any black aspies here.?

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Just wondering if there are any black women on the forum. I am black myself and wanted to know your experiences with aspergers. I suspect I may have it but it seems like not too many black people have it from research ive been doing. I would like to go in for a professional diagnosis eventually i was just wondering if cultural differences has an effect in how it may present itself in african americans.

I am. I think it is under diagnosed in the black population.

I know a couple aspies are on here. It's pretty mixed with a lot of different races on here. I find it interesting. Some people aren't always open about themselves or post pictures. Hard to say how many are. You could also do a poll on the general forum area.

I am (almost) half black.

I am. I was wondering about this, too. I think I agree that it is underdiagnosed in the black community and also I think more black aspies are told to just suck it up. I know I was.

Alas I exist!
Seriously though, there's some here and there around these parts, and I suspect a reason for the low numbers is due to blacks not being checked for autistic spectrum disorders of any sort very actively. That and cultural stigmas against seeking help for mental related issues are still quite prevalent.

I'm another mixed one who has African heritage and it is visible. There are 2 other women here who are who haven't posted yet. We are around, we just don't advertise it.

Again, it's not that those with African heritage don't have it, it's just severely undiagnosed in HFA, AS and PDD-NOS types of autism due to economic, social, cultural and class issues within the said communities and a lack of awareness. Also a lot of families and communities have so many issues to deal with that things like this often get overlooked and downplayed.

Me but undiagnosed

Yep, me.

Yes, I see myself as a black person with a mixed race background. My father was a West African and my mother is dutch.

Since my parents came from totally different parts of the world I find it difficult to identify myself with others on the sole basis of race, culture or religion. All these things don't really matter to me. I am aware of the fact that it is important in the eyes of the majority of the human population but to me they are trivial, unimportant details. People are people. That is what my mother always says.

This gives a whole new meaning to the word threadkilling I suppose.
I am going to leave this forum for a while so it's safe for all of you to come back. I just gave you the green light.

Bye now!

I hope to be an activist for people in the African-American community with Asperger's. Mental health should not be a stigma,but as a black woman with AS,I want to help those who are struggling. I used to think there was something wrong with me,and I felt like the only one who had this condition. I felt so alone and angry,but now I'm at total peace.

It is harder to find diagnosed black aspies due to a lot of families being religious I dated a black woman who denied the existence of Aspergers syndrome and that all these disorders are made up for pharmacy companies to make money and the reality is we are merely gifted angels trapped in a mortals body etc. I could be wrong though but from experience most African American familys are very religious as Christians. It is the upbringing and such and denial no ethnic group is immune to the possibility of being born autistic, it is what it is all you need to be is born human it just seems more prevailant in caucasians and Asians due to the willingness of being diagnosed and such! I am pretty sure there are as many Black aspies as white Aspies, Asian Aspies, Latino Aspies etc. Aspergers does not discriminate!

I'm biracial (black/white)

me... and I have no friends and usually don't feel like I have much common ground with black women (or others)...