Hi everyone

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I'm a Neurotypical who is really glad to have found WrongPlanet - Alex, you're a legend!

I'm a volunteer Adult Literacy Tutor who has been asked to help a young guy - Mark (not his real name) - who has been diagnosed with AS. I discovered this site in my hunt for more information. I'm retired now, but I have a degree in Psychology and I worked for eleven years as a Counsellor, although I'm ashamed to admit that my knowledge of AS and ASD at that time was minimal.

I guess I'm hoping that people in this great little community might be able to help me to help Mark better. If Mark isn't already a member, I'll be encouraging him to join! I think I have some sense of what it's like to feel that you're on the wrong planet because in my teens and early twenties I had to come to terms with being gay, with my own anxieties about that and with the prejudices and stereotypes that some straight people put on me.

These days I'm very comfortable with my sexuality. My partner and I have just celebrated 25 years together. We moved to heavenly Hobart three years ago with our three Labradors. In the last year I've become involved in a local group that's trying to make it easier for people who are same-sex attracted to come out and participate fully in their local communities. My feeling at this early stage is that AS and ASD people have the same sort of goal - to be understood and accepted as equal but different.

Well, I hope that I haven't offended anyone at the outset and that there will be people who are willing to help me to help Mark.

NT? Burn him!

Nah, jokes, we're okay with them here. Although for the sake of others around, you may want to change your avatar. We're not good with staring. I'm not far up the spectrum and that picture's already scaring me!

Welcome to WP!

The same goes for scrulie's avatar! They both scare me!

Welcome... I'm both Aspie and gay! My own feelings are that trying to "cure" AS may be like trying to "cure" gayness; AS makes us into very special people. However, I'm definitely OK with social skills training, including intervention during the school years; it helps us deal with the NTs out there.

Thanx guys - I didn't twig that Mr Bean's stare would scary - hope you approve of the change!

Michael

Mr Bean can be scary

He can remind me too closely how my actions must look to others.

If he is funny and an object of derision, then so can my actions be thought.

he keeps me humble.

It must be nice in Heavenly Hobart, I know Urban Australia is so sophisticated. I live in the Applegate mountains in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. I am self diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome living as an "Aspie in the Wild" for 5 decades before learning about Asperger's later in life. Then I was introduced to the concept of DID / MPD but with all of them being Aspies, they were never social with each other

Welcome to Wrong Planet, I wish for you the discovery that we are far more human than we may ever know.

Morrigan

Love it! It's the colours I appreciate.

Hi!

Welcome to Wrongplanet!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

I have to say, I also mis-read Micheal's initial post, at first. he said: "... to help me to help Mark better. ". He didn't say "... to help me to help Mark get better.
I guess we're all a bit NT-sensitive!

Anyway, welcome AuPear, and I hope you and "Mark" can enjoy yourselves here.

Whatever you do, don't take us seriously. (Or did I mean that the other way round? Switch "do" with "don't". I dunno. Make up your own mind.)

Hi again,

A couple of people have helped me to see that I might have given the wrong impression when I wrote that I hoped that people might be able to help me "... to help Mark better". I now realise that I should have written "... to better help Mark". It wasn't my intention to imply that I thought Mark could be helped to "get better". I understand that there's no "cure" for AS, just as there's no "cure" for being gay - although there were some psychiatrists back in the 70s who thought otherwise!

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my post - I feel very welcomed into your amazing community.

Michael

I don't know many or any NTs who are even vaguely interested in AS (even the guys at CAN don't fall under that category) so you're one of the first in my books.

Some people here in the USA, such as the Rev. Fred Phelps (he's the worst, but by no means the only one) are still convinced that "gayness" can be cured. As for AS, there are a fair number of decent NTs out there like AuPear (and a fair number of Aspie jerks), but a lot of NTs do seem to lack any real willingness to understand the situation; after all, their lives are all about themselves! And they say that we live in our own little worlds!! ! (rolling on the floor laughing):jester: PS I wonder if the designer of the gay rainbow flag was Aspie -- it's said that Aspie (and autistic) art tends to be on the colorful side.

Cool

Do your dogs hunt/retrieve? As you would know, we don't have a duck season this year and quail are very hard to find. How is your season going?