Did someone tell you or did you discover AS yourself?

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Not at all: 34

Did you get married and divorced. What age was you when you got married? If you don't mind me asking.

Ask anything you like...

I met my (now ex) wife at the end of 1999 when I was 25. We lived together for about four years then decided to get married so that we had something 'legal'. She then read 'the book' and we started down the wonderful 'AS path'. I was diagnosed in May 2006 and she then had an affair for three months - walking out on me in the August. The first I knew about any of this was when I came home form work and found half the house missing.

I won't go into the details but we were divorced the following January. Even now I don't know why she left - could be that she realised that I'd never be anything than what I was, could be that she wanted kids and that I would never be able to tolerate them due to my sensory issues. I dunno.

I'm sorry to hear that.

It happens and there's nothing you can do about it, so you've just got to pick yourself up and get on with it.

Besides which, if I hadn't, probably I wouldn't be here.

I admire your positive attitude.

What's the alternative? Sit in the corner and mope? Nah

Fine to be down and 'wallow' for a while but, long term, you've got to keep going - or the world's beaten you

I discovered it myself. I'd always had a... I don't know, an affinity with autisic people I'd seen on TV; I knew sort of where they were coming from with regard to the social issues and the obsessive interests, but as the programmes at the time all seemed to focus on severely affected little children, there wasn't that much detail of what else made up the condition, other than the isolation thing and behavioural problems.

My affinity with autism was similar to the one I felt with deaf people - I'll often watch See Hear (programme for the deaf in the UK). I think it might have been the communication issues and the isolation that deafness can produce which pinged my radar. However, I'm not deaf (I have sensitive hearing) so, in a similar vein (or so I thought) I didn't really push the connection I felt with autism, beyond this vague feeling. I would watch and tape any programmes about ASD though, due to the interest I had.

It was one of these programmes that I taped in the middle of the night that left me stunned. It was specifically about Aspergers and it went into some detail about how it manifests in older children and teenagers. It highlighted some of the sensory issues which I'd not heard being related to ASD before - there is my hearing, but also I have issues with food (taste and texture). Coupled with the social difficulties that were described, along with the other satellite symptoms, it was a jaw-dropping moment of realisation. I wasn't just a couple of steps towards that side of the distribution, but I was, more than likely, firmly on the spectrum.

Lots of research followed, with on-line questionaires confirming my growing certainty. The more I found out, the more it fit. The books and statements I read rang true to me like nothing else ever has in my life.

Coming here is like the culmination of those four years of self-discovery. The people here, their experiences, their testaments are like hearing my own voice spoken by a thousand people. I am so glad I found this place.

I am seriously contemplating telling my mum and sister about my AS this weekend. I have told a few people before, but no one in my family as yet. It's a massive step and I don't want to screw it up or make them feel guilty or weird or for them to feel bad for me - finding out I have AS is the single greatest thing that's happened to me. I hope I will be able to explain it well enough so they'll understand me the way this discovery has allowed me to understand myself.

I discovered it by accident (or maybe it was fate controlled by synchronicity through another
dimension !) at the age of 46 via an internet link to Einstein.

I was told by an online friend. We used to talk about our problems and he suggested that I may have aspergers.

I was told by three different friends over a span of 2 years. None of them know each other, they all just knew me, and would randomly tell me that I seem or probably am autistic or aspie, or they'd ask me if I was.

And two of these people have been diagnosed with AS, while another was supposedly misdiagnosed at one point, but does have an autistic brother and has ADHD.

Shink told my parents and then my parents told me.

It was a chance remark at work. About 6 years ago we had a young man working in our office who just rubbed everyone up the wrong way. He spoke loudly, had very garbled speech, didn't make eye contact, was obsessive about people ignoring him or whispering about him behind his back, he just came accross as rather immature. One day one of my colleagues was moaning about him and wondered "Has he got Aspergers or something?" I could see alot of me in this bloke, which I didn't like, and this remark made me go and find out about this Aspergers thing. Looking at the list of symptoms or indications or whatever, I seemed to tick alot of boxes. It also answered a helluva lot of questions about why I seemed to rub people up the wrong way alot of the time.

I still don't know if I have it for sure. I don't really want to have a diagnosis, just knowing about it has helped me start to develop strategies to be more 'normal'.

I got diagnosed I never asked them if I had it or not.

My mum told me I was diagnosed with it at around 11 or 12 years of age, and that's when I decided to do some research on the subject. I decided to get a second opinion just before Christmas and was told by the psychiatrist that I have it very mildly.