Talk about yourself for a bit

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Welcome to WP!

Hello, I don't think I ever introduced myself. My name's cris although in a few years it will be Morrosseth.
I was misdiagnosed around twelve or thirteen years old as being attention deficit. I had been given meds with dire results (in my view) that completley shut off my mind's eye, after that incident I completley refused to take it and have been afraid of meds ever since. School was always hell for me and I am amazed that I never had to repeat a grade. I have finally graduated high school this year and last month I was finally (properly!) diagnosed as being a mild aspie. This has been a great relief to my parents as they finally understand why I do the things I do and now have a support group available.

My interests are very diverse: Lord of the Rings, heavy metal, (astro) (quantum) physics, marine biology, mythology, models (the kind you paint), Japanese, German, French, Italian, reading, violin, guitar, ocarina, video games.
I'm also bi and a Wiccan and I have bi-polar depression and possibly a mild case of synesthesia. And I love cats.

Hey Nightrain, welcome aboard.

Seems to be a creative people with pets and who enjoy fantasy/scifi/literature/history/music theme taking shape here.

Hello eveyone, my name is Tristan, and I'm 16.

I was technically diagnosed with AS at 7 years old, although they could only call it a conduct disorder at the time. I have blond hair and gray eyes. I tend to get really focused on things I'm doing and get lost in them so I can look fairly unkempt a lot of the time.

I can be fairly shy when I first meet you, but I can be very outgoing around people once I get comfortable around them. My sense of humor mostly involves hypothetical situations, but I find many things to be funny. My dream in life is to get my private pilots license and my own airplane. Music is my passion and while I don't play or write music as much as I used to, I still enjoy to listen to it. Computers are my second passion and probably my future field of profession. I plan to go to RIT in New York, majoring in Computer Engineering. I am fluent in C, C++, Python, and C# and was a developer for Gentoo Linux until I felt that the project was beginning to lose its passion and was dying out.

I am also an avid WoW and Halo 3 player.

I thought I'd just add an intro post instead of starting a new thread.

I am 39 years old and considered neuro-typical, though I am introverted and easily overstimulated. My husband would probably be diagnosed as an Aspie if he were in school now. We have two daughters, now 14 and 16 who are considered neuro-typical, but are also introverted. Our sons are 10 and 12 and were diagnosed with autism by their school. They are high functioning and would have been considered Aspies if they had not been speech delayed.

We have things set up pretty comfortably right now, having worked out most of the bugs with school and routines, but are entering a new phase: both sons are going to new schools next year, one because of No Child Left Behind complications and the other is entering middle school. I do not think the adjustments will be particularly difficult. We have met with staff at both schools and toured the buildings, etc just to get a feeling for things and so far so good. I mean, as good as entering middle school can ever be for anyone.

The thing that brings me here are my misgivings about participating in Autism Speaks events. I really appreciate their efforts at awareness, but I find it hard not to resent the implication that my sons are somehow broken. I do not see them that way and I would not want them 'fixed.' They are not, to me, in any way inferior to 'average' boys and are in many ways superior. I want to be involved in awareness efforts, but I don't think we have a lot going on in my area besides the Autism Speaks stuff.

Welcome to WP, new members!

Hi. I'm Chris and although I wasn't professionally diagnosed as AS, I clearly have it. It's kind of troubling me right now because its not sounding too much like something that I'm going to learn my way out of like I always thought. Pretty much I made it through life so far with very minimal friendship and this feeling of missing out at life. I'm completely obsessed with creating art and would love to do illustration in some professional capacity, but usually I'm airbrushing a shirt here and there or doing a few tattoo's, just basically bouncing around and finding fresh interests. I'm really just happy to find all this information on AS because I can show it to people instead of trying to explain to them why I act a certain way. All my life I've told people that there's something going on between everyone else that isn't happening with me. Kinda like everyone has a tuning fork in them and they keep everyone on the same frequency, but mines tuned in to the world around me and not the people in it. Whenever I'm talking to someone and accidentaly make eye contact I look away imediatly and then feel like I may have done something inapropriate. This eye contact problem is something I've always been aware of and I've tried to break myself of it but it's so odd to be talking with someone and timing how long I look them in the eye. I feel weak and embarraced and like I'm behaving in a conspicuosly weird way. I guess the reason I've been searching around for an answer to what my problem is is because I'm 32 years old and never been in any kind of relationship. I've studied some other conditions like "involuntary celabacy" but they define someone who is basically shy and able to overcome it by just getting a backbone. I never could place my self in a catagory of simply being weak willed. Oh well I'll end my rant.

Welcome to WP!

I was diagnosed at 6. I am a fanatic baseball fan.
I am a loner, I never know if it because I am an aspie, or because I really like being left alone.
I hate dating, and crowds of people. I like television, music of all kinds and movies.
I am a professor at an Ivy league college (I wonder for how long, I do not have tenure), and I occassionally work for NASA.

I have a hard time talking about myself, but I think I covered the key stuff.

I have recently become acquainted with AS and am currently seeking a diagnosis, thus my intention for joining this forum is to gain a better understanding by talking to others (I have already spent hours sifting through sites). I am a 24 year old female university student with a double major in philosophy and history.

The reasons why I may have AS are as follows:

- I am known for being very logical, usually am described as distant, aloof and cold
- I have anxiety, particularly in social situations. I can handle conversations to an extent, for instance if it is a subject I have knowledge in... but idle chit-chat make me very uncomfortable.
- I make other people uncomfortable though it's intentional. I seem to lack the ability to tell people what they want to hear and cannot censor my opinions.
- Emotions make me uncomfortable but only because I appear to be deficient in empathy.
- The two most common adjectives used to describe me since childhood are intelligent and weird. I have always felt very weird and "different" even as a child. I couldn't play with other children and had the tendency to run off on my own (this scared my parents). I have also been referred to as a perfectionist to the point that I become overly obsessed.
- In elementary school I spent most of my time in the library reading and re-reading about my "obsessions" (at the time I was interested in: cat and dog breeds, Greek mythology, ancient Egypt (I could tell describe the process of mummification by the time I was 5), and dinosaurs.
- Between the ages of 14-15 I essentially shut down. I stopped communicating with others and wouldn't step out of my house without headphones on.
- I am sensitive to certain things: light, textures, tastes, sounds (loud sounds used to terrify me as a child) and smells, but am insensitive to pain.
- People comment on the fact that I don't make eye contact. Some attribute that to being insecure, which is certainly not the case.
- Last point (though I could go on) I was asked by someone with AS if I had it. He constantly corrects my behaviour, such as reminding me that there is another person in the conversations, stop focusing on the details....etc.


The question remains, am I just weird and socially awkward? Or is it possible that I have AS?

I welcome all feedback.

Just want to introduce myself here. For the last couple of years, as I read things about AS, I suspected that maybe I had it, but I just kept quiet because I didn't want to sound like a kook, and I wasn't really sure it would be valuable at this point in my life to get a diagnosis. But I still stuggled with finishing tasks that I knew needed to get done, and I am very easily distracted, and I would get upset about many things that wouldn't bother an NT person. My husband was getting angry with me, because he took it personally that I did not do the tasks he wanted me to do (and that I had even agreed to do) and that he couldn't ever find a way to motivate me. Well, lo and behold, I was going through some old papers and discovered that I actually got my diagnosis back in 1982! I found some old special ed papers of mine, and I was given the diagnosis of sensory integration disfunction. Which my husband googled and found out that it was actually a subset of aspergers. Of course, back in 82, aspergers was not used as a diagnosis. So. I guess I am officially an aspie, it explains so many things. My husband feels like a heel now, lol. Anyhow, it is a relief to get an official diagnosis, to know that I am not a loser, I am just wired differently and need to figure out how to work with that. I also see some of the same traits in some of my kids, so this is kind of a caution flag for me, so I can know how to best guide them though childhood so they can avoid the hurts I experienced.
As for me, I am a stay at home mom of 4, and run a martial arts studio with my husband. I love cooking, vegetable and herb gardening, photography, finding out all sorts of facts about lots of different things, flying kites, and going to the zoo. I am lost when it comes to cleaning house, and organizing paperwork.

Im Alexis

My interests are playmobile, cross stitch, disability reading, liverpool FC, stamp collecting, meeting other autistics and of course star trek especially DS9 and aspie like characters. i also collect maps and books on disability and autism. i have a Simpsons and Star trek Original Series alarm clocks. i bought a nodding spock recently and have bought some star trek stamps. i love combining one interest with another.

i was diagnosed with aspergers age 16. Since then ive discovered other disabilities including OCD (self diagnosed), dyslexia (lol i spelt that word the wrong way 1st time), depression, PTSD, anxiety (now recovered), insomnia, fibromyalgia (caused by untreated fallen arches at age 16) and scotopic sensitivity syndrome (went from severe to mild). i recovered from CFS/ME 4 years ago and havent had a relapse since.

i am currently studying for a BPhil in Autism at the University of Birmingham by distance education. ive had numerous aspie misunderstandings over this course and im about to embark on my 2nd year. Was wondering if anyone had a break with their student (NUS) card in August (ie they couldn't use their card due to it running out). The expiry date on the card is 08/09 but i don't know if this means (in UK only terms please) August 09 or the 8th September?

If possible i hope to finish my course a year early so i dont have to pay the 3rd year fees. i have 2 pieces of work left to do, challenging behaviour (which is sightly upsetting to do) and my dissertation which will focus on some areas of the "taking responsibility" report and reviewing whats happened 10 years later.

i hope to find a job with the national autistic society which is generally very good in my area either during or after my course.

i am fairly active in my area of the autistic community, i run a social group every August in Bristol so the members of a university semester/term limited group dont miss out. Also i organise day trips (we went to Weymouth last Saturday) and holidays for autistic's but these are limited to the UK only. When aspie village was still running i organised a meet up in birmingham (UK) and we saw the new star trek film. i attend the user rep groups and help my friends and other people who ask for my help to fill in DLA and other forms.

i attend autscape and other conferences on autism (autscape being the only residential one) to find out more about myself and my mum. i like to know what NTs think of me and my behaviour which i can get a bit paranoid about. i often ask people im with "did i sound polite?" or "did i say please/thank you".

Alexis

Hi.

I'm Priscilla and I am 15 and going into my sophomore year of high school soon. I'm very involved with band at my school. I've been playing the bassoon during concert season since the 6th grade and the last 2 years, I've been playing pit percussion for marching band. Next year I am playing piccolo and I'm one of the student leaders for the flute section. I was in jazz band last year and I played 2nd tenor sax. I would be in jazz band again next year, but we only can have 3 electives and I'm wanting to take art and drama as well as band. I also love to sing and mess around with any instrument I can get my hands on.

I love art. My favorite medium to work with are colored pencils (especially Prismacolor brand). My bedroom is covered in my artwork. My favorite things to draw are random things like floating octopuses and caterpillars on mushrooms (like from Alice in Wonderland). I also love to draw nature (but in a cartoon way, not realistically).

I love animals and would like to work with them when I grow up. I've wanted to become a veterinarian since I was in Kindergarten, but I also would like to do something that involves art or music in some way. I think I want to go to the University of Florida, but I'm not sure yet.

I'm also a vegetarian and have cat named Hershey Kisses.

Hi, Priscilla, and Welcome. I hope you'll feel at home here.

Hi, I'm a 57-year-old woman, never diagnosed or evaluated, but I'm certain I'm at the mild end of the Asperger's spectrum, and I wanted to belong to a community of others like me. I've read the other threads here, and it looks like I'm older than the average member.

When I was a child and adolescent, there was little awareness of Asperger's, and since I grew up in a very traditional, conservative community, adults responded to nonconformity pretty harshly. So I had a hard time in childhood, adolescence, and younger adulthood.

Once professional people began discussing Asperger's and raising awareness about it, and writing about how it announces itself, it came as a relief of sorts to me, because I recognized so much of my own behavior, and finally realized why I had such a hard time socially with those average, mainstream types. Also, I have nieces and nephews diagnosed with Asperger's, and thinking back on the way some of my older relatives behaved (in my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents' generations), I'm sure some of them were Aspies. So I see a genetic factor here.

Throughout my life I've just tried to train myself to deal better with social situations. I've gotten quite good at picking up nuance and subtlety in social cues from others, for instance, body language, facial expression, tone of voice, the look in a person's eye, and I do have a lot of empathy for others, maybe because I haven't had an easy life, and I have compassion for suffering, since I know what it's like. And I have a very strong sense of justice.

I've only really realized how different and unique I am in recent years. I can't take someone else's brain for a test drive to see how mine is acting differently, nor can I let someone else try mine on for size to see how different it is from theirs. I've been slow to catch on as to what's been going on. Now that I know all of this, I have to work on my social skills. Conversation is a problem for me, at least contributing to conversation is. Words come out of me all wrong at times, and I find myself cringing after I've spoken, realizing I didn't mean what I said to sound the way it did. And when I'm dealing with a conflict that makes me angry, which happened recently, I handle it very badly. Though that said, I'm usually easy to get along with, I'm pretty mellow, and I'm not an angry person by nature.

When I have time, I'll read more of the posts here. I look forward to getting to know people here. I'd especially like to read about other people in my age group who are just now realizing what the trouble has been about all their lives.

All that said, I have to add that when I look at "average, mainstream" people, and I think about my life among them, I much, much prefer being exactly as I am. The last thing I would ever want is to be "average" or "mainstream."

I'm Xule. I'm 20 and I'm from Dublin, Ireland
Well my life experiences have involved a string of different bullies and fleeting friends. I've always been the 'strange' girl in the class, obsessing over dinosaurs and rambling on about my rabbit's latest exploits. It didn't help that when I was 11 I discovered Marilyn Manson and was suddenly the 'vampire' with a picture of this creepy guy stuck in her homework journal. There was also the occasion when I was 10 and my rabbit got ripped apart by a fox. When I finally started to talk again the other children were no doubt traumatised by my colourful description of his remains [hahaha xD]
The turning point for me was when I was 15 and I lost all my friends. I know, I should have been used to that by then, and I was definately used to people drifting away. But this involved people suddenly hating me, spreading rumours behind my back so that no-one in school spoke to me, stealing books and returning them in pieces [Not schoolbooks, novels I brought in. They really knew how to get to me] one of them even tried to smuggle a scalpel out of the biology lab especially for me [I remember turning around to see her flaunting it with a freakish grin on her face]
I shut down completely because of what happened in that one year. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I decided to just keep my head down and get out of that school. I decided to just care about myself. It's a brutal nature to undertake, but I don't think I would have survived otherwise. I want to keep to it, but now that I'm older and pretty much immune to the scathing of teenagers I feel like I need to be more open. That's why I went to my doctor and that's why I'm here.