Autism/Aspergers/The spectrum

Talk about if you are on or if you know people on the autistic spectrum here.

Like people who have full blown autism, or if they have aspergers syndrome, or if you've been born with these things yourself.

Share your stories here.

I'm curious to learn more about people like me. I don't know if everything will be happy, though, but I really want to understand more just how 'different' I am, and if it'll just help me accept my place in this world more as a whole....(and learn that how my mind work's really is far from the 'normal' way. i'm always so scared of being normal. like really scared of it. i'd get into WHY, but i'm afraid to....)

Well, technically the different subsets of autism like Asperger's have all been condensed down to a single diagnosis called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as of about 2013 or so. So nobody has Asperger's technically.

Myself, I have high functioning autism, but I try not to let that define me. I struggle a bit with understanding social queues or navigating social situations, I'm quite blunt and struggle controlling my emotions and I've got a thing about patterns and symmetry. My autism also exacerbates my anxiety and depression, which are both common in people on the spectrum.

I've and to do a lot of hard work to be able to function around people but if you try hard enough, you can accomplish it so long as you don't let yourself fall back on your ASD as an excuse. I'm not "normal" but that's fine. I know plenty of "normal" people way weirder than me.

I don't really like functioning labels, myself. I find that they're used to say like "You're not bad enough to receive any help at all" or "You're too bad to be allowed any independence" both of which are harmful to autistic people.

I have aspergers, was diagnosed in 2011 at 21, late diagnosis so no one believes I have it.

I haven't been diagnosed with either but I feel like a weirdo and stranger all the time to regular folk

Aspergers and autism are now considered the same thing. Click the spoiler, I guess.

Raven said:

I don't really like functioning labels, myself. I find that they're used to say like "You're not bad enough to receive any help at all" or "You're too bad to be allowed any independence" both of which are harmful to autistic people.

I have aspergers, was diagnosed in 2011 at 21, late diagnosis so no one believes I have it.

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I have found that you're right about the function labels, there's good reason to have them because it's important to be able to differentiate severity on paper, but people - especially people in government positions - all to often use those labels against you to deny you help in some way.

gimmepie said:

I have found that you're right about the function labels, there's good reason to have them because it's important to be able to differentiate severity on paper, but people - especially people in government positions - all to often use those labels against you to deny you help in some way.

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I really hate that about this world, honestly. That people can be denied help based on the functioning labels. =/ Or told they can't do something because of whichever label of functionality they're given. It's not just autism, either. Any neurodivergency "label", really. The fact people can be denied jobs because of it, too, is gross.

I get all the help I need, at least, but.

Had ASD since birth, but diagnosed as Asperger's in High School. I am now in college and even though it is hard sometimes, it is better than it was in the past.

gimmepie said:

I have found that you're right about the function labels, there's good reason to have them because it's important to be able to differentiate severity on paper, but people - especially people in government positions - all to often use those labels against you to deny you help in some way.

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YUP Government is notorious for doing this to disabled folks. We get no autonomy or we get no help.

I suffer from autism as well, though not on a giant scale, so I don't suffer tooooo much from it.

I'm also jumping on the autism bandwagon. o/ I don't have it as bad as most, and it's not really noticeable online... but it's there. Most of the time it makes it super hard to deal with my emotions, which can suck a lot. I've learned to accept it as being apart of who I am... yes, I'm one of those people.

I'm scared of being normal too. I don't like the idea, and I prefer just being myself than someone I'm not.

LadyJirachu said:

One aspie trait I have, is I can fly off the roof and insult/flame people if i've been triggered by drama.

But, its possible drama just effects pretty much everyone like that in some form :/

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It doesn't surprise me. Many of us have a hard time dealing with emotions. Drama doesn't usually help either... especially if it's something where you aren't sure what to do in or how to react. It's a common thing for us in a case like that. We get over emotional because there's so much we have to think about.

One of my autism traits is dealing with my emotions. It's really hard for me because most of the time, I'm easily overwhelmed by them. It could just be from something someone has said to me in what might be the wrong way or something. Yet, that person may have not meant for their comment to be rude in any kind of way. It's almost like I can sense their tone of voice when they are saying something to me.

One of my autism traits is not thinking what another person will think when I do something.
They might think differently and not understand why I did a certain thing.

i havent been confirmed to have it or even evaluated (its difficult when i dont have main health insurance anymore and am a little older than when most people get diagnosed or evaluated) but my mom and a few other family members definitely think i have it and show some symptoms. its incredibly difficult for me to make friends and im just bad with emotions sometimes and other stuff. i dunno. i also relate a lot to julia from sesame street.

I was diagnosed with ASD after my day care provider noticed how odd I was acting around other kids. When I'm in public, I stiffen up and fidget like no one's business. It's quite noticeable and I'm sure plenty of people have noticed. Stories relating to my autism are pretty depressing, so here's a warning.



I think all of these incidents originate from the stigma that autistic people are dumb and gross. It's easy to blame that fake anti-vaccination study from twenty years ago, but I think it's more deep rooted than that. I think it comes from people not liking things that are different.

Pemderp said:

I think it comes from people not liking things that are different.

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'tis sadly the root of a number of issues really. Humans have never been any good at handling things different from themselves.

also, to put text in a spoiler tag, you just do [spoiler]insert text here[/spoiler]

I definitely know im ~somewhere~ on the spectrum, and I definitely know im not neurotypical. Especially since autism and aspergers often goes undiagnosed in girls and women. I always wonder if it was missed because of my other issues (ADHD and anxiety). It would be helpful to know for sure but it doesn't really impact my life enough for me to want to go through the diagnosis process about it.