How do I explain Asperger's Syndrome to my parents?

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I have a lot of problems with social skills and my psychiatrist diagnosed me with Asperger's Syndrome. However, I never got around to explaining this to my parents. They just know I have OCD and social anxiety. I was diagnosed with autism at around two years old and they know this, but they act as if I grew out of it and I am exaggerating my social problems.
I want to go to this program for teens and young adults with AS, LDs and social issues in general. It is a summer program where I dorm for seven weeks and learn to become independent and interact with the real world. My parents feel that it is too expensive and not worth it. They're right about the former as it is $9,300 but they're wrong about it's worth. I think they will think it's worth every cent after I improve from the program.
I've tried to get funding from my local school district, but they just gave me the run around. I was eventually led to a vocational program that takes weeks to fully register into. I'm 20-years-old and have had special ed. services before so I don't see the problem.
I tried to convince my parents that I will pay for half of it when I find a real career and I will pay a set amount every week or month with the job I currently have.
I told the program coordinator about this and she said that she is willing to talk to my parents and give them a tour of the program.
Another issue is that I have high functioning AS. What if my parents think I'm too high functioning for the program and that I'm wasting my time?
My therapist and psychiatrist think it's a GREAT idea though. My parents don't get AS and it's hard to explain it to them. I think they're in denial to some extent. What should I do?

"I'm like Mr. Spock - the way he was in the whale movie."

Sometimes it is better not to discuss this with your parents as it might impose a guilt trip on them. You have to make a deep personal consideration into this matter as is it not something to be taken lightly. I waited a little to late and my father died so I finally told my mother about two years afterwards. She was in denial for a few years as many parents are but now supports me and has 'filled' in a lot of the blanks about my childhood. Think very seriously about this.

I already do my own laundry and I cooked dinner yesterday. I mean stuff such as getting a real job (I work online for very little) and managing my money. I also need to learn social skills. If I could have fixed my own social skills, I wouldn't have been diagnosed with this to begin with. There must be something they could teach me that I couldn't have picked up on my own.

That's the exact program, Ravenclawgurl. Have you ever been to it before? If so, how is it like? It seems like fun yet at the same time I will learn a lot. We're so lucky if we get to go.

Actually, I find that the fastest and easiest way to explain it is to give them 30 minutes with "All Cats have Aspergers".



Well worth a purchase.

Parents who choose denial over helping and supporting their kids with an inherited condition are not worth any of your resources - time, energy, creative problem-solving, etc. Those are better put to use in giving yourself what your denying parents deprive you of. Be careful about wasting your precious resources; you'll need every drop of them. And this is from experience, every bit of it.

It might be easier than you think. At least your parents do acknowlege you have some problems. Mine thought it was I refused to learn to act right, was lazy, a troublemaker, etc., never that I had a problem. They thought it was something they could punish, threaten, humiliate, degrade, or scream out of me. It never worked.

At least they understand you have social anxiety. Maybe they will understand.

As for the money, for that kind of money, I can understand why they'd not want to spend it. Perhaps you can get a loan for some of it. You will have to pay interest, but it could be helpful in the long run.

I hope things work out for you.

Good luck.