Has knowing you're AS helped?

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Just curious about whether people with later-in-life knowledge/diagnosis of AS have found that information helpful or a hinderance. I imagine it could be quite the shock to your system to suddenly realize your rationalizations about behavior, social difficulties, etc. may not have been valid. On the other hand, I see how is could feel like the pieces suddenly falling into place.

I hope my poll choices are the appropriate ones. Im guessing most people here have accepted their AS for the most part.

Anyone have any insights to share?

It was nice to know that there was an explaination that didn't involve me being a freak of nature. Unfortunately I was already 18 and out of high school when I first Heard of AS. I wasn't formally diagnosed until 5.5 years later.

Hi, I just want to say how absolutely liberating it feels to understand who I am now. It all makes so much sense to me, I can breathe this all in...I alway s knew I was different from the others, so different...Knowing this is like finding the lost piece of the puzzle.. To finally find that there are others, many others, is refreshing and comforting..The years behind me have been difficult, and I may cringe at the memories, but they made me stronger, made me want to be independent, find the peace that comes from solitude a positive aspect, made me search inside of myself to discover what my purpose is in this life, to know that my uniqueness is very special... Being an Aspie is a positive force in my life, not to brag about, of course, but to validate who I am. WHO I AM.ME...Peace to all......p.s. I am 39 and just discovered this about me maybe 2 months ago after researching asperger's ... my daughter is autistic with developmental disabilities. We are like the flip sides of a coin...I have always been so close to her with such unconditional love..we are so special in this world.......

I didn't get diagnosed until I was turning 49.

SO many years pursuing ideas, therapies and medications which didn't "hit the spot".
It was an utter relief to find something that clicked, like a jigsaw piece dropping into place, linking neatly on every side.

I'm still working out the implications of the knowledge, but even the little detail that "like minds can be found on AS boards" has made an appreciable difference.

I'll second this one to everything I see on this thread so far. I was Dx'd at 42 and that was the real turning point in my life. My first reaction when finding out was anger but OTOH, we now knew what it was all along.

Welcome aboard new Aspergian citizens

I only found out that I was an Aspie last year, at the age of 44. Being diagnosed was a light-bulb moment.

It has produced a tremendous boost in my feeling of self-worth (basically didn't have any before) -- to know that I wasn't completely nuts, and that all my feelings and symptoms were explainable by a bit of unusual hard-wiring in my brain, it felt like shrugging off a sodden, heavy winter cloak.

I do, however, have conflicted feelings about whether I would have liked to have known years ago, since everything I've experienced has led to who I am now and the life I now have.

It helped my wife to justfy leaving me.

It has affected me negatively. I always thought that I was a dork by choice, and I actually liked it. But when I got an actual, real-life diagnosed mental condition attached to it, that just burned me up. It implicated that I was simply a born wierdo, rather than a self-developed wierdo. Now, everyone has an excuse to feel bad for me even when I'm happy

Diagnosis has helped me. I don't have an 'official' diagnosis yet, but I've been discussing it with a psychologist, and she agrees that it certainly looks like AS.

I have been treated for depression. I've always been advised that going out more and making more friends will help me to feel a bit happier. I've put a lot of pressure to go to places I don't enjoy (pubs, mostly), to talk to people I am not interested in, and generally try to be normal. This has not made me happy. In fact, it has made me more unhappy. Knowing I have AS had meant I now understand why I've found these things difficult, I put less pressure on myself to do these things, and I forgive myself more easily when social situations go wrong. I still feel depressed, but understanding why everything's been so hard has helped me to feel a bit better about things.

I found out I had AS when I joined this site. It was a really weird feeling. I saw my life flash before me, from day one. Here's only a partial list that find out I have AS gave an explanation for.

Why I was terrified of a chandelier in my childhood apartment
Why people bullied me in school, until my high school graduation
Why I was really attached to my posessions, while people were just well... there
Why my family treated me like pariah all my life
Why I had obsessive interests in very specific topics all my life
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera

I voted for the positive one, but it has brought relief to me too.

Like running late for the train, but getting there on time. It was positive because I didn't have to waste time going early, and got there on time anyway so what relief.... OKAY OKAY, Bad comparison.

I voted "Resistant or non-accepting"

The true answer is "It's made a negative difference in my life"

It definitely made a positive difference to me. I wasn't diagnosed as late as some... in fact, I was 14 when I got the diagnoses. But 14 years was still a long time to wait to find out for sure. Now, it helps a lot. I have access to excellent support at college - my tutor is very understanding and allows me to leave class a half-hour early to avoid the rush hour as I have to take a 75minute train and bus journey to get home, and I find crowds almost impossible to deal with. The diagnosis also came in part with the additional diagnoses of Scotopic Light Sensitivity, and I was able to get prescription lenses that have improved my quality of life _enormously_. I was having completely disabling migraines on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis, but with the lenses I only get them a few times per year. Without discovering AS, I probably wouldn't have discovered that my sensory problems were real, so... yes. It was a huge relief to know what I am and to have ways of dealing with it.

I'm 46 and read about AS around 6 months ago in the paper. After checking into it more I saw there is not really any point in having somebody say I do have it or I don't, so I've never went to see anyone to verify I am a aspie.

As a kid I didn't have a real hard time like I've read here about other people having. It was weird though, I wasn't an outcast,but sure didn't fit in real well. Being a good student wouldn't have cut it with the people I hung around with,so I barely graduated high school,mostly hung out with the party animals.

After a few pot holes in the labor force I ended up being a long haul truck driver. Perfect job to hide from the world Buying my own truck made it even better, I had some control over job assignments, I could say no if something wasn't to my liking. Overall it didn't matter where I went,one dot on the map is about the same as the next one.All I was doing was living to work,lots of hours a week. There is effectively no enforcement in the states when it comes to how many hours a week a truck driver can work,just make it look good on paper.

Sold the truck 4 years ago and bought a house thinking I would join the normal world again.Ended up back in a truck doing local work and getting home daily. Had a few jobs and they started off good,people seemed real pleased they had found someone that handled the job with ease,than they went to hell and I think it was because they started getting worried that I was after their job I haven't worked in over a year, got a lot of work done on the old house I bought and now that I know about AS next time I get a job I won't scare the boss,just act dumb and hide any sign of being anything more than a dumb truck driver.

It's been a big relief finding out about AS and no longer wondering why people don't warm up to me. This web site has been a great help so I finally decided to try and join in.

I've always looked at the NT's with fasination,they run around like ants,just go,go,go and do all sorts of really strange stuff without a second thought about it. Whatever everyone else does, they do to fit in.

There's no poll option for "indifference", or "too early to tell yet".

I don't know for certain whether or not I have AS. And I have no idea how I would find out. I certainly fit the profile. And a positive diagnosis of AS would explain a few things about my past. But would it really make that much of a difference, knowing I have it? I wonder... I mean, by many standards I am successful -- own my own home, have a job I like, have friends that I socialize with. I don't have a spouse, but I'm kind of a dyed-in-the-wool loner to start with (comes from having been an outcast all my life, I guess) and I rather like the fact that I don't have to take someone else into account when planning my activities. (Eg, if tomorrow I want to spend all day on the couch watching old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, no one will stop me, no one will object.)

It has made a massive difference to me. I actualy clasify my life in two parts, the pre diagnosis and the post diagnosis.
In the Pre Diagnosis i was trying to be like everyone else, fit in with NT's, i was not able to so that depressed me. Finished High School early, got expelled etc...
A year later i got my diagnosis. I finaly understood why i could not fit in, the depression slowly went. Now am at college, being who i am and not what i think i should be.
I used to see spending hours on a PC and learning about how they work as a bad thing, as NT's don't really do that. After the diagnosis i realised that it is actualy a good thing and that i should not hold myself to the "Norms" of society.