I'm sure I can answer. Maybe we'll get to know each other out here.

Thank-you for reading


Papillon

Thanks so much, everyone, for all of the feedback, even though I'm vague, I'm sorry lol. (And I'll stop saying 'aspergers', I don't want anyone to throw up )

I should note that by the definition someone gave, I'm still more of a loner, as are most people I know with AS.

Extroverts with AS are fairly rare, just that anybody much more introverted than me isn't likely to waste time on any internet forum.

As for stress, I freak out if I feel that somebody's wasting my time. (That's fifteen minute of my life they're stealing), though I've gotten better at controlling it, and now rarely do more than pace.
Lots of other things, but that's one that normal people would likely find irrational.

If you're doing Autism, I'd reccomend looking more at Kanner's.

I reiterate the point that I've made for years: AS is only classified as Autism because psychologists want to group it with something.

Kanner's is a type of severe mental retardation, people with AS seem to have well higher IQs than average.